"Hello everyone" from a doctor with early Type 2 diabetes

[beardie]

what is your opinion on t2 diet?

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hello and welcome.

You say you are and "early" type 2, but what do you consider "early"? Can you tell us what your A1c was? Good to see you bought a glucose monitor. Does your Practice prescribe them for your type 2 patients not on insulin?

 

[Enclave]

Where can we see your art work ?

 

[Fishtoo]

Where can we see your art work ?

www.hilaryweeks.co.nz do you paint?

 

[Fishtoo]

Hello and welcome.

You say you are and "early" type 2, but what do you consider "early"? Can you tell us what your A1c was? Good to see you bought a glucose monitor. Does your Practice prescribe them for your type 2 patients not on insulin?

Hello and welcome.

You say you are and "early" type 2, but what do you consider "early"? Can you tell us what your A1c was? Good to see you bought a glucose monitor. Does your Practice prescribe them for your type 2 patients not on insulin?

Good question! A1c was 40.....upper limit of "normal" here......labs can vary I gather....yes we prescribe glucometers to anyone interested....not everybody likes self-testing, I have really done it for myself out of interest...have not had BS higher than 8.9 since testing but fasting BS a bit high varies between 6.4 and 7.1...unless I go for a walk first!

 

[Fishtoo]

what is your opinion on t2 diet?

To be honest, have never heard of it and will research!

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

To be honest, have never heard of it and will research!

I think the question could be rephrased as: "What is your opinion on what a type 2 diabetic's diet should be?"

 

[Fishtoo]

The main thing for me would be to take off some weight...ie lower my BMI....and that I have struggled to do for the past 55 years...was only fine when I was running marathons and triathlons...so at the moment I need to do more aerobic exercise and build up some muscle mass again...ie back to the gym!
It is quite amazing how even a short walk with the dog will lower the BS...one of the things I have confirmed with the glucometer.
So I think weight loss and exercise is more important than reducing sugar and high glycaemic carbs, and increasing protein in the diet, but reducing the BMI is probably the most difficult thing to do without a complete change in lifestyle....and the fall in BMI should not be due to loss of muscle mass, but loss of fat!
You have done really well with your BMI and reducing your A1c

 

[Fishtoo]

Hi and welcome to the forums ..

Hi there, thank you for your welcome...I thought i had replied but don't know where it went...have not grasped how the replies work here yet, may have to wait until more awake tomorrow )

 

[Fishtoo]

Hi nice to meet you ...
Retired I hope ? You are are aren't you....otherwise you have done more than your duty to,the nhs ...
Look forward to,chatting to,you here.....

Your hobbies sound interesting ....look forward to,you sharing more ....Kat

No not retired, still enjoy working in a public hospital..... not in NHS but in New Zealand......so won't have much time for this forum, shame as it is friendly!

 

[Fishtoo]

Hi doc, welcome aboard hope things go well for you & pass info learned on to others.

Thanks Paul...I still love learning and have always thought that anybody with a chronic illness would become more expert than me with their knowledge, especially now that we can google everything and have forums like this....self management is the answer in most chronic problems.....

 

[Fishtoo]

Goodness working as a GP at 78 .....I really thought there was a cut off point ..., you sound like you have lots of energy....how do you manage that ...that is great though ..tc ..Kat

Hi Kat..I'm working in community medicine in a hospital now, not in general practice...but yes, have always had plenty of energy thanks to my genes, being born the happy type and having lots of interests is also a help, cat, dog and a vege garden, piano and art lessons etc...exercise and a reasonable diet apart from my previous sugar addicton ! )

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

The main thing for me would be to take off some weight...ie lower my BMI....and that I have struggled to do for the past 55 years...was only fine when I was running marathons and triathlons...so at the moment I need to do more aerobic exercise and build up some muscle mass again...ie back to the gym!
It is quite amazing how even a short walk with the dog will lower the BS...one of the things I have confirmed with the glucometer.
So I think weight loss and exercise is more important than reducing sugar and high glycaemic carbs, and increasing protein in the diet, but reducing the BMI is probably the most difficult thing to do without a complete change in lifestyle....and the fall in BMI should not be due to loss of muscle mass, but loss of fat!
You have done really well with your BMI and reducing your A1c

Thanks. So what will possibly surprise you is that I am on a low carb high fat diet (LCHF). It's around 2300 calories a day, but by energy its 60% fat, 30% protein and 10% carbs. Saturated fat is about 60 g per day. carbs about 60 g a day as well. I'm losing about 1 lb per week.

Many of us here on the forum have found a LCHF diet results in weight loss and blood glucose control. The low carb intake also keeps the blood glucose under control. And cholesterol? My numbers are the best they've been in my life. A low carb high fat diet will dramatically lower plasma triglycerides. It can also lower total cholesterol, raise HDL and lower LDL - at least it did for me. My blood pressure is also lower, probably from the weight loss.

What many of us have discovered is that the official government advice to eat the same diet that is recommended for healthy people doesn't work for us type 2 diabetics as we can't process all the carbs. To me, it makes no sense for a type 2 diabetic to eat the same way as someone with a healthy pancreas and no insulin resistance. A blood glucose meter very quickly showed me that too much carbs in a meal shot my blood glucose way too high.

So does such a low carb diet mean I'm tired and lethargic? No, quite the opposite. I feel great. I can run 10K now - farther than I have been able to in 25 years.

 

[Andy12345]

www.hilaryweeks.co.nz do you paint?

Brilliant!

 

[kimbo1962]

Hello - and welcome to this busy, informative, supportive and friendly forum! I was diagnosed in July this year and only because of what I have learnt on the forum have I been able to reduce from hba1c of 61 to 38 (non diabetic level here) and lose 3st 3lbs in 18 weeks! Lchf is so easy and I feel great!!

 

[Fishtoo]

Thanks. So what will possibly surprise you is that I am on a low carb high fat diet (LCHF). It's around 2300 calories a day, but by energy its 60% fat, 30% protein and 10% carbs. Saturated fat is about 60 g per day. carbs about 60 g a day as well. I'm losing about 1 lb per week.

Many of us here on the forum have found a LCHF diet results in weight loss and blood glucose control. The low carb intake also keeps the blood glucose under control. And cholesterol? My numbers are the best they've been in my life. A low carb high fat diet will dramatically lower plasma triglycerides. It can also lower total cholesterol, raise HDL and lower LDL - at least it did for me. My blood pressure is also lower, probably from the weight loss.

What many of us have discovered is that the official government advice to eat the same diet that is recommended for healthy people doesn't work for us type 2 diabetics as we can't process all the carbs. To me, it makes no sense for a type 2 diabetic to eat the same way as someone with a healthy pancreas and no insulin resistance. A blood glucose meter very quickly showed me that too much carbs in a meal shot my blood glucose way too high.

So does such a low carb diet mean I'm tired and lethargic? No, quite the opposite. I feel great. I can run 10K now - farther than I have been able to in 25 years.

No, not at all surprised! and Yes, I know that diet works well for many people, when often all else has failed......

but it is not one I personally could tolerate, mainly because I love my veges,... and apart from avocados don't particularly like fat....eggs and cheese OK in moderation,,.(.had to eat all the fat on the meat,bacon etc at boarding school...yuck!!) I believe one can be in the state of ketosis, if the diet is followed strictly but am not an expert...happy for others to follow whatever diet they have found to be successful.....and for them to spread the news to others so that they can try it..

Just worried when children are put on some adults food plan's at a young age......but enough said...on a forum like this I expect there will be plenty of members to extol the virtues of their diet! ( prefer the term "eating plan" )

Did you know that there are at least 25.000 books on diet and the failure rate to maintain loss in weight for more than 3 years is still extremely high...but gastric banding, or suchlike, does have a good success rate for the very overweight.
So the real difficulty is finding an eating plan one can stick to for life, not just a year or three...life style change is probably the best answer.....IF one can stick to that! lol

 

[Fishtoo]

Hello - and welcome to this busy, informative, supportive and friendly forum! I was diagnosed in July this year and only because of what I have learnt on the forum have I been able to reduce from hba1c of 61 to 38 (non diabetic level here) and lose 3st 3lbs in 18 weeks! Lchf is so easy and I feel great!!

Well done on your weight loss Kimbo, and the resulting normalisation of A1c , but my advice would be to change other factors in your life apart from the diet alone as I have said above.....statistics show that very few can maintain the initial weight loss for life without lifestyle changes as well

 

[kimbo1962]

Well done on your weight loss Kimbo, and the resulting normalisation of A1c , but my advice would be to change other factors in your life apart from the diet alone as I have said above.....statistics show that very few can maintain the initial weight loss for life without lifestyle changes as well

Oh this is most certainly still a work in progress and a change of lifestyle for the rest of my life! Love the results and feeling of more vitality

 

[Squire Fulwood]

There is another GP on this board who ran a trial using 18 of his patients. He put them on a diet learned from here and other places. He published his findings and you may/may not be interested in his paper.

Update march 24/03/2014; find the full article free to view here;

http://www.practicaldiabetes.com/SpringboardWebApp/userfiles/espdi/file/March 2014/PP Unwin final proofs revised.pdf

 

[janewatt]

It is quite amazing how even a short walk with the dog will lower the BS...one of the things I have confirmed with the glucometer.

Yes. My agreement is reinforced by doing the Big Blue Test.
This is extended for a week and I'd urge people to take part for the sake of the cause and for their own motivation to do more (even mild) exercise.
Jane.