The very first step in addressing or battling Type II diabetes is to increase exercise and love it.
It is more important to eat good food than not to eat bad. But by eating bad, you can disable your appetite and greatly affect eating good; therefore, the importance of not eating bad increases.
Do not overeat.
Do you suffer from asthma, chronic cough, lack of energy, constipation, dandruff, skin conditions, acne, joint pain and problems, inflammation? The list goes on, and often, any and all of these can be cured by the cessation of overeating. Been there myself and done that.
By the way, I cured a long-term chronic cough with carrot juice. Pure, raw, carrot juice. But that's not a basic.
If one eats only whole and wholesome food, especially fresh, one can hone one's appetite to tell one not only how much is too much but what one should eat at any given instant. The appetite tells you what you need - you do not need a chart. But only if your appetite is functioning normally and is not messed up from environmental influence and poor practice.
If you eat plain and natural, i.e., "whole foods," without excessive mixing and recipe, you will eventually discover an enjoyment of food previously unknown. You will relish a grape with far more intensity than you ever had in craving a Snicker bar.
If you eat a certain amount of sugar in your various dishes, that is how much sugar you will need. Cut back for a few days to a lesser amount, and your food will be as sweet as before, and now you need less sugar. Cut it out completely, and you can pretty much get along without it. Salt is the same way, if you want to cut back on it. Fat is also similar. But of course, natural sugars, salt and fat are essential in one's diet.
It is very hard not to be influenced greatly and to the point of defeat by adverse environment, which means living with people around who are eating cake and such. It is extremely easy to eat very well in a home or environment where everyone else is doing it. Seek such a situation, and good luck, but for most people, this is not to be. So you have to do your best to be strong and to remember that you are the one who has it good, you are the one who enjoys your food most.
I was once asked what I meant by the term I kept using, "empty calories." I was at a diabetes orientation. Some new diabetics really had no idea what specific foods were meant when they heard terms like this, and like "real food," or even "junk food." Basically, we mean food less processed, and food that is more by itself instead of part of an elaborate recipe. And the more fresh, the better. For example, my parents were known to set out a dinner that consisted of some boiled potatoes, with nothing on them but a little salt, and some raw carrots and turnips, and perhaps some boiled spinach. Ideally, I do not eat food that comes out of a bag, can, bottle or box.
You can really tell the difference in how you feel.....(perhaps I should reword that): I can really tell the difference in how I feel, whether I eat fresh whole wheat or oats I cooked myself, vs. any commercial cold cereal. Bread, same story. How I feel after a bowl (or extended period) of Wheaties is waaaaaaaaaaay different from how I feel after a bowl of boiled wheat, fresh bananas and fresh cream.
Speaking of bread in general, if you as a diabetic minimize or eliminate bread in your diet, and eat steamed and/or sprouted whole grains instead, you will have a much much easier time satisfying your hunger and controlling your sugar level. This includes any kind of homemade bread, but any store-bought bread, no matter what its ingredients, no matter whether it is whole-grain or white, or whether it contains HFCS or sugar, any store-bought bread will affect your overall sugars adversely and significantly, much worse than any homemade bread.
Still, when I am less diabetic than at other times, I eat the stuff. Everyone loves bread.
The longer you go, eating good (as outlined above), the less diabetic you will become. I have heard and sometimes believed that one can even go long enough to actually recover completely from the disease. I have perhaps come close to that at times, but never really all the way. You see, I live in an environment known as the United States of America.
Never try to get off medication just to become independent from it. Always use what will help you. Take good care of yourself to minimize the amount of meds you need, but the goal is to get what you need, not to "get off the meds."
I love vegetables and eat a lot of them. Raw and cooked. But fresh and plain. I eat raw collard greens. I eat them slow and they taste a lot better. Gross as it may sound to say, I slow-cook them in my mouth. If you ever want to win over the hungries and the munchies, try raw greens. Try vegetable sandwiches with mayo. Don't mess with the silly stuff Subway offers in the way of "vegetarian sandwiches." Make your own - they are so awesome. Subway does not have much of an offering in the way of vegetables and spices you could knock off your socks with. But what I started to say - I am not vegan. I personally have no use at all for vegan this or that, or vegetarian anything. It may be good for some, however. But you will rarely catch me eating any nitrate.
