This almost sounds like a confession in a social support group, where I should start with “Hello, my name is Erik and I’m a diabetic”. But it’s not, it’s just my life experience with Type 2 diabetes and how my diet and exercise have helped me curve the disease and transform my life back to a normal one.

The truth is that the diabetes control diet is important in all types of diabetes and has to be followed regardless of the medical treatment. In my case, it has helped me keep diabetes under control and give up on drugs altogether, with my doctor’s permission, of course. If you want this diet to be efficient, you will have to work it with your nutritionist because it has to be differentiated by sex, age, sedentary life style, alimentary preferences and other possible associated diseases as obesity, hypertension and so on. I also felt comfortable going to my local community Pharamcist for valuable free advice, who has in the past always given me many suggestions and support, to ask the questions I had about gluclose blood monitoring and exercise ideas.

Diabetes Diet

In my case, I am a male Type 2 diabetic, in my late 30s. I was considered morbidly obese, for quite a few years until 2006, when I lost the 214 lbs and instantly turned around the years of damage I did over the years. Since gaining half that weight back, I am of course aware and concerned about my Type2 Diabetes and I like to use this guide of of general recommendations for my diabetes diet, which I follow strictly if I want to feel like a normal person:

Calories: The overweight diabetics will follow a low-calorie diabetes diet plan, which means I have to eat fewer calories that a normal weight person.
Glucoses: they must be of 50 – 55% of the total caloric amount, that means in my case about 300 grams per day. Also, I am not allowed to consume simple glucoses with rapid absorption or over processed products like sugar and derivates.
Proteins: they must count 12 – 15% of the total calories amount. So if you weight 200 pounds you will be eating about 70 grams of proteins a day.
Fats: 30 % of the calorie amount. In my case this means 140 grams a day.
Salt: Less than 5 grams a day.

As a diabetic, my diet for diabetes must consist of frequent and small meals, at least 5-6 a day and I have to eat at fixed hours, and have my dinner at least 2 hours before going to bed.

Also, I have a table that reminds me of the things I am allowed to eat. I’m hoping this might come in handy for any diabetic out there that is looking for a working diabetes diet.

Tomatoes, pepper, mushrooms, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, onions, garlic, leeks, eggplants, celery, beet
Melons, lemons, raspberries and any other berries, cherries, nuts and seed and other similar fruits
Meat and fish and all derivates
Milk and all derivates
Eggs
Non-alcoholic drinks that are made without sugar

Some aliments in my diabetes diet I can consume only after I weight them like: white bread, graham bread, potatoes, beans and rice.

And of course, a have a big no-no diabetes diet list that includes: sugar, honey, biscuits, cookies made with sugar, candy, chocolate and any other sweets, dried plums, marmalade and all other dried fruits or seeds that contain sugar or other made foods with sugar…

As an adult who is now again considered overweight, and who is now doing a lot of exercises, at least for one hour a day, I can actually eat various stuff, and I proud to present you one of my daily meal plans:

Mornings: milk and coffee (250 grams), bread (60 grams) with cow’s cheese (100 grams) and peppers.
Snack: bread (40 grams) with butter (20 grams) and non-fat ham (100 grams) and fruits (100 grams)
Lunch: Clear vegetables’ soup with bread croutons (about 100 grams of bread), meatballs with mashed potatoes (150 grams), lettuces, and bread (60 grams)
Snack again: Cow’s cheese (50 grams) with tomatoes and bread (40 grams), fruits (100 grams)
Dinner: Assorted salad and bread (40 grams), rice pudding with meat
Before bed: One glass of milk with bread (40 grams)

This plan works well in my case, but it has 1850 – 1900 calories in total. People that are following a diabetes diet must take into consideration their calorie intake and if they are more overweighed or have other associated affections. For those who are underweighted, they must go over the 2000 calorie limit a day.

This title is probably causing you to read it again: Did I miss something here? Most materials regarding diets refer to different aspects of an alimentary program, with specific steps and restrictions as well as the small unavoidable mistakes.

So, reading about a situation when you don’t necessarily need to keep a diet might seem very weird. But it might happen sometimes. Let’s say that no matter how many precautions you’ve taken during your vacation you still managed to accumulate a few pounds.

Diet or Not?

There’s no need to alarm, because in the end this is something normal. Before staring to document about diets, you’d better try to change your life style and alimentation style. You have all chances to regain your initial weight and have no trouble keeping it.

There’s no magic in the middle and the changes we are talking about will not be radical ones. It’s simply a thing that resumes to reducing the daily calories amount with about 100. This way, in a month, it’s estimated that you will lose at least 4 pounds. And, as you certainly know already, this is one of the healthiest ways of losing weight: slowly but surely, without major restrictions that might cause metabolism deregulations.

• One of the most important aspects is not feeling demoralized. Regaining your initial weight will be a lot easier than you think, so there’s no reason to worry.
• Avoid drinks that contain calories like fruit juices. It’s true that they are healthy and indicated but it’s preferable to eat the fruits rather than drink them
• Never skip breakfast. Doing this does not mean you are saving calories. In fact you are supplementing them because at lunch you will be really hungry and you will be inclined not to follow any restrictions. If you want to heave a healthy breakfast that’s not full of calories choose toast instead of white bread, boiled eggs instead of ham and a few fresh fruits instead of marmalade.
• Don’t stay away from proteins. No matter how well you eat, if your body does not have the daily necessary protein amount, you will get hungry soon. If at lunch you choose a salad, it would be a good idea to have one with chicken bites or fish. If you make your own salad, choose a tuna can with water, not oil. Degreased dressings might not be as tasty, but are certainly preferable.
• Always eat soup. It will not only contribute to daily hydration, but will also help you not to be hungry for a few hours and it does not contain many calories. You should have tomato soup, vegetable soup or chicken soup.
• Don’t focus on losing weight snacks that can be found in hypermarkets. You can’t tell if all ingredients are indeed healthy. Not to mention that they efficiency is questionable, since they are not as fulfilling as they say. Unfortunately, many persons try those as a miracle potion. If you are keen on eating some, ask a nutrition specialist before doing so.

Please post your thoughts in a comment below.

It feels so nice to find somewhere a few diets that will only bring you pleasure. I’m a great fan of fruits, in all their varieties, but sweet fruits could constitute my way of living, that’s how much I love them. And one of my favorite is the melon, because it’s tasty, sweet and relaxing and because it goes perfectly instead of any cookies, and I don’t even feel that I’m depriving myself from some pleasures. Next to all these taste delights I get from melons, I have been quite surprised to find out that this is a really healthy fruit. To make things easier for you, I’ve gathered some information about the various melon diets that can help us maintain our figure, lose extra weight and stay healthy.

The Mellon Diet

The Mellon Diet
They say you must take it for 10 to 20 days. You will be eating mainly melon, but because we don’t want to get digestive malfunctions, we must not go over 4 pounds per day. If you want to vary the diet a bit, you can add rice, fish and other vegetables to your meals.

Melon Nectar
The melon nectar is recommended and recognized as a liquid quite resistant to oxidation. Even if I’m a person that loves melon, I found the nectar to taste a bit odd. Probably because I wasn’t expecting to drink melon, being so accustomed to eating it. You can find it in hypermarkets, but it is very easy to make at home, with a mixer. If you want to include it in the above diet, you can drink 6 or 7 glasses a day.

The Melon Diet For Constipation
Whenever the kids are having digestive problems, I give then yellow melon on an empty stomach. The trick is to eat as much as you can out of it. It will clean the digestive tube, and it will work better if you want some cereals with melon juice right after you eat the melon.

The Melon Diet For Low Appetite
I’ve found that the fact that the melon regulates appetite works both ways. It’s recommended for its vitalizing properties, especially in anemia. This cure says you have to eat 1-2 slices of melon 15 minutes before each meal, and eat them slowly, properly chewed.

The Melon Diet For High Appetite
One pound of melon in the morning and two more at lunch will create that satiety sensation all craving persons dream of. It’s very surprising that this sensation persist for hours after you’ve eaten. I found that even regular meals can’t make me feel so full as the melon does.

Even if this is a sweet fruits that has sugar in it, other components of the yellow melon help people keep a metabolic balance. My doctor explained why I should eat melon all the season, just to prevent such a disease. Diabetics can also eat it, and they should eat it, but in moderate quantities.

Please be sure to come back and leave your thoughts and ideas in a comment.

Hi, I’m Erik Chopin. I’m more than a guy who was just on a reality TV show. I changed my life. I won the third season of NBC’s The Biggest Loser in 2006. I was 407 lbs and I lost 214 pounds in 8 months. I recently became public with my life long battle of weight by appearing on Oprah in January 2009, admitting that I gained half the amount I lost on the show back in 2008.

Please leave your thoughts and questions in a comment below.