Mayo Clinic Diabetes Diet

  • Anyone on the plan? Looked at the plan, etc? I'm on day 6 and so far it's been very easy to follow. I'd love to discuss.

    Ellen
  • I don't know anything about the Mayo Clinic diet, but my husband is following Neal Barnard's plan after watching a dvd from the library. It's basically a VERY low fat diet, minimizing white potatoes and meat, and increasing plant based foods. Both his glucose and cholestrol have dropped dramatically and he is decreasing his meds. And he's dropped 13 lbs and counting. His doctor says he going to use him as his "poster model." What is the Mayo Plan?
  • Basically, for the first two weeks they encourage a pretty stringent plan so you can drop weight quickly. No sugar, primarily vegetables (min 4 svgs/day) and FRUIT (3 svgs/day) which is awesome, some carbs (only whole grains) and tiny bits of lean protein (4 oz/day), fats and dairy. Exercise a minimum of 60 minutes per day, no dining out, log your food/exercise, don't eat in front of the TV, only snack on fruit and veggies. Portions are not weighed or measured (with the exception of carbs, protein, fats, and dairy), eat breakfast daily. Some of these are optional or "extra credit" but I haven't had a problem with any of them thus far, although I'm only on day six.

    After the first two weeks, portion sizes and servings are more closely monitored and sweets are allowed in minimal amount (I think 75 cal/day). There is a book available along with a journal to log your food and activity.

    I can't seem to find a whole lot of discussion going on about this diet but my experience so far is that just by allowing the fruit as a snack, I haven't faltered at all. That was huge for me when since when I was counting carbs and reached my daily food allowance and was still hungry, I'd cheat. A lot.

    The plan is really quite sensible really. My goal is to reduce A1C, cholesterol and triglycerides and hopefully this will work. I'm also hoping to lose about 40# to get back to my fighting weight (which I haven't seen since the 80's :-)
  • Awesome....it sounds like a great plan. Walking is so much more important than we realized....we don't do it everyday, but at least several times a week. My husbands A1C dropped from the 9 to 10 range to 7.2 in just a few months. (I forget the exact numbers). Now he's saying, "Why didn't I do this sooner?" You will see a huge change in your numbers. We are doing basically the same thing as you except we cut the dairy and meat, too. Eating way more veggies and legumes than before. His downfall is snacking on nuts! His goal is to be off all his meds by the end of the year (diabetes and cholestrol). Glad you found a plan that works for you. I hope more people discover these easy plans for reducing/eliminating diabetes and cholestrol meds. Good luck to you. Come back and share your A1C number in a few months.
  • A little late to the party here, but wanted to add that I just read the Kindle version of this book. Lots of great info, and keeping true to Mayo Clinic standards, the advice and recommendations are reasonable, doable, and very, very healthful. Also offers emotional guidance as well as practical tips.
  • I just found this website, and by chance I have also just gotten the Mayo Clinic Diabetes diet book, and I ordered the journal, which has arrived and I will pick it up tomorrow. I am using this to primarily to lose weight, my blood sugar numbers are not too bad (A1C is 6.7) and random sugar testing hovers around 100. But, I really do need to lose about 100 lbs. Maybe then I can get off the meds (metformin and glipizide). I also am dealing with hypertension, which I also hope to help with this. So, good luck to us. I would really like to chat with the others about this.
  • Anyone tried Dr. Bernistein diet? People are raving about it and gives good results.
  • Chikittita, those of us who are diabetic have enough problems without the injections that are given on the Dr B Diet. Non of us should try extreme diets without supervision of our endocrinologist.
  • Hi,

    I have the original mayo clinic diet journal and wonder if anyone can tell me what the diabetic journal has in it so I could modify mine. I was sent the incorrect journal and shipping makes returning it not an option.
    Thanks
    Sheridan