Megan, I think one thing i've learned about blood sugar is that some types of foods are always better.
Avoiding sugars, breads, high carb stuff like potatoes....is just basic. I'm doing a plan called fat flush but it relies on the principles of low glycemic foods to manage the sugar loads and therefore hormones and the body's ability to process the nutrition, while not elevating the bodies insulin. Long and short is that it is higher protein, lots of variety of veggies and fruits, low fat, but high GLA, CLA, and oils like borage and flax seed oil. Avoiding specific things initially (beans, peas, even tomatoes for some people) till your liver and kidneys get back in order after being on all the sugars for a long period is optimal.
The problem you speak of about blandness can be offset by sauces and spices that are thermogenic or good for you (cinnamon, cloves, cayanne, cumin, coriander, garlic, peppers, etc.) and lowering salts (because salts may it easier for your body to retain fluid and harder for your liver and kidneys to work well, but keeping other helpful spices (onion, garlic, etc.). For example, i love to splash a little Frank's hot sauce both when i cook and sometimes afterwards. it spices up the taste but is a thermogenic (elevating metabolism). I don't go overboard, i get bored too, but find if i shop frequently and experiment it works for me. But if you stick to it (more than 10 days) your body might recalibrate what it craves.
I have been cooking with broths instead of oil. I have a Barleans Oil that i use instead of olive or butter and use it mostly on salads but if i feel like i want to feel fuller I also put it on fresh fruit and then slash the fruit with the oil and cinnamon or ground cloves. Borage oil can't be used in cooking (ie. to keep foods from sticking), but only a thing to put on afterwards (it looses its properties to help the body attract fats to be flushed out in the urine or bowels - sorry to be graphic).
It is hard to eat this way not because it tastes bad but because of the food we've become used too (lots of salt and artificial things which mask food's flavors). Additionally, 3 smaller meals and 2 or 3 snacks during the day which fit the plan of low glycemic should also help. I personally like Ann Louise Gettleman's Fat Flush (about the only thing i can sustain). I have also tried Paleo and a lot of people really love eating this way. Recently i have found edamame pasta which allows me to have pasta like textures but it is almost half protein rather than all carbs like traditional pastas and doesn't elevate insulin like traditional pasta.
Getting back to the point, i wonder if you've given yourself enough variety and if you've just tried some experimentation with cooking. Do you have a good local health food store? It might also be that you've not yet explored the variety of veggies (greens especially paired with other types of steamed veggies and proteins). And, expanding your palette of proteins may be in order (or even the routine ways you cook them). Anyway, very longwinded but i hope you stay with it longer and don't get discouraged. it might be worthwhile to see if your local hospitals have a cooking class for diabetics or people looking to change their lifestyles. I used to check out the magazine rack at the book stores usually there are one or two focused on low-glycemic eating with lots of ideas and pictures.
I don't specifically have "recipes" that i follow, but principles and I tend to have full freezer and crisper drawer to work from. I do remember doing a lot of "magazine reading on cooking" when i had to start eating like a pre-diabetic person. I also did a lot of reading on supplements to help my body heal (i.e. Milk thistle, and some of the supplements i mentioned)......That's it, all the tips I got. 🙂
Keep in touch. jk
