A bit confused

[Paul1976]

Hi Everyone! :wave:

I was diagnosed 2 weeks ago as a Type 2 aged 36 after seeing the Nurse practioner with extreme tiredness,going to the toilet a lot more,headaches and being thirsty,She sent my blood off and it came back with a fasted glucose level of 12.1 mmol/l and a Hb1ac of 7.5 and apparently there was protein in my urine(whatever that means).
She advised me I was a type 2 and could control it with diet alone and advised me the do's and dont's regarding my diet and away I went.
I have followed the healthy eating plan religiously for the past 2 weeks but it seems no matter how healthy and sugar free my breakfast,lunch or dinner is-My sugar is always between 10-13mmol/l 2 hours after eating and with fasting I cannot achieve a reading below 8.0mmol/l though it is an improvement on the readings I was getting before I changed my diet which was readings around 17mmol/l at bedtime.(I bought my own meter from boots)
My question is,in your experiences,do you think this is controllable by diet alone as I think my readings are a little high and I'm due to have major surgery in about 9 weeks and I'd like to be in control by then.
Many thanks all
Paul

 

[Grazer]

Hi there and welcome! Yes, totally possible, and desirable, to control on diet only. Thing is, it's not about sugar. Sugar is just a refined carbohydrate. ALL carbs turn to sugar in the blood. Sorry, but the advice we often get on diet at the docs is rubbish. Most of us try to cut down on the starchy carbs. Here's a good link to the post the moderator normally sends to new members - loads of good info on diet. Read it. Then ask whatever you need to. Good luck!

 

[daisy1]

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum Here is the basic information that Grazer mentioned in his post. This should be particularly useful to you as a type 2 trying diet only. Ask as many questions as you need to as there is usually someone here to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 30,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

 

[Paul1976]

Hi there!

Thanks for the replies and the information! I forgot to mention on my first post that I've switched to better Carbs but that hasnt helped much sadly,wholemeal bread,weetabix,wholewheat pasta,wholewheat rices still leaves me with a 2 hour reading of around 13.5 even though I only have a modest portion size so I'm thinking cutting carbs right back might be the way forward.(I was initially badly advised that a good breakfast would be oatmeal,semi skimmed milk and banana for sweetness but that gave me a reading of 17!! :shock: )
My question is this..I can cut the carbs quite easily at lunch and dinner but I'm struggling to think of a satisfying no-carb breakfast so does anyone have any ideas they could share with me?
Thanks again! :wink:

 

[Grazer]

A good fry up is low carb! :thumbup: If you can't face that, what about an omelette, (with ham, cheese, mushrooms, tomatos or just plain) Hard boiled egg you could cook night before and keep in fridge, have with fresh tomato or ham? Scrambled egg? Or go continental with ham and cheese etc? One slice of Burgen soya and linseed bread toasted would probably be ok with any of this.

 

[xyzzy]

Carbs is the key. Been diagnosed 6 weeks but following the sensible low carb advice given on this forum my readings are now in the 4.5 to 6.5 range and started in the low 20's.

To begin with I didn't particularly concern myself where the carbs came from in terms of fat, protein or calories etc. I now average around 60g of carbs a day.

My average day is something like.

Breakfast 30g of frozen strawberries / blueberries microwave 40 secs then mix with 50g of plain Greek yoghurt. If you're use to a big breakfast then I appreciate my minimalist approach may not be for you but I never ate breakfast until diagnosed. Breakfast is important as it will start your metabolism working.

Lunch 2 slices bacon, two fried eggs and 5 medium sized chopped up mushrooms. Alternatively I make an omelette with cheese or ham. Another is a small tin of sardines on ONE slice of Burgen soya bread. I try and make lunch as low carb as possible less than 10g most days.

Dinner is usually veg based, starting from 250g of cheap ASDA value frozen mixed veg, then build up into a curry with half a Pataks curry sauce jar. I can tolerate no more than 25g of white rice which gets mixed in. I can eat more brown rice. A similar meal can be made using the same veg base but mix in half a jar of Dolmino and have 25g of Pasta. Meat wise use 250g (or more) chicken or lean mince etc. Normally works out around 40g of carbs. Another good one is cauliflower and brocilli cheese then mix in something like smoked haddock etc.

If you worry that isn't enough calories then just add cheese! As I say the intent is to get your levels down, you can worry about other healthy eating things once you have control.

After 6 weeks I am gradually being able to expand what I eat by and keep my levels good. Get your levels down is the most important then experiment to get a good low carb, calorie, fat protein mix that suits you.

Hard work to start with but becoming second nature now. Also somewhat counter-intuitive as when you look at labels you'll find the low carb versions of foods are not necessarily the low fat versions but don't worry to begin with and choose low carb in preference imo. I've lost 24lbs and 4" off my waist in 6 weeks which can't be bad!


Good Luck

 

[Grazer]

mix in half a jar of Dolmino and have 25g of Pasta.

Good stuff xyzzy. You probably know this, but if you use pasta then the brown wholewheat is better than the white, and the tricolor fusili pasta is a good low GI pasta. The Sainsburys own one is labelled "low GI" and cetainly seems to work for me.

 

[xyzzy]

Yes typed a bit quick that time. I really must do some work today!

The lowest carb stuff found as recommended by my Type 1 son.

Pasta

ASDA Tagliatelle Paglia E Fieno at 34.7 / 100g cooked
ASDA Tricolor Fusilli at 33.4 / 100g cooked

Rice

ASDA Basmati Brown Rice at 21 / 100g cooked (works out at under 50 / 100g dry weight which is far less than most others)

Banned List!

Mashed potatoes very fast acting through the roof levels
Boiled potatoes - still working out my tolerance to this looks to be around one small spud!
Roast potatoes - tried with xmas dinner with some success haven't really analysed in detail but many people say its the only way!

Egg Noodles - have tried Rice noodles as they were lower carb but not very good although at 25g they just kept me under 7. Have some egg noodles which I'm waiting to try.

Bread - can tolerate one and maybe two rounds of burgen soya bread in anyone go but no more.

Takeaways

Indian - SUCCESS! Choose a dry curry, madras, achar, charger etc but don't use all the sauce. half a tub of pilau rice, 100g mushroom bhaji, 1 small onion bhaji, add an extra chicken tikka starter. DONT EAT NAAN BREAD. This is my Saturady night treat and the meal I use to see how I'm improving my control. So long as I have low carbed and walked the dogs during the rest of Saturday I can JUST get away with it. I get one hour readings of around 7.5 that drop under 7 after 2 hours.

Chinese - TOTAL DISASTER. Tried to create a low carb Chinese, chow mein, small amount of rice, just ate the chicken out of the chicken balls, had stewed mixed veg (water chestnuts etc.) Complete failure hit 12.5 within the hour.

 

[hanadr]

paulie
It IS possible to control T2 by diet in many cases, but you need to be very determined to do it. I suggest you Read
"Dr. Bernstein's diabetes Solution"
It's American, so the units will be unfamiliar, but we can help you convert them [conversion factor is 18 UK numbers should come smqaller than US!]
It's also aimed more at T1, but the information on eating is extremely helpful
Hana

 

[Grazer]

The Asda pastas look interesting, I'll have a look at that.
Quick observation on the spud thing:-

Boiled potatoes - still working out my tolerance to this looks to be around one small spud!
Roast potatoes - tried with xmas dinner with some success haven't really analysed in detail but many people say its the only way!

Agree the mashed is out; jacket as bad. With the boiled, I find I can get away with quite a few of the small new potatos boiled (the pre-bagged types in supermarkets) but zero old potatos boiled.
Old potatos ROAST seem ok, as the fat slows down the conversion to sugar. I have 3 small halves roast.

 

[viviennem]

A low-carb book aimed at Type 2s (though useful for Type 1s to read too) is Atkins Diabetes Revolution, by Dr M C Vernon and J A Eberstein. It's based on the Atkins weight loss diet, which controls BGs (and cholesterol) very well, and it works.

My simplified version of the first stage is a Sticky Thread (see bottom of Board Index) called Viv's Modified Atkins Diet. If it's too low carb for you, add in some more low GI carbs until you reach the daily amount you want to eat. Grazer manages well on 100g - 150g per day. I still have a lot of weight to lose, so I aim for under 30g and never over 50g. Except at Christmas!

Viv 8)