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TeddyTottie

Well-Known Member
Messages
394
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Ah @VashtiB - I was so shocked and ashamed of myself when I was told. I still can’t tell anyone. Only my husband knows. I don’t know whether I shall get away with nobody knowing. Does anyone else keep this a secret?
LOL absolutely no secret at all! I find the whole historical diet misinformation thing so fascinating that I have become the diabetes bore at work. To some effect, actually - a couple of colleagues have taken my experience on board and started to make some changes to their diets too.

I don’t see it as anything to be ashamed of, any more than being coeliac or having any other intolerance. OK I will own the fact that my diet was awful and I ate a lot of junk and sugar, but so does almost everyone else. Fact is, if you do not have the genetic precursors to diabetes you won’t get it no matter what you eat, and if you do, then the insulin resistance itself drives weight gain and carb addiction.

Bottom line is, most people are not really that bothered about someone else’s health issues anyway. And I learnt long ago not to care about opinions or judgements from people I don’t care about!
 

xfieldok

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,182
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
You will know when the time is right you to come out of the closet!

In the meantime read around the forum, it is highly educational.

You don't want to miss out of family gatherings and parties.
 

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,937
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Ah @VashtiB - I was so shocked and ashamed of myself when I was told. I still can’t tell anyone. Only my husband knows. I don’t know whether I shall get away with nobody knowing. Does anyone else keep this a secret?
Some do. I tended to shout it from the rooftops myself. I wanted to try the whole low carb thing, but I also knew my inlaws especially would keep trying to shove cake, cookies, pasties and the like down my throat. With cowmilk being a reumatism issue, I already knew I didn't have the backbone to keep telling them no: every week I saw them I was in pain for about 2 days afterwards with a flare, because for some reason they just kept pushing stuff on me I couldn't eat without paying for it later. I know they mean well, it was loving, but oooooh.... Years of pain. And I didn't want to dissapoint them because they meant well, so i kept eating what was put in front of me. (And often cried on the way home in frustration at my own spinelessness. But I love them and they love me and that makes it hard.) And I knew that while I could deal with pain, I didn't want to deal with diabetic complications. Reumatism was one thing, but losing legs, kidneyfunction, my heart damaged...? No. So I made a point of it to let everyone and their granny know I was a diabetic on a special diet. My side of the family's been on some diet or other all their lives so they would've not given me too hard of a time with it, but my inlaws... Now there's always a bag of walnuts in the vicinity so I can join them. (Because I MUST eat. I'm fine with fasting, but whatever... It makes them happy, and it doesn't harm me.) On top of that, when you make a lifestyle change, it's easier if you don't have to carry the burden alone. My husband has a really fast metabolism, can eat whatever he wants, and he does... At work, where he also keeps his candy. Or in the morning, when I'm sticking with my tea, he'll have his bread with chocolate sprinkles. But in the evening he eats the same thing I do, I don't have to cook two meals or make something that smells good that I can't have. ;) We only go to restaurants where I have options too, but really... If I hadn't have had his support throughout all this, I think I might've been on insulin for a few years now. So if there are people you often go out with, say, a sister-in-law or a friend etc, people who'll you have lunch with and the like, make it easier on yourself if you think they won't give you a hard time for wanting to fix your health, (as some people can give you a lot of grief, I know...). If you think they'll give you a hard time, tell them you are trying a new diet for weight loss or something... No need to mention diabetes is if makes you that uncomfortable. But who knows, they might be struggling with the same thing, or know someone who does. You might end up being a fount of knowledge for them.

But really... There is no shame in this, though "public knowledge" seems to have a different opinion. You have a metabolic, genetic condition. You didn't know you couldn't process carbs properly, and conventional wisdom tells people to up the carbs and drop the fat, rather than the other way around... Which is exactly wrong for people like us. Try and let go of the whole blaming yourself thing, if you can. And just take up the low carb lifestyle to kick diabetes in the ***. ;)

Good luck!
Jo
 

SVB

Member
Messages
13
@JoKalsbeek - you’ve done so well and you’re so nice about not making anyone else feel bad. You are lucky to have such a nice family. Unfortunately, most of mine would just throw stones rather than ask what they could do to help. People are very judgemental here in England. It’s not a genetic thing, I ate too many carbs and my cup of sugar (ref. Dr. Jason Fung) ran over. My fault. I would love to run around telling everyone what I’ve learned in the last couple of months and to save themselves!

Incidentally, I have been fasting for 16 hours every day. Supper at 6-6.30pm (which is very early for us) and then breakfast at 10.30am. Does anyone else find this a good idea? Does it help significantly or would doing it for longer be better? I have done a couple of 24 hour fasts, which I can do. In fact, in the days when I was younger and slim, I never really ate during the day, but I smoked then, and I was never hungry. Ha ha, I gave up smoking years ago and ended up overweight and with type 2.
 

xfieldok

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,182
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I would say that so far, you are doing good. Your meter is your new best friend, one of our mantras is est to your meter.
 

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,937
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
@JoKalsbeek - you’ve done so well and you’re so nice about not making anyone else feel bad. You are lucky to have such a nice family. Unfortunately, most of mine would just throw stones rather than ask what they could do to help. People are very judgemental here in England. It’s not a genetic thing, I ate too many carbs and my cup of sugar (ref. Dr. Jason Fung) ran over. My fault. I would love to run around telling everyone what I’ve learned in the last couple of months and to save themselves!

Incidentally, I have been fasting for 16 hours every day. Supper at 6-6.30pm (which is very early for us) and then breakfast at 10.30am. Does anyone else find this a good idea? Does it help significantly or would doing it for longer be better? I have done a couple of 24 hour fasts, which I can do. In fact, in the days when I was younger and slim, I never really ate during the day, but I smoked then, and I was never hungry. Ha ha, I gave up smoking years ago and ended up overweight and with type 2.

Yeah, but how many people know carbs (and not just sugars) are bad for them? Everyone keeps telling us fruit and spuds are good for us, after all. My dieticians certainly did, and told me to eat more bread, and brown rice, and and and.... That's the hospital's dietician eh. The lady who was supposed to know this stuff. Quite a few people can have carbs just fine, so yes, it IS genetic. Some can eat carbs without anything ever happening. Some, like us, can't. That's our DNA at work right there, and explains why T2 runs in families. (Thanks a lot, gran... ;) ) Did you know what side of the coin you were on, genetically? I certainly didn't, as my gran's been dead a long time and I completely forgot she was diabetic, as I was young when she passed. And there's some nasty comments here in the Netherlands too. Ironically enough though, no-one gave me more grief than a fellow T2. Insulin dependent, fixed dose, thinks my diet is hogwash and will humiliate me at parties every single time, but is in a panic when she binges on cupcakes and doesn't understand why her blood sugars are high. I tend to avoid parties where she's at. ;) And hey, my own family had a laugh at my expense every now and again... But still made sure I had a LOT to eat over Easter and Christmas, last year. More than I knew what to do with, and not a blip on my meter. So while they took the good-natured mickey, they did actually listen. After all, they saw I lost a massive amount of weight and got a lot healthier and more active this way, rather than spencing my days in bed being too tired to do anything at all. And I know it's not like that for everyone. Blaming people for their own predicament is easy and makes others feel superior to them, so yeah... If I wasn't such an isolated hermit, I might've encountered more of it. I know there's some talk behind my back, but I don't quite care... If they don't talk about my diabetes, they'll pick something else to badmouth me about. It's always been thus, and there's plenty of topics they can pick. ;) My HbA1c is presumably still good, going from my finger pricks (can't get a HbA1c done right now, but I assume it's still mid-30's.), and that's all that matters. So yeah... Only tell those who'll be supportive, and not tear you down. Support is paramount, but if that's unavailable, do whatever works for you. When people say they want to tackle their weight or something through diet, everyone's supportive... When there's T2 in the mix, the stones get thrown. So it's a personal, highly individual choice. Not just because of personal preference, but because we don't all have the same friends/family/in-laws/colleagues etc...

I quit smoking half a year before I started ballooning too, quit in august 2004. ;) But hey, low carb and smoke-free. My astma and my bloodsugars are grateful. ;) Just took a while to get here.

Fasting can be done in all sorts of ways, you just figure out what works for you. I might have one, two or three meals a day (usually not three, that's a very, very rare occurrence), others are consistently doing one meal a day (OMAD), or eat 3 low carb meals or so for 5 days a week, and fast for 2. Some have an "eating window" of 4 hours, others, like you, go with 8, though the longer you go without eating, the more benefits you're supposed to reap. Wholly depends on what suits your rhythm, really. If you're interested, Fung also wrote a book on fasting. But yeah, I do recommend doing it, if it suits you. :)
 
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SVB

Member
Messages
13
Great news! After approximately 6 months, I’ve just had my first HbA1c blood test....... and it’s 40! I saw a new GP in the practice and told her what the diabetic nurse had told me (see first post) and she agreed that her comments were inappropriate. I have also managed to lose a total of 2 stones (21lbs/9.52kg) and everyone wants to know how I lost the weight! Thank you everyone above for your kind and helpful advice. I am so pleased.
 
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xfieldok

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,182
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Well done! It's a great feeling. How did the hba1c compare to the mysugr estimate?