Hi Gwen58, try to think of it less as giving things up and more as simply a change of direction. Some of your habits will need to change certainly, but you will still have ample opportunity to spoil yourself e.g. butter, cream, cheese etc. For instance take a full English breakfast, pretty much the only off limit bits are baked beans, hash browns and toast, a normal low calorie diet is a lot more restricting than that! It all seems a bit daunting at first but eat to your meter, ask questions and above all nil desperandum, in no time you`ll be helping other newcomers and you will almost certainly know more about diabetes than your GP.