Hi all. New here, please bare with me.
At the moment I am a confused mess as to what sort of diet to follow. I'm a man who weighs about 125kg (19 1/2 stone) and am 54.
Bearing in mind at 34 I also weighed about this and have spent the last 20 years on and off trying every single diet under the sun, and while I can loose a stone or two very very quickly on almost any diet, I can put it back on extremely fast as soon as I stop following one.
I was diagnosed with Type 2 a couple of weeks before Christmas 2017 but also have numerous other health issues and haven't been able to work for a long time now. I take Metformin 3 times a day.
Some of these are CFS/ME, chronic back pain, sleep problems due to pain and depression, and any sort of stress physically exhausts me (part of my CFS/ME), plus a few other problems.
I'm also in a lot of debt (due to health issues) and get zero benefits (long story).
So the reality is, I can stick to any diet for a few days, then I get a letter/email from one of my many creditors or debt collection agency, by the time I sort that out, I'm so stressed and tired that I think "whats the point in living if I'm getting this **** every day and I cant enjoy myself, sod it" and eat stuff I shouldn't eat, and drink what I shouldn't drink, just as a way of coping.
That's the brief outline of my health.
A few weeks before I was diagnosed, he GP sent me to their in house dietitian who I was seeing every two weeks. SHe doesn't want me to follow any diet plan as such, just record what I eat, try to eat things that are low fat (green labels on food) and for instance suggested something like
Poridge for breakfast
Omlett of some kind made with 3 egg whites but only 1 yolk
Two potatoes that each fit in the palm of my hand, veg and whatever, but try to limit red meat to two or three times max a week.
And over time I lost 1/2 stone, put it back on, lost it again and now must have put it back on.
My GP sent me to a diabetic course called Desmond which I had in March, and while I found it interesting and useful, as far as diet goes, I'm not too sure.
Desmond told me to look at the Carbs on any item of food, divide that by 3, that roughly give the sugar carb amount, and keep the result under 70 a day
When I started doing this on the diet sheet my dietitian wanted me to fill out, she was totally confused, admitted she knows nothing about what Desmond teach, but also commented that instead of dividing the carbs by three and not exceeding 70, wouldn't it be easier to not divide and not go over 210.
I stopped going to her a couple of months ago due to me being really down and depressed, I could go back at any time, but I know she wont/doesn't understand/ doesn't agree with the diets I've been reading and watching about regarding Type 2, she is really friendly and supportive though..
I understand that Desmond is talking about the carbs turning into sugar, but it's still sort of confusing.
Desomnd say I can eat 70 carbs of sugar a day (210 total carbs in food divided by 3)
Looking at the internet, it appears 1 gram of sugar = 1 carb
It also appears 1 teaspoon of sugar = 4 grams of sugar (or 4 carbs)
So 70 divided by 4 mean s that according to Desomnd I can eat 17.5 teaspoons of sugar a day.
So I finish my second week at Desmond, get home, read the BBC news page and the first thing that catches my eye is an article that says a blueberry muffin contains 8 teaspoons of sugar when the recommended intake for adults is 7.
So BBC say 7 max, Desmond say 17.5, I realise Desmond are talking about carbs turning into sugar, but this and everything else doesn't help.
Now I come to diet.
My blood pressure is normally fine despite my weight.
Last time I had a check, HbA1c was 55, and my blood pressure was 135/72
I cant remember how much, but my liver levels were also raised
My Cholesterol is OK now but I am on tablets
I need to get into gear, take my diet seriously, and stick to it.
So I start hunting for advice. I watch the recent thing on the TV where they feed patients horrible looking shakes for 8 weeks and think NO
I read this forum and they seem to recommend a low carb diet (haven't yet worked out how low yours is compared to what Desmond told me).
While I appreciate people need to make a living and normally have no qualm about paying for things, I have zero money at the moment, cant even afford to pay creditors £1 a month token payment, so it's kind of annoying coming to a diabetes forum for support and having to pay to get access to the diet they are pushing (but do understand we cant expect people to work for nothing).
I also see on this forum, a lot of support for low carb high fat (a sort of Atkins?) diets.
One of the many problems I have with diets over the years is no matter how many people tell me once my pallet gets used to abc, I will stop craving for xyz, it simply isn't like that for me. I could follow a vegetarian diet for 3 years and would still dream of the day I can have a pork pie or chip shop fish and chips.
I like the taste of fatty food. A joint of meat cooked with no fat on is flavourless.
And I read one site that says I don't have to worry about cholesterol in egg yolks at the same time my dietitian is telling me to limit the yolks to 1 due to cholesterol.
Etc etc etc, I hope you can see why I'm a confused mess.
Part of me thinks low carb high fat will suit me very very well. But if I've already got a bit of a fatty liver (I think the GP mentioned fats) wouldn't that likely cause me more harm?
I also have to see my GP fairly regularly, she's going to moan at me not seeing their dietitian, neither will approve of low carb high fat, both go on about a balanced diet, plate split into veg, carbs etc.
Any ideas what I should try next as it's 8 months since I was diagnosed and I probably haven't lost an ounce?
Many thanks for your time.