- Messages
- 8
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- 1. No "low carb" or "zero sugar" aisles in supermarkets. 2. Sugary "low fat" foods.
My first post. I was diagnosed 4 weeks ago, and like many, the whole experience has been quite bewildering.
Here's how it happened. 4/5 weeks ago I went to my GP about something else, and had my bloods taken. I then received a phone call from my GP who advised that the results suggested I had diabetes.
It all started to make sense. I had two fingertips that felt numb, which I put down to them being injured one weekend when I was DIY'ing. For some time I'd felt wretched, extremely thirsty, always pee'ing and couldn't cure my hunger. I was travelling 6 hours a day to and from work and working long hours, eating anything, especially bread, pasta and pastries, at all sorts of hours to make the feeling of being "hung-over" with tiredness go away, and put it all down to the pressures of work. There's a lesson re not realising what I had!
I went back, gave more bloods, and then went to see the "diabetes nurse" who confirmed I had T2D. She then said I had to lose weight, and cut down on portions and any alcohol consumption. By then I had read enough to work out that the ingestion of sugar raises BS (already starting to use the lingo) and that if the body turns carbs into sugar, the ingestion of carbs also raises BS. In simple terms of course. So I asked the nurse about a low carb diet, she said she didn't know, and suggested that if I wanted to know more I should see a dietician. She said I had to get my eyes and my feet checked. I was given a prescription for Metformin (I always want to say "Metaformin, seems to make more sense with an extra vowel). Take 1 tablet for a bit and then take 2. Run around a bit more. Since then I have had no further interaction with my GP. The feeling has very much been one of "You have type 2 diabetes, now off you go"!
Here are my initial thoughts, at an early stage:
The internet is so contradictory. There are crazy sites out there suggesting that T2Ds can tuck into sweets and cakes, just eat smaller portions. Even on this site there are occasional pro-sugar articles. All very confusing. And the forums....for anyone who posts what they think is a helpful message, there seem to be others who want to jump in and disagree and prove they are more "diabetes clever". All very confusing.
The day to day problem is- what to eat? As stated above, I have a job that takes up a lot of my time, working and travelling and things are about to get a lot busier. Anything convenient and pre-made has sugar packed into it, or is high in carbs. Yes, I know, I need to buy raw and develop a taste for hedge clippings with a low fat water dressing!!
And that leads me onto "low fat food". I have come to the view that we in the UK have been conned by the idea that we should eat "low fat". Eating fat doesn't make you fat. But supermarkets have "low fat" products in abundance. The NHS has adopted the "low fat" mantra. It all comes from a 1950s US study, which completely ignored a lot of its own findings. So we now have "low fat" food jam-packed full of sugar!! Poison for T2Ds. One supermarket's diet shakes' main ingredient is sugar!! Sugar!! There's a section of an aisle for "lactose intolerant". But where are the aisles for "sugar free" foods or "low carb" foods?? Nowhere!! Could the reason be that "low fat" allows the food/sugar industry to continue to pump out food packed full of cheap sugar?
So, again, what to eat? I don't know, I'm only 4 weeks in, and I'm already fed up with the question. Seems to me that, as a T2D, or to put it another way, sugar/carb intolerant, logically I need to avoid sugar and carbs (carbs being sugar-in-waiting), so that's what I've done. Endless trawls to supermarkets, up and down aisles, reading labels, shocked at the amount of sugar and carbs in anything pre-prepared, despair, and then I buy a cauliflower, three tins of tuna and a packet of kale. Bleugh!
On the bright side, I've lost 14 lbs in just under 4 weeks, which is a good thing. On the dark side, over the last 4 days I've had a pain in my left flank, around about the area where I would imagine my left kidney is. I'm seeing a GP on Tuesday. Since diagnosis I've noticed tingling in my fingers, and pins and needles in my feet, with my left foot's pins and needles verging on the painful.
That's it so far............
Here's how it happened. 4/5 weeks ago I went to my GP about something else, and had my bloods taken. I then received a phone call from my GP who advised that the results suggested I had diabetes.
It all started to make sense. I had two fingertips that felt numb, which I put down to them being injured one weekend when I was DIY'ing. For some time I'd felt wretched, extremely thirsty, always pee'ing and couldn't cure my hunger. I was travelling 6 hours a day to and from work and working long hours, eating anything, especially bread, pasta and pastries, at all sorts of hours to make the feeling of being "hung-over" with tiredness go away, and put it all down to the pressures of work. There's a lesson re not realising what I had!
I went back, gave more bloods, and then went to see the "diabetes nurse" who confirmed I had T2D. She then said I had to lose weight, and cut down on portions and any alcohol consumption. By then I had read enough to work out that the ingestion of sugar raises BS (already starting to use the lingo) and that if the body turns carbs into sugar, the ingestion of carbs also raises BS. In simple terms of course. So I asked the nurse about a low carb diet, she said she didn't know, and suggested that if I wanted to know more I should see a dietician. She said I had to get my eyes and my feet checked. I was given a prescription for Metformin (I always want to say "Metaformin, seems to make more sense with an extra vowel). Take 1 tablet for a bit and then take 2. Run around a bit more. Since then I have had no further interaction with my GP. The feeling has very much been one of "You have type 2 diabetes, now off you go"!
Here are my initial thoughts, at an early stage:
The internet is so contradictory. There are crazy sites out there suggesting that T2Ds can tuck into sweets and cakes, just eat smaller portions. Even on this site there are occasional pro-sugar articles. All very confusing. And the forums....for anyone who posts what they think is a helpful message, there seem to be others who want to jump in and disagree and prove they are more "diabetes clever". All very confusing.
The day to day problem is- what to eat? As stated above, I have a job that takes up a lot of my time, working and travelling and things are about to get a lot busier. Anything convenient and pre-made has sugar packed into it, or is high in carbs. Yes, I know, I need to buy raw and develop a taste for hedge clippings with a low fat water dressing!!
And that leads me onto "low fat food". I have come to the view that we in the UK have been conned by the idea that we should eat "low fat". Eating fat doesn't make you fat. But supermarkets have "low fat" products in abundance. The NHS has adopted the "low fat" mantra. It all comes from a 1950s US study, which completely ignored a lot of its own findings. So we now have "low fat" food jam-packed full of sugar!! Poison for T2Ds. One supermarket's diet shakes' main ingredient is sugar!! Sugar!! There's a section of an aisle for "lactose intolerant". But where are the aisles for "sugar free" foods or "low carb" foods?? Nowhere!! Could the reason be that "low fat" allows the food/sugar industry to continue to pump out food packed full of cheap sugar?
So, again, what to eat? I don't know, I'm only 4 weeks in, and I'm already fed up with the question. Seems to me that, as a T2D, or to put it another way, sugar/carb intolerant, logically I need to avoid sugar and carbs (carbs being sugar-in-waiting), so that's what I've done. Endless trawls to supermarkets, up and down aisles, reading labels, shocked at the amount of sugar and carbs in anything pre-prepared, despair, and then I buy a cauliflower, three tins of tuna and a packet of kale. Bleugh!
On the bright side, I've lost 14 lbs in just under 4 weeks, which is a good thing. On the dark side, over the last 4 days I've had a pain in my left flank, around about the area where I would imagine my left kidney is. I'm seeing a GP on Tuesday. Since diagnosis I've noticed tingling in my fingers, and pins and needles in my feet, with my left foot's pins and needles verging on the painful.
That's it so far............
Last edited by a moderator:
