Hi everyone I went to Dr two weeks ago and he tested my urine then did a finger prick test and said it was 16.1 he said that it was likely I had type 2 diabetes but wanted to do more blood test. Result give by nurse type 2 diabetes count of 50 (no idea what this means) I said I did not want medication as I am only 42 and don't want to be on medication for the rest of my life. she gave my a booklet and put a request in for a diabetic course and told me to come back in 3 months for more blood tests. She did tell me that I will end up type 1 as I get older. I have look a lot on here and most people say get a meter and test your blood but what sort of meter and can anyone recommend a good book to help me. Thanks
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- Thread starter Dilly40
- Start Date
adrian207
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- Type of diabetes
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- Diet only
Hi Dilly40 and welcome to the site. You are in the right place let me tell you and will get all the help you need.
I was diagnosed in November last year and came straight here. I have learnt a lot, not everything far from it but enough for me to be able to keep my Blood Sugar down to a satisfactory level.
1) Firstly you need to get yourself a Blood Sugar / Glucose meter. They normally come with about 10 test strips and 10 Lancets (finger pricking needles). You will need to monitor yourself before breakfast and then 2 hrs after your first bite, before dinner and 2 hrs after first bite and again before tea and 2 hrs after the first bite. The reason for this is you are testing different foods that you eat to see if they raise your sugar levels too high (spiking). Here's an over the top example................I test before breakfast and get a reading of 5.2, I then eat a full bar of chocolate for my breakfast (now don't forget this is an example only) and then test 2 hrs later. My reading would probably be in the 10 - 12 range, much too high. So the moral of that little example is DON'T have chocolate for breakfast and I found that out by testing.
Keep a record of your test results and what you ate then you can look back at these to see what was a good food and what not so good.
2) Stay away from and I'm sorry to tell you......................bread, potatoes, pasta, and rice, all of which contain loads of carbohydrates that when digested turn straight to sugar, which we don't want. You will need to replace these things with plenty of vegetables, not root vegetables (grown underground) but above ground vegetables.
In some cases stay away from porridge as well as this can spike your blood levels. However, try it one morning and test the result you may be someone that can get away with it. Trial and error.
3) When shopping for food, read the nutritional values on the reverse of most packets and look for the carbohydrate values. Most of us try to stay under the 5g per 100g as a rule but sometimes (in my case) it might be 6-10 g per 100g which I can cope with but will look into reducing my carb intake with the next meal to compensate. Another culprit is the simple cereal, cornflakes, weetabix etc all have sugars...............check a box if you have one.
Anyway that's a start for you. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and someone will be along to answer them. In the mean time, have a good look around the site and different forums, and you will probably find some of the answers if not all to your questions.
Adrian
I was diagnosed in November last year and came straight here. I have learnt a lot, not everything far from it but enough for me to be able to keep my Blood Sugar down to a satisfactory level.
1) Firstly you need to get yourself a Blood Sugar / Glucose meter. They normally come with about 10 test strips and 10 Lancets (finger pricking needles). You will need to monitor yourself before breakfast and then 2 hrs after your first bite, before dinner and 2 hrs after first bite and again before tea and 2 hrs after the first bite. The reason for this is you are testing different foods that you eat to see if they raise your sugar levels too high (spiking). Here's an over the top example................I test before breakfast and get a reading of 5.2, I then eat a full bar of chocolate for my breakfast (now don't forget this is an example only) and then test 2 hrs later. My reading would probably be in the 10 - 12 range, much too high. So the moral of that little example is DON'T have chocolate for breakfast and I found that out by testing.
Keep a record of your test results and what you ate then you can look back at these to see what was a good food and what not so good.
2) Stay away from and I'm sorry to tell you......................bread, potatoes, pasta, and rice, all of which contain loads of carbohydrates that when digested turn straight to sugar, which we don't want. You will need to replace these things with plenty of vegetables, not root vegetables (grown underground) but above ground vegetables.
In some cases stay away from porridge as well as this can spike your blood levels. However, try it one morning and test the result you may be someone that can get away with it. Trial and error.
3) When shopping for food, read the nutritional values on the reverse of most packets and look for the carbohydrate values. Most of us try to stay under the 5g per 100g as a rule but sometimes (in my case) it might be 6-10 g per 100g which I can cope with but will look into reducing my carb intake with the next meal to compensate. Another culprit is the simple cereal, cornflakes, weetabix etc all have sugars...............check a box if you have one.
Anyway that's a start for you. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and someone will be along to answer them. In the mean time, have a good look around the site and different forums, and you will probably find some of the answers if not all to your questions.
Adrian
If you are diagnosed as a Type2 then that will not mean that you end up as a Type1. Sometimes Type2s use insulin but that does not change their status.
@daisy1 has some basic advice for you and she will be along soon.
You need a meter and a food diary. Nobody can tell you what you can and cannot eat, there is no blueprint and your uniqueness, take that as a compliment, means that your reactions to foods may be different than others.
Bread, pasta,rice,potatoes, cereals are the main foods that you may have trouble with. A smaller portion than usual may give you good results or you may find that you have to give up some or all of these foods.
Some people find that they have to limit their carbohydrates to a low level. some find they can get away with more. You will eventually find your own level that keeps your blood sugars in check and also satisfies your hunger.
Plenty to learn, plenty of advice here and remember it is a marathon and not a sprint.
Keep asking questions if you do not understand something and we will do our best to help.
daisy1
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- 26,457
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
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- Cruelty towards animals.
Hello @Dilly40 and welcome to the forum 
I am pleased to see that you have received so much good information already from members who are always ready to help. Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like and you will get plenty of replies.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS
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 130,000 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
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.
I am pleased to see that you have received so much good information already from members who are always ready to help. Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like and you will get plenty of replies.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS
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 130,000 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
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.
Hi and welocme. Your nurse is wrong to say you will become T1 as you age. Assuming you are a T2 thru being a bit overweight then with the right diet and possibly some tablets if needed then your diabetes won't progress. It is possible that one day you will move to insulin but with the right diet that is not likely. If you are currently not overweight then there is a small background possibilty of you being a Late onset T1 (LADA) already which would mean insulin in the longer-term but this diagnosis is the exception. There are some tests for this if needed.
Clivethedrive
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,996
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Jogging
Hi dilly 40, welcome to the forum, may i sugest jenny rhuls diet 101 or dr r. Bernstein's diabetes explained 4 th edition both are excellent
