My father was Diabetic and didn't follow his diet very well which sadly lead to his death at 60 years young.

While this forum is a great place to get all sorts of advice I'd urge you to speak with a registered dietitian about what is allowable in her particular type of diabetic diet.

Glad to see your post, pastordic. I've been giving a lot of thought to this recently. I've got several uncles on both sides of my family who came down with type II diabetes, so I've been working over the past few months to change my family's diet to one with a lower glycemic impact.

Ah bread. White bread, from what I've read, is just the worst. Its effect on blood sugar is almost identical to eating raw sugar. Sourdough, however, thanks to the lactic acid, brings the gylcemic index down quite a bit into the intermediate range, rather than high. And whole grains help as well.

So based on what I've read, it sounds like you're on the right track with whole-grain sourdough bread. I've come up with a weekly recipe for it that my family loves. Luckily, it's our favorite bread in addition to being healthy. Nevertheless, you should DEFINITELY talk to your doctor, because any kind of bread carries a lot of carbohydrates, so even if the glycemic index (how quickly the sugars get into the bloodstream) is moderate, the glycemic load (the amount of sugars getting into your bloodstream) could be high. 

Anyone who's expert on this topic, I'd love to hear what you've learned.

I have type 2 diabetes.

Step 1 Discuss with doctor/diabetes specialists especially dieticians.

Step 2 Eat healthily!

This was THE advice from my diabeties specialist team - to eat as "healthy" a diet as possible - in fact the same diet as everyone else should follow!

In essence this is

• Cut out processed anything and everything
• Cut out salt
• Cut down fats, oils and dairy, nuts
• Be judicious/sparing with fruits, fruit juices, dried fruits, jams etc

But eat lots of fresh vegetables, wholegrains and proteins

Personally bananas are a huge mistake.

Wholegrain breads, pasta, rice and oats are all recommended and if bread is homemade then sugar and salt levels can be monitored/controlled easily.

The irritating thing is: I (and my family) already ate like this! Ho hum.

I am a Type 2 for almost 20 years. Being a working Pastry Chef this has been quite hard to handle until I cam across abook about two years ago by a Dr. Richard Bernstein.

He is to say the least controversial. His philosophy is no bread, fruits, starches. He has an Atkins approach.

Since I have used his method of eating I have lost 60 lbs, my sugar levels are typically below 100, I am on no medication and my A1HC test is about a 5.5.

I now understand why for over 20 years I was on many diets I never lost any weight. Matter of fact I would gain weight on almost any diet.

His research is on the web, and he has 2 books out. The method of living is a major change of lifestyle. Though I miss my fruit and especially bread I am learning to live without it

I have taken many nutrition classes over the years, and now I can understand how for most diabetics the ADA diet is not very good for a lot of people.

If anyone wants to discuss this further. Just email me

Carlton Brooks CEPC, CCE Mesa, Arizona

I have family members who are diabetic, I have worked in the drug industry (to my shame at times) for a number of years and have never, ever heard that "yeast" was a problem for diabetics.  I can understand refined sugar, refined flour...as a rule the more it has been tinkered with the worse it is.  But Yeast?  That doesn't make any sense. 

I would talk to a dietian, but also let common sense rule.  What doctors "know" is very little.  What they "think" they know is massive.  Sometimes they think fat is evil, somethimes it is carbs, sometimes you need to eat a diet that changes your bodys PH.  Moderation is key, balance is key....and the thing that doctors somehow totally blow is over emphasis on diet.  Working out, weather it by a gym or just riding bike to work etc...helps blood sugar a lot.  Much more then most people imagine. 

My uncle is type 2 diabetic and one thing he eats often is bread, regular white bread mainly when we had gotten him a sugar free maybe or some other bread that was healthier it actually made him get light headed etc. He watches very closely what he eats and it's a bit surprising to see how much bread had affected him, maybe it's a good way to lower blood sugar naturally or at least keep it at a normal insulin level.

This is an old thread but it is important for many who have Type II Diabeties. I also have Type II and control with oral meds and diet. My levels have been higher than they should be so I decided to try a new approach with my breads.

For the last 6 Months I have made an effort to only bake using a natural sourdough starter. At least the breads I ate were SD based. Other than that I didn't really change our diet.

2 weeks ago I saw my Dr. for a review of the latest blood work (A1C) and he asked if I had been doing Adkins or a low carb diet. My A1C had dropped 2 points for the period. I know there could be other things in play here but I'm other wise healthy and nothing else has changed I am aware of.

We are exposed to so much processed food it's a wonder the medical community hasn't spoken up loudly about the damage being done to us as a species. If you read a little about the flour industry and the standards set by the FDA for the mills years ago, well, it's appaling that the nutritional content of this major food source was manipulated with in such a way. We the members TFL are making a difference in the health of our families by learning to bake with extended ferments and SD levains.

Eric

My sister is a diabetic and is on hemo dialysis.  As I bake both whole wheat bread and sprouted wheat bread made from the organic wheat that we grow I wanted her to try my bread. She asked her doctor why hemo dialysis diabetic patients are not supposed to eat wheat products. He told her that the commercial wheat products have phosphorus added to them and that is where the problem lies.

He told her that she can eat my organic home grown wheat bread and in fact he ordered a loaf too.

I sell bread at my local farmers' market. I have had three people tell me that when they eat my bread their blood sugar goes down but if they go without it for 3 or 4 days their blood sugar goes back up- 50-60 points. One customer of mine has done tests on herself and three times she went without my bread for four days and her blood sugar went up but when she started to eat it again it went back down. I had my sister ask her doctor about this and he told her that it is most likely due to the fiber in my stone ground wheat flour that is lowering the blood sugars. There is also no phosphorus added to our organic wheat flour.

The sprouted wheat flour has even a lower glycemic index as the starches are predigested during the sprouting process. This is NOT the same as essenne type bread as I make the dried sprouted grains into flour.

www.organicwheatproducts.com

My wife is an insulin dependent diabetic and very strict about her diet.  She's been dealing with it for twenty years.  She refuses to adjust her insulin to control her blood sugars and remains committed to her prescribed daily dosages.  Her A1C blood sugar levels remain between 5.9 - 6.1 and she eats the bread I bake regularly.

What that means is that diabetes is not a typical disease.  In fact, diabetes, pre-diabetes (whate ever that means) type 2 diabetes and insulin dependent diabetes are all very different things.  The diet that is suitable to one diabetic patient may or may not be suitable for another.  The best advice I've read on this page thus far is to consult a medical and dietary specialist to get the best advice about your wife's condition as it relates to consuming the bread you make and all of her other dietary restrictions.  An Endochronoligist and a Registered Dietician (specializing in diabetic conditions), working as a team, are your best sources for the information you're seeking.

I am a type II diabetic.  Have been for ten years more or less.  All this time I tried to follow the various nutritionists and my FBG stayed way up -- like 150 to 200 mg/dl every morning.  Then I decided to lose weight and got serious about low carbs.  My weight started coming down but, the real impressive thing, my AiC and FBG dropped dramatically ( 5.2 and 90 respectively. )  Then, I too read Dr. Bernstein and began to understand.

There is no such thing as an essential carbohydrate

There is no such thing as a healthy whole wheat (or grain of any type)

My formula: 1) Get rid of all the carbs - I avoid more than 20g in a day.  2) I monitor protein so that I am about 1 gm protein per kilogram of body weight each day.  3) I try to make sure fats make up about 70 % of my diet.  The fats are animal fats and healthy plant fats like olive oil, coconut oil and peanut oil.  NEVER hydrogenated anything, never corn oil, never canola oil.  4) I measure my BG several times a day including at bed time.  I adjust my medication at bed time to make sure my FBG stays below 100 in the morning

While I agree, different folks respond differently, I also believe any one who is any form of diabetic should get off carbs (period).  Any time your BG exceeds 140 mg/dl you are doing damage.  This damage is most frequently inflammation which leads to all kinds of problems such as plaque build up.

I am an hobby baker and everyone loves my bread.  I sample my own at about 1/2 slice or less in any given day. Those carbs come out of my budget.  I also love beer but the same thing goes -- if I have a beer it gets counted in my budget.

It works for me.  I love what I eat -- meat, fish, and colorful veggies.  Nothing white, nothing grown below ground.  I have lost 40 pounds over 6 months and my BG numbers as well as lipid panel are near normal or ideal.

Finally, let me say, this is not the place to find info about diabetes.  There are dozens of good websites and books for diabetes control and low carb living.  If you need help finding one, drop me an email and I will tell you about those that work for me.  OH, and, get started NOW for a longer life.

Respectfully

Dave

Make 100% sprouted wheat bread. That doesn't have any flour in it at all.

--Pamela

Like what flournwater has said......consult specialists.  Frankly, carbs are not the total enemy.  There are many good carbs that can still be included in even a diabetics diet, in the right proportions.  White potatoes and breads are not good choices, but whole grains and brown rice, and sweet potatoes can be included.

There are some Dr's who consider Atkins and South Beach and the glycemic diets as all fad diets.  While it is good to know about the glycemic index of foods, many nutritious foods are encouraged to be excluded, just because of their ratings. 

To the OP, why is yeast being encouraged to be excluded....what does yeast specifically have to do with her diabetes, other than the types of bread it may be in?  Also, what is "as low as a calorie count" supposed to mean?  Anything at or below 1200 cal should be monitored by a physician.