1 year in, still overwhelmed scared and confused

Why don't you give us a list here of what you do like, what you can tolerate, and what is an absolute no no? I am sure there are plenty of people on here who will be willing to come up with ideas and suggestions for you to play with and perhaps come up with some ideas that appeal to you that you've not thought of.

There are a lot of very helpful and knowledgeable people on here. I'm sure the collective wisdom can come up with some ideas.

cloudedskies said:

I've been diagnosed for a year now and I'm in no better health than I was a year ago in fact my HBA1C is worse.

I think I might still be in denial? And honestly, overwhelmed.

I know I need to lose weight, I know I need to change what I eat. I know I need to move more. I started working earlier this year and now get 8-10k steps everyday, often more.

It's the food. I'm really really fussy. I signed up for the low carb plan, one that was recommended here, but when I look at the meals, I just feel upset. How pathetic is that?? I don't want to stop eating carbs. I love potatoes! And as I'm so fussy I'm finding it hard to find stuff to eat that I actually like.

How do really fussy people manage?

Click to expand...

You are not alone.
I was just like you and yet was diagnosed right back in 2016.
I gave up some carbs but nowhere near enough and my heart wasn't in it. Then I realised it was because I didn't understand it, or know what I was doing. It seems so daunting but try to read as much on the forum as you can and take baby steps. You'll be surprised how many foods you CAN eat and just need to Springclean your diet a tad. I've just had 'bangers & mash' which was filling and yummy, but no potato used in the recipe and you'd truly never guess! Good luck and give us a try on here xx

cloudedskies said:

I've been diagnosed for a year now and I'm in no better health than I was a year ago in fact my HBA1C is worse.

I think I might still be in denial? And honestly, overwhelmed.

I know I need to lose weight, I know I need to change what I eat. I know I need to move more. I started working earlier this year and now get 8-10k steps everyday, often more.

It's the food. I'm really really fussy. I signed up for the low carb plan, one that was recommended here, but when I look at the meals, I just feel upset. How pathetic is that?? I don't want to stop eating carbs. I love potatoes! And as I'm so fussy I'm finding it hard to find stuff to eat that I actually like.

How do really fussy people manage?

Click to expand...

Everyone has been there feeling scared and overwhelmed. Like the other posters have said tell us what you like to eat.

The cravings for carbs actually disappear after a while and you don’t miss them - promise! Well certainly for me and I loooved sweet things and a lot of others too.

Have you got as far as a blood glucose meter to see how what you like affects your blood sugar levels?

You’re not alone, a lot people here that will help!

I'd suggest not focussing on everything, but on smaller improvements. Rather than feeling you're ditching everything, look at a meal, or day, or week at a time and see what you can do to make it a bit better by halving the carbs in a meal, or eliminating sugar from a dessert. With a meter this may allow you to see some benefits and hopefully motivate you to continue.

Regarding fussiness, i suggest finding a few meal basics you really like that are low carb. Having a quick, easy and good staple to go back to really helped me when i was wavering or feeling deprived. Steak, mushroom and spinach, or bacon, eggs and tomatoes, or tuna mayonnaise worked for me.

Do you test your blood sugars before and after meals? If not I really recommend it as you can see what you can tolerate. You might be able to still have a couple of potatoes for example but any more will increase your blood sugars. Portion size can make a difference. I still eat carbs but my portions are a lot less compared to what i had previously. But you get used to it.

Have you looked into carb alternatives? Livlife bread is really tasty and the carbzone wraps are also good. We make a great potato dauphinoise but with celeriac instead of potato. I can't tell the difference. Its just lovely and creamy!

Once you get used to it, it isn't as bad as you think. And you will feel better . I'm coming up to a year post diagnosis too, I still have down days when I just can't believe it's happened.

Doing exercise won't really get you much weight loss. Its more about what you eat and how much. Exercise can help and is important for other reasons, but walking 10k won't shed the weight.

If your weight is due to high insulin levels then a low carb diet might cause a lot of weight loss even if you aren't restricting food intake that much. And low carb doesn't mean going as far as keto unless you need to or want to.

It's not as bad as it seems. After 18 years of living with T2 - and only just getting my head round things I can't give you any more advice than what has been posted here - this forum's community are brilliant.

I was a swine for my beer and chocolate, that's gone along with carbs such as bread, potatoes and root veg. No pasta either. Has it made a difference to me? Yes. I am sleeping better, I have dropped all but one of my meds (Trulicity) and I think that will be gone soon.

There are all sorts of delicious things you can eat - Ground Almond Flour (Costco) makes lovely cupcakes - loads of recipes out there, here's a link to my favourite Keto breakfast https://www.eatwell101.com/cheesy-bacon-egg-muffins.

Dropping the carbs has made a massive difference to me - along with testing and keeping a record of what does/doesn't agree with me, try it yourself you'll soon have it beaten.

It may seem a big step at first, but go slowly as others have so rightly said, and cut things out regularly but gradually. I went cold turkey and for two weeks my body was screaming for sugar, five weeks in and it's not too bad.

Sending you all the best positive vibes as, if I can do it, I know you can. Stay strong and beat this thing, you will overcome it with the help of these great people on here.

Kev

Adding to my earlier comment, I think I'd be uncomfortable in the extreme just contemplating trying to follow any low carb meal plan created by others, so you're braver than me in that regard.

I took everything I ate normally at time of diagnosis, worked out carbs in each meal, and applied the below (Somewhat inspired by the hierarchy for hazardous chemical inventory management...):
1) Eliminate
2) Substitute
3) Reduce (or revise relative portions to other parts of meal)

After several cycles of this I eventually have gotten to <120g/day reasonably consistently and not missing any meal options, as long as I budget my carbs sensibly for the day. Most of the meals that went in the eliminate bin initially, I've since found low carb substitutions or I find I don't miss that much anyway.

cloudedskies said:

I've been diagnosed for a year now and I'm in no better health than I was a year ago in fact my HBA1C is worse.

I think I might still be in denial? And honestly, overwhelmed.

I know I need to lose weight, I know I need to change what I eat. I know I need to move more. I started working earlier this year and now get 8-10k steps everyday, often more.

It's the food. I'm really really fussy. I signed up for the low carb plan, one that was recommended here, but when I look at the meals, I just feel upset. How pathetic is that?? I don't want to stop eating carbs. I love potatoes! And as I'm so fussy I'm finding it hard to find stuff to eat that I actually like.

How do really fussy people manage?

Click to expand...

I was diagnosed 3 months ago and I understand completely how you feel, I remember vividly crying that I could never eat a McDonalds hash brown again, ridiculous I know, crying over what was making me ill, but that was just how I felt at the time.

I woke up one day and just said right im not eating bread, pasta, potatoes and rice anymore. By cutting these things out completely I realised it left me room to eat some carbs in my diet and still lower my blood glucose and drop the weight too. I am 24 lbs down from where I was at my heaviest and I have my 3 month review on Tuesday so we will see how much better my blood glucose is but I hoping for a vast improvement.

Take one day at a time and remember its just the fillers you cant eat, just remove them from your normal food. My lamb rogan josh with an onion bhaji was delicious for tea tonight and I really didnt miss the rice or the bread, it gets easier the more you do it. Also and I know I keep repeating myself with this, if you have a diabetes x-pert course available in your area, do sign up for it, its brilliant and really helps to educate and motivate. Good luck you can do it!

cloudedskies said:

ant to stop eating carbs. I love potatoes! And as I'm so fussy I'm finding it hard to find stuff to eat that I actually like.

How do really fussy people manage?

Click to expand...

Do the hard yards straight off the gun, so softly softly
Hit low carb seriously, do exercise after your highest carb meal of the day.

Once, you make the change it will become 2nd nature

I miss having some bulk in my meals, to give me that full, satisfied feeling. Have you thought of mashed cauliflower, made with some cinnamon, paprika, and raw finely chopped onions? Delicious, and almost indistinguishable from mashed potatoes....and look up the nutrition data for cauliflower, it ticks most of the boxes.