3 month wait

A

Anonymous

Guest
Having seen the diabetes nurse at my GPs last week, she informed me that I have to wait 3 months to be seen at the diabetes clinic, I really feel like I'm playing a waiting game. I finally managed to get the doctor to weigh me yesterday, but still no advice on diet/exercise. I feel at a loss and really dont know where to begin, i've been looking at the low carb options, but really dont know where to start....Reding things, some say carrots are okay to eat, others say they arent etc...Have been trolling the internet for things too...I honestly feel like giving up before i even start...I lack the motivation to even make myself 3 meals a day....I've looked for sample menus etc, things that arent expensive and really dont know what i'm doing...I dont have a blood glusoce meter at the moment as i cant afford to buy one and doc refuses to give me one, saying its not a necessity...

Can anyone help me get on the right path? I really dont want to wait 3 month to be told I've done nothing to help myself

Sharon :(
 

mazbee

Well-Known Member
Messages
85
Hi Sharonmac,
I felt in a similar position to which you find yourself now, when I was first diagnosed a few years ago.
You will find helpful advice, hints and tips in this active and informative forum, it helped me more than my medical practice!

I got different advice from my Diabetic nurse, Doctor, dietician, the Desmond course I attended and the pharmacist (who reviews my medication every 3 months) within the first 6 months of diagnosis.
I was very confused, ended up being very depressed.

I was taking 3 x 500mg metformin a day not long after being diagnosed. It has been now been reduced to 1 x 500mg a day, and my doctor is happy for me to carry on with low carb meals.

I like eggs, boiled, poached, scrambled, in an omelette with veg or for a treat pepperoni :)
I like ryebread with cream cheese, Marmite, strong mature cheese, sliced meat from roasts I have cooked.
Celery or a small apple with a nice peice of cheese, Natural yoghurts to which I add my own fruit, usually a few berries (strawberries help to lower cholesterol). A nice fresh salad, with some home made mayonaise.
I tend to use olive based butter/margarine in my cooking, and one of my favorite veggies is spinach cooked with a small amount of olive based margarine.
A handful of unsalted nuts are great as a snack, my favorites are brasil nuts.
A small amount of dark chocolate of over 75% cocoa beans every other day, fresh meats fish and vegatables, I do eat carrots :)
Look for foods with slow release (Complicated Carbohydrates)

I often have cooked myself a small rainbow trout with leeks and butter beans, and taken it to work the next day and warmed it in the microwave for my dinner.
I do not buy ready meals now because most are processed and these meals make my blood sugar's go quite high.

I hope I have given you some idea, there is no hard and fast rules about what to eat. It is all tial and error at first, some people with type 2 diabetes can tolerate foods that other type 2's cannot.

As for not having a blood sugar meter, see if you can win one from this site. :thumbup:

Marion :crazy:
 

Daibell

Master
Messages
12,656
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi. Mazbee has given you some good food advice. As you may have spotted on the forum do keep bread, pasta, rice and so on small in quantity and go for low-GI (complex) versions when you do have them such as those based on mulit-grain flour. Almost all vegetables are OK including carrots although some have more carbs than others; they are all better than the white-flour based foods. Proteins are good and some fruit particularly berry-based types. I have fried egg and bacon for breakfast or home made muesli in small quantities and with lots of nuts and seeds added. Do read food packaging labels as it's horrifying how many packs and tins come loaded with sugar, honey, modified starch and so on.
 

Paul_c

Well-Known Member
Messages
432
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Raw carrots are fine. They may have a high Glycemic Index (GI) figure, but you have to eat an awful lot of them to consume the 50grams of equivalent carbs used for the GI test. As a result, they have a low Glycemic Load (GL).

Cooking them increases their GI (and the GL goes up as well) as it makes those carbs more easily released when they get inside you. Best to steam them and aim for al dente (means "with a bite") or else lightly coat them in olive oil and oven roast them if you have to cook them. You do NOT need to add sugar to carrots when cooking them as they become naturally sweet as part of the cooking process.

http://carbs-information.com/glycemic-load.htm

"Glycemic Index" Based on 50 Grams of Useable Carbs

Glycemic Load is the application of the glycemic index to a standard serving of food. Remember, the glycemic index (GI) of a food is not based on commonly consumed portion-sizes of foods. Instead, GI is measured by giving volunteers a portion size sufficient to contain 50g of useable carbs. Therefore the portion size of each GI-tested food will vary according to how much carbohydrate it contains. For example, carrots contain only about 7 percent carbs, so the test-portion of carrots eaten by the test-volunteer will be huge - about 1.5 pounds. Serving sizes of foods (like bread) which contain a higher percentage of carbs, will be smaller.
 

Nausheen

Newbie
Messages
2
Channel 4 are looking for women with type 2 diabetes who would be interested in participating in a group study for the hit series The Food Hospital.

I’m currently working with award-winning, independent television production company betty on a Specialist Factual series for Channel 4 called “The Food Hospital” (working title).

This pioneering, prime-time series will explore the practice of dietetics and the possible health benefits of everyday foods in targeting a wide range of medical conditions and symptoms.

I’m sure you would agree that awareness of Diabetes type 2 and diet could be improved and hopefully this series could help that situation. We had nearly 2 million viewers on average last year and the series as a whole reached over 11 million people.

Patients attending ‘The Food Hospital’ will be advised by our team of medical professionals including a leading registered Dietitian, a GP and a Consultant. Using evidence-based, cutting-edge scientific research, the team will prescribe specific diets that could help the patients’ conditions or symptoms. The advice and treatment that the Food Hospital will offer is complementary and intended to be followed in conjunction with the patient’s existing medical regime. The Food Hospital medical team will endeavour to work collaboratively with the patient’s current medical advisors.

Within the science and medical community, The Food Hospital was received particularly well. The production team worked closely with a number of academics and institutions and as a result, many more academic institutions are keen to link with the series this year. This rigorous approach to the treatment and careful consideration of ethics will be followed again in series 2.

We are currently looking for 6 women with type-2 diabetes to undertake a specialist diet which may help to put their type-2 diabetes into remission. The diet has been trialled successfully.

Filming will start very soon at a special residential location between 17th- 20th August. We will film the first 4 days of their new diet with help from our medical team and Dietician. We will then follow their diet’s progress over the following 7 weeks.

Do get in touch if you have any more questions about this project. You can email me at [email protected]
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Thank you everyone, Ive just had it with doctors not giving advice to people, they think we all know what diabetes is and what the health implications are....I didnt understand diabetes at all until i joined this forum. i've been writing down some recipes today and have already cut out all the "bad" carbs, ive stopped drinking sugary drinks and have stopped smoking, guess I was just having a bit of a meltdown last night...

I think i'm finally heading in the right direction, just need to start planning meals so I at least eat healthy 3 meals a day instead of just eating once a day..

Thank you for all your help, it is truly appreciated

Sharon xx
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Still waiting to be seen at the diabetic clinic, but really happy with myself, went from diagnosis of blood glucose being 12.8 and this morning got a reading of 5.4....So happy with myself, not sure how much weight Ive lost but looking at myself, not much, but have been cutting down on the carbs a good bit....So overall I'm happy my bloods have went down :D
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
izzzi said:
hi Sharon, :)

You may have a BG meter now, however test strips are a costly problem. This could be of interest to you.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos ... s+codefree

Hope this helps, as the BG test meter is necessary for you to have and the strips are very expensive.

Good Luck.

Roy.


Thanks Roy, I got a Freestyle freedom lite free in the post, not sure how costly the strips are,havent had much time to check yet, but thank you anyway.

Sharon :)