Milk craving!

Kristy.lw

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 2
I've always been allergic to full fat milk and spent my childhood in the 70's & 80's having to drink watery skimmed milk, then soya milk once it became easily avaliable. In more recent years skimmed milk has become much more palatable and is the only milk I now drink. I do like milk and often drink about 1 liter a day, but just lately I seem to be wanting to drink nothing else, am guzzling it down, going through a whole 2 liter bottle or more in 24 hours .Yesterday went through 3 liters between 9am - 10pm and today I've already drunk nearly 2 liters between 10am - 2pm!! Is this normal with type 2 or am I being abnormal with this? I know being thirsty and drinking lots is normal with high blood sugars, and usually I drink water, but this milk thing is getting out of control, please help!

Kirsty
 

SunnyExpat

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,230
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I've always been allergic to full fat milk and spent my childhood in the 70's & 80's having to drink watery skimmed milk, then soya milk once it became easily avaliable. In more recent years skimmed milk has become much more palatable and is the only milk I now drink. I do like milk and often drink about 1 liter a day, but just lately I seem to be wanting to drink nothing else, am guzzling it down, going through a whole 2 liter bottle or more in 24 hours .Yesterday went through 3 liters between 9am - 10pm and today I've already drunk nearly 2 liters between 10am - 2pm!! Is this normal with type 2 or am I being abnormal with this? I know being thirsty and drinking lots is normal with high blood sugars, and usually I drink water, but this milk thing is getting out of control, please help!

Kirsty

You are probably craving carbs.
There is about 100g of carbs in 2l of skimmed milk.

Your bg will be getting high.
So you will have to force yourself to stop, and drink water instead.
 

registerlady

Member
Messages
10
I've always been allergic to full fat milk and spent my childhood in the 70's & 80's having to drink watery skimmed milk, then soya milk once it became easily avaliable. In more recent years skimmed milk has become much more palatable and is the only milk I now drink. I do like milk and often drink about 1 liter a day, but just lately I seem to be wanting to drink nothing else, am guzzling it down, going through a whole 2 liter bottle or more in 24 hours .Yesterday went through 3 liters between 9am - 10pm and today I've already drunk nearly 2 liters between 10am - 2pm!! Is this normal with type 2 or am I being abnormal with this? I know being thirsty and drinking lots is normal with high blood sugars, and usually I drink water, but this milk thing is getting out of control, please help!

Kirsty
You could try replacing skimmed milk with lactose free milk, which has considerably less carbs in it than normal milk. That is what I have done and it tastes much the same as normal semi-skimmed milk but without the excess sugars.
 

Kristy.lw

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 2
You are probably craving carbs.
There is about 100g of carbs in 2l of skimmed milk.

Your bg will be getting high.
So you will have to force yourself to stop, and drink water instead.

Thank you for your quick reply. I've been careful with my diet for a few years now and have been trying to eat as healthily as possible, but have to admit I always go on calorie/fat content when judging what I should/shouldn't eat. I will have to do some research on what I should/shouldn't be eating as a diabetic not just as someone trying to lose weight and be healthy.
 

Kristy.lw

Newbie
Messages
3
Type of diabetes
Type 2
You could try replacing skimmed milk with lactose free milk, which has considerably less carbs in it than normal milk. That is what I have done and it tastes much the same as normal semi-skimmed milk but without the excess sugars.

Haven't tried that, will give it a go, thank you x
 

muzza3

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,789
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Cauliflower pretending to be rice and any vegetable pretending to be pasta
Hi and Welcome @Kristy.lw

I have tagged @daisy1 who will post you an info pack for newbies, Are you self-testing as I am wondering whether your levels y maybe high and causing the thirst?
 

SunnyExpat

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,230
Type of diabetes
Prefer not to say
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
You could try replacing skimmed milk with lactose free milk, which has considerably less carbs in it than normal milk. That is what I have done and it tastes much the same as normal semi-skimmed milk but without the excess sugars.

I just had a look at Aria, lactofree skimmed milk, still 72g of carbs in 2L.
Lactose free normally has an enzyme added, so the lactose breaks down into sugar, in the milk. So the carbs are still there. I don't believe anything is removed during the processing.
 

daisy1

Legend
Messages
26,457
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Cruelty towards animals.
@Kristy.lw

Hello Kristy and welcome to the forum :) Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Perhaps it will help you to cut down on the milk. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


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.