newbie breakfast

[centaur68]

hi, I got diagnosed type 2 fortnight ago, put on metformin 500 once a day, had really bad diarrhoea every day so today been given modified release. started looking at this site & forums for best thing for breakfast & seems to be conflicting advice so now very confused.. generally have low/no fat Greek yogurt with added fruit or shredded wheat with skimmed milk.. any help / advice gratefully received

 

[Japes]

hi, I got diagnosed type 2 fortnight ago, put on metformin 500 once a day, had really bad diarrhoea every day so today been given modified release. started looking at this site & forums for best thing for breakfast & seems to be conflicting advice so now very confused.. generally have low/no fat Greek yogurt with added fruit or shredded wheat with skimmed milk.. any help / advice gratefully received

Hello and welcome to the forum! I'll tag @daisy1 who gives an excellent basics post.

If you are thinking the LCHF (Low Carbs, High Fat) route is a good one, then the full fat Greek yogurt with berries is a good breakfast. Eggs and mushrooms are my treat days not got to rush off to work breakfast! (If I weren't vegetarian, I'd have bacon as well.)

A lot of us find breakfast cereals of any kind raise blood sugars alarmingly high and others find they can tolerate a small amount..

 

[centaur68]

hi Japes, thanks for your reply.. I've looked at LCHF or just low carbs. will have to read up more about it.. I see that quite a few recipies have cream which is no good for me as I've never been able to have it as it upsets my stomach too much.
I've been advised to do a one day DESMOND course? any good?

 

[leslie10152]

hi, I got diagnosed type 2 fortnight ago, put on metformin 500 once a day, had really bad diarrhoea every day so today been given modified release. started looking at this site & forums for best thing for breakfast & seems to be conflicting advice so now very confused.. generally have low/no fat Greek yogurt with added fruit or shredded wheat with skimmed milk.. any help / advice gratefully received

Welcome to the forum. Beware of cured products high in salt or nitrites or brine as they can dehydrate you and put stress on your kidneys. I have encountered this problem previously.

 

[Aginoth]

Personally I favour Porridge for breakfast.

I usually have approx 30g of Oats with 160ml of full fat milk and a little sweetener, works out at 22g carbs and around 200kcals and keeps me feeling full until lunchtime (usually eggs), so no morning snacking.

I limit myself to a total of 100g max carbs each day but most days don't get higher than 50g

 

[Japes]

hi Japes, thanks for your reply.. I've looked at LCHF or just low carbs. will have to read up more about it.. I see that quite a few recipies have cream which is no good for me as I've never been able to have it as it upsets my stomach too much.
I've been advised to do a one day DESMOND course? any good?

Personally, I didn't find my local equivalent any good as it was too late after diagnosis for me - I'd already worked out what worked best for me and in hindsight, I'd be much iller now if I followed the kind of food advice I could see they were going to be giving. (I left after half an hour.) and the potentially good stuff I'd already been given by my excellent diabetes nurse at my GP practice. Again, others have found it helpful.

We all work out for ourselves, in the end, what foods work best for us. With trials, errors (Oh my, are there plenty of those in my time!) and sheer "What the heck caused THAT rise..." (Stress, illness, exercise that's too strenuous, bad test strip, not enough sleep, over helpful liver, mis-timing metformin for a few days are all causes in my world) But, these days provided I stick to what I know works, there are few surprises - occasional boredom, but I'd rather that than the consequences of permanently high blood sugars or the roller coaster of spiking highs and crashing lows.

 

[daisy1]

@centaur68

Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. It will give you an idea of what you can eat, in addition to the good replies you have already had from members. Ask more questions when you need to and someone will 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 well over 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.

 

[Resurgam]

I hope that the SR Metformin works for you - I felt so ill on it I just gave up - it doesn't seem to have made any difference.
Many people who have returned to normal BG levels will tell you that the low fat diets heavy in carbohydrate are wrong for diabetics - I would say that they are wrong for most ordinary people.
The shredded wheat with skimmed milk is high carb, low fat with fruit is usually high sugar.
I have the ordinary Greek yoghurt and add desiccated coconut, still and leave for a few minutes before eating. I usually eat it as dessert.
Eating low carb is very effective in lowering BG levels for many type 2s.

 

[Kristin251]

I have avocado with raw veggies for bf

I I get my bf wrong ( spike) the whole day runs high. Avocado/ guacamole keeps me steadiest and full for hours. You don't need to have bf food for bf. Many eat leftovers from the night before.

 

[centaur68]

brilliant, thanks for that..
I got shredded wheat as I thought it would be good, high fibre & low sugar, now I find carbs are just as bad.. oh well, the kids will eat them..
I will look at omelettes or normal Greek yogurt instead.

 

[Bluetit1802]

hi, I got diagnosed type 2 fortnight ago, put on metformin 500 once a day, had really bad diarrhoea every day so today been given modified release. started looking at this site & forums for best thing for breakfast & seems to be conflicting advice so now very confused.. generally have low/no fat Greek yogurt with added fruit or shredded wheat with skimmed milk.. any help / advice gratefully received

If you want fruit, stick to berries - and only a few. (maybe 7 or 8 raspberries or 2 strawberries cut up) with a full fat plain yogurt. Shredded wheat are far to high in carbs and sugar, so best to avoid those and any other breakfast cereal no matter how healthy the packet says it is. It is not healthy for T2 diabetics. Please don't be afraid of ditching all your low fat products and buying the real thing. They are much better for you generally and better for your diabetes.

Eggs cooked any which way are a good breakfast, perhaps with mushrooms and a tomato and bacon, or a cheese omelette or similar.

I understand from your other thread you can't eat cream because it makes you ill, but are you OK with full fat yogurts? I use Fage Total, add a very few berries and some milled flaxseed for the fibre, but I can't eat this for breakfast. I tend to have it later in the day as a dessert. (All I have is a coffee with cream and that sees me through till lunch time.)

 

[Spiderjo]

I struggle a bit with breakfasts, after years of eating low fat to battle my weight. Found crumpets with butter don't spike my blood sugar, nor does 2 slices wholemeal bread. I know we're all different but even porridge and Weetabix cereals give high readings so I'm reluctantly having to give up on cereals. I'm not great at planning but I've found quite a few breakfast options you can make before, like mini frittatas so I'll be giving them a go. Weekends are my worst time, I just seem to have no energy, whatever I eat, does anyone have any tips to help with that?

 

[centaur68]

thanks for your help today everyone, learning has occurred !!!
will have to look at full fat ones, I know some full fat Greek yogurts have cream in so will check labels

 

[Ross.Walker]

Desmonds was worth it for me.

I have greek yogurt for breakfast with a few blueberries. If I am off to do a long walk/bike ride I will have wheatabix too. I only put in what I will use, low carbing is good but you do need some in your life so make them useful

Milk contains a lot of carbs, are you a black coffee person?