Hi. I was told on Tuesday I am type 2. All the nurse said was cut carbs, join a diet club and watch the sugar intake. Then to come back in 3 months for another blood test. What's allowed in terms of carbs? Bought my own testing kit and I'm 9.8 4 hours after eating- guessing that's not good.
Newly diagnosed sketchy advice
- Thread starter imperp
- Start Date
Squire Fulwood
Expert
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- 6,107
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
No that's not good but look at what you ate and see if you can cut down on the item that raised your sugar so high. In the meantime @daisy1 has an info sheet for newbies. I have tagged her so she should be along when she sees it.
AM1874
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,383
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Not much
Hi @imperp .. and welcome
You have certainly made a good move coming here. Since joining this forum, the folks here have given me so much info, advice and support that I am now much more confident about the journey ahead. So ask your questions and be assured that you will receive the answers that you need. It can all seem uphill to start with but, in my experience, it gets easier .. very quickly.
You will come across a lot of conflicting and sometimes confusing information but the key point to take on board is that managing and controlling your diabetes through exercise, diet and testing your Blood Glucose seems to be the best way forward for many people. For me, committing to an LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) lifestyle and testing 3-5 times a day seems to be working and you'll find that there is a wealth of info, relevant advice and positive support about LCHF on the forum ..
I have tagged @daisy1 for you and I suggest that you read up on the Low Carb Program in the information that she will soon be sending you. You might also find the discussion on the Low Carb Diet forum helpful .. together with the following Diet Doctor websites, which will give you all the info that you need on what and what not to eat ...
Low Carb Intro and Information and Low Carbs in 60 Seconds
Your blood sugar reading of 9.8 is on the high side but the important thing is that you are testing and I'm sure that a diet and lifestyle change will soon bring your levels down. I recommend that you test before meals and then again two hours after you started to eat .. some folk also test one hour after eating and take a fasting blood glucose reading first thing in the morning. You will soon develop your own testing pattern which will enable you to monitor trends over time and to spot any foods that cause your blood sugar to "spike" or fall ouside the normal ranges. The ranges that you are looking for are ..
# Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
# 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
I've been testing 3-5 times a day since I was diagnosed in February, which means that I now know what my BG levels are .. and I can now manage them
Hope this helps
You have certainly made a good move coming here. Since joining this forum, the folks here have given me so much info, advice and support that I am now much more confident about the journey ahead. So ask your questions and be assured that you will receive the answers that you need. It can all seem uphill to start with but, in my experience, it gets easier .. very quickly.
You will come across a lot of conflicting and sometimes confusing information but the key point to take on board is that managing and controlling your diabetes through exercise, diet and testing your Blood Glucose seems to be the best way forward for many people. For me, committing to an LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) lifestyle and testing 3-5 times a day seems to be working and you'll find that there is a wealth of info, relevant advice and positive support about LCHF on the forum ..
I have tagged @daisy1 for you and I suggest that you read up on the Low Carb Program in the information that she will soon be sending you. You might also find the discussion on the Low Carb Diet forum helpful .. together with the following Diet Doctor websites, which will give you all the info that you need on what and what not to eat ...
Low Carb Intro and Information and Low Carbs in 60 Seconds
Your blood sugar reading of 9.8 is on the high side but the important thing is that you are testing and I'm sure that a diet and lifestyle change will soon bring your levels down. I recommend that you test before meals and then again two hours after you started to eat .. some folk also test one hour after eating and take a fasting blood glucose reading first thing in the morning. You will soon develop your own testing pattern which will enable you to monitor trends over time and to spot any foods that cause your blood sugar to "spike" or fall ouside the normal ranges. The ranges that you are looking for are ..
# Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
# 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
I've been testing 3-5 times a day since I was diagnosed in February, which means that I now know what my BG levels are .. and I can now manage them
Hope this helps
Bluetit1802
Legend
- Messages
- 25,216
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
Hi and welcome,
Good the nurse told you to cut carbs. Most say to eat them! Your nurse is right.
The worst carbs for raising blood sugars are bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereals and anything made with flour such as pastry, batter, sauces etc. Fruit is also difficult for us, especially fruit from hot countries such as bananas and grapes. Milk also contains carbs.
How many grams of carbs is personal. Hopefully your meter will tell you what your tolerance level is.
Test immediately before you eat
Test again 2 hours after first bite
Look at the rise from before to after and try to keep it under 2mmol/l (preferably less)
If more than that, there are too many carbs in that meal, which need to be reduced in portion size or eliminated.
Keep a detailed food diary including portion sizes
Record your levels alongside the food and look for patterns emerging.
This is called eating to your meter.
Once you are in the swing of things and fully understand the numbers, what they mean, and how our pancreas and liver work when we eat, it is also worth testing at other times, such as an hour or 2.5 hours or 3 hours after eating, first thing in the morning (fasting) and bedtime.
Ask any questions you like.
Good the nurse told you to cut carbs. Most say to eat them! Your nurse is right.
The worst carbs for raising blood sugars are bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereals and anything made with flour such as pastry, batter, sauces etc. Fruit is also difficult for us, especially fruit from hot countries such as bananas and grapes. Milk also contains carbs.
How many grams of carbs is personal. Hopefully your meter will tell you what your tolerance level is.
Test immediately before you eat
Test again 2 hours after first bite
Look at the rise from before to after and try to keep it under 2mmol/l (preferably less)
If more than that, there are too many carbs in that meal, which need to be reduced in portion size or eliminated.
Keep a detailed food diary including portion sizes
Record your levels alongside the food and look for patterns emerging.
This is called eating to your meter.
Once you are in the swing of things and fully understand the numbers, what they mean, and how our pancreas and liver work when we eat, it is also worth testing at other times, such as an hour or 2.5 hours or 3 hours after eating, first thing in the morning (fasting) and bedtime.
Ask any questions you like.
daisy1
Legend
- Messages
- 26,457
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Cruelty towards animals.
@imperp
Hello and welcome to the Forum
Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to 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 well over 250,000 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:
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
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 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.
Hello and welcome to the Forum
Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to 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 well over 250,000 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
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
- 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 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.
