Diabetic Diet & Blood Gluecose

I am going today to visit my Grandmother who was on life support and not expected to live.By the grace of God,after all of this and in a bed for 5 months,she is now in rehab learning to walk again:)
She says the food is awful!!!!!
She is on a soft diet and is diabetic.I want to whip her up something easy and soft that I can help feed to her.Any suggestions?Thanks!

I like Tabea’s idea of a cheesecake. You can even make a "no-bake" one using cream cheese and gelatin.

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/its_a_snap_cheesecake.html

What’s great about this recipe is that there’s so much potential. You could put a few berries on a slice or spread a little sugar-free jelly over the top of the cake. The author of the recipe suggested using coffee in place of some of the water, which I think is a great idea. You could also shave bits of low-carb chocolate (like Lindt 85%) on top.

I make cheesecake crusts out of pecan flour and softened butter, which is basically just finely ground unsalted pecans in a food processor blender. When baked, the texture is not very crunchy, so your grandmother may be able to eat that. I think the safest choice, though, is to go with a crustless.

You can also make a crustless quiche:

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/broccoli_quiche.html

I eat these every week. They’re very good and very soft.

My brother has diabetes 1 and he tells me sugar will help him get his sugar level back up when it is too low. The problem is he also has some liver damage. I told him I think fruit juice may be better than cake and chocolate bars.So what should he take when his blood sugar level is too low and would honey be a good thing for him.

Milk. It will raise the blood sugar enough without spiking it like fruit juices do.

Besides the above answer, which has good, sound advice, you can also eat trail mix as a snack

or do i have to buy one? what are some good cases? please send links!

Yes, it comes with a case.

http://relion.com/contact/diabetes_products.asp

What symptoms result when people are unable to regulate blood glucose? (besides possible diabetes)?

Somatostatin—inhibit glucagon release
epinephrine and thyroxine—increase glucosal release from glycogen

Symptoms: blood dips, which can result in paleness, sweating, fatigue, feeling cold

Why does blood glucose level fall after eating a meal? Is it due to the dietary glucose stimulating the release of insulin?

yup..due to homeostasis the increase in blood glucose concentration causes the secretion of the hormone insulin from the islets of langerhans in the pancreas..the latter is released in the blood..the blood transports it to the liver where the excess glucose is converted into glycogen 4 storage..

i just learned that by the age of 50-60, 50% of my generation is expected to have diabetes, knowing this i think that a diabetic cook books might be a good preventive measure. is it?

I second what Tabea said. Most diabetic cookbooks are a joke with a scattering of useful recipes, but sadly many diabetics rely on them far too much. Diabetic recipes tend to push the low-fat mantra because diabetes is strongly associated with elevated lipids and heart disease, but there’s not a lot of science to back up that natural, healthy fats are any more likely to cause heart disease than foods low in fat. And what we do know is that persistently high blood sugar due to diabetes can absolutely cause heart disease. The way to combat high blood sugar is to restrict carbohydrates, especially high-glycemic carbohydrates, like wheat, rice, corn, and potatoes. Fat does not elevate blood sugar and in fact helps keep blood sugar stable. Protein is very blood sugar friendly, too. Non-starchy vegetables are excellent for blood sugar control, as long as they are eaten in moderation.

There’s no harm in adopting a true diabetic diet. It’d probably be much healthier than the average American diet. There’s no guarantee you won’t get diabetes, though. If you have a genetic tendency, then it may just be unavoidable. This diet could help you lose weight, if that’s a goal, and reduce how much insulin your body has to make. There is a theory that insulin resistance, which causes higher insulin levels, stresses and then overtaxes the pancreas, destroying the pancreas’ ability to make enough insulin. A lower-carbohydrate diet requires less insulin because, without a lot of carbs, there’s less glucose in the blood.

How starches carbohydrates etc. should a diabetic get each day if you are a normal body weight and running blood sugars in the 200′s while on glucophage 500? Doctor wants me to see dietician but don’t have money right now.
So if someone could give me an idea of the average of what a 150 pound adult should get and amount of calories should eat? at least to get me started?

You’re really going to need to experiment, as your weight really doesn’t tell us anything about how well you can control your blood sugar, but I’d start with 100-150 grams of carbohydrates per day and go downward if your blood sugar levels don’t drop. I eat 30 grams or under per day because I find that I can reduce spikes and stay <100 mg/dL 99% of the time by doing this. This is fairly extreme for most diabetics, though, which is why I recommend you begin at higher number of carbohydrates and reduce as needed. You’re on a small dose of Metformin and Metformin is one of those diabetic drugs that really only works with accompanying changes in diet, so you will have to limit carbohydrates.

As for calories, I don’t know how tall you are or what sex you are, so I can’t estimate, but most healthy weight adults eat anywhere between 1500-2000 calories a day. Calories aren’t the most important aspect of diet to measure, though. Calories don’t raise blood sugar. You would only watch calories if you were trying to maintain a certain weight. Otherwise, to bring down blood sugar, you need to focus more on carbohydrates.

Also, as you diet, you’ll learn that not all carbohydrates are created equal. You may eat 20 grams in nuts and non-starchy vegetables and 20 grams in bread with wildly different numbers afterward.

The pancreas pretty much does as it’s instructed to do. It’s rarely dysfunctional except in the case of pancreatitis or type 1diabetes. In the case of hypoglycemia (too little blood sugar) the pancreas is putting out too much insulin. In the case of hyperglycemia, it’s not putting out enough insulin or the cells are resistant to the insulin. But in each case, it’s not the fault of the pancreas. It’s just not getting the right instructions.

The pancreas is involved but in particular the Islet of Langerhans cells within the pancreas. There are different types of cells within these Islets. The different types of cells produce different hormones including insulin, somatostatin, amylin, glucagon and Ghrelin. The hormones involved with glucose homeostatis are Insulin and Glucagon. Insulin causes cells in the liver to uptake glucose out of the blood stream and store it as Glycogen. Glucagon has the opposite to Insulin. So if someone if having a hypoglycaemic attack, an immediate injection of Glucagon causes the Liver’s Stores of glucose to be released and help return the blood glucose levels to normal. However, after this someone should be given a sugary snack to replace these lost glucose stores.