Weight Loss

Hello Jeni, we've talked about several different diet plans here, so you might want to look back through the old posts for tips and for what might work for you.  Are you taking any medication for diabetes?  Has the doctor discussed any plans with you for weight loss?  Most any weight loss plan would work if you adhere to it diligently and do regular exercise as part of the plan, too.  Many people with diabetes especially find that following a low carbohydrate way of eating brings blood sugar under better control and helps with weight loss, even more so when combined with daily exercise.  I hope this helps.

I don't know why Andrew hasn't been back to answer your questions.  I have no idea why you would eliminate coffee to lose weight.  As far as I know, coffee doesn't have any effect on weight unless you put sugar in it.  Some people don't like all the caffeine for other reasons.  (blood pressure?  heart rate?  poorly paid coffee farmers?)  For the fruit, dried or fresh, you're getting sugar.  It doesn't matter if it's natural sugar or not.  Fructose is sugar.  Eating a lot of fruit can raise your blood sugar.  (I'm presuming we're all dealing with blood sugar problems here, on meds or not.)  Some people don't like dried fruits because they believe they have chemicals added.  Otherwise, dried fruit along with nuts are a healthy and natural snack, good for energy if you don't have blood sugar problems or at least if you don't overdo it.  One "problem" with dried fruit is that you may eat more of it than if it were fresh.  Think of dried apricots.  You could easily eat 4 or 5 of them but you probably wouldn't eat 4 or 5 fresh apricots in one sitting.  Again, if you are a normal, fruit is fine for you.  If you have problems controlling blood sugar, fruit will raise it, which is why some of us who do eat fruit will eat some protein with a piece of fruit.  Think cheese and apple slices or peanut butter spread on apple slices.  Losing weight is another matter though.  Carbs in any form (the sugars and starches and grains) will help make you gain weight and keep it on.  This is true even for normals, and since carbs also raise blood sugar, many of us follow a low-carb eating plan.  Don't think you're missing vitamins or minerals if you don't eat grains.  If you're eating your vegetables as you should (as your mother always told you) you're getting all that as well as "roughage".  People on meds may not have to be as strict following a low-carb plan but since I don't take meds, I have to watch the carbs carefully.  Meats (and fish and chicken) do not raise the blood sugar significantly and are a good source of protein but if you're a vegetarian, you will not eat any of that.  Some people won't touch red meat for other reasons.  Maybe they believe it'll lead to heart attacks or cancer.  If we believe every single "study" in laboratory mice, we wouldn't eat any food at all!  We'd be chewing on tree bark maybe!   (lots of fiber there!)  Legumes have carbs but are usually slowly digested so they may fit nicely into a low-carb plan; the same for some dairy products.  It's even better to use whole milk rather than skim milk.  Having said all that, the bottom line is to test your blood sugar after eating to see what foods raise it - and this differs for different people, which is why we all have to figure out our own way of eating.    

Nope, no reason that I can think of to ban coffee, tea, or anything with caffeine provided it isn't accompanied by sugar. Many people do avoid it of course, but I don't think weight control is their motivation?
I think Lanie gets it right - there's no more sugar (fructose) in dried fruit than in fresh fruit, but it's a good deal more concentrated simply because the water has been removed and with it much of the fruits ability to fill us up. So we inevitably eat many more raisins, apricots, mangoes etc when dried than when in their natural state.
As for restricting red meats and dairy I see no need for that in order to lose weight, although people may have other issues here as you say metres. Indeed, I think very many people make the understandable mistake of choosing low-fat options in the belief that they will aid weight loss. Not only is this belief completely unproven, it's also quite illogical.
If it's weight loss you're after, I don't think there's any diet better suited to it than simply restricting or removing carbohydrates, pure and simple.

All the best,

fergusc