Hungry Diabetic Men on Insulin - What to do?

[texastigerlily]

DH is on insulin, metaformin, and glipizade. He can eat a full meal (meat and vegys), and still feel hungry, and not just a little hungry, viciously hungry. Unfortunately when he feels this way, he will go off the wagon and eat things that he shouldn't eat. We are eating very healthy - protein, healthy fats, and low GI vegetables. I am full and he is starving. When I try something with measured carbs he over eats it (like the night we tried Dreamfields pasta). What can we do to get his hunger under control? He thinks the insulin makes him hungry.

[shunsweets]

Both insulin and glipizide can cause hunger. I remember reading on BS101 that hunger(when one has had enough to eat) is a symptom of rapidly changing blood sugar levels. Sounds like his meds may need to be adjusted. Metformin often helps with quieting down the appetite for some people. Fiber and fat also slow down digestion and keep the blood sugar a bit more stable. Sounds like you're doing the proper diet. Don't have an answer but wanted let you know you're not alone. Diabetes sure can be frustrating trying to balance all the variables.

[BillB]

Originally Posted by texastigerlily

DH is on insulin, metaformin, and glipizade. He can eat a full meal (meat and vegys), and still feel hungry, and not just a little hungry, viciously hungry. Unfortunately when he feels this way, he will go off the wagon and eat things that he shouldn't eat. We are eating very healthy - protein, healthy fats, and low GI vegetables. I am full and he is starving. When I try something with measured carbs he over eats it (like the night we tried Dreamfields pasta). What can we do to get his hunger under control? He thinks the insulin makes him hungry.

My dad does this and we can do nothing to stop him.

--bill

[CookinsForMe]

Since both of those can cause hunger, he probably does feel hungry. Shunsweets is right that adjustment of them might help. However, its also possible that the hunger is habit or mainly in his head. Regardless, the real problem is that he doesn't make good food choices when he gets that way. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot you can do other than make healthy foods available to him and NOT make the others available. If he eats things he shouldn't when he's out or away from you there's not much you can do. He's an adult and will eat what he chooses.

My husband does similar things. He snacks on peanut butter toast, brownies from the convenience store, etc. I gave up trying to stop him, although I really want to yell at him and shake him when he does those things. It's hard, I know!

[LoraJR72]

Originally Posted by BillB

My dad does this and we can do nothing to stop him.

--bill

So does mine. I am seeing him today and I told him we are going out to eat. He said he wanted KFC or MacDonalds.

[BillB]

Last night, less than an hour after dinner (and dessert, I might add), dad was eating those cheese/peanut butter crackers. He commented to me that they were "low carb". I don't try to argue with him any more, because he knows everything. I later looked at the wrapper: 23 carbs, pretty much all bad carbs. Today, less than an hour after breakfast, he was eating hard candy, pure sugar.

It's painful to see.

--bill

[shunsweets]

My Mom is 88. She was diagnosed type 2 in her 50's. Back then I guess they didn't try for tight control, nor did she make any attempt to change her diet. Like others have said she craved sweets, was constantly hungry, and never tested her BS. She was overweight and out of shape and the sweetest, kindest, most intelligent woman I have ever met. She now has dementia and severe heart disease and has to live in a nursing home. Dr says it's all from vascular damage from years of elevated BS.

She didn't know any better, but we do. Stick with diets/meds/exercise/stress management everybody and keep those BS as near normal as you can safely get them.

[texastigerlily]

Last night I made an experiment. I blended cream cheese w/whipping cream and a pkg. of Jay Robb Strawberry Egg Protein powder. I dipped out about 1/3 c each, added a few strawberries, and a dollop of cool whip. DH said this was very filling and he didn't feel hungry. This morning we had eggs and bacon for breakfast. He was still hungry, so he ate a small portion of the dessert. It did the trick. Perhaps I'm onto something...

[BillB]

Tigerlily,

I think you are doing great things. Have you tried telling your DH that you need him to stay healthy so you can enjoy your lives together? If you have to get "tough" you can show him some pictures of "diabetic foot"--just google that. Those pictures can scare and/or inspire anyone.

Really, even if you do everything you can possibly do, unless your DH changes his mindset, he will not change his behavior. My dad (who is also going through early stages of dementia) will sneak and eat the worst possible things in the house. And if there is nothing bad enough in the house, he will sneak out in a car and buy something. That is even more terrifying.

Keep doing all the right things, and learning as you are. It does pay off.

--bill

[amphigory]

Originally Posted by texastigerlily

DH is on insulin, metaformin, and glipizade. He can eat a full meal (meat and vegys), and still feel hungry, and not just a little hungry, viciously hungry. Unfortunately when he feels this way, he will go off the wagon and eat things that he shouldn't eat. We are eating very healthy - protein, healthy fats, and low GI vegetables. I am full and he is starving. When I try something with measured carbs he over eats it (like the night we tried Dreamfields pasta). What can we do to get his hunger under control? He thinks the insulin makes him hungry.

I'm assuming he's type 2 since he's on Metformin.

It's very possible that he's on too much insulin to eat a low-carb diet. Every responsible LC book warns that diabetics on Insulin have to reduce their insulin dose when reducing carbs--my guess that he probably really IS that hungry. Your best bet (assuming that circumstances allow) is probably to get in touch with a well-informed endocrinologist who knows the benefits of LC diets for diabetics and step his carb levels down to a level where his hunger goes down.

My sister is a type 1 diabetic, and what she did is set a target insulin level (based on a calculator derived from her lean body mass) then ate carbs to match. But she did this with guidance from an endo.