Newly diagnosed: Is My Experience Typical?

[Roxyj]

Hi All. Recently diagnosed with Type 2 after a routine blood test & am quite shocked & angry at the way it was handled & the advice given to me by my GP practice nurse. I was just sent away with a handful of literature, told to buy the Carbs & Cals book & effectively left to get on with it. Have others had the same experience?

The standard advice was to eat smaller portions & to eat 5-a-day but having done some reading & having gained a little understanding, fruit is very high in carbs when the best practice seems to say as few carbs as possible. Also told rice is bad and white particularly so but reading the labels seems to indicate that there's little difference (& similarly for bread). Same story for meat, where I was told to eat more white meat & fish, yet red meat also has high protein/low carbs.

I've been offered the standard DSE 'DESMOND' course but is it worth it or will I get more of the same seemingly poor advice?

 

[Roxyj]

Update: Got a place at short notice and did the DESMOND course last week. It was excellent & I came out of it a lot more positive. Got a much better idea of how to balance my food types and was told that eating some carbs is ok, particularly starch rather than sugar, but only to have one major carb source per meal maximum. Even told us the Mediterranean Diet meant you could drink wine moderately.

It was eye opening just how much sugar there is in many foods. It’s shocking that we don’t educate kids in healthy eating. Got the Carbs & Cals books and an app (called Food) for monitoring what I eat. It also links to Virtuagym app and links your exercise into your food intake. Now feel much more in control of things and hopefully will be within the healthy BMI range in a couple of weeks.

 

[urbanracer]

I see you first posted 6 days ago and somehow slipped through the system unnoticed.

So a belated welcome to the forums, it seems like you're getting off to a great start with all your new found carb knowledge.

If you haven't already seen the basic starter information then click on the links in any moderator's signature.

Good luck.

 

[Mbaker]

Hi @Roxyj I am glad you are feeling more confident now.

Carbs and Cals is good for the carb content, which is what the majority of Type 2's on this site are concerned about. Generally speaking if you stick to whole foods, minimally or not processed with 0 to 4 added ingredients, great control or even remission can be achieved. Generally speaking I'd you are around 50 grams of carbs per day or less, you should see improvements. If your diabetes is really stubborn, and you want great control, you may need to go to 20 - 30 grams of carbs total per day.

All food groups are on the table, but starchy carbs such as rice, potatoes and pasta are dropped in favour of courgettes, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, radish (some like me cope with butternut squash,). All meats, fish and shellfish are on menus - so loads of different combinations are possible. Anything ending in berry is a good option for fruit. If you like / tolerate dairy and eggs, the are staples.

The is alot of scare mongering about meat and processed red meat. At this stage no trial has ever shown a "real" cause for concern, ALWAYS there is a statistically slight of hand using "relative" risk, when all regular people understand "absolute" risk, e.g a 50% increase would scare people, if I told you the absolute risk was 1.5% in place of 1% you see the difference in perception and reality.

 

[catinahat]

Hello @Roxyj
Welcome to the forum

 

[bulkbiker]

Got a much better idea of how to balance my food types and was told that eating some carbs is ok, particularly starch rather than sugar, but only to have one major carb source per meal maximum

Not sure I'd go with that.. what was their definition of a "major" carb source?

 

[Gran25]

Best of luck with your journey.

 

[Roxyj]

Not sure I'd go with that.. what was their definition of a "major" carb source?

Well most food will have some carbohydrates but some obviously has a lot more than others (pasta, potatoes, rice, etc) and those are the sorts of foods they said you should only have one of per meal. Their advice was that carbs should make up no more than 10% of the daily calorie intake, which should be a maximum of 1600 cals/day in order to lose weight steadily. So potentially up to 160 carbs/day was acceptable and that could involve a wheat type cereal for breakfast and a baked potato with dinner. This sounded a lot to me & I'm trying to keep it down to no more than half that (around 80g per day)and see how that goes. So far I've lost about 10/11 lbs in 5 weeks which I'm happy enough with so I'll see how things stand at my next Hb1ac test in about 6 weeks.

 

[bulkbiker]

Well most food will have some carbohydrates but some obviously has a lot more than others (pasta, potatoes, rice, etc) and those are the sorts of foods they said you should only have one of per meal. Their advice was that carbs should make up no more than 10% of the daily calorie intake, which should be a maximum of 1600 cals/day in order to lose weight steadily. So potentially up to 160 carbs/day was acceptable and that could involve a wheat type cereal for breakfast and a baked potato with dinner. This sounded a lot to me & I'm trying to keep it down to no more than half that (around 80g per day)and see how that goes. So far I've lost about 10/11 lbs in 5 weeks which I'm happy enough with so I'll see how things stand at my next Hb1ac test in about 6 weeks.

Cereal will almost certainly cause a massive spike especially in the morning when we seem to be more sensitive so no way would I advocate that. Potato any way is something that I no longer consider as food.
80g of carbs per day in calorie terms is 320 cals (carbs are 4 cals per gram) so I think your 80g is more than they intended.. 160 cals worth of carbs would be 40g per day which is nearer to very low carb levels.
Whilst I don't think that calorie restriction is healthy either for weight loss at the outset.

 

[Stephen Lewis]

A belated welcome. I'm sure you wish you weren't here but this is the best place to get good information about our shared condition. I don't see that you have said what your A1c measurement was so it is difficult to see a start point. I would suggest a maximum of 80 gms of carbs a day and a target of 1000 to 1200 kcal. This was my start point on the forum nearly a year ago. I reduced my A1cs from 8.5% in May 2018 to 6.5 in May this year. I am trying to get the A1c down to nearer 5% and that means cutting the carbs further. Currently I aim for 50 gms per day and trying to get this lower. I am actually looking forward to my next A1c test.
As many have said and will say on this thread/forum, we all react differently to different foods. No-one seems to have mentioned regular blood glucose testing. This may be too early but my suggestion is the sooner the better. Test at 1 and/or 2 hours after a meal and this will tell you what foods have a really bad effect. For me starch is very bad, this includes batter for fish, white bread, gravy and most other flour filled foods. In fact a little sugar has less affect on my glucose levels than starch. Remember we are all different and you need to find out what foods cause increased glucose levels for you. This also means testing unless you want to wait until the next A1c test.
Meanwhile we are all here to help you so just ask the questions that you have worries or concerns about.

 

[PamJHS]

Hello Roxy, I received my diagnosis in a phone call from a GP after a routine blood test, she made it sound pretty frightening, but at the same time didn’t go much beyond very general advice, some of which was about weight loss (the Eatwell Plate) not reducing blood sugar. A face to face appointment with a different GP was more helpful, and he suggested monitoring my blood at home, and also referred me to Desmond, though I haven’t heard from them yet. I didn’t even get a booklet! I’m quite shocked how little immediate help there is, especially when reducing blood sugar is so crucial. Thank goodness for the internet!

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi All. Recently diagnosed with Type 2 after a routine blood test & am quite shocked & angry at the way it was handled & the advice given to me by my GP practice nurse. I was just sent away with a handful of literature, told to buy the Carbs & Cals book & effectively left to get on with it. Have others had the same experience?

The standard advice was to eat smaller portions & to eat 5-a-day but having done some reading & having gained a little understanding, fruit is very high in carbs when the best practice seems to say as few carbs as possible. Also told rice is bad and white particularly so but reading the labels seems to indicate that there's little difference (& similarly for bread). Same story for meat, where I was told to eat more white meat & fish, yet red meat also has high protein/low carbs.

I've been offered the standard DSE 'DESMOND' course but is it worth it or will I get more of the same seemingly poor advice?

Hi Roxy,

Sorry I missed you the first time around. Welcome!

Well, at least they advised a decent book... But 160 grams of carbs a day? I don't go over 20 myself. (Yes, total.). Get a meter, it'll tell you whether starches agree with you or not. (I'm guessing they won't, though...). While the NHS has come a long way, it's taking a long time for proper dietary advice to trickle down, it seems. Ah well. Maybe this'll be helpful, https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ , alongside dietdoctor.com and this forum's website. The Diabetes Code by Dr. Jason Fung's quite excellent too.

You'll be okay. But maybe learn exactly how T2 works before you buy into 160 grams of carbs a day. If I ate that, I do think I'd still be medicated right now.
Hugs,
Jo

 

[Guna108]

Hi Roxyj. I had a similar experience in that I had my HbA1C tested on the Thursday , then got a letter through the post on Saturday telling me to make an appointment to see my Dr a.s.a.p. I was worried ,so called the surgery on Monday morning and got to speak over the phone to my GP who told me I had T2 diabetes and a high BG. He said he would prescribe Metformin for me and I could pick up the prescription after work. I had some questions, so made an appointment to see him on the Wednesday as I had heard about side effects of the meds. When I went to see him, he was quite dismissive and just wrote me a prescription for prolonged release Metformin (which I asked for instead of the regular one he originally prescribed). I tried asking him questions, but he said the Diabetes Nurse would answer my questions. I asked him what I should eat and he said meat and vegetables (I'm vegetarian lol). He then said he would see me in 3 months. I haven't heard from the DN yet. If it wasn't for this forum I would have been a nervous wreck. I have learned so much from the posters on here. All the best to you.

 

[DUCADUCADUC]

Hi,,
I've just been diagnosed type 2 with a level of 84...
Had conflicting advice from Dr and diabetes nurse. Cut out white bread, all sugar and only have 1 glass of wine per day. In 3 weeks have lost 4 kilos. Am buying a meter for my blood, which one is best?

 

[Guzzler]

Hi,,
I've just been diagnosed type 2 with a level of 84...
Had conflicting advice from Dr and diabetes nurse. Cut out white bread, all sugar and only have 1 glass of wine per day. In 3 weeks have lost 4 kilos. Am buying a meter for my blood, which one is best?

Hello and welcome. Well done for deciding to kick off by getting a meter, good call.
@Rachox has some great info on meters.

Have a wander around the forum and ask as many questions as you like.

 

[Rachox]

Thanks for the tag @Guzzler
Hi @DUCADUCADUC first here is a link to useful info for the newly diagnosed:
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/basic-information-for-newly-diagnosed-diabetics.17088/
Please feel free to start your own thread with any further questions you might have.
Here’s some info on meters and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned. For a meter with cheap strips go for the Tee2 + found here:
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-plus-blood-glucose-meter/ with the strips found here:
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-testing-strips/
With more expensive strips is the Caresens Dual which I currently use, 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
And to be totally transparent I used to use the SD Code Free which has the cheapest strips available. However I found itto be becoming less and less reliable. Here it is for anyone wanting to give it a go:
http://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/blood-glucose-monitor/
and here for the extra strips
http://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/sd-codefree-test-strips-to-be-used-only-with-the-sd-monitor/
There are discount codes if you buy in bulk.
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833
Don’t forget to check the box that you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)

 

[DUCADUCADUC]

Hi @Rachox ,
Thanks for all this.
Lot to take in!

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi,,
I've just been diagnosed type 2 with a level of 84...
Had conflicting advice from Dr and diabetes nurse. Cut out white bread, all sugar and only have 1 glass of wine per day. In 3 weeks have lost 4 kilos. Am buying a meter for my blood, which one is best?

Hi @DUCADUCADUC ,

Almost missed you there, but welcome! Yeah, there's a lot of conflicting advice out there.... The NHS has just jumped onto the Low Carb bandwagon, but it's not really trickling down to the docs and dieticians much yet. Some give great advice, others not so much... I got diagnosed when everyone was on holiday, so I had a chance to figure things out for myself (with a LOT of reading done in a few weeks), before the conflicing advice started, from my endo, two dieticians, the diabetes nurse and GP. It'd be so nice if everyone agreed on one proper approach, eh? Basically, what you do is this: get one of the meters @Rachox mentioned, and find out what works for you. Your meter'll tell you, and it won't give conflicting advice. It's either "Yay, this is good for you" or "Better stop eating that, it's not doing your bloodsugars any favours". https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ should help you get started as well as the link for new members Rachox posted. And I do believe you can have more than one glass of wine a week, as long as it's a dry one rather than sweet. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/alcohol should be of assistance there.

In any case... Welcome to the forum, and good luck getting T2 under control: it can be done!
Jo