I have been diagnosed with diabetes which is to be controlled by diet. I am at a loss what other changes i can make as i already eat healthy and hardly ever have sweet food items. At the time i had a fasting blood test I was ill with a bad cough and had three different cough medicines and loads of cough sweets. I am with Slimming world to lose weight but I have only lost 3lbs in 5 weeks! I follow a lot of their meal plans and i am eating more vegetables and fruit and protein and less carbs. I also exercise. I think i have seriously something wrong with my metabolism. Can anybody suggest what else I can do. I would like to lose 1.5 stones please
Recently diagnosed what should i do/ask
- Thread starter Garooba
- Start Date
daisy1
Legend
- Messages
- 26,457
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Cruelty towards animals.
@Garooba
Hello and welcome to the forum
This is the information we give to new members and I hope that you will find it useful. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help. Carry on with the low carbing and have a look at the Low Carb Program (link below).
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 over 150,000 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 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
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
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
LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program
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
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
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 bloodglucose 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.
Hello and welcome to the forum
This is the information we give to new members and I hope that you will find it useful. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help. Carry on with the low carbing and have a look at the Low Carb Program (link below).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 over 150,000 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
Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html
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
LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program
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
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
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 bloodglucose 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.
Hi and welcome. You seem to be doing all the right things. I can only guess that you need to reduce the carbs further and increase fats as well as proteins to keep you feeling full. These should not cause weight gain and help you avoid carb highs and lows. You need to try to get yourself near or into ketosis (fat burning) to lose weight rapidly and this means very low carbs at least for a while. It's what my son did last year as a non diabetic and went from 20St to 11St in 6 months! Not easy but he did it and has stayed there.
Thanks for reply. There is a lot of information to take in but I will read it and hope that I can digest it all. I am not even sure if I have diabetes as they took a fasting blood test when I was ill. Do you know of anything that I can take for tiredness please as I usually have energy drinks. Not sure if it is the diabetes or that time of month?
Hello thanks for replying. Do you know of a good way of reducing my carbs please i.e a diet that your son tried
Hi. I'm not sure exactly what my son ate but he would have read all the labels and avoided carbs like the plague! he has also been doing a lot of running which helps. I would avoid energy drinks. The thing about carbs (which I think there is a lot of in energy drinks) is that you get a carb high and then a low. If you have enough fat and protein the energy from them is absorbed more slowly. For most people energy drinks are of little value as they are often just glucose giving you that short-term hit and are the result of heavy marketing. Just read the labels on the food packs you buy and look at Total carbs and keep it down. For fruit, bread and so on there are websites which list carb content. BTW diabetes itself will only cause tiredness if your blood sugar is really high or low. It can cause a level of depression for many and that is translated into tiredness (my opinion).
Thanks for the information. It is a lot to digest. I have IBS as well but luckily that is easier to deal with
lizdeluz
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,306
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
You seem to have made a good start, but continue to keep carbs low: many fruits are high in carbs so it's good to stick to berries like raspberries, strawberries and blackberries in moderate amounts, blueberries in small amounts, and not all in the same day. It's probably wise not to overdo the protein, as too much can also affect blood sugar. Eating green veg and fat will help you to feel full and stop any cravings: you could try above-ground veg like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, kale, and spinach plus cheese, butter or cream, and nuts such as brazils and pecans are not too high in carbs. A square of dark chocolate ( 70 - 90+ cocoa solids) takes getting used to but it's a nice treat with coffee when you're used to it!
