Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hi, I have just been diagnosed with type 2, my blood test was 54 and I am overweight. I will be honest it wasn’t a shock as diagnosed with prediabetes a few years ago and well, did nothing about it. Other half started researching and read everything about reversing it, saw documentary by Michael Moseley. Bought the book as a starting point for healthy eating and off we went. Was over 17 stones and 3 weeks later 15 stone 5. We were positive and were taking a proactive attitude ...until the diabetes nurse rang. Let’s just say she had never heard of this healthy lifestyle plan and jumped to the conclusion I was just on low calorie packet shakes, I’m not. Was quite adamant it doesn’t really work etc.

We have our first face to face meeting coming up and I’m not looking forward to it. I was trying to put a brave face on and kept thinking I was doing well, this has totally floored me and I don’t want to go. I want the chance to try and reverse it but it doesn’t sound like I will get the chance to.

my reason for posting is to ask what information I should be getting and what answers I need to enable me to tackle this properly. Hands up I have screwed up but surely I must be able to help myself somehow?

thanks for any advice given
 

MoorT2

Well-Known Member
Messages
104
@Owlie123 - 4 months ago I was in a very similar situation.

Blood tests put my HbA1c at 51, I was over 18 st with a BMI of 36. Triglycerides also at dangerous levels (8.74).

The GP gave me no information or support , just threw medication at me. I had to spent a lot of time doing my own research and have only in the past weeks discovered these forums which are helping me heaps more.

It's early days for me but what I can tell you may give some hope.

In 4 months I've dropped more than 30kg of weight. My HbA1C is back in normal range (41) and my trig's are also down to normal 0.94.

I've stopped the medication with agreement from the doctor and we'll retest in Feb to make sure I'm sustaining those levels.

I've had to make a lot of changes the big ones being
- elimanate junk food, sweets, honey, full sugar drinks, fruit juice etc. from my diet
- becareful with carbs, I stopped cereal, potatoes and really limit rice and pasta. I often sub these for cauliflower rice and corgetti. Bread I limit to a slice a day if I have it.
- exercise. I started walking, then hiking, then jogging (Couch to 5k approach). I now do 5k 3 times a week and have just started swimming twice a week too.

Hope this helps! Feel free to private message me if you want any more detail on anything I've done.

Good luck!!
 
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coby

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,083
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Social mixing most sport, Soaps!
Hi, I have just been diagnosed with type 2, my blood test was 54 and I am overweight. I will be honest it wasn’t a shock as diagnosed with prediabetes a few years ago and well, did nothing about it. Other half started researching and read everything about reversing it, saw documentary by Michael Moseley. Bought the book as a starting point for healthy eating and off we went. Was over 17 stones and 3 weeks later 15 stone 5. We were positive and were taking a proactive attitude ...until the diabetes nurse rang. Let’s just say she had never heard of this healthy lifestyle plan and jumped to the conclusion I was just on low calorie packet shakes, I’m not. Was quite adamant it doesn’t really work etc.

We have our first face to face meeting coming up and I’m not looking forward to it. I was trying to put a brave face on and kept thinking I was doing well, this has totally floored me and I don’t want to go. I want the chance to try and reverse it but it doesn’t sound like I will get the chance to.

my reason for posting is to ask what information I should be getting and what answers I need to enable me to tackle this properly. Hands up I have screwed up but surely I must be able to help myself somehow?

thanks for any advice given
Don't let the Gestapo ruin this for you!!!
You are already proving that it works!
WHY oh why do the medical profession have to stick by all the old fashioned attitudes, which do NOT work!
@Owlie, go along to yur appointment, smile politely at her 'good' advise, then go home and stick to your guns. Read as many success stories on this forum as possible and you will know it makes sense. I have proved it for myself too. I am in non-diabetic numbers after following all the advice on here, and have lost all but a few pounds of the weight I needed to and all since the July just gone! Good luck and keep reading reading reading!
 
Last edited:

jonathan183

Well-Known Member
Messages
373
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
We have our first face to face meeting coming up and I’m not looking forward to it. I was trying to put a brave face on and kept thinking I was doing well, this has totally floored me and I don’t want to go. I want the chance to try and reverse it but it doesn’t sound like I will get the chance to.

my reason for posting is to ask what information I should be getting and what answers I need to enable me to tackle this properly. Hands up I have screwed up but surely I must be able to help myself somehow?

I suggest you ask for a blood glucose meter and test strips so you can monitor your blood glucose, tracking your progress, and working out which foods cause your blood glucose to rise to unacceptable levels - they should support this approach even if they do not necessarily agree with the diet you choose.

Tell them you want to try controlling your diabetes with diet and exercise, if that does not work you will look at medication after that (Metformin is the normal go to for type 2). By the time you have your next consult you should have the evidence of it working :) HbA1c as well as weight loss.

You should get access to all your blood test results so you can track progress through them as well.

If you are doing low carb then make sure you do a water only fast for at least 12 hours before they take the blood sample (12 to 14 hours fast is optimal prior to blood sample).

If you can convince them to do additional tests then autoantibodies and c-peptide would help ensure you do not have autoimmune issues and that your body is still producing enough insulin (but insulin resistance is causing the high blood glucose e.g. it's type 2).

Tell them the diet is real food but low in carbohydrates - suggest you avoid keto or similar terms. Good luck with the meeting ... try to think positive - its for your benefit ... you might get what you want out of it :)

Write down your questions beforehand so you make sure you get answers to them all rather than just responding to questions they ask you ;)
 

Ryhia

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,124
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi, I can associate with your story, I wasn't told initially that I was pre-diabetic, by the time I was it was highly prediabetic, 46, like you I simply didn't really understand what that meant. Thought it would go on for years like that. 2 years later blood test came back 52 then a confirmation blood test 54. Some HCPs may suggest medication but mine simply gave me 3 months to sort it. So there are options and as your bloods were not very high to start with, if your DN has anything about them, they should be agreeable to giving you time to tackle it by diet. Should you desire to do that of course.

I tackled my bloods by firstly following a very low calorie diet but that isn't really sustainable for the long term so sensibly changed to a Low Carb way of eating after 8 weeks, that is - as already suggested; no sugar, no pasta, no rice, no potatoes and for me no bread, or lentils although I do eat low carb bread now which I make myself. Like you, I never got any encouragement from the nurses in fact when my blood tests starting coming back as normal on the bloods report, DN got a bit shirty and asked why I was there when to quote "your bloods are normal" Probably hadn't even bothered to read my history, I had to say, they are not normal, I am diabetic!. Thankfully the GP I see is a lot better than the nurses.

On my initial appointment I was also told to eat things like, sweet potato, porridge, brown rice, brown bread etc., food which would have done me little good to help control my blood sugars they are probably more suited to looking after your heart, in fact for my first meeting, they had run out of diabetic leaflets so she have me a heart health one. The first year I was seen on 3 monthly intervals I got sick of them touting carbs all the time, when I asked why, (more then once) they couldn't tell me, just the official line I guess. Things have changed in the last couple of years though, now no mention of carbs and I just get told to keep doing what I am doing.

I do have to be very careful though as I know that if I revert back to eating the way I used to, which was basically the Eatwell plate it would have a bad effect on me - my body still cannot handle carbs very well. If you do go the diet route, it does take commitment but it is very doable for a lot of people. Its a great feeling to see bloods results gradually lower over time - as far as I am concerned, the lower I can keep my blood glucose the better for my health in the long term.

I use a blood glucose meter to test my bloods, Glucose testers can be prescribed by your HCP but this is unlikely unless you are on particular meds that can cause hypos. Most of us on the forum self fund, I just found a device where the test strips were cheap (ish). It is worth the ask though. I find my tester to be invaluable as I can check to see what certain foods do to my blood sugar levels, the tester is helpful as different people react differently to the foods they eat some can tolerate more carbs than others, like others I would be looking to see my bloods rise no more than 2.00mmol/l after 2 hours but preferably a lot less.
 

mo53

Expert
Messages
7,869
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
@Owlie123 hello and welcome to this brilliant website. I can only agree with all of the earlier posters. You are clearly being very successful in your diet and lifestyle changes and your tremendous weight loss is the result. Well done! I have been in a similar situation to you where I have had conversations with a diabetic nurse who was recommending the opposite to my low carb diet. I seemed to have parallel conversations with her where we both expressed our views, hers the eat well plate and continuing to eat small amounts of bread etc, and mine where I expressed how I was eliminating carbs as far as possible. We both smiled and listened to each other but our conversation was like a train line! We were never going to meet! Don’t be deterred from going to meet her after all you need to explain to her that you are following a very healthy diet not using powdered shakes and that you are cutting out sugars for your diabetes. When given information I didn’t want to follow I would simply smile and let it go straight over my head. I hope you will let us know how you get on.
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,642
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi. I'm not sure what Mosely has suggested in this book as he has a new idea each year and new book! Basically you need to keep the carbs down - simple. Have proteins and fats to keep you feeling full. If your nurse disagrees with this just smile politely and ignore it. Fortunately my excellent nurse recommends a low-carb diet. Get yourself added to the surgery online system including test results and yes do buy a glucose meter
 
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Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hi, thank you so much for sharing your story, very much appreciated!
I got the Fast 800 recipe book and started working through that, stopped all sugary things and bread and potato’s, rice, pasta etc. I eat a lot of fish and veg and an occasional steak, stopped other red meat. Breakfast now consists of Greek yoghurt with berries, lunch is homemade mushroom soup or salad, dinner is chicken with veg or tuna steak and not massive portions. I stopped alcohol and fruit juice and now drink lots of water with an occasional coffee. I feel better, just a shock really. In terms of the blood tests, all the other tests were fine so I’m not sure how two hba1 tests diagnose diabetes if you then drop the numbers? Just got to work on the exercise now!
 
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Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Don't let the Gestapo ruin this for you!!!
You are already proving that it works!
WHY oh why do the medical profession have to stick by all the old fashioned attitudes, which do NOT work!
@Owlie, go along to yur appointment, smile politely at her 'good' advise, then go home and stick to your guns. Read as many success stories on this forum as possible and you will know it makes sense. I have proved it for myself too. I am in non-diabetic numbers after following all the advice on here, and have lost all but a few pounds of the weight I needed to and all since the July just gone! Good luck and keep reading reading reading!
Thanks so much for your positivity! Am really working on it and researching!
 
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Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
I suggest you ask for a blood glucose meter and test strips so you can monitor your blood glucose, tracking your progress, and working out which foods cause your blood glucose to rise to unacceptable levels - they should support this approach even if they do not necessarily agree with the diet you choose.

Tell them you want to try controlling your diabetes with diet and exercise, if that does not work you will look at medication after that (Metformin is the normal go to for type 2). By the time you have your next consult you should have the evidence of it working :) HbA1c as well as weight loss.

You should get access to all your blood test results so you can track progress through them as well.

If you are doing low carb then make sure you do a water only fast for at least 12 hours before they take the blood sample (12 to 14 hours fast is optimal prior to blood sample).

If you can convince them to do additional tests then autoantibodies and c-peptide would help ensure you do not have autoimmune issues and that your body is still producing enough insulin (but insulin resistance is causing the high blood glucose e.g. it's type 2).

Tell them the diet is real food but low in carbohydrates - suggest you avoid keto or similar terms. Good luck with the meeting ... try to think positive - its for your benefit ... you might get what you want out of it :)

Write down your questions beforehand so you make sure you get answers to them all rather than just responding to questions they ask you ;)

great thank you! My other half asked for a glucose monitor and was told on the phone we couldn’t have one because wherever we tested might get sore and if we needed that are we might not be able to use it? Made no sense to me! Thanks for the advice re fasting really helpful! Thank you so much!
 
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Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hi, I can associate with your story, I wasn't told initially that I was pre-diabetic, by the time I was it was highly prediabetic, 46, like you I simply didn't really understand what that meant. Thought it would go on for years like that. 2 years later blood test came back 52 then a confirmation blood test 54. Some HCPs may suggest medication but mine simply gave me 3 months to sort it. So there are options and as your bloods were not very high to start with, if your DN has anything about them, they should be agreeable to giving you time to tackle it by diet. Should you desire to do that of course.

I tackled my bloods by firstly following a very low calorie diet but that isn't really sustainable for the long term so sensibly changed to a Low Carb way of eating after 8 weeks, that is - as already suggested; no sugar, no pasta, no rice, no potatoes and for me no bread, or lentils although I do eat low carb bread now which I make myself. Like you, I never got any encouragement from the nurses in fact when my blood tests starting coming back as normal on the bloods report, DN got a bit shirty and asked why I was there when to quote "your bloods are normal" Probably hadn't even bothered to read my history, I had to say, they are not normal, I am diabetic!. Thankfully the GP I see is a lot better than the nurses.

On my initial appointment I was also told to eat things like, sweet potato, porridge, brown rice, brown bread etc., food which would have done me little good to help control my blood sugars they are probably more suited to looking after your heart, in fact for my first meeting, they had run out of diabetic leaflets so she have me a heart health one. The first year I was seen on 3 monthly intervals I got sick of them touting carbs all the time, when I asked why, (more then once) they couldn't tell me, just the official line I guess. Things have changed in the last couple of years though, now no mention of carbs and I just get told to keep doing what I am doing.

I do have to be very careful though as I know that if I revert back to eating the way I used to, which was basically the Eatwell plate it would have a bad effect on me - my body still cannot handle carbs very well. If you do go the diet route, it does take commitment but it is very doable for a lot of people. Its a great feeling to see bloods results gradually lower over time - as far as I am concerned, the lower I can keep my blood glucose the better for my health in the long term.

I use a blood glucose meter to test my bloods, Glucose testers can be prescribed by your HCP but this is unlikely unless you are on particular meds that can cause hypos. Most of us on the forum self fund, I just found a device where the test strips were cheap (ish). It is worth the ask though. I find my tester to be invaluable as I can check to see what certain foods do to my blood sugar levels, the tester is helpful as different people react differently to the foods they eat some can tolerate more carbs than others, like others I would be looking to see my bloods rise no more than 2.00mmol/l after 2 hours but preferably a lot less.
Wow, great stats! We are following the 800 calorie diet as best we can on week 3. Steering clear of carbs and it seems to be going pretty well. We asked for a blood monitor meter but they said no, any recommendations?
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
@Owlie123 hello and welcome to this brilliant website. I can only agree with all of the earlier posters. You are clearly being very successful in your diet and lifestyle changes and your tremendous weight loss is the result. Well done! I have been in a similar situation to you where I have had conversations with a diabetic nurse who was recommending the opposite to my low carb diet. I seemed to have parallel conversations with her where we both expressed our views, hers the eat well plate and continuing to eat small amounts of bread etc, and mine where I expressed how I was eliminating carbs as far as possible. We both smiled and listened to each other but our conversation was like a train line! We were never going to meet! Don’t be deterred from going to meet her after all you need to explain to her that you are following a very healthy diet not using powdered shakes and that you are cutting out sugars for your diabetes. When given information I didn’t want to follow I would simply smile and let it go straight over my head. I hope you will let us know how you get on.
Thank you so much for your kind words, will take on board your advice and report back!
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hi. I'm not sure what Mosely has suggested in this book as he has a new idea each year and new book! Basically you need to keep the carbs down - simple. Have proteins and fats to keep you feeling full. If your nurse disagrees with this just smile politely and ignore it. Fortunately my excellent nurse recommends a low-carb diet. Get yourself added to the surgery online system including test results and yes do buy a glucose meter
Can you recommend a glucose meter? Thank you
 

Ryhia

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,124
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Wow, great stats! We are following the 800 calorie diet as best we can on week 3. Steering clear of carbs and it seems to be going pretty well. We asked for a blood monitor meter but they said no, any recommendations?

I'm copying a post @Rachox generally posts to people who ask this question, Hope you don't mind Rachox and thank you for this information.
------------
"Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.

HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews, links to the strips and the meter:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively.

Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/

Discount codes for the Code Free strips

5 packs 264086

10 packs 975833

SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793

with the strips found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097

Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:

Phone number 0800 8815423

With more expensive strips is their Caresens Dual, this one has the advantage of glucose and ketone testing in one machine, it’s to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/collections/caresens-dual

If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.

Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)"

-------

I use both the Tee 2 and Sinocare Safe AQ depending on which strips are the cheapest. There is very little variance on results. Tests strips for both are reasonably priced. Tee 2 as already mentioned is via Spirit Health, Sinocare from Amazon, I don't get the Sinocare Vat free but test strips are working our cheaper at the moment compared to Tee 2 and with the Sinocare you get lancets included free.

Hope the info is useful.
 
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Resurgam

Expert
Messages
9,849
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
great thank you! My other half asked for a glucose monitor and was told on the phone we couldn’t have one because wherever we tested might get sore and if we needed that are we might not be able to use it? Made no sense to me! Thanks for the advice re fasting really helpful! Thank you so much!
I am a musician and I have never once had any soreness from doing a blood glucose test. 5 seconds after testing it would be impossible to see where the stab was made. I do use a new lancet every time - I test so infrequently that I consider it unsafe to reuse after so long a gap.
I use a Spirit healthcare Tee 2 +, but check on the price of the strips as it was mentioned that they had gone up. hey used to be one of the cheapest. I went directly to the website rather than buy from Amazon. Sign up, wait for the confirmatory email and then you can order free of VAT.
 

BoringBrian

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Housework
Can you recommend a glucose meter? Thank you
Hello Owlie,
I bought the GlucoNavii test kit from Amazon £10, then later bought 100 test strips £14.
Worth doing so you know you’re heading in the right direction.
I tested a lot during the first few weeks; until I knew what foods affected me and should avoid.
You have done really well, just remember it needs to be a lifestyle change and is easy to do.
Good luck.
 

Ryhia

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,124
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Wow, great stats! We are following the 800 calorie diet as best we can on week 3. Steering clear of carbs and it seems to be going pretty well. We asked for a blood monitor meter but they said no, any recommendations?
I used some of the recipes from the 8 week blood sugar diet recipe book when I was following a very low cal diet but mostly had things like home made soups and salads. Don't know if this is the same book as you have ordered as mine is a few years old and only has the foreword written by Mosely. The recipes in the blood sugar book can be quite high in carbs so I would advise caution - I still use a few recipes from it but I have also invested in a few Keto recipe books at around £6.00 each usually from the Works. Buying recipes books is not really necessary though as there are lots of recipes out there, I just add keto in front of something I fancy and do a search. There is usually a low carb version of the meal that someone has already adapted.
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
I'm copying a post @Rachox generally posts to people who ask this question, Hope you don't mind Rachox and thank you for this information.
------------
"Here’s some info on UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.

HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews, links to the strips and the meter:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

There are also discount codes for when you come to buy more strips - "navii5" and "navii10" will give you 20% off purchases of 5 packs of strips and 25% off 10 packs of strips respectively.

Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/

Discount codes for the Code Free strips

5 packs 264086

10 packs 975833

SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793

with the strips found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097

Some members have got a free Tee2+ by phoning up to order, with a large order of strips they often throw the meter in for free:

Phone number 0800 8815423

With more expensive strips is their Caresens Dual, this one has the advantage of glucose and ketone testing in one machine, it’s to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/collections/caresens-dual

If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.

Don’t forget to check the box if you have pre diabetes or diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)"

-------

I use both the Tee 2 and Sinocare Safe AQ depending on which strips are the cheapest. There is very little variance on results. Tests strips for both are reasonably priced. Tee 2 as already mentioned is via Spirit Health, Sinocare from Amazon, I don't get the Sinocare Vat free but test strips are working our cheaper at the moment compared to Tee 2 and with the Sinocare you get lancets included free.

Hope the info is useful.
That’s great thank you so much!
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
I am a musician and I have never once had any soreness from doing a blood glucose test. 5 seconds after testing it would be impossible to see where the stab was made. I do use a new lancet every time - I test so infrequently that I consider it unsafe to reuse after so long a gap.
I use a Spirit healthcare Tee 2 +, but check on the price of the strips as it was mentioned that they had gone up. hey used to be one of the cheapest. I went directly to the website rather than buy from Amazon. Sign up, wait for the confirmatory email and then you can order free of VAT.
Great thank you!
 

Owlie123

Member
Messages
22
Hello Owlie,
I bought the GlucoNavii test kit from Amazon £10, then later bought 100 test strips £14.
Worth doing so you know you’re heading in the right direction.
I tested a lot during the first few weeks; until I knew what foods affected me and should avoid.
You have done really well, just remember it needs to be a lifestyle change and is easy to do.
Good luck.
That’s great thank you! I don’t really understand how it all works to be honest in terms of how and what food affects you?