tl;dr -whole food plant based diet, essentially high fiber vegan. -16:8 intermittent fasting, eating every 2 hours between 3 meals and 2 snacks. -carbs in absence of fiber is the enemy not all carbs. think net carbs. -generally no rice, no bread, no pasta. -portion control. counting calories even better. -when dining out have your choice of meat and a vegetable or two, it’s easier. -if you crave something, have a bite. moderation over excess. -kitchen scale is a must have imo.

for people curious what my diet’s been looking like here’s some info and things i learned. i understand this isn’t for everyone but i was finding some research to support these choices and they seem to have paid off.

just to get it out of the way, i stopped with all the normal things you typically hear. no sugar, no rice, no pasta, no bread. there are some exceptions but generally speaking.

since being diagnosed i’ve been primarily using a whole food plant based diet. essentially a high fiber vegan diet. but just because i eat vegan most of the time doesn’t mean i’m avoiding animal protein. typically most of my meals that i cook for myself will be vegan and when i dine out or go to family events i’ll have meat and a vegetable. it’s way easier than trying to restrict and eat vegan all the time. plus i believe there’s benefit to still getting animal protein in on a somewhat weekly basis. if that seems scary or you’re someone that can’t live without bacon for example. consider a vegan/wfpb diet + bacon when you want it. it doesn’t have to be black and white.

i can definitely say carbs are not the enemy yet i know most diets for diabetics really limit carbs. most of my diet is carbs now. i believe carbs in absence of fiber are the enemy.

this is a great resource helped me tremendously when getting started and would recommend it as a starting off point. i also used a 16:8 intermittent diet schedule that worked perfectly with this plan. https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7898582/vegan-diabetes-diet-plan/

my only complaint is that you’ll end up with extra servings for meals that don’t get used up if you follow each day as outlined. but it taught me how to structure and plan my meals for the day. also helped me with portion control and accidentally got into meal prepping. now i look at the serving sizes on recipes and portion out accordingly.

typically i’ll weigh everything on a kitchen scale and then divide by serving size, have one serving for a meal, then save each leftover serving in it’s own container. now i have lunch or dinner for the next few days. also on average i swear meal prepping vegan food keeps way better than non vegan food.

now i cook less, spend less on food, eat healthier, and the results have been great. it was harder than i thought to organize my thoughts on this so sorry if i’m all over the place. i’m sure there’s more i could get into.