How many times has this happened to you?
I recently attended a party where a relative asked me for nutritional guidance. Alarmed, she told me that her husband’s doctor informed him that his blood glucose level was “borderline” and he needed to “watch what he ate.” Between sipping Merlot and inconspicuously struggling to remove the stubborn piece of cracker from between my teeth, I thought about my “carbohydrate elevator speech” – Yes, the one that we face at least once in a lifetime.
“Watch what you eat”
My relative’s husband confesses that he has too much sugar with his coffee. He translated his doctor’s advice, “watch what you eat” into using Splenda® instead of sugar. His conviction clearly indicated that he had found the solution to the problem. His wife was not convinced that just switching from sugar to Splenda® encompassed the advice “watch what you eat.” She also mentioned that he should stop eating bagels. I babbled something about carbohydrate turning into glucose which was immediately counteracted with “We don’t eat carbohydrates in the house. He buys bagels when he is at work.” I could not imagine a kitchen bare of cereal, corn, rice, breads or fruits. The words “watch what you eat” are so abstract that they will morph into the listener’s food interpretations.
The Atkins Advocate
Another relative, an avid Atkins fan, quickly enumerated all of the foods he was not supposed to eat or her interpretation of foods he should be watching out for. She listed rice, bagel, potato, and otmeal. “Oh no!” his wife exclaimed, “Oatmeal too? I thought oatmeal was healthy.” Her expression, akin to discovering that there is no Santa Claus, propelled me to do a quick carbohydrate and nutrition intervention. So here it is,
The Nutrition Elevator Speech for People with Diabetes
Preemptive carbohydrate strategy
I first tell them, “Foods with carbohydrate impact blood glucose levels the most.” To prevent the proverbial “so I cannot eat foods with carbohydrate?” I use the preemptive statement, “You can still eat foods with carbohydrate. However, because your body cannot process too many carbs, you will have to budget the carbohydrates that you eat. ”
Tell them which foods have carbohydrate
“Let me help you identify some foods that have carbohydrate. Remember, you are going to budget carbohydrates not go into carbohydrate bankruptcy.” I ask, “Could you name some of your favorite breakfast foods?” I then proceed to identify those that contain carbohydrate and reinforce portion budgeting. WARNING: Asking a person to name his favorite breakfast foods will immediately transform him into a nutrition virtuoso. You will seldom hear foods such as bacon, sausage, pancake, etc.
One last CARBOHYDRATE tip
The carbohydrate preemptive statement must also include the following, “Even high quality foods such as brown rice, oatmeal, or whole wheat pasta contain carbohydrate. High quality foods are not carbohydrate exempt. You will still have to budget high quality carbohydrate foods.”
Wow! That was a long elevator ride 🙂
