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New to Forum not T2D

catinahat said:
Be careful what you wish for
Some pearls of wisdom from my Dr at a face to face meeting when I was first diagnosed

There is no need for T2's to regularly test their levels unless they are taking drugs that can cause low blood sugar levels. The hba1c test is all you need to keep track of how you are doing

Base your meals around lean meats, fruit, vegetables and complex slow energy release carbohydrates

Avoid full fat yogurts and spreads, go for the low fat/light options. Choose brown /wholemeal bread, pasta and rice.

Don't skip any meals, having 3 meals a day with snacks in between will keep your sugar levels stable

Suitable breakfasts for T2's are a bowl of porridge or cereal with some fruit or a couple of pieces of wholemeal toast with a low fat spread

The next appointment a few months later was with the nurse, I was fatter and my hba1c had gone up. Apparently it was my fault because I hadn't followed their advice.
I'm so thankful that I found this forum and got advice from people who actually know what they are talking about.

So if you do manage to eventually get your face to face meeting, just bear in mind that most people with T2 get progressively worse and require more and more medication. Is that their fault or their doctors?
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Hi catinahat,
Wow! The above is nearly word for word as those said to me all those years ago, and along the same lines as this surgery follows. The only 2 differences with my new lot is that no one takes my other conditions and they don't believe in home testing, my fist surgery did and supplied meter, strips and sharps. Into account. I certainly wish I had found this forum sooner.sharps
Thanks for your reply and pleased to meet you. X
 
Marie 2 said:
You don’t want another test yet. It’s called an A1C and it measures the average glucose over a 3 month period. While the last month plays a stronger role in that 3 month time period, it still will register the whole 3 months average. So it’s better to wait 3 months with your lower numbers to get a better idea of what it’s actually at.
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Ok thanks Marie 2, I hadn't realised that as I seem to have blood tests every few weeks for other conditions too. But will wait until she (DB) phones again. I am learning so much here thankfully. Nice to meet you. x
 
jjraak said:
Exactly @catinahat

Same story here
"Eat this, do that "

Went back HBA1c had got worse, and to top it off I was frantic with hunger most days .

In desperation searched online
Found this forum.

Read up, considered "could a diet be so simple yet effective"

A gently dip of a toe & a meter that showed BG declining...led to full immersion.

And the rest was history

Said it in other posts, but my bloods / lipids had been poor in 2010, got them checked after I had a slight scare, so ate more "Healthily "..:hilarious:

8 years ....little changed :sorry:

Went LCHF

Matched blood tests over those 8 years
None, as said much improved over 8 years :rolleyes:

6 months on LCHF
EVERY metric moved from risk etc into normal or optimal.

Every - single - one
In 6 months

I was sold :happy:
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I so hope it goes the same way for me jjraak. x
 
Just to add a couple of life hacks. Firstly most of us here re-use lancets. You only need to change them when they become blunt and painful, or if your kit is shared with anyone else even if they are family members. I am still using the same box of lancets supplied by GP 7 years ago and its still half full. Second hack - when my sugars started to stabilise, I discovered that my pre meal reading in the evening was coming virtually at the same level as my morning / waking readings, so now I look on my premeal evening jab as being my fasting reading too which reduces my days testing to just 3 times a day (Pre/ 2hr/ 4hr) the two post meal readings on my main meal in the evening give me an idea of how that meal was for a) simple sugars, b) proteins and fats, and c) that my bgl levels are safe for me to go to bed and not hypo in the night (I am on a med that can give hypo's)

My last hack is that I have only two meals a day without snacks. My breakfast is one that I rinse and repeat because I monitored it and tested it while I tuned it for maximum smoke, so I know that it does not raise my blood sugars noticeably and is safe. It is also tasty being a full english breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and butter, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucmber, beetroot, radish, and coffee with milk. This has for the last 6 years regularly raised my bgl by less than 1 mmol/l so it makes shopping and cooking simple and not requiring too much brain power when I have low levels such as first thing in the morning. the fat content reduces my craving for snacks and lasts till my evening meal which is the one I vary and experiment with.
 
Oldvatr said:
Just to add a couple of life hacks. Firstly most of us here re-use lancets. You only need to change them when they become blunt and painful, or if your kit is shared with anyone else even if they are family members. I am still using the same box of lancets supplied by GP 7 years ago and its still half full. Second hack - when my sugars started to stabilise, I discovered that my pre meal reading in the evening was coming virtually at the same level as my morning / waking readings, so now I look on my premeal evening jab as being my fasting reading too which reduces my days testing to just 3 times a day (Pre/ 2hr/ 4hr) the two post meal readings on my main meal in the evening give me an idea of how that meal was for a) simple sugars, b) proteins and fats, and c) that my bgl levels are safe for me to go to bed and not hypo in the night (I am on a med that can give hypo's)

My last hack is that I have only two meals a day without snacks. My breakfast is one that I rinse and repeat because I monitored it and tested it while I tuned it for maximum smoke, so I know that it does not raise my blood sugars noticeably and is safe. It is also tasty being a full english breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and butter, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucmber, beetroot, radish, and coffee with milk. This has for the last 6 years regularly raised my bgl by less than 1 mmol/l so it makes shopping and cooking simple and not requiring too much brain power when I have low levels such as first thing in the morning. the fat content reduces my craving for snacks and lasts till my evening meal which is the one I vary and experiment with.
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You had me at full English...:happy::D

But cucumber & radish a new twist for me.

My guilty secret is the really small tins of beans no added salt etc.

Half of one of those is a treat that doesn't spike me...:happy:

Good advice all round, my friend :)
 
jjraak said:
You had me at full English...:happy::D

But cucumber & radish a new twist for me.

My guilty secret is the really small tins of beans no added salt etc.

Half of one of those is a treat that doesn't spike me...:happy:

Good advice all round, my friend :)
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It always surprises me that baked beans is considered (and marketed) as one of the 5 a day.
https://www.netdoctor.co.uk/healthy-eating/a28449/five-a-day-surprising/
There was commercial advertising being aired on TV recently for this product.
https://www.marketingweek.com/heinz-drives-five-a-day-health-message/

I am also reminded of that not so subtle scene in the film Paint Your Wagon,
 
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Oldvatr said:
It always surprises me that baked beans is considered (and marketed) as one of the 5 a day.
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In America, in school dinners, pizza is classified as a vegetable....
(From Lustigs Metabolocal)
 
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It ia the tomato sauce that is classed as the vegetable, I wonder if it is related to Tomato ketchup? In 1876 the Heinz company launched their new homogenised product. Their originl recipe was tomatoes (>80% content), distilled malt vinegar, brown sugar, and salt and spices to taste. Modern ketchup today is tomatoes (20%) HFCS from GMO corn, emulsified corn starch, maltodextrin from corn, industrial acetic acid from GMO corn, refined sugar, colouring and anti-oxidents The modern one is overcooked and virtually nutrient free, and vegan friendly.
 
Oldvatr said:
Just to add a couple of life hacks. Firstly most of us here re-use lancets. You only need to change them when they become blunt and painful, or if your kit is shared with anyone else even if they are family members. I am still using the same box of lancets supplied by GP 7 years ago and its still half full. Second hack - when my sugars started to stabilise, I discovered that my pre meal reading in the evening was coming virtually at the same level as my morning / waking readings, so now I look on my premeal evening jab as being my fasting reading too which reduces my days testing to just 3 times a day (Pre/ 2hr/ 4hr) the two post meal readings on my main meal in the evening give me an idea of how that meal was for a) simple sugars, b) proteins and fats, and c) that my bgl levels are safe for me to go to bed and not hypo in the night (I am on a med that can give hypo's)

My last hack is that I have only two meals a day without snacks. My breakfast is one that I rinse and repeat because I monitored it and tested it while I tuned it for maximum smoke, so I know that it does not raise my blood sugars noticeably and is safe. It is also tasty being a full english breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast and butter, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucmber, beetroot, radish, and coffee with milk. This has for the last 6 years regularly raised my bgl by less than 1 mmol/l so it makes shopping and cooking simple and not requiring too much brain power when I have low levels such as first thing in the morning. the fat content reduces my craving for snacks and lasts till my evening meal which is the one I vary and experiment with.
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Hi Oldvatr, thanks for letting me know your hacks, much appreciated. I love a full English and have missed them as was told everything on the plate was bad for diabetics. I have managed to have 2 in the past week and both times my reading went up by 1 or just over, so I figure full English is back on the menu, I haven't tried toast yet though. I have been lucky so far and not had a hypo so not sure if I would recognise one or not, but glad to hear you have got them sorted.
I have an Accu-Chek fastClix, so 6 lancets to a drum, was told to use a new one each time but that seems very wasteful to me, so have been using one a day or every other day changing when it hurts.

I am still testing when I wake up and before and 2 hours after each meal because I don't feel confident enough with my readings yet. I also have 2 meals a day, lunch time and evening meal as I have never been a breakfast person, so I tend to do brunch and try not to snack much, if I must then a slice of cheese and a few olives help.

Again, thanks for the info x
 
Antje77 said:
A vegetable? Do they have pizza trees in the US?
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Now that really had me laughing out loud, made hubby jump though. I could just picture those trees lol

Such a shame that those pizzas are so bad but taste so good. Didn't have them often just as a treat but know I am going to miss them.
 
valann said:
Such a shame that those pizzas are so bad but taste so good. Didn't have them often just as a treat but know I am going to miss them.
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Do a google search on fat head pizza!
It's not the bready, doughy pizza base you're used to, but it's very tasty and your diabetes won't mind you eating as much as you like!
 
Antje77 said:
Do a google search on fat head pizza!
It's not the bready, doughy pizza base you're used to, but it's very tasty and your diabetes won't mind you eating as much as you like!
Click to expand...

thanks Antje77, just had a look as never heard of it before, but looks good so have saved the recipe to try. :)
 
valann said:
Hi Oldvatr, thanks for letting me know your hacks, much appreciated. I love a full English and have missed them as was told everything on the plate was bad for diabetics. I have managed to have 2 in the past week and both times my reading went up by 1 or just over, so I figure full English is back on the menu, I haven't tried toast yet though. I have been lucky so far and not had a hypo so not sure if I would recognise one or not, but glad to hear you have got them sorted.
I have an Accu-Chek fastClix, so 6 lancets to a drum, was told to use a new one each time but that seems very wasteful to me, so have been using one a day or every other day changing when it hurts.

I am still testing when I wake up and before and 2 hours after each meal because I don't feel confident enough with my readings yet. I also have 2 meals a day, lunch time and evening meal as I have never been a breakfast person, so I tend to do brunch and try not to snack much, if I must then a slice of cheese and a few olives help.

Again, thanks for the info x
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Hack for the toast. It is not obligatory to have it, but I am lucky as it seems I can. I use multiseeded batch or farmhouse loaf from Aldi, and I freeze it. I normally toast it straight from the freezer, and it seems to reduce the spike - something to do with resistant starch I believe. A similar hack applies to potatoes, rice and pasta apparently, but I use cauli rice as substitute. Obviously I reheat or cook these latter ones in the microwave since it gets kinda messy trying to get it in and out of the toaster!.

I can also eat a small portion of potatoes, I try to get the miniature or baby potatoes from Aldi since they have less starch than grown up potatoes. keep the skins on for fibre and Vit C. Butter slows the spike and flattens it a bit.

These hacks are not keto compatible, but might provide some relief and variation to your diet on occasions. Eat to meter.
 
valann said:
Now that really had me laughing out loud, made hubby jump though. I could just picture those trees lol

Such a shame that those pizzas are so bad but taste so good. Didn't have them often just as a treat but know I am going to miss them.
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I remember a TV news report about spaghetti trees in Italy having a bumper harvest, and camera panned down rows of trees dripping with strands of spaghetti.

I was almost convinced, but realised the date was April 1.
 
I feel like I'm off topic, sorry but just an add on to the pizza as a vegetable in the US!

School lunches are a huge mixed variable in the US. You have Federal guidelines and then you have state and district guidelines.

Fruit leathers with sugar qualified as a serving of fruit, but a company that made pure fruit ones didn't meet the weight requirement even though theirs had more fruit. One President's wife had noticed they were serving huge amounts of food, over the recommended serving size and some of it wasn't healthy and there is an obesity problem. So the administration placed portion size control.........kids were getting really hungry, especially kids that were athletes...........the next administration ended up changing that. Some fast food chains food menu items are now in some of the schools, they can supply food cheaper, but that's a whole other story!
 
Oldvatr said:
I remember a TV news report about spaghetti trees in Italy having a bumper harvest, and camera panned down rows of trees dripping with strands of spaghetti.

I was almost convinced, but realised the date was April 1.
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Goodness you must be of my era as I remember seeing that program too, if memory serves me correctly it was a BBC April fools Day program lol had a lot of people believing it though.

Good hack about the bread, I shall try that.

I am still testing everything that I eat to find what my spikes are. I have actually gone back to the start and trying things slowly not taking notice off anything told me when first diagnosed or from the medics after we moved here. It would seem most of what I was told to eat spikes me ie told to eat porridge or wheetabix for breakfast, to have wholemeal bread and not to eat bacon, eggs or cheese etc. So yes I'm eating to the meter.
 
Marie 2 said:
I feel like I'm off topic, sorry but just an add on to the pizza as a vegetable in the US!

School lunches are a huge mixed variable in the US. You have Federal guidelines and then you have state and district guidelines.

Fruit leathers with sugar qualified as a serving of fruit, but a company that made pure fruit ones didn't meet the weight requirement even though theirs had more fruit. One President's wife had noticed they were serving huge amounts of food, over the recommended serving size and some of it wasn't healthy and there is an obesity problem. So the administration placed portion size control.........kids were getting really hungry, especially kids that were athletes...........the next administration ended up changing that. Some fast food chains food menu items are now in some of the schools, they can supply food cheaper, but that's a whole other story!
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Wow! Marie 2, there's so much different in the US than the UK.

Not sure what "fruit leathers" are though, sounds intriguing.
 
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