# Smoked meats and Diabetics Please HELP



## sprky

Hi all;
I’m hoping someone out there can help us out here. Wife just recently learned she is diabetic and must take insulin daily. The dietician told her to stay away from smoked meats. We asked why and she didn’t have the answer, it was just on the avoid list.
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






 We are hoping this is incorrect as we love smoked meats. Normally id be smoking every weekend, but haven’t lately due to this advice, and I’m going through withdraws…
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





.lol. I have some smoked meat in freezer, but not a lot, that I take to work, but that’s not going to last long. I don’t want to smoke more if she can’t have it as it will drive her nuts while I’m smoking.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





 SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP US OUT ON THIS GOOD BAD OR OTHERWISE. THANKS


----------



## ronp

http://www.ehow.com/way_5289576_diet...y-failure.html

I think the misconception of all smoked foods are loaded with fat may be it. Not sure though. Pork loins and chicken and some beef should be fine I would think.


----------



## gunner69

I think alot of it has to do with the sauces generally applied because alot of them contain large amounts of sugar as do most of the rubs... That and the salt content is VERY high on stuff Like Tony's Creole etc.. both things are huge no no's to diabetics...


----------



## ronp

Good point there.


----------



## DanMcG

Never heard that before Sprky, Salt is not an issue for a diabetic, at least not anymore then for the average Joe. If I had to guess the dietitians reasoning I'd say it was the sugar or carb's you get in the sauces, which will raise your blood sugar level. And the fat and calories not because it will effect your blood sugar but diabetes is more controllable if you can lower your weight. I'd get another opinion...from her doctor. and please let us know your findings.


----------



## fritz

Does she have type 1 or type 2? I have type one and I use an insulin pump. I have no problems eating Q.






















'


----------



## pops6927

I am diabetic and there are simple things you can do.  Make your own sausages so you can greatly reduce the fat content.  Make buckboard bacon instead of buying regular bacon, much leaner, and use Splenda[emoji]174[/emoji] instead of sugar in the cure.  Do without the BBQ sauces or make your own with Splenda[emoji]174[/emoji] instead, same way with rubs and substitute instead of sugar (you won't get the carmelization but it's better for you).  Smoke leaner cuts of meat and discard the skin on poultry.  Make a concientious effort to reduce sugars and fats and use low salt substitutes and you'll do fine; that's why I don't use TenderQuik as it's higher salt than I want and I can control the salt content using DQ cure and my own salt added instead.


----------



## alblancher

I agree with all previous posts.  I would like to add that moderation is important in controlling diabetes.  Most Type IIs are the result of bad diets over the years and an emphasis is placed on weight loss.  

No way of cooking is prohibited.  Smoking adds great flavor with no extra fats or calories.  After cooking remove all visible fat from your wife's portion.  Be creative in your cooking.  Keep portions reasonable.

Look at your wife's disease as an opportunity to relearn how to cook.  Learn and appreciate new flavors.  Smoked vegetables with a light brush of herb infused olive oil is a great food to "fill up on" while dining on well trimmed brisket or home made sausage.  Sugar based sauces are a staple in our hobby but this is an opportunity to learn about natural fruit based marinades and sauces.  Fresh peaches, blackberries, blueberries, citrus added to a tomato or vinegar based sauce with a bit of no-calorie sweetener add a depth of flavor and complexity.

Your wife will learn to eat a lot of salad.  Use smoked chicken, cheese or bits of smoked fish to add flavor to these salads.

Learn about the glycemic index.  Combining low index foods with high index foods lowers the rate of absorption of the sugars provided by the high index foods.  This produces a moderate plateau effect of blood sugar levels instead of the dramatic spikes found when eating high index foods by themselves.

The most important thing about controlling diabetes is dedication to a life style that to most of us find different from the way we spent most of our lives.  Exercise, portion control, attention to food selection and medication are the key to control.

Look at this as an opportunity to experiment with new flavors and techiques.


----------



## Dutch

sprky,

I too have Type II and as has been mentioned in some of the posts above-moderation is the key. Like Pops said, make the switch to Splenda and reduce the salts used. Somewhere in the Rubs section I have a rub recipe that calls for unsweetened kool-aid.

And remember, you don't have to stick to the fattier meats for smoking. Lately I've been smoking more beef chuck roasts, chicken and salmon using only olive oil, salt and pepper.

When I was first diagnosed as Type II 12 years ago, my A1c was 12.9. My last 4 A1c levels have been 6.0 or lower (last check up it was 5.7) So if I can control my numbers and still bbq, life is good.


----------



## nwdave

Excellent advice to live by.


----------



## werdwolf

Wow, great info above.

As a doc and someone who has bad insulin resistance (read as pre diabetes), I turned to making my own sausage and smoking meats.

The low glycemic concept is what you are really aiming for.

If your stuck on something PM me.


----------



## chisoxjim

stay away from HFCS(high fructose corn syrup) loaded sauces and marinades like Yoshidas & other sickly sweet storebought stuff. .


----------



## DanMcG

NO NO say it ain't so.... no Yoshidas.






 sorry Ron I had to do it. 

I've been holding my own with type 2 for maybe 10 years now. my doc says to cut way down on the white food, taters rice pasta and breads... and he also mentioned something about beer but I have selective hearing.


----------



## chisoxjim

didnt mean to single out that stuff,  any of the mass produced, highly processed,  sauces/marinades loaded with hfcs arn't good for you your sugar level, or salt intake.


----------



## jaso

I work with a guy who is diabetic and he says meats are fine .....I agree with try to avoid fatty ones and sweet sauces and it should be ok.  Just have your wife watch her numbers after a meal to be safe.


----------



## doctor phreak

everyone here has great advice ..but the key elements are excersise , portion control , and medicine if needed.....i am diabetic and i keep my BG levels under 140 pretty much 99% of the time...my problem is the insulin resistence is high so i take juaniva once a day to slow my pancreas down
the real thing you need to look at is the carbs in , you can have anything you want but how much of it depends on your levels....and of course you do have to look at the calories and fat as well.....good luck


----------



## hounds51

Listen I am a Diabetic! I've been one since 1976. I currently use an insulin pump (thank god for the pump) Believe me you can drive yourself nuts worring about all the things to eat or not to eat. I think good judgement is the key. I count my carbs and pump up to my calculations. I don't even think about it anymore. I am 58 yrs old, and watch my salt intake and my fat intake to a point, but you gotta live happy also. I would suggest you check into some diabetic counciling, perhaps at your local medical center.
Just a thought!!!


----------



## shooterrick

I to am type 2 non insulin dependent.  I take 2 diabetic meds twice a day.  As others have said moderation is the key.  I watch my sugar and carbs but when I Q I won't give up flavor to the desease.  If I smoke a brisket much of it is frozen for later meals if done for just the wife and I.  It is much about portions and carbs and a treat now and then if not to often helps the soul.


----------



## chefrob

FWIW - my rub has no sugar and is low in salt but it is full of flavor!

http://smokingmeatforums.com/forums/...ad.php?t=85410


----------



## justsmoke2

Type 2 here myself.  when I went to my first dietician I was mainly doing summer sausage and jerky at that time.  Her advice was I could have a 4 ozs of the meat if I kept the sausage 80% no lower.  Then jerky is almost all lean meat if your doing it yourself.  
Shooter I was on medication avandia.  I am now diabled from the medication which has destroyed 70% of my heart.  So if you taking it which is a good med watch and get your heart looked at.  After going into a coma from a normal procedure my reg doc said if he knew then what he knows now he would have asked to have my heart checks done.  I know this off thread here but just wanted to make yous aware of what can happen.  On the other hand I get to park in the blue spots now legally. lol


----------



## sprky

She is a type 2


----------



## hounds51

I have been a type I diabetic since 1976, and believe me being type I is no fun. One thing I have to give myself credit for is that I am in fairly good shape for a guy that smokes 2 packs a day, and drinks 1 case of Coors light a week. I was running 2 Bloodhounds 5 days a week, up till about 9 years ago. Getting too old for that now. So now I walk about 10 miles a day. Too old to run with the hounds.


----------



## striper

Lots of good advice here.  I'd like to suggest that you check out a program called "Protein Power Life Plan" by Micheal R. Eads.  Him and his wife also have a book out called "The Low Carb Comfort Food Cookbook"  which has some fantastic low carb recipes.  I have no connection with the Eads and no Dog in this hunt either.  I will say I have been somewhat following the plan since last October and have lost almost 20 pounds, but more important my Doctor has also let me quit taking the Blood Pressure  medication I had been on for 15+ years.  Gotta be something in reducing the Carb intake that works.


----------



## DanMcG

Thanks for the info Striper, I'll check it out.


----------



## athabaskar

With a good moderate diet and a fair amount of exercise you can reverse that type 2. You can smoke turkey, salmon, veggies, and yes, even lean pork until the diabetes is under control. Then you can start back on the brisket, ribs, and the like - in moderation. It was the overconsumption and laziness that got us into the situation. Behavior control and exercise will bring you back. When I started on the Nintendo wii Fit, it would tell me every day after weighing in "that's obese". Not a nice thing to hear every day. For the better part of a year it said "that's overweight". Today it said "that's normal". I'm keeping it that way.


----------



## DanMcG

It can also be heredity.


----------



## s2k9k

This is an old thread but would like to see if anyone has anything new to say about this?


----------



## kathrynn

Me too Dave!!!!


----------



## rustybeast

I'm Type 2 and well controlled with Metformin (last A1C was 4.7).  Smoked meat is perfect.  You don't have to eat zero carbs, just test using your meter and stay below 140 (7.8 for us Canucks).  If you eat low carb, a bit more fat doesn't hurt, and if you avoid prepared foods and all their extra salt, a bit of salt in your smoked meat is fine.


----------



## diggingdogfarm

This sort of thing gets discussed on the diabetes forums very frequently.
Dietitians say lots of things, usually inline with ADA recommendations or the status quo in general.
Many diabetics, myself including have found that such advice is very bad and some of us do MUCH better on low carb and reasonable amounts of good fats.
I eat all the smoked meat that I want and more! :biggrin:

*Keep in mind that MOST dietitians shun smoked meat in general, not just for diabetics!!!!!!*

I discuss the diet I'm on in the following threads.......

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/126121/high-fat-diet

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/141465/give-up-bacon

HTH

~Martin


----------



## s2k9k

Thanks Rusty and Martin! I appreciate the info and am going t read your links Martin!


----------



## kathrynn

Thanks guys. My Mom is type 2.

Kat


----------



## raastros2

my grandad and nana both just remove all fats from smoked meats from their bbq....lean brisket, no skin on chicken and use the breasts, pork loin instead of shoulder


----------



## raastros2

also now use very lean ground beef


----------



## little smokey

Here is a recipe for BBQ sauce made with agave nectar which has a lower GI so its better than sugar.  Agave nectar tends to be sweeter than sugar so account for that, this should still be used sparingly for a diabetic but its an option if BBQ sauce is a must.
http://


*BBQ Sauce*  
  *Ingredients*  

4 c. tomatoe sauce 
½ c. grapefruit juice 
½ c. Agave Nectar 
½ c. Worchestershire sauce 
1 med. onion, chopped fine 
5 cloves garlic, chopped fine 
1 med. green pepper, chopped fine 
1 med. red pepper, chopped fine 
2 med. jalipenos, chopped fine 
½ Tbs finely ground red chilis 
1 Tbs butter 
Salt & pepper, to taste*Method*  
Combine all ingredients in sauce pan
Simmer for 1 hour or unti desired thickness


----------



## nursewizzle

I would recommend a LOW carb, MEDIUM protein, HIGH fat diet to control the diabetes.


----------



## rogerwilco

I have found many good sugar-free recipes in the book Paleo Grilling, by John Whalen. The Paleo crowd seems to remove most of the same things a diabetic should avoid from a diet.


----------



## retfr8flyr

My wife was diagnosed type 2 several years ago and she controls it very well with diet and Metformin. The key for type 2 is counting your carbs. It's not the sugar, or the fat, it's the carbs that effect your body's insulin production, sure sugar is bad for you but it's the carbs in sugar that do the hurting. She loves all the great smoked food from the grill and I cook without using a lot of sugar in the rubs, or the BBQ sauce. As has been stated moderation, exercise and a low carb eating plan will keep your diabetes in check.


----------



## spice maker

hey bud hows it going well i got good news and i got bad news well the good news is me and the wife are making rubs and spices made for diabetics bad news is we live in canada and we are just starting out and are just in the process of building  the company so when we get it going i will get back to you for sure! we are going to have bbq spices and all types of spice that are good for diabetics no salt or sugar but taste great also so once we have the company up and running we'll advertise online for sure


----------



## stickyfingers

sprky said:


> Hi all;
> I’m hoping someone out there can help us out here. Wife just recently learned she is diabetic and must take insulin daily. The dietician told her to stay away from smoked meats. We asked why and she didn’t have the answer, it was just on the avoid list.:confused:  We are hoping this is incorrect as we love smoked meats. Normally id be smoking every weekend, but haven’t lately due to this advice, and I’m going through withdraws…:PDT_Armataz_01_36: .lol. I have some smoked meat in freezer, but not a lot, that I take to work, but that’s not going to last long. I don’t want to smoke more if she can’t have it as it will drive her nuts while I’m smoking.:icon_cry:  SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP US OUT ON THIS GOOD BAD OR OTHERWISE. THANKS



Great advice!


----------



## stickyfingers

alblancher said:


> I agree with all previous posts. I would like to add that moderation is important in controlling diabetes. Most Type IIs are the result of bad diets over the years and an emphasis is placed on weight loss.
> 
> 
> No way of cooking is prohibited. Smoking adds great flavor with no extra fats or calories. After cooking remove all visible fat from your wife's portion. Be creative in your cooking. Keep portions reasonable.
> 
> 
> Look at your wife's disease as an opportunity to relearn how to cook. Learn and appreciate new flavors. Smoked vegetables with a light brush of herb infused olive oil is a great food to "fill up on" while dining on well trimmed brisket or home made sausage. Sugar based sauces are a staple in our hobby but this is an opportunity to learn about natural fruit based marinades and sauces. Fresh peaches, blackberries, blueberries, citrus added to a tomato or vinegar based sauce with a bit of no-calorie sweetener add a depth of flavor and complexity.
> 
> 
> Your wife will learn to eat a lot of salad. Use smoked chicken, cheese or bits of smoked fish to add flavor to these salads.
> 
> 
> Learn about the glycemic index. Combining low index foods with high index foods lowers the rate of absorption of the sugars provided by the high index foods. This produces a moderate plateau effect of blood sugar levels instead of the dramatic spikes found when eating high index foods by themselves.
> 
> 
> The most important thing about controlling diabetes is dedication to a life style that to most of us find different from the way we spent most of our lives. Exercise, portion control, attention to food selection and medication are the key to control.
> 
> 
> Look at this as an opportunity to experiment with new flavors and techiques.



Great advice!


----------



## nursewizzle

Carbs are the key here. Not fat. Not smoked meats.


----------

