copilost

19-Jun-2019 HbA1c level - IFCC standardised : 49 MMOL/MOL
19-Jun-2019 HbA1c level (DCCT aligned) : 6.6 %

Hi all, thanks for the site, brilliant resource for a newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetic. I was previously pre diabetic for about 5 years (memo to self #must ask my diabetes nurse how long), wish I'd been directed here then.

I'm writing down my current food/health experiences so people will know on the forum where I'm coming from. It's not very exciting, sorry in advance

I don't believe in fad diets, have never followed a "diet" but have followed, mostly, healthy eating guidelines. I'm not a poster person for any guidance, don't always do what I should, do things I shouldn't (frequently).

I was born in 1963, things were different back then. Growing up in my family, potatoes, bread, pastry and sugar were considered fattening. Fried bread (for breakfast with bacon and eggs) was fried in animal fats and was served as about 95% fat (please let me be a lucky type 2 diabetic who can tolerate one piece of bread infrequently just so I can do this again, pleeeease). Protein was very important but you were expected to eat (and enjoy hopefully) your veg, served with lots of butter. Potato/bread portions were smaller, or equal to, green veg portions. Puddings were usual after your main meal, lots of sugar in those but smallish portions (cos sugar is bad for you) - "You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat". Snacking was not approved of, nor were fizzy sugar drinks, crisps, chocolate, biscuits and cake. These were treats and you had them rarely. Skipping meals was fine, if you weren't hungry you weren't expected to eat. Everybody smoked.

I was a tall skinny child and a tall skinny youth. The contraceptive pill (I was about 21) did not agree with me, I developed high blood pressure and put on weight for the first time in my life (me: how high is my blood pressure doctor? Dr: stop taking the pill immediately, that's how high). I maintained a good body weight for most of my life although increasingly had to "watch" my weight. I use the jeans-are-too-tight method, weighing scales depress me.

At 38 things went badly wrong (emotionally, life stuff, bad times etc) in the next 4 years I put on 30kg (BMI 29). How did I put the weight on? 1. Stop caring. 2. Eat too much. 3. Drink far too much alcohol. 4. Loads of stress 5. Trigger metabolic syndrome? At 42 I developed high blood pressure: 180/120. I used to smoke about 7 cigarettes a day (see not a poster person), the doctor gave me mobile blood pressure monitor for a day, my blood pressure spiked at exactly the times I smoked. I stopped smoking the next day.

Ten years ago I started to fix the life-bad-times and stopped putting on weight. I repeatedly tried to lose weight with some successes, 10kg here and there. It kept coming back. I'm down 3kg on last year's annual blood pressure review weight. Jeans not too tight, just too large

My usual diet is: vegetables (including starchy ones), beans, lentils, meat, fish, eggs, cheese, brown rice, brown pasta, some bread. I cook most of my meals, don't really like pre-prepared and take out because they do it wrong ;-) I try not to eat too much meat (always organic when I do) or fish because I believe it's unsustainable. I love fatty meat (pork belly, shoulder of lamb, full fat mince) but don't eat it a lot because of my weight, high blood pressure and cholesterol (raised bad ones). Things I don't eat: parmesan cheese biscuits (I love those, never make them, too bad for me), nuts not so much because of "hidden fats", all hidden fat foods really, fruit (bad me), sweets, cakes, biscuits. Naughty treats are: crisps (most days), chocolate (once a week), too much cheese, wine.

A happy balanced meal would be veggie chilli: lots of vegetables and beans, cooked in home made chicken stock (eat the whole animal philosophy), served with brown basmati rice and cheese (probably too much), a couple of glasses of wine. No pudding, no snacks.

Hello type 2 diabetes.

Family history on my mother's side of strokes and heart disease, on father's side - cancer for the lot. I suspect I'll be run over by a bus