Grateful for the advice and support on this Forum

[AM1874]

Hi All,
Diagnosed T2 a couple of weeks ago and, like many others, I was shocked, worried and feeling lost. Very quickly, though, everybody on this forum have given me so much info, advice and support that I am now much more confident about the journey ahead .. and actually beginning to consider myself a bit of an "old hand". So to those in a similar position (thinking of @Ladyjan, @gothgirl and @joshandjess), I would say that, in my experience, it gets easier .. very quickly

Two other points .. first, how do folks monitor and record daily carb intake? Is there a standard method or some sort of chart or template available? I have created a monthly Monitoring Chart and a daily Carbohydrate Record as XL spreadsheets .. nothing fancy but they are easy to use and should keep me, the Doc and the Dietician up to date. I'll put screenshots on here if anybody is interested. Second, I have managed to access my med records on-line (not as difficult as I thought) so I now know my levels etc as at time of diagnosis .. hence signature now attached

 

[CherryAA]

Hi All,
Diagnosed T2 a couple of weeks ago and, like many others, I was shocked, worried and feeling lost. Very quickly, though, everybody on this forum have given me so much info, advice and support that I am now much more confident about the journey ahead .. and actually beginning to consider myself a bit of an "old hand". So to those in a similar position (thinking of @Ladyjan, @gothgirl and @joshandjess), I would say that, in my experience, it gets easier .. very quickly

Two other points .. first, how do folks monitor and record daily carb intake? Is there a standard method or some sort of chart or template available? I have created a monthly Monitoring Chart and a daily Carbohydrate Record as XL spreadsheets .. nothing fancy but they are easy to use and should keep me, the Doc and the Dietician up to date. I'll put screenshots on here if anybody is interested. Second, I have managed to access my med records on-line (not as difficult as I thought) so I now know my levels etc as at time of diagnosis .. hence signature now attached

I use cronometer to record my food intake. its very useful because it shows you ll nutrients and you can record your biometric data too, then look at charts over time so you can see correlations between what you ate and what happened . I've veen using if to 6 months now and have lost 25kg using it. The program is free on line

 

[Enclave]

I just used to write them down in a little book along with the meal it was in ... got the carb amounts on line supermarket shopping info ... I also add my bs numbers along side .. very low tec and very easy

 

[asparagusp]

https://cronometer.com

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hi All,
Diagnosed T2 a couple of weeks ago and, like many others, I was shocked, worried and feeling lost. Very quickly, though, everybody on this forum have given me so much info, advice and support that I am now much more confident about the journey ahead .. and actually beginning to consider myself a bit of an "old hand". So to those in a similar position (thinking of @Ladyjan, @gothgirl and @joshandjess), I would say that, in my experience, it gets easier .. very quickly

Two other points .. first, how do folks monitor and record daily carb intake? Is there a standard method or some sort of chart or template available? I have created a monthly Monitoring Chart and a daily Carbohydrate Record as XL spreadsheets .. nothing fancy but they are easy to use and should keep me, the Doc and the Dietician up to date. I'll put screenshots on here if anybody is interested. Second, I have managed to access my med records on-line (not as difficult as I thought) so I now know my levels etc as at time of diagnosis .. hence signature now attached

I also use an excel spreadsheet. There are on-line sites such as My Fitness Pal and Cronometer, but you have to be so careful with these. MFP relies on user-submitted information which is rarely accurate, and the Cronometer is American with American values, and as the American food labelling is different from ours it requires that you deduct the fibre from the carb amounts. In the UK the fibre has already been deducted.

I find it much easier just to work my own out, and on a spread sheet you can copy and paste when you repeat a meal, which we all do, don't we??

There is an excellent book called Carbs & Cals available from Amazon. It contains thousands of photos of ordinary every day foods served up o plates, with the weight of the food, plus carb, calorie, fat, fibre and protein amounts in that weight. I have had mine 3 years now and still use it. I also use on-line supermarket sites. The major supermarkets all list the nutrition values of the products they sell.

 

[AM1874]

Hi,
A perfect example of the info and advice that I am talking about. Many thanks, I will be following this up asap..

 

[DaftThoughts]

I used to always keep Excel sheets to track my values, carb intake, exercise and any notes about how I feel, what happened etc. that can influence my values. That worked super well for me. I was able to make graphs that show both my glucose readings and the amount of carbs I ate. I don't like very complex programs that require a lot of data so this was simple and to the point for me.

Once I changed my treatment from oral meds to going on insulin full time, I found the sheet to not meet my needs anymore and switched to the mySugr app. It's a lot more elaborate but I also have more data now, so it works out very well.

I do keep a food sheet that has the foods I eat the most of them. I enter the name of the food, the amount of carbs per 100g, the amounts of fibers per 100g, the serving size in grams, and then it calculates how many carbs are in that serving size. It works better than most databases out there for me!

My advice is to keep it as simple as possible. Diabetes management is already a very draining task by itself. Simplify where possible. If your sheets require very little energy to maintain and get the job done, then don't change anything about it. If your needs change, shop around for apps or websites that do what you need to get done if the sheets don't cut it.

 

[wiseowl_123]

first, how do folks monitor and record daily carb intake?

I to have had tremendous help and advice from this forum over the last 4 months, ,fortunately I just love all the real food I have discovered ie all fish,all above vegetables,raspberries,blueberries ,Lidl's rolls 9carbs porridge at 30g that I can get away with,I now know the carb content of all the food I eat,from memory,I have replaced bread with Lidl's rolls,use fresh raspberries instead of jam,replaced potatoes with cauliflower, I'm still looking for a recipe for apple pie

 

[carol43]

@wiseowl_123 How about this one:- http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2016/09/easy-rustic-apple-tart-keto-gluten-free.html

 

[CherryAA]

I also use an excel spreadsheet. There are on-line sites such as My Fitness Pal and Cronometer, but you have to be so careful with these. MFP relies on user-submitted information which is rarely accurate, and the Cronometer is American with American values, and as the American food labelling is different from ours it requires that you deduct the fibre from the carb amounts. In the UK the fibre has already been deducted.

I find it much easier just to work my own out, and on a spread sheet you can copy and paste when you repeat a meal, which we all do, don't we??

There is an excellent book called Carbs & Cals available from Amazon. It contains thousands of photos of ordinary every day foods served up o plates, with the weight of the food, plus carb, calorie, fat, fibre and protein amounts in that weight. I have had mine 3 years now and still use it. I also use on-line supermarket sites. The major supermarkets all list the nutrition values of the products they sell.

I find that very few "processed" foods meet my test in terms of what I want to eat now. Instead I want to create my own foodstuff using fresh ingredients. Chronometer is great for that , you can also easily copy and paste either individual items from day to day, or divide a recipe into "N" portions.
The vast majority of fresh foodstuffs available in cronometers you might need to look up the occasional equivalent eg zuccini = courgette or aubergine = eggplant. . Cronometer does display the gross and net of fibre carbs and the comparison to targets are shown net of carbs. It is also quite a motivator to help you ditch processed foods because the amount of data you get about your own creations is so much better than what is provided on the back of a packet.

In the end its a question of what interests you to find out!

 

[wiseowl_123]

Good evening @carol43 my friend fantastic recipe many thanks for your kind and friendly post it is very much appreciated,I have 3 apple trees ,I shall get the ingredients tomorrow and then I shall give it a go,enjoy your evening

 

[miahara]

Hi,
A perfect example of the info and advice that I am talking about. Many thanks, I will be following this up asap..

If you are used to using Excel, the Compostion of Foods Integrated Dataset might be of use or interest. It contains a wealth of nutritional info on about 3000 foods. If you can import the data to MS Access or other database it makes looking up and/or comparing foods a breeze.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/composition-of-foods-integrated-dataset-cofid

Dave

 

[Freema]

I use an APP on my iPhone called "lifesum" which both keeps track of my calories in total and my carbs and proteins..

it has made my life somuch easier... I do recomend it to everyone.., it also can scan in foods by scanning the barcode from the supermarket...