hi all im on this for my 18 year old son as he still cant get his head round all of this , he was admitted to hospital nearly 3 weeks ago where they quickly told us he was type 1 , but because we didnt know all the signs his tiredness and vomiting on the sunday we thought was a result of going out for his 18th the day before , this caused further complications as he had a hole in his oesophagus (sorry for spelling) so after a week in icu then 2 weeks on a normal ward all nil by mouth he was eventually aloud home on a soft diet , me and his mum as parents are finding this so difficult as he on this soft diet for another 4 weeks ,but i suppose what we dont get the most is how many grams of sugar roughly should he be allowed a day every time i try and find this all it goes on about is carbs ,i might be being stupid but any advice would be much appreciated
18 year old newly diagnosed. Type 1
- Thread starter stavs
- Start Date
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- 5,186
- Type of diabetes
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- Insulin
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- Not being able to eat as many chocolate digestives as I used to.
Welcome to the forums @stavs ,
Sugar is a simple carbohydrate it turns to glucose easily in the body. There are also complex carbohydrates including pasta, rice, potato and bread, these also turn into glucose once inside the body but not at the same speed as sugar (white rice can be pretty quick though!)
That's why we urge people to look at the total carb content of food.
You and your son have to work out what the right intake level is for his needs as we are all different. The UK reference figure is 260g, I take about 120g and some people in this forum are below 50g. You can supplement his diet with increased intake of vegetables, protein and even natural fats.
Fat can slow down the ingestion of carbohydrate so you'd (usually) digest a cheese sandwich more slowly than say an egg sandwich.
Alternatively you can eat the usual carbs and take a lot of insulin to counteract it, but many of us find that moderating carbohydrate intake helps reduce glucose spikes.
Hope that helps a little.
Sugar is a simple carbohydrate it turns to glucose easily in the body. There are also complex carbohydrates including pasta, rice, potato and bread, these also turn into glucose once inside the body but not at the same speed as sugar (white rice can be pretty quick though!)
That's why we urge people to look at the total carb content of food.
You and your son have to work out what the right intake level is for his needs as we are all different. The UK reference figure is 260g, I take about 120g and some people in this forum are below 50g. You can supplement his diet with increased intake of vegetables, protein and even natural fats.
Fat can slow down the ingestion of carbohydrate so you'd (usually) digest a cheese sandwich more slowly than say an egg sandwich.
Alternatively you can eat the usual carbs and take a lot of insulin to counteract it, but many of us find that moderating carbohydrate intake helps reduce glucose spikes.
Hope that helps a little.
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- Messages
- 5,186
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- Not being able to eat as many chocolate digestives as I used to.
Probably @stavs , I didn;t have much of a clue before I found this forum either. 18 months on and I can reaonably estimate the carbs in a meal (and hence my insulin needs) by looking at it.
Ask any questions you need to ask - a lot of helpful people reside on these forums.
Ask any questions you need to ask - a lot of helpful people reside on these forums.
Last edited by a moderator:
Liam1955
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daisy1
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- Tablets (oral)
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@stavs
Hello Stavs and welcome to the forum
Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful for your son. In particular there is a lot of advice about carbs. Ask as many more questions as you want and someone will be able to help.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes
LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Hello Stavs and welcome to the forum
Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful for your son. In particular there is a lot of advice about carbs. Ask as many more questions as you want and someone will be able to help.BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS
Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.
A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.
On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.
The role of carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.
If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.
The bad news
Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.
The good news
People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.
Controlling your carbs
The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
- Reduce your carbohydrate intake
- Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.
The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.
Choosing better carbohydrates
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.
Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes
LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program
Eating what works for you
Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.
To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.
The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:
Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
- structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
- self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education
Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.
You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic
Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
