New Diabetic with Type 2 - questions

[Tulip007]

Have you been back in touch with your surgery, there are tests for LADA or T1, just make sure they have run those.
Then there is the TOFI, this on the outside, fat on the inside, where your body decides to deposit it's fat on the liver straight away.

You have options, you just need to establish your cause.

Thanks Ronancastled.
Sure, will check with my GP

 

[garyclark82]

Sorry to bump my old thread, but this is an update (haven't been on here much lately - life getting in the way):

Had my six monthly review, and I can report that I am now Metformin Free!

HbA1C had increased slightly from 32 to 35, but that was mitigated by the nurse because she'd cut my Metformin in half from September (my three monthly review). My cholesterol has increased to 6.2 so I need to adjust my ways a bit and reduced my saturated fats, but nothing beyond the normal dietary stuff (back to milk rather than cream in the coffee, no sausages etc).

I have a further review in three months to see how I'm getting on without Metformin and hopefully with my cholesterol levels reduced. My nurse said she would expect to see me dip back into the pre-diabetic range this first time as my body adjusts to no tablets.

Can't thank you all enough - this has been a whirlwind nine months (imagine nine months flying by just like that!).

Has anyone got any good threads they can link to me re cholesterol and the reductions whilst continuing a low(ish) carb lifestyle?

 

[bulkbiker]

My cholesterol has increased to 6.2 so I need to adjust my ways a bit and reduced my saturated fats,

You really don't...

 

[KennyA]

Sorry to bump my old thread, but this is an update (haven't been on here much lately - life getting in the way):

Had my six monthly review, and I can report that I am now Metformin Free!

HbA1C had increased slightly from 32 to 35, but that was mitigated by the nurse because she'd cut my Metformin in half from September (my three monthly review). My cholesterol has increased to 6.2 so I need to adjust my ways a bit and reduced my saturated fats, but nothing beyond the normal dietary stuff (back to milk rather than cream in the coffee, no sausages etc).

I have a further review in three months to see how I'm getting on without Metformin and hopefully with my cholesterol levels reduced. My nurse said she would expect to see me dip back into the pre-diabetic range this first time as my body adjusts to no tablets.

Can't thank you all enough - this has been a whirlwind nine months (imagine nine months flying by just like that!).

Has anyone got any good threads they can link to me re cholesterol and the reductions whilst continuing a low(ish) carb lifestyle?

Well done. It might help you to know that with a 20g carb/day intake plus as much fat as I care to eat my total cholesterol figure as calculated has fallen over the last two years. I don't think that the total cholesterol means anything, but there you are.

 

[HSSS]

@garyclark82 Please look into the cholesterol thing a bit further before you make changes. It really isn’t the saturated fats that are the problem and also total cholesterol means diddly squat. You must have the breakdowns to make any judgements at all and it should also be a fasted test that they rarely do now to avoid no shows later in the day.

It’s likely that your good cholesterol has risen and your triglycerides (the real baddies) have fallen and your ratios have all improved even if your ldl has remained static or even risen a little. And anyone’s cholesterol will rise a bit as they lose weight whatever method they use, but stabilises again once weight does.

There’s an enormous thread on here about cholesterol and statins started by Bulkbiker that has more links and scientific papers than you’d need for a masters on the subject.

 

[Oldvatr]

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed last week with Type 2 diabetes (51 was my level - the nurse said 42 was normal - so is that my mmol?)

I am overweight and working on reducing that. I've been put on two metformin tablets a day (one with the morning meal, one with the evening meal) although for the first week, it was only with breakfast. I have not been testing myself - the nurse said that I wouldn't need to at this point (I have a further appointment next week so I can ask)

I'm on a low carb diet at the moment of 30g for breakfast, 45g for lunch, 60g for dinner and 15g for snacks and I'm getting on okay with this other than feeling pretty miserable and missing my previous foods (missing them incredibly in fact). I've been as strict as possible to keeping under the limits set, but I'm still feeling hungry at times. I know a lot of this is due to adjusting to my new life but it's still tough.

An average day so far would consist of:

Breakfast: 2 sausages (Be Good To Yourself although I'm hoping to get to my local butcher), 2 egg cheese omelette and a coffee.
Lunch: Mixed salad with chicken breast, a tablespoon of 70% reduced fat salad cream followed by some berries/unsweetened yoghurt
Dinner: Aldi Slim Well Chicken Saag, half a packet of cauliflower rice.
Snack: Fruit, a cheese oatcake, maybe (just maybe) a couple of squares of dark chocolate.

A few questions:
- How sustainable is eating like that going to be, long term?
- What sort of snacks would be recommended?
- If I were to have a particularly low breakfast/lunch, would I be able to use the carbs for later in the day?
- What advice would be recommended for cravings etc?

I'm sure I'll have more questions going forward but this is all such a change to my life

Yeah! Aldi Chicken saag. Good choice there! Their Chow mein from the same range is also a good one. Welcome to the club nobody volunteers for. You are off to a sound start IMO. You will find that being too strict is actually counter productive for some, and I started my LCHF journey more sedately and gently slid down the glucose scale. That was 8 years ago, and I am still following that plan. so it can be long term provided you learn to live with it.

You may also find that increasing the fat intake with healthy fats (i.e. not seed oils) reduces hunger pangs. Be sure to increase salt intake especially in the early period when you may be losing weight. Hydrate well for the same reason.

Getting a test meter is advised even if you have to self fund it. It will be you friend and something to swear by and also swear at but it will shoow immediately how you are progressing. Keep a food diary and log the results in that too so you build up a repertoire of meals and snacks that are beneficial for you. Your list will be different from everybody elses since we all get affected in different ways.

Edit Ooopsie. just read the date on the OP so what I wrote here has already been said by others.

 

[BPF]

Good morning @garyclark82 ,

Good questions, and good start you're making. But I can see why you're hungry... There's three macro nutrients, and you're cutting out a lot of 2 of them... Better up the fats. That should keep you satisfied and give you something to run on, with carbs out of the mix. Just protein isn't going to cut it.

As for your questions, it's quite sustainable long term, once you find out what works for you. Your current diet isn't, as you're hungry all the time, but that's quite fixable! And I have to agree with the others, snacks aren't really that good of an idea, what with your pancreas needing as many breaks as it can get, and every time you eat something it has to shift gears again. If you do want to snack though, hard cheeses, pork scratchings, cold cuts/sausages, coffee with cream, or extra dark chocolate (Lindt's is great, and from what I hear, Aldi's Moser Roth is good too.). And maybe not think in terms of using carbs here and there... You don't actually need carbs to live, and you can't exactly bank them. If you'd had a meter, you would've already seen that if you have, say, 10 grams of carbs in the morning your blood sugars would react one way, and if you have 60 over lunch, you'd likely spike your blood sugars for a while. So do get yourself a meter with cheap strips, as you're going to need a LOT of them before you know exactly what foods agree with you and which don't.

Now, looking at your current diet, I see two things: Your carb count is well below what's been alotted, so yay, you! And secondly, the low fat stint... Fats aren't a diabetic's enemy, they're just about our best friend, second only to our meter. I know, it takes a bit of getting used to the idea after the low fat mantra's of the past decades, but.... It does make a difference in your hunger, and it'll give you something to burn for energy. So you might want to tweak your diet.

Breakfast: 2 sausages (Be Good To Yourself although I'm hoping to get to my local butcher), 2 egg cheese omelette and a coffee.
You might want to up the eggs. Maybe have 4 rather than two, add a little more (full fat!) cheese. You can toss in salmon, bacon, ham, that sort of thing, to bulk it up further. Or some chopped above ground veggies, spinach and such... Maybe throw some heavy cream into your coffee, makes it more filling and quite tasty!

Lunch: Mixed salad with chicken breast, a tablespoon of 70% reduced fat salad cream followed by some berries/unsweetened yoghurt

The tablespoon of reduced fat salad cream is the biggest red fag of the entire meal. You might want to go for proper mayo, (careful, some brands have put sugar in for heaven knows what reason), or olive oil and apple cider vinegar of a nice vinaigrette. You might also want to add some grated cheese, bacon etc to bulk it up further. Berries are fine, they're the lowest carb fruit out there, and the yoghurt should preferably full fat greek. Again, it's more filling and low carb.

Dinner: Aldi Slim Well Chicken Saag, half a packet of cauliflower rice.

I have absolutely no idea what Saag is, but the nutritional info says it's one gram of carbs per 100, so yay. It's low fat again though, so don't know how filling it is with just half a packet of cauliflower rice. (Good on you for using that though, good stuff!). If you can, or need to, you might want to bulk that up too some. I don't know whether it'd taste good with grated cheese or with a little butter tossed in, because I have no clue what it actually is, but you're the best judge of that.

Snack: Fruit, a cheese oatcake, maybe (just maybe) a couple of squares of dark chocolate.

...Yeah. The one thing you're most tentative about is the thing most likely to not spike you. Just a few squares of extra dark sounds fine to me, so enjoy! What fruits are you eating? Like I said, berries are the best thing for a T2. An average apple, for instance, contains 20 grams of sugar/carbs. A decent sides banana about 30+. One slice of pineapple over 20 as well... So basically, it all depends on what kind of fruit you're having. (And again, a meter would've warned you off the big hitters if you'd had one. See how useful it can be?). I can't tell how many carbs are in the oat cakes, but I personally wouldn't touch anything with oats with a 10 ft pole. For you, however, they might be just fine, as your HbA1c is lower than mine was at diagnosis and your insulin resistance at this point, is most likely nowhere near as bad as mine. Again, something your meter'd be able to tell you. Testing around meals can be very, very informative. (before you begin and 2 hours after the first bite. You're aiming for a rise of no more than 2.0 mmol/l)

Anyway, I hope this helps a little in solving the hunger issue. If you've got that licked, then yeah, you won't have any trouble keeping this diet up ad infinitum, and you should be feeling a lot better soon. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ might help a little when it comes to adding some variety. But all in all... Meat, fish, poultry, most dairy and eggs are a free-for-all, and you can add on stuff from there.

Good luck!
Jo

I know this message was from some time ago but I just wanted to say thank you for this! It has been a big help to me. I'm a fussy eater you post has helped me see that I can add even a few little things to my low carb diet to help it not be so boring (Bacon, ham, Full Fat Greek Yogurt & Lindt's dark choc).

Like you mentioned a few times, i got myself a meter and have been monitoring before and 2 hrs after meals (all see me to be in the non-diabetic range) the only time is has spiked more than 2mmol/l was when I had some golden cow butter with my wholemeal toast yesterday when it went from 5.4 to 8.1 but I had the same today without butter and was 5.3 to 6.6 so having a meter is amazing at determining foods to steer clear of.

 

[Resurgam]

I know this message was from some time ago but I just wanted to say thank you for this! It has been a big help to me. I'm a fussy eater you post has helped me see that I can add even a few little things to my low carb diet to help it not be so boring (Bacon, ham, Full Fat Greek Yogurt & Lindt's dark choc).

Like you mentioned a few times, i got myself a meter and have been monitoring before and 2 hrs after meals (all see me to be in the non-diabetic range) the only time is has spiked more than 2mmol/l was when I had some golden cow butter with my wholemeal toast yesterday when it went from 5.4 to 8.1 but I had the same today without butter and was 5.3 to 6.6 so having a meter is amazing at determining foods to steer clear of.

butter has no carbs and bread has lots, so it was probably that you missed the spike yesterday as fats alter the timing of digestion.

 

[LINMARIE]

Hi everyone, I was diagnosed last week with Type 2 diabetes (51 was my level - the nurse said 42 was normal - so is that my mmol?)

I am overweight and working on reducing that. I've been put on two metformin tablets a day (one with the morning meal, one with the evening meal) although for the first week, it was only with breakfast. I have not been testing myself - the nurse said that I wouldn't need to at this point (I have a further appointment next week so I can ask)

I'm on a low carb diet at the moment of 30g for breakfast, 45g for lunch, 60g for dinner and 15g for snacks and I'm getting on okay with this other than feeling pretty miserable and missing my previous foods (missing them incredibly in fact). I've been as strict as possible to keeping under the limits set, but I'm still feeling hungry at times. I know a lot of this is due to adjusting to my new life but it's still tough.

An average day so far would consist of:

Breakfast: 2 sausages (Be Good To Yourself although I'm hoping to get to my local butcher), 2 egg cheese omelette and a coffee.
Lunch: Mixed salad with chicken breast, a tablespoon of 70% reduced fat salad cream followed by some berries/unsweetened yoghurt
Dinner: Aldi Slim Well Chicken Saag, half a packet of cauliflower rice.
Snack: Fruit, a cheese oatcake, maybe (just maybe) a couple of squares of dark chocolate.

A few questions:
- How sustainable is eating like that going to be, long term?
- What sort of snacks would be recommended?
- If I were to have a particularly low breakfast/lunch, would I be able to use the carbs for later in the day?
- What advice would be recommended for cravings etc?

I'm sure I'll have more questions going forward but this is all such a change to my life

Hi I was disgnosed with same hbac of 51 on Jan I was told take 1 x metformin which I didnt I wanted to i wanted to try diet and different lifestyle first and then told no need to take with 51 reading and was told not sure why given so was there a reason why perscribed 2 with reading of 51 I was 1 stine over weight ans lost it already! Just wondering and i am not too sure but can metorformin if too much needed make your blood drop too low? Perhaps an expert on here may know and you could discuss with your dr before lowering or not taking at all just stuck with the LCHF way I feel a new person 3 months in to it but I do need to look at new recipes Good luck on your journey

 

[Antje77]

Just wondering and i am not too sure but can metorformin if too much needed make your blood drop too low?

Metformin doesn't cause low blood glucose as a rule, that's not something to worry about.

 

[Oldvatr]

Hi I was disgnosed with same hbac of 51 on Jan I was told take 1 x metformin which I didnt I wanted to i wanted to try diet and different lifestyle first and then told no need to take with 51 reading and was told not sure why given so was there a reason why perscribed 2 with reading of 51 I was 1 stine over weight ans lost it already! Just wondering and i am not too sure but can metorformin if too much needed make your blood drop too low? Perhaps an expert on here may know and you could discuss with your dr before lowering or not taking at all just stuck with the LCHF way I feel a new person 3 months in to it but I do need to look at new recipes Good luck on your journey

Metformin is not really a significant glucose shifter. It has at best only a couple of mmol/l (UK) effect and that is when at max dose of 2000mg.day. It does have benefits in reducing Insulin Resistance, and also giives some protection to the cardiovascular system It also traps some glucose before it gets into the bloodstream, and passes it naturally out with the rest of the unwanted waste (like a sponge). Metformin is not normally associated with blood glucose levels dropping too low (i.e. hypo) but it can happen [apparently].

Many here report that as their blood sugar levels drop due to a diet they have started then they get symptoms like a hypo. These are generally false hypo's and it is just the body adjusting to the new you. Hypo's normally get caused by certain heavy duty glucose shifters like insulin or a sulfonylurea drug like Gliclazide.

 

[LINMARIE]

Thanks for explaining this just in case my readings dont go down and i have to take in thw future but that is a long way off for me I hope...... thanks