Living seems to be bad for your health

[Morgawr2]

Hi all
Thought I'd better say hallo. My name is Paul and I live near Clouding over Penzance. I was diagnosed type 2 in December; I saw the doctor about my progressive Spondylosis and as I was leaving she said "by the way, the diabetes nurse wants to see you, it looks like your diabetic". Being a bit taken aback I just said"OK". I was put on Metformin and given a little booklet and told to behave myself. I got my average BG down to 5.4, but the Spondylosis means I am limited with walking and I do like a glass of wine and/or brandy but I read that red wine and spirits aren't so bad in moderation. That seems to be the watchword. The diabetes staff were helpful, but how do you know you're on the right path when you're told not to bother with testing?
I never really paid much attention to all the reports on different foods but now I pay a little more. So, coffee is bad for you, but we all knew that. Eat 'five a day' but fruit is bad for you, and it's bad for your teeth, but it's good for you. Some vegetables can good and bad for you. If you pay too much attention you would go mad.
The thing is, I feel that, being newly diagnosed, we should be given more help to get in control of our condition. I was offered eye screening, podiatry etc;an referral to dietician was offered four months later, I'm still waiting for the appointment. Surely an intensive course or something to give more guidance?
By the way, if the EU can campaign for standardised phone chargers etc, why not BG testing strips at a reasonable price?
I'll try to keep off the white chocolate chip cookies and the likes. Hard ain't it!

 

[Brunneria]

Hi and welcome!

Yes. To everything you have said. It is a problem for all type 2s when we are newly diagnosed.

Having hung around this forum for... er... a while now, I can tell you that if anyone comes and tells you that there is a solution, it's easy, and here is a one-size-fits-all solution, then they are wrong, and please ignore their advice!

The answer is to find out what works for you.
That starts with getting a test meter, a good stock of test strips (I recommend the SD Codefree as the cheapest) and then you work out what is best for you.

That will teach you what works for your blood glucose.

As for the rest, I just recommend that you read up on the latest dietary discussions. Advice on fats, saturated fats, cholesterol, salt, etc. are changing rapidly. But it is going to take a very long time before people overcome their ingrained knee-jerk reactions.

The more you read this forum, the more you will come across links (see my signature), books and links to studies and lectures that will show you the latest thinking, some of which will contrast with the (usually) simplistic and out dated advice offered by your doc and nurse.

Take it slowly, and give yourself time to adjust and absorb.

In the early days, using your meter to avoids foods and portion sizes that raise your blood glucose too high is enough. The rest can follow when you are ready.

 

[noblehead]

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum, I'll tag @daisy1 as she has some basic information that you should find useful.

 

[daisy1]

@Morgawr2

Hello Paul and welcome to the forum

To add to the good advice you have already received, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it helpful. Ask all the questions you like and someone will be able to help.


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 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

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

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

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.

 

[Daibell]

Hi and welcome. Yes, the food advice is all very confusing. My advice ref the NHS dietician is to let it wait and wait as their advice is usually the opposite of what diabetics need. Look around thise forum and you will find all the food advice you need. The main thing is to keep the carbs down and have proteins and fats as well as veg to keep you full. The carbs you do have are best low-GI with fibre. Fruit needs to be kept in proportion and avoid too many tropical fruits as they contain too much sugar; well fructose actually which we can all do without. Basically have a balanced diet but not the government Eat-Well Plate unbalanced one.

 

[dunelm]

Hi Paul. I'm pretty new to all this myself but am finding this website and forum extremely helpful. My local medics are very kind but I get the feeling that they are towing the line and some of their info at least seems out of date.
My brother in law is type 1 and when I was diagnosed he encouraged me to get a test kit so I shelled out and got one. It's invaluable. Rather than waiting 3 months for your next test on the NHS a test kit gives you excellent guidance in what goes on when you eat and what to avoid. You could be fine with oats for instance but the only way of knowing is by using a test kit.

My own simple first plan has been to ditch potatoes, rice, pasta and bread (other than my own home made low carb bread) but I am rewarding myself with fish and chips at the end of the month. I don't drink during the week and restrict myself to two beers at the weekend. I still have red wine and the odd scotch.

I have also found that if I drink 2 or 3 glasses of water first thing in the morning and then wait an hour before eating, I don't get hungry so much. I dropped 7kg in wt this month also (bonus).

Overall, and has been stated above, it's what works for you. A test kit is your best friend for getting to grips with your own blood glucose and keeping a diary is a good idea. I just use the one that came with my test kit and keep it simple but you could go daft and have a nice fancy excel spread sheet if that floats your boat.

Your next best friend, as I am finding out, is this great forum.

Good luck.

 

[SueB743]

Just wanted to say hi and welcome. Great advice on the site to guide you through and find the best path for you