LivLife: suitable for diabetics?

When I heard about a seeded batch of bread sporting the catchy name 'LivLife' and purporting to be suitable for diabetics, I was just a little cynical, truth be told. I've eaten foods claiming to be 'suitable for diabetics' over my 27 years with T1 and have either learned the hard lesson of just what too much aspartame sweetener does to 'diabetic' chocolate, or learned the even harder way just how many carbs there are in 'diabetic' jam (around 60% of it is still pure sugar, in case you were about to make the mistake of slathering it on a piece of bread as a 'diabetic' snack.  See also: enough glucose to power a rocket).  But I do take genuine delight in a slice of bread - particularly anything anything close to a farmhouse seeded or granary kind. And there are many times when a sandwich, slice of toast or crumbly croutons would go down a treat.

Sadly most breads, even the seemingly 'safe' varieties like wholegrain pittas which have a GI score of around 57 (55 and under is considered low GI), seem to have an aggressive effect on my BG levels and turn even a saintly salad-filled lunch into a must-be-managed afternoon crisis.  So much so that in recent years I have all but given up on any kind of carb-wielding slice of bread.  

The problem is, there are only so many salads you can eat before you've tried them all.

My first impressions of LivLife were good.  There were seeds bursting from the loaf and the smell of fresh, high-quality bread overwhelmed my senses as I opened the bag and peered inside.  The slices were small, but not too much so.  In fact, two slices together make a perfect-sized sandwich to take to work.  Actually I take two; because it tastes that good.

But the real test, beyond any pretty packaging or delectable aromas, is the impact on glucose levels. A blood-sugar bashing treat is one thing, but a daily lunch choice needs to be something which won't cause repeated post-prandial spikes that cause HbA1cs to jump around and complications to come a-knocking.

LivLife claims to be suitable for diabetics because it has half the carbs of other breads - in fact, it claims to have as little as 3.8g carbs per slice!  So a sandwich of two slices with a low-carb veggie or protein filling, should be less than 10g carbs per sandwich!

This week, I put my LivLife to the test and experimented my way through lunch breaks to see just what happened with the so-called 'suitable for diabetics' bread.

The CGM trace below was a trace I had after eating two small wholemeal pittas with bacon and avocado salad stuffed inside and a smattering of mayo to give it some 'yum'.  I had bolused 20 minutes before I ate, ensuring I'd allowed time for the insulin to hit my system and become active before I devoured my well-earned lunch.

Within just one short hour of my (supposedly healthy) lunch the beautiful straight line I had been admiring all morning was gone after my 2pm lunch break and was replaced with a vertical sky-climber.  I tried this lunch three times with tweaks (once with more insulin; once a little earlier - which resulted in a nasty hypo pre-food).  This is not the way to enjoy food.

After too many frustrated days in a row I gave LivLife a whirl, and was presented with this:

Now this is a CGM trace to enjoy! 

This time I put the same accompaniments (bacon, avocado salad with mayo for yums) into two LivLife sandwiches, and the result was fantastic!  In case you can't tell, I bolused at 12.45pm and ate at 1pm. Both days I started at a respectable (but slightly high pre-meal) 8 mmol, but the outcome of removing most of the carbs but still enjoying something more substantial than just a salad, was a CGM trace that meant I wasn't going to be chasing corrections all afternoon.

So there you have it: LivLife really is suitable for diabetics, and even comes recommended by one.  If you are someone who likes to put away Joey from Friends kind of sandwiches you may need to make yours a triple-decker because the slices are about three quarters the size of a 'standard' loaf, slice.  But considering the carbs in a  modern standard slice are often nearing the 20g mark, and LivLife have managed the same taste and satisfying hunger-buster with just 3.8g carbs (with 2g fibre!), I think I can live with that!

You can get LivLife in Morrisons (only selected stores so find your most local one) and Ocado, where it should be in with all the other breads.

Let me know what you think in the comments or on email, and enjoy!

Type 2 taboo

I've had type 1 diabetes for almost 27 years and by the measure of time alone, I am an expert in it. I have lived each second, minute, hour and day since I was four years old with it. I will proudly posit that I know more than the world's greatest medical experts because when their day in the office is done and they put down their textbooks, journals and award-winning research and head on home, I don't.  I continue to live with it and feel it, each moment.  

That said, I am in the somewhat unique position that as a person who is obese and has struggled immensely with my weight ever since the diabetes diagnosis darkened our door, I have the opportunity to see a glimpse of the world through the eyes of a person with lifestyle-induced type 2.  I know what it's like to be obese;  I have eaten in secret because I worry what people will think of the 'fat girl' in the corner eating a burger; I have hidden myself from my husband's eyes - and touch - because I'm been ashamed of what I've become;  I've opened myself up and confided in you the psychological warfare I go into each day with disordered eating.  

'Stigma' is a word on many a tongue these days.  It is used in a way to suggest those fighting it are spear-heading a new and forward-thinking world.  We are crime-fighters out for a better world. We talk of changing futures, improving lives, turning pages; of poor media reporting and misconceptions; of re-education and using the global community as the step forward.  And yet, all you have to do is tiptoe into many diabetes forums - forums filled with wonderful, open-minded people - to begin to see that stigma is rife in our very own community.  

The language oft-used to talk about type 2s makes me hugely uncomfortable.  Because if I didn't already have type 1, I would most certainly be at risk of type 2.  It is this blame that I find so raw.  As if the guilt society places upon the overweight for not fitting into an acceptable dress size isn't enough, they are forced too to live with the guilt of having 'brought diabetes upon themselves'.  

"I won't have people thinking I brought it on myself".

"I have no sympathy with people who ate themselves into diabetes"

"I didn't deserve this, I didn't do anything to get this."

Of course you didn't.  None of us did.  But can we really sit there and say that someone with T2 as a result of disordered eating 'brought it upon themselves'?  Is it ever that simple?

In exactly the same way that someone without diabetes cannot possibly imagine how it feels to live with it without making wild assumptions, nor can someone without first-hand experience of disordered eating possibly try to imagine how it feels to have deep-seated issues with food.  It is never just a case of fat, lazy slobs eating too much and giving themselves diabetes. To think so, is to be blind to the truth.  People don't sit there and 'give' themselves diabetes; no-one would make that decision.  And if they got it from abusing food, we should be asking the right questions to understand why!

What do they go through every day?  

Why do they eat this way?  

What happened to them?  

Do they have anyone they can talk to?  

Could I help them? 

Only 70% of people with type 2 are overweight.  There are 30% of people 'tarred' with the unhealthy lifestyle brush too, just as people with type 1 are. But the answer is not to distinguish between those who got it from eating too much and those who didn't - the answer is to reach out and ask WHY they live and eat the way they do.

Perhaps I am so focussed on this issue because this week I sat with my dietician and cried as I begged her for help to address my disordered eating.  Perhaps it is because I am tired of seeing people coldly blame people with type 2 for the poor media reporting of diabetes.  Perhaps it is because I understand what it feels like to feel powerless around food.

Either way my feeling is this; people with type 2 diabetes brought on my over-eating or unhealthy lifestyle did not 'bring diabetes on themselves'.  Diabetes is a by-product of a lifestyle they live and no-one has the right to judge, mock, discriminate or wag their finger at anyone with lifestyle-induced type 2, without first walking a mile in their shoes. No-one.

And until we can rule out stigma within our own communities, we can never truly do so to the rest of the world. That journey starts at home. 

What do you think?  How do you feel about the stigma surrounding diabetes?

A day on the plate of a low-carber

Everyone knows that I had a complete blast at the AnimasSports Day weekend.  I mean, a bunch of other people with diabetes (PWDs), talking, playing sports, eating food and drinking wine; what's not to love? What I was keen to know when the weekend subsided and real life kicked back in, was just how much use the talks were to those who attended.  Mine in particular, as it was a bit of a first.

On the whole the feedback from the weekend was excellent but we were offered some specific feedback that the talks we gave on weight loss would have benefited from some specific information on what exactly I ate, or what the professionals recommended to eat, to aid weight loss.

Don’t get me wrong, I don't exactly recoil at the sight of a potato, quite the opposite in fact; I love a big ol’ bucket of carbs as much as the next person.  But I have learnt a lot in the last year – particularly since getting my Dexcom G4 Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) - about what carbs do to me; even the low GI ones people rave about.

So armed with the knowledge that people want to know more, I thought I would share a little more about what I’ve been eating and how I make normal meals into lower carb versions.  Don't worry, you don’t need to go out finding any weird and wonderful carb-free yam noodles just yet (FYI, the most disgusting food to have been invented, ever).

So here they are, some of the typical foods I eat.  Excuse the stock photography - by the time I'd taken all the pictures myself we would've all retired and would now be living somewhere we wouldn't need to cook for ourselves any more.

Breakfasts

Omelette, with cheese and tomato.  I am horrible at making omelettes, so invested in one of these little bad boys.  It makes an omelette in 3-4 minutes and tastes amazeballs every time.  This meal keeps me from getting hungry for about 4-5 hours. 

Greek yogurt with berries.  The best ones I have found are the ‘Total’ Greek yogurts.  Not the low-fat version which has a lot more carbohydrate (when you remove the fat, you have to add taste somehow, so low-fat yogurts are usually packed with sugar – even the unflavoured ones).  People seem to have freaked out about fat in the last 30-40 years, but we forget that we still need it; it is vital to our cells and key to avoiding things like depression.  So don’t freak out about the little bit of fat in a Greek yogurt.  For the berries, I find blueberries the best as they are low-GI and don’t cause too much of a spike.

Cooked breakfast.  Rather than fried, I have a cooked English breakfast with grilled tomato, bacon and sausage, and will have scrambled eggs rather than fried.  I do have mushrooms in a tiny bit of butter (not marge; marge isn’t a real food to me) but that's the extent of naughtiness in this one.

Smoked Salmon and scrambled egg.  I can't even write this one without going to make myself some.  Back in five...

Lunches

Tuna mayo salad.  A handful of salad leaves (stick with dark leafy greens like Spinach, Rocket and Watercress as they are much higher in iron. I once heard iceberg lettuce described as ‘nutritionally useless’, which left a lasting impression).  I then have cherry tomatoes, spring onion, red pepper and any other veggies I have to hand that make a good accompaniment.  I then have tuna and a tablespoon of mayo.

Bacon and Avocado salad.  Same as above but minus the tuna and mayo, and plus grilled bacon and avocado.  Literally the best thing ever.  Anything with bacon is, this is a fact.

 Ham salad. Same as above but minus….Can you see where I’m going with this?

Couscous salad.  I have limited success with couscous, but in order to not get bored and to jazz things up a bit, I occasionally have a couscous salad with coleslaw, beetroot, onions etc to liven the diet up a little.  This will need more insulin but gives a bit more of a ‘bulky’ salad if you fancy a change. 

Dinners

Stir Fry.  The only danger with low carb is that you could end up eating more red meat.  It is always worth remembering that too much red meat isn’t recommended, so we throw in a stir fry a couple of times a week with tofu.  I suppose I’m lucky that I absolutely love tofu, so it’s not hard to incorporate.  If you don’t, you could use chicken, turkey or quorn type replacements, if you don’t mind that kinda thing.  I shove in beansprouts, sliced carrots, broccoli, green beans, spring onion and buckets of fresh ginger, chilli and garlic.  In order to avoid any sweet sauces, I use Amoy’s rich soy sauce and red wine mixed to give it an oriental kick.

Spaghetti Bolognese.  Unlikely seeming I know, but make your usual Bolognese sauce and swap out the spaghetti for a pile of green beans.  Get in touch if you get hungry.  I never have, and I’m also now never bloated or tired a couple of hours later.

Chilli.  Same as above, switching the rice for green beans.

 

Salmon with Beetroot and Horse Radish crème fraiche. If you are low carbing and want to watch the meat content, fish is a really good way to go.  I’m not a lover of fish per se, but this recipe is to die for.  Packed with goodness and barely touching the BGs. Get in touch if you want the recipe, it was a touch long for this already monster post.

Piri piri roast chicken.  This one is a total favourite.  It is a chicken breast covered with crushed garlic and Schwartz Piri Piri shake.  Not a carb or sauce in sight.  Roast this with a whole beef tomato, butternut squash, a couple of mushrooms, carrots and parsnips.  It is incredibly delicious, easy and a total of about 30g carbs from really nutrient-dense sources.

Cottage/Shepherds Pie. Make your usual meat part of the meal and swap out the mashed potato for mashed swede and carrot.  You will thank me.  Even when we aren’t strictly low-carbing we now eat this as it is such a welcome change and doesn’t leave you weighed down with potato and insulin on board.

Sausage casserole.  This one is credited to the Hairy Bikers who between them lost about 4 stone (56 pounds) by removing carbs.  Check it out.

Bean casserole.  As above but remove the sausages and add in borlotti, butter and any other kind of bean you like.  It’s awesome, trust me.  Even though beans have a reasonably high carb content, they also have a really high fibre content, and as fibre carbohydrate isn’t digested, it doesn’t affect BGs.  So load up on these little bad boys.

Jamie Oliver’s stew for Jools.  This one is again, simply adapted.  Remove any potato ingredients and pack it more with other veg.  It halves the carbs but none of the flavour.  Jamie has even worked out the carb content for us.

‘Pasta’ and Passata.  This one sounds a bit misleading.  We used to have a passatta sauces with veggies and pasta but since low carbing just swapped out the pasta for green beans.  Again this one is to have some veggie recipes on the go and lower the amount of red meat we eat.

Although this isn’t exhaustive, it will hopefully give an idea of how we adapt our foods to remove some of the carbs and pack in bag-fulls of veg, quality meats and flavour.  Dr Kelly’s talk touched on how to increase protein by 10% and lower carbs, making the switch to a way of eating more likely to result in healthy and long-term weight loss.

I don’t do the extremes of low-carbing that many do, and often our passata will feature one or two pieces of garlic bread, or a tiny desert of some kind.   But at least the 'treat' at those meals brings the meal to 60g carbs, rather than 120g, because I saved the wasted carbs from sources I don't miss, and used them on the ones I want.  

The meals I've included are now my fail-safe recipes for a good BG and as such, a more likely trip to the gym and general better feeling about all things D.  I tend to stick to no more than 30g per meal as this keeps me within decent upper and lower limits, even when things go a little awry.

If you have any of your own recipes you want to share please, get in touch. I'd love to know how you also tame the diabetes beast.

Unwelcome

This Christmas eve I passed the 26 year mark of being a member of club-D (definitely not as great as it sounds).  I am proud to say that despite a little scare this summer, complications have still not caught up with me and nor do I plan for them to. In many ways diabetes has become a way of life for me, the only way I know.  I work full time in the Police and love my job dearly, but when the 9-5 has come and gone I spend almost every spare minute of my time immersed in the diabetes 'world', advocating, attending conferences, manning stalls, participating in market research or product reviews and generally diving into what I would term 'diabetes culture'. I speak to parents of T1 kids daily, take advice from other PWDs (People With Diabetes) who can help me with my latest dilemma and reminisce with other 'old-timers' about orange plastic needles and 2-minute long blood tests.  

What I wasn't expecting was for diabetes to darken the door of my family once more.  This time, it has come a-knocking on the door of my mother-in-law, mamma P.

When she told me about the symptoms she was having I knew that diabetes was a possibility; inevitable even.  The symptoms she described - tired, thirsty, blurred vision - made me sure that this Christmas we would once more have an unwelcome addition to the family.  Her expression as she listed her symptoms told me that she also knew, she just hadn't said it out loud, until now.

One of the many things that has given us our closeness over the years is our shared battle with weight.  Neither of us require the side of the house to be removed to allow us to be crane-lifted out, but if I wasn't already a type 1 I would - perhaps ironically - be in the 'at risk' of type 2 category, due to my weight.  Knowing the risks at hand and the likelihood that this could be type 2, my wonderful husband and diabetes partner in crime gave her a shove in the right direction and demanded that by the end of the week she needed to have an appointment booked.

Her diagnosis followed only 3 days later. Treatment with Metformin followed 2 days after that.

Now we have the task on our hands of navigating the type 2 tightrope.  Admittedly I am no expert on type 2, in fact, her diagnosis has made me realise just how embarrassingly little I know.  It has never been something I needed to think about, in exactly the same way that the non-D population know nothing of type 1, much to the dismay of those trying to raise awareness.

Her determination to address her health problems has already staggered me.  She has already stopped drinking fruit juice - her tipple of choice, she is asking questions about low carb and exercise and is already recognising her habits of mindlessly reaching over to the biscuit tin are what found her in this position in the first place.  But she is determined to change it, and it makes me respect her all the more.  It took me 16 years to start taking my condition seriously.  It took her just 2 days.

So, knowing that you know far more than I, I am asking for your help - if you know tricks and tips for managing type 2, Metformin, low-carb or losing weight, I would LOVE to hear from you.

Do you have any advice I can pass on?

AP.

Food revolution

We are on the verge of a food revolution.

How many 'fat kids' (excuse the crudity) were there in your school class as a child?  We had one.  She wasn't known as the fat kid, mainly because all those years ago 'fat' didn't seem to be as much of an insult as it is now, but she stood out from the rest of us due to her size.  It was...unusual.  I always remembered thinking there was something 'different' about her.  But I liked her nonetheless.  She always wore a smile, had a welcoming way about her and tried her very best at sports, usually coming in last (with me at her side).

Today, the slender if not a little too skinny girl I once was, is gone.  I am now the fat girl, just like my friend was.  The difference is now, the number of people who would once have been considered 'unusual' due to their size, has increased.  Significantly.  Dramatically.  Frighteningly.  I am not alone in this category as my friend once was.

I have paid hundreds if not thousands of pounds to belong to slimming clubs like Slimming World and Weight Watchers for the 'benefit' of their food education.  And guess what; I am the heaviest I have ever been.  I have the ingrained 'low-fat/high-carb' principle burned in my mind because since I was 10 years old this is what everyone - the media, the doctors, the television, the slimming clubs - have told me I should do.

Now, go back 60 years, when 'margerine' didn't exist and meat was the primarily dish on the plate (the meat and two veg rule, remember?) and tell me, have you seen photos of your grandparents?  Were they fat?  I doubt it.  They didn't need any of our none-of-the-fat-but-all-of-the-taste products to keep them slender.  No.  They rubbed their meat in lard, joyfully bought butter for their morning slice of toast, ate pork dripping on home-made bread and ate small, handful sized portions of REAL FOOD. They also didn't need drug after drug to keep healthy.  They just lived.

I have made my feelings on low-carb clear over the years.  But whether or not you buy into the principles of low-carb one thing is true; clean eating is undeniably the best for our bodies.  We know this because we are still gasping for breath in the wake of the processed food revolution that brought us microwave meals, instant gravy and mashed potato brands that have to advise on the back of the packet what percentage of the contents are actually potato.

But just as the revolution of the 70s and 80s taught our predecessors that we don't need to slave over a hot stove for hours, so too are we now learning that this convenience comes at a cost.  Ill health.

So much of our media is now telling us to eat clean, avoid processed and simple carbohydrates and try, for the love of God TRY, to only include ingredients you can pronounce.  Just as the 70s discovered instant meals, so too are we now discovered what 'clean' really can do.

This is the start of our food revolution.