A very silly person here

what a heartfelt post, Welcome to the forum Tony, Im sure one of the very lovely helpful people who know far more than I do will be along very shortly with lots of great advice,

Im a newbie myself and have had so much support and compassion from a great bunch of people on here, almost like a diabetic family, but i didnt want you to wait any longer than you had to for a friendly voice

good luck, and you have certainly made the right step, take care
Alison x

Ps while you are waiting try searching Viv's modified Atkins diet, It has helped me tremendously

Hi and welcome
Some would not going very low carb straight away as it could cause problems with sudden drop in BGs I would try cutting out the "bad" carbs first eg bread ,rice, pasta I can tolerate Burgen bread in small quantities also brown basmatti rice, veg have some carbs and these are the ones you need Vivs diet is good I am a skinny but I can still find lots of good ideas on there DBis not an exact science by any means and testing is the only way to see how YOUR body reacts to certain foods
CAROL

Yes you are a very silly person........ you left Yorkshire!

You can always tell a Yorkshireman...but you cant tell him much.

SOmetimes you have to get into a right state to be shocked enough to want to change and then the change seems such a daunting thing to face.
I can only advocate what Carty suggested if the cold turkey was too much for you last time. Cut out the bad carbs to wean you into going low carb. Take a packed lunch into work to avoid the canteen stodge.
Like you I put off taking meds until a couple of months ago when my Bg went way too high for me to accept. They are now at a much more acceptable level, and given some time on the right diet I hope to lower the dosage bit by bit. No-one likes to be on tablets forever (but you have to accept that you may just HAVE to be on tabs for a very long time!)
Good luck with the first few steps. There is a ton of information on here, just take some time to wade through it!

Cheers
Gav

Welcome to the forum Tony.

I can guarantee you will get loads of support and advice from all the lovely people on here-and a laugh here and there too just to lighten the mood a bit!

I am relatively new too but the amount of information on here is brilliant. I know I couldn't have got by without it.

When I am about to or have fallen off the wagon the first thing I do is come onto the forum. Reading it all and getting the support from everyone is tremendous. Even if you just want a rant there is always someone who will listen (sorry, read) and reply.

I think you will soon realise that joining this forum is the best thing you have done and we will all try our best to keep you on track-and when you are doing well you will keep others on track

There are a couple of good threads re willpower and struggling that might help you.

Good luck with it all

Marina

I can totally relate to your post. I am on metformin and thought it gave me a lisence to eat what ever i wanted to. At my last eye test i was told i had background retinapathy which scared the life out of me!
It was the wake up call i needed.
I had been on the Atkins diet a few years ago and lost weight then found this amazing forum and realised low carbing is the way forward.
My BG levels have settled into the 5s and i have lost 3 stone.
I agree wth the above posts, cut out refined carbs but keep the veg and salad for the time being.
For breakfast i sometimes have Burgens Soya and linseed bread, its the lowest carb. Often have scrambled egg and bacon, boiled eggs, sausages, really you can have what ever you like as long as its low carb!
For snacks, hard boiled eggs are handy to keep on hand, babybels, cheese,even pork scratchings.
As for withdrawals, headaches seem to be the biggest thing
Good luck and well done for taking control of your life Tania

Hey Tony!

Glad you have decided to make a start on getting you BG under control. Many complications can be reversed if you get your BG to a sensible level. It will be hard, but absolutely worthwhile. Make sure you engage your GP so that you get all the checks you need. You will probably get more support on this forum than anywhere else. Here is the information that one of the forum moderators gives out - it will help you sort out what to eat:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=17088

Ask any questions you like - there's always someone around to respond with advice! For my part, I'm not Type 2, but i do follow a low-carb diet and an average day would look somthing like:

Breakfast - 1 low-carb sausage, 1 scrambled egg
Mid morning - handful of mixed nuts (walnuts, brazil nuts, hazelnuts etc - anything except cashews and peanuts - too high in carbs!)
Lunch - chicken breast and a mixed leaf salad. A couple of strawberries and a spoonful of cream
Tea - Lamb steak, roast celeriac, roast butternut squash, broccolli, cauliflower, green beans, cabbage. 1 very small apple or half a medium apple.

You will need to find what works for you, but I make things easier for myself by cooking a whole pack of sausages and re-heating them each morning in the microwave. I also cook a batch of chicken breasts at a time so i have them ready to throw in with some salad leaves for my packed lunch - it helps me avoid the canteen!

Good luck

Smidge

Hi Tony, and welcome.

My diet is a sticky thread at the top of the Low Carb Diet section under Food and Nutrition on the Board Index. it's called Viv's Modified Atkins Diet , and is basically a slightly modified version of the Atkins Induction Phase. It works for me and many others. You don't say if you need to lose weight, but if so, you certainly will on the basic diet. I've lost 4.5 stone in the past 18 months.

I aim to be under 50g of carb per day at all times (I sometimes slip in the winter ) and usually aim to be under 30g in the summer. If that seems too low for you to start with, buy yourself a carb counter book - Collins do a small one in the Gem series, but there are a few errors in it, so take care! You can decide how many grams of carb you want to aim for each day, use my diet as a base, and add extra carbs to the level you want, preferably from fresh fruit and veg. Choose from the lowest-carb ones. You can eat as much of the meat and fish as you want, so you need never be hungry. Don't be afraid of fat, but aim to eat unprocessed "natural" fats. I fry eggs in butter, use olive oil, and eat full-fat mayonnaise.

I think if I was you at the moment I'd aim for about 100g of carb daily at first, and then lower the amount as your BGs drop (and they will) and the weather improves. It can be a great shock to the system to go too low too quickly, although personally I didn't have a problem.

My daily menu is much the same as Smidge's, only no sausage at breakfast. But you could have egg, sausage, bacon and tomatoes if you wanted! If you don't have time to cook in a morning, prepare a small salad with lots of meat or fish or hard-boiled eggs the night before, so you can just grab it out of the fridge and eat as you're getting ready. Cold chicken salad is a very refreshing breakfast!

Now I've got my BGs under control I find I can manage a sandwich occasionally, made with Tesco's Multigrain Bread, but not every day :shock: For a packed lunch I usually do a plastic box of cold meats and salad, or you could take a thermos of hot home-made vegetable soup (not difficult to make a low-carb one), or even a wide-mouthed Thermos with hot beef casserole in it. For snacks, a few nuts (with care!), cheese (Baby Bels are great), strips of veg, cold meats, hard-boiled eggs etc.

For bought food (eg tins of soup), always read the labels. I try to go for less than 5g of carb per 100g, but if you're allowing yourself about 100g daily you could go a bit higher. Heinz chicken soup, for instance, isn't too high in carbs. I even have ready meals occasionally , but always go for as low carb as possible.

For a sweetener, I use Splenda, tablets or granulated. Other sweeteners are available! :lol:

You'll soon start feeling better, and can maybe think about a little exercise. Swimming is always good. I have mobility problems because of my lower spine, and have been advised by the physio to avoid weight-bearing exercise and stick to an exercise bike for the moment - not hard, but for about 20 minutes 3 times weekly. Or I have found a little book called Rosie's Armchair Exercises, which does exactly what it says on the tin!

Good luck with it, and feel free to ask any questions you like. With a bit of determination and the help of your girlfriend, you'll be able to turn things round, I'm sure. . When your feet are better you can come back to Yorkshire and do a bit of walking in Wensleydale :lol:

Viv 8)