Newbie a few weeks in - what I wish I’d known at the start!

[Dandelade]

Hi all,

Firstly there are loads of really experienced and helpful people here to give advise - that’s not me! I just thought it might be nice to share a few things I’ve found out that have been helpful as I’m only about a month in of my journey.

I fiddled around with diet and exercise with blood glucose monitoring before and 2 hours after food to work out what causes spikes and what doesn’t. For me very very small portions of carbs actually helped and stopped my liver pumping out glucose and I replaced it with veg and protein. Likewise fasting was a big no no. I’m down to fasting glucose of 5.5 on average and return to this after food - once I’d worked out the magic formula it took a couple of weeks. There’s lots and lots of contradictory advice but the blood glucose monitor helped me work out what works for me.

I’m not a huge meat eater so seeds, cheese and avocado (for fibre and appetite depressant) have been great. I refuse to give up cups of tea with milk but just calculate the milk in the the carb count.

There are lots and lots of recipes for high carb favourites that can be replaced - it’s not a case of never being able to eat treats or bread ever again. Check out the food thread here there loads!

Another source of despair was the thought or never eating out or having takeaway again. I’ve done both, it’s just taken a shift in no set about what to order. Again see the threads for suggestions!

Vigorous exercise raised my blood sugar, gentle lowered it. Exercising before eating raised glucose, after eating lowered it. Gardening was amazing for levels way more than extra walking - I presume that’s the same as low resistance in gym.

I’m very far from an expert and everybody’s body seems different. The answer seems to be test, test, test and fiddle with diet and exercise until you find something that works for you.

 

[jjne]

Yeah it's a funny thing this diabetes lark. So far the only thing I have found that works is fasting... and even then the blood sugars return to high levels after a few days.

 

[Dandelade]

Yeah it's a funny thing this diabetes lark. So far the only thing I have found that works is fasting... and even then the blood sugars return to high levels after a few days.

It’s so weird how everyone’s body reacts differently isn’t it?!

I was incensed with rage when I tested after fasting to find them the second highest reading I e ever had

 

[ultradad]

My diet has changed alot since i started my journey in may. Got my blood monitor and on my first day of testing i had what i thought was a healthy breakfast of 2 shredded wheat and skimmed milk all weight out and came to 35 grams of carbs. 2 hrs later it had jumped 7 points to 14.3 and then i realised i had a problem

After a week of testing anything more than 7 grams of carbs at a time would raise my bloods higher than 2 (thats a riveta) so had no choice but to eat mostly protein and cut the rest out

Moving forward to now i eat 3 times a day, final meal around 4-5 and thats it till the next day. Dont feel hungry and best i felt in years. Stayed away over night yesterday for the first time and it went well, burger king for a snack and a steak at the sizzler in the night it was realy easy to plan for when your on a carnivore diet

Bloods this morning 4.5 and yesterday morning 4.7 so its looking ok and working for me. Thank god for this great community as i only heard from my GP in may with numbers that make me think i been diabetic for almost a year before i found out. She tryed to get me on 1500mg of metforin a day and do another blood test in 6 months and have not heard a single thing since

Going to keep coming here for good information and advice and a great community and keep fine tuning my diet to make sure i stay as healthy as i can

 

[Dandelade]

My diet has changed alot since i started my journey in may. Got my blood monitor and on my first day of testing i had what i thought was a healthy breakfast of 2 shredded wheat and skimmed milk all weight out and came to 35 grams of carbs. 2 hrs later it had jumped 7 points to 14.3 and then i realised i had a problem

After a week of testing anything more than 7 grams of carbs at a time would raise my bloods higher than 2 (thats a riveta) so had no choice but to eat mostly protein and cut the rest out

Moving forward to now i eat 3 times a day, final meal around 4-5 and thats it till the next day. Dont feel hungry and best i felt in years. Stayed away over night yesterday for the first time and it went well, burger king for a snack and a steak at the sizzler in the night it was realy easy to plan for when your on a carnivore diet

Bloods this morning 4.5 and yesterday morning 4.7 so its looking ok and working for me. Thank god for this great community as i only heard from my GP in may with numbers that make me think i been diabetic for almost a year before i found out. She tryed to get me on 1500mg of metforin a day and do another blood test in 6 months and have not heard a single thing since

Going to keep coming here for good information and advice and a great community and keep fine tuning my diet to make sure i stay as healthy as i can

That’s such great news Ultradad!
Yes I definitely agree, so many great people here and full of good advice.
I can’t believe I’m actually never hungry, loving my food, energy is through the roof, and feeling like I’ve been shot with happy pills. I hadn’t realised what a slog each day had become!

 

[HurricaneHippo]

My diet has changed alot since i started my journey in may. Got my blood monitor and on my first day of testing i had what i thought was a healthy breakfast of 2 shredded wheat and skimmed milk all weight out and came to 35 grams of carbs. 2 hrs later it had jumped 7 points to 14.3 and then i realised i had a problem

After a week of testing anything more than 7 grams of carbs at a time would raise my bloods higher than 2 (thats a riveta) so had no choice but to eat mostly protein and cut the rest out

Moving forward to now i eat 3 times a day, final meal around 4-5 and thats it till the next day. Dont feel hungry and best i felt in years. Stayed away over night yesterday for the first time and it went well, burger king for a snack and a steak at the sizzler in the night it was realy easy to plan for when your on a carnivore diet

Bloods this morning 4.5 and yesterday morning 4.7 so its looking ok and working for me. Thank god for this great community as i only heard from my GP in may with numbers that make me think i been diabetic for almost a year before i found out. She tryed to get me on 1500mg of metforin a day and do another blood test in 6 months and have not heard a single thing since

Going to keep coming here for good information and advice and a great community and keep fine tuning my diet to make sure i stay as healthy as i can

Well done! It’s beginning to become clear from a lot of posts like yours and others, there’s a lot of trial and error at the beginning to find out what works for every individual.

 

[ultradad]

Yeh the first week was bumpy and i was crapping myself to be honest. Everyday i was lowering my carb intake at each meal from 35 grams to 25, 15 and then 10 and it was like *** . Food at that point was protein and broccoli mainly and a rivita at night with cottage cheese or peanut butter would only raise my bloods by 0.5 to 1 so that was a win. I would never have worked that out so quick without testing myself 8 times a day over the first 1-2 weeks

I tested after drinks, snacks and different foods seeing how my body would react and it was very interesting i was my own experiment. There are alot of people with great knowledge on here about keto and carnivore diets if you decide to go that route and other good souces of information on youtube was shawn baker md and KenDBerryMD

 

[HurricaneHippo]

Oh I’ll check them out on YouTube thanks! Love hearing success stories so pleased for you

 

[Roadie2]

Just starting out after lockdown overeating and drinking
Tested first. Thing at 10.6 but down to 7.6 by midday
Only done 4 days,no booze sensible eating but always highest 10.2 first thing then drops through the day
Get lots of exercise but haven,t done before/after testing yet
Thanks for all the wise words and feeling I,m not alone

 

[Roadie2]

Hi all,

Firstly there are loads of really experienced and helpful people here to give advise - that’s not me! I just thought it might be nice to share a few things I’ve found out that have been helpful as I’m only about a month in of my journey.

I fiddled around with diet and exercise with blood glucose monitoring before and 2 hours after food to work out what causes spikes and what doesn’t. For me very very small portions of carbs actually helped and stopped my liver pumping out glucose and I replaced it with veg and protein. Likewise fasting was a big no no. I’m down to fasting glucose of 5.5 on average and return to this after food - once I’d worked out the magic formula it took a couple of weeks. There’s lots and lots of contradictory advice but the blood glucose monitor helped me work out what works for me.

I’m not a huge meat eater so seeds, cheese and avocado (for fibre and appetite depressant) have been great. I refuse to give up cups of tea with milk but just calculate the milk in the the carb count.

There are lots and lots of recipes for high carb favourites that can be replaced - it’s not a case of never being able to eat treats or bread ever again. Check out the food thread here there loads!

Another source of despair was the thought or never eating out or having takeaway again. I’ve done both, it’s just taken a shift in no set about what to order. Again see the threads for suggestions!

Vigorous exercise raised my blood sugar, gentle lowered it. Exercising before eating raised glucose, after eating lowered it. Gardening was amazing for levels way more than extra walking - I presume that’s the same as low resistance in gym.

I’m very far from an expert and everybody’s body seems different. The answer seems to be test, test, test and fiddle with diet and exercise until you find something that works for you.

 

[Roadie2]

4 days in
Thanks to all for the info and support
My waking number is 10.6 but Down to 7.6 by midday
Roughly same each day, but slightly lower
Working off the eating drinking excess of lockdown
Trying to avoid meds with better diet no wine and plenty exercise
Beginning to realise it’s forever gulp

 

[Dandelade]

4 days in
Thanks to all for the info and support
My waking number is 10.6 but Down to 7.6 by midday
Roughly same each day, but slightly lower
Working off the eating drinking excess of lockdown
Trying to avoid meds with better diet no wine and plenty exercise
Beginning to realise it’s forever gulp

I’m not much further down the line from you! It’s sounds as though you’ve made a great start and getting the numbers moving in the right direction - well done you!

I’m making mistakes and learning as I go, I think I everybody does, we’re all in the same boat.

It’s overwhelming but we can do this!

 

[HurricaneHippo]

I’m not much further down the line from you! It’s sounds as though you’ve made a great start and getting the numbers moving in the right direction - well done you!

I’m making mistakes and learning as I go, I think I everybody does, we’re all in the same boat.

It’s overwhelming but we can do this!

I hear you on the making mistakes! I had an 8.4 after dinner (mushrooms, eggs, sausages, bacon and baked beans)….think it was the baked beans. I was beating myself up about it, but had to accept its trial and error!

 

[Dandelade]

I hear you on the making mistakes! I had an 8.4 after dinner (mushrooms, eggs, sausages, bacon and baked beans)….think it was the baked beans. I was beating myself up about it, but had to accept its trial and error!

Definitely agree! On being kind to ourselves and learning as we go. It’s nice coming here and feeling a little less alone.

 

[Roadie2]

Update after first week
What a learning curve
After the initial ‘shock horror’ got stuck into forum.
Bought the test machine, stabbed myself 8 times until re read instructions and stopped smearing blood on the window instead of the tip DOHH
Initial readings all around 11 when waking, gradually falling to 8 during day, then repeat
Have had 8 days with no alcohol (nearly) ‘sensible’ eating avoiding carbs and sugar but nothing fanatic
Now readings are reasonably steady around 8.5 all day
Decent exercis (I row) gets it down below 6 for a couple of hours
Smallish blowout over the weekend (2 glasses of wine) raised to 12.6 but then back to normal next day
So looks like sensible diet and very low alcohol intake works for me so far
Well at least until it doesn’t!,,,
Thanks to all those who have blazed the trail

 

[HurricaneHippo]

Hi all,

Firstly there are loads of really experienced and helpful people here to give advise - that’s not me! I just thought it might be nice to share a few things I’ve found out that have been helpful as I’m only about a month in of my journey.

I fiddled around with diet and exercise with blood glucose monitoring before and 2 hours after food to work out what causes spikes and what doesn’t. For me very very small portions of carbs actually helped and stopped my liver pumping out glucose and I replaced it with veg and protein. Likewise fasting was a big no no. I’m down to fasting glucose of 5.5 on average and return to this after food - once I’d worked out the magic formula it took a couple of weeks. There’s lots and lots of contradictory advice but the blood glucose monitor helped me work out what works for me.

I’m not a huge meat eater so seeds, cheese and avocado (for fibre and appetite depressant) have been great. I refuse to give up cups of tea with milk but just calculate the milk in the the carb count.

There are lots and lots of recipes for high carb favourites that can be replaced - it’s not a case of never being able to eat treats or bread ever again. Check out the food thread here there loads!

Another source of despair was the thought or never eating out or having takeaway again. I’ve done both, it’s just taken a shift in no set about what to order. Again see the threads for suggestions!

Vigorous exercise raised my blood sugar, gentle lowered it. Exercising before eating raised glucose, after eating lowered it. Gardening was amazing for levels way more than extra walking - I presume that’s the same as low resistance in gym.

I’m very far from an expert and everybody’s body seems different. The answer seems to be test, test, test and fiddle with diet and exercise until you find something that works for you.

I found exactly the same with exercise, intense exercise sent my glucose levels soaring but long less intensive workouts brought down my sugars.

 

[Dandelade]

Update after first week
What a learning curve
After the initial ‘shock horror’ got stuck into forum.
Bought the test machine, stabbed myself 8 times until re read instructions and stopped smearing blood on the window instead of the tip DOHH
Initial readings all around 11 when waking, gradually falling to 8 during day, then repeat
Have had 8 days with no alcohol (nearly) ‘sensible’ eating avoiding carbs and sugar but nothing fanatic
Now readings are reasonably steady around 8.5 all day
Decent exercis (I row) gets it down below 6 for a couple of hours
Smallish blowout over the weekend (2 glasses of wine) raised to 12.6 but then back to normal next day
So looks like sensible diet and very low alcohol intake works for me so far
Well at least until it doesn’t!,,,
Thanks to all those who have blazed the trail

That’s fantastic news Roadie! Well done on working out something that works for you so quickly. It feels good knowing that actually you do have some control after all! Do keep us updated on how you’re doing.

 

[Dandelade]

I found exactly the same with exercise, intense exercise sent my glucose levels soaring but long less intensive workouts brought down my sugars.

Yeah exercise is a funny one isn’t it?!

I’ve been doing more reading and learned a few more things. Like the intensive exercise will be good for t2s long term, anything anaerobic is better, and in short bursts, the maximum heart rate you should be aiming for while exercising (can’t remember recommendations for t2 as I’m so unfit after a two year leg injury I’m not quite there yet!).
That last one about heart rate makes lots of sense as fitness will vary so people reporting on the forum a wide variety of effects will presumably correlate to intensity vs fitness/ heart rate?
My exercise is something that I could absolutely improve on and keep tweaking...

 

[HurricaneHippo]

Yeah exercise is a funny one isn’t it?!

I’ve been doing more reading and learned a few more things. Like the intensive exercise will be good for t2s long term, anything anaerobic is better, and in short bursts, the maximum heart rate you should be aiming for while exercising (can’t remember recommendations for t2 as I’m so unfit after a two year leg injury I’m not quite there yet!).
That last one about heart rate makes lots of sense as fitness will vary so people reporting on the forum a wide variety of effects will presumably correlate to intensity vs fitness/ heart rate?
My exercise is something that I could absolutely improve on and keep tweaking...

Thank you yes, I have started to enjoy my HIIT workouts but try not to do one just before I have to do a reading! It can be quite misleading

 

[Alexandra100]

I had an 8.4 after dinner (mushrooms, eggs, sausages, bacon and baked beans)….think it was the baked beans.

@HurricaneHippo Yes, I think you're right, baked beans aren't the best for low carb. Even though versions with less sugar do exist, even plain beans are more than most of us can manage. It's worthwhile also checking the label on the sausages. Often they are packed with carby fillers, because of course flour etc come cheaper than meat. The great thing is, we have brilliant labelling on almost everything edible so you can check. Someone posting on here recently discovered some amazingly low carb sausages. If you don't want to stand in the shop peering at labels, most supermarkets post all this info. on their websites for us to check at our leisure.