Joining the roller coaster ride of Type 2 Diabetes

[jamavon]

Hi,
I always knew that I would probably be likely to become a diabetic as it runs in my family, Mum is diabetic and my grandmother was too. At the beginning of the year I was at my heaviest 74.5kg and 157cm tall. I decided to start exercising and eating well to lose the weight. So it was a bit of a shock after 'starting a health kick' to find that I fell into the category of being a Type 2 diabetic recently. I am now down to 64kg , but my waist measurement is still 89cm...so a bit more to go. I excercise 4-5 times a week in the morning. I am pretty exhausted working and exercising but know I will feel better when I get my weight down and fitness up.

My Hbac1? is 44 / 6.2 , fasting 7.1 . I did the glucose intolerance test and was really sick with levels at 14 after 2 hours. So my glucose intolerance plus fasting level put me in the diabetic range. I have been told to control through diet and exercise, so no meds at moment.

I have been sick lately with laryngitis for last couple of days and have just started testing my blood sugars myself. This was a bit confrontational as I have readings from 6.5 - 10 depending on time and what I have eaten.

Questions:
If I am sick will my blood glucose levels be raised?
Does diabetes make you feel tired even at my relatively lowish levels?
Does diabetes affect your immune system, I seem to be getting more sick lately?
The Doctor says low GI diet....the rest of the world seems to say low carb???

I plan to start testing my levels more after I get better to see the affect of food on my blood glucose levels.

 

[Mike d]

Answers

Yes
Yes
Yes
No (me being polite but that advice is way off)

What does your diet consist of?

 

[jamavon]

Answers

Yes
Yes
Yes
No (me being polite but that advice is way off)

What does your diet consist of?

Ok, thanks...was not sure if it was all in my head because I was feeling sorry for myself lol! Some people have said " oh well, you're not on medication so you must be ok ".
Time to take care of myself.

Breakfast
Eggs, bacon on 1 toast
Wheatbix or porridge......wheatbix is suspect now as it caused me to get to 10 after 2 hours
Smoothie - Greek Yogurt, water, half banana and raspberries

Lunch
Sandwhich low gi bread or salad and protein, vegetable and chicken soup

Dinner
I have cut out potatoes, pasta and rice now so mainly protein and salad or vegies like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots etc

But I am in sweet heaven mourning and still sneaking in the odd maccas meal, biscuits and sugar free ice cream. When I get over this illness will start testing my blood glucose, this may be the shock I need. A bit depressing to think I need to be super vigilant about what I eat and how I exercise for the rest of my life, but I know it will benefit me in so many ways.

 

[Rachox]

Hi and welcome.
As this is your first post I’ll tag in @daisy1 for her useful info post.
Just a quick look through your diet, a few things jump out as high carb: toast, Weetabix, porridge, banana, you’ll see when you start methodical testing that these foods might not be good for you.
Sweet treats I enjoy without ruining my low carb approach are sugar free jelly with cream, berries and Greek yoghurt or cream, nuts (ok not really sweet but very satisfying as a snack) plus if you Google low carb cakes and biscuits there are loads of recipes out there.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Ok, thanks...was not sure if it was all in my head because I was feeling sorry for myself lol! Some people have said " oh well, you're not on medication so you must be ok ".
Time to take care of myself.

Breakfast
Eggs, bacon on 1 toast
Wheatbix or porridge......wheatbix is suspect now as it caused me to get to 10 after 2 hours
Smoothie - Greek Yogurt, water, half banana and raspberries

Lunch
Sandwhich low gi bread or salad and protein, vegetable and chicken soup

Dinner
I have cut out potatoes, pasta and rice now so mainly protein and salad or vegies like broccoli, cauliflower, carrots etc

But I am in sweet heaven mourning and still sneaking in the odd maccas meal, biscuits and sugar free ice cream. When I get over this illness will start testing my blood glucose, this may be the shock I need. A bit depressing to think I need to be super vigilant about what I eat and how I exercise for the rest of my life, but I know it will benefit me in so many ways.

Your questions were already answered, so I'll skip those. Just wanted to say... Seeing what you eat, alongside your HbA1c makes me really hopeful: there's room for improvement and it should bring your levels down nicely. You're not on meds, and if you tackle your diet, you can stay med-free. Wheetabix, porridge, banana's, bread, not good... I had to look up what maccas meant, being Dutch, but guess what: You can go low carb at MickyD's! Just order a huge burger without the bread. They won't blink at the request, and honestly, the burgers are that much better/juicier without that sponge around them. And just about 5 grams of carbs rather than 30 to 40. (Have 2! Guilt-free!). In any case, you might want to take a look at this site's low carb program, and over on dietdoctor.com, you'll find loads of good, pleasant food.... And coming from someone who used to put 5 spoonfulls of sugar in her tea: the craving for sugar will become less, really, as your palette adjusts. You'll learn to love extra dark chocolate.

 

[Jay-Marc]

If you have an infection your sugar level is likely to be elevated anyway right now, but just looking at the breakfast Weetabix is actually at the lower end of carbs for cereals - but just one is about 12g and I guess that you have two plus 15g (roughly) for one slice of ordinary bread. That would be 39g, without considering the sugar in the banana etc. Maybe you should try a low to no carb breakfast with just the eggs and bacon.

 

[daisy1]

@jamavon
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 questions when you want 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 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 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. Most of these are 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.
  

 

[TriciaWs]

Go lower carb is a huge change at first but it does get easier.
Find a breakfast you like that is low carb, or just miss it out
Don't forget that milk has carbs, a couple of milky coffees can throw off your target - but if you carb count (under 150g a day at least, most go lower) then you can have double cream in coffee instead

I used to have loads of carbs at breakfast, and can't tolerate eggs first thing but I now have a chai/flax/oatbran porridge or a coconut flout & milk pancake with berries.
And try a '90 second' low carb bread as an alternative for lunches?
go easy on most root veg, you don't need to avoid them but not too much - however cauliflower mash works well (and like the cauli rice it tastes less like cauliflower than I expected)