Advice from long termers appreciated

I'm not sure you need my pep talk now! he he
Its great to see the support.
Read up about how to avoid burn out hun.
I re-read it every so often. I've been told I'm a bit OCD with diabetes but I'm desperate to stay alive and well for my kids. And hopefully grandkids in a decade time.

You have done really well, the swimming is great, but I am puzzled it is not giving you enough of a high, ever thought about adding Cycling in in the spring, Loads of Mapping web assistance so you can get on to side roads. You need some hi Viz kit a bike without suspension and some see me lights. If you start sooner you need lights to see and warm kit.

Eat more protein, fiber, and especially animal fat.

I too am a cooking fan and for the most part I don't cook different things for family or friends coming to eat. Sometimes it is better not to tell my husband what he is eating though as he tends to like things plain ish. Yesterday I got a rack of lamb , trimmed most of the fat off (left some to render down) cut them down to chops and coated them in a mix of tandoori paste mixed with yoghurt 0% and left them in the fridge all day. At night I stir fried spring onion , peas , beansprouts and cauliflower rice with some tandoori curry powder and served with the fried chops. Hubby got nan bread along with his.
I use an App to calculate the values but I love to experiment. (Hubby didn't know he was eating cauliflower rice by the way).

I was a cooking fan.

I totally admit that my restricted eating has totally screwed up my mental thinking... I am extreme though.

Due to stomach probs I can only eat some mushy foods. That is it, other than smoothies.

I used to love cooking and baking etc. I loved it. I loved gardening my own fruit n veg for my food and cooking. Due to the risk of lymphoma I cannot garden the same either.

Not saying this for sympathy but to say that some things will affect us... I cannot stand cooking food for others tgat I cannot eat. However, I am helped by my hubby who has taken over the shopping and cooking....this obviously gives him more work to cope with so I do orher things to help him instead...

Life is ever changing. We can still adapt and survive and find other enjoyments.

My best enjoyment. Instead of soending money on food... spending it on me!!! If I cant go out for a meal etc or can only eat mashed veg and our food bill goes to £20 a week... well, thats a lot of money extra for us (me!)- hubby never spends!!

@PenfoldAPD - When I was diagnosed, I made a pact with MrB that I would never decline an invitation due to my diabetes, and I am proud to say that so far I have kept that pledge.

During MrB's career he has done many things and owned many businesses, including rather a smart Bistro/Restaurant, where he used his time as owner to really up his game in the cooking stakes (He owned the place, wasn't it's cook). You can imagine how my diagnosis went down at home!? Lead balloons had nothing on it.

Anyway, like everyone else I've had my moments where I've been a bit fed up of it all, but I've come to realise these get-togethers include food, but really the joy in is communing with friends and sharing good times.

I can honestly say I have never gone out; whether to someone's home, or to a commercial establishment, and found absolutely nothing I could eat, although sometimes I have eaten modest portions or ignored some things on my plate. Aside from occasionally asking for extra veg, instead of rice or whatever, I don't ask for subs.

When friends commented I wasn't eating pasta or rice or whatever, I explained I'd had some bloods done and the results suggested I wasn't handling some foods to well, so I'd given them up. I have only really used the D word with a few folks, although more recently I'm a bit more free on that as more folks around me seem to be being diagnosed.

It sounds to me like you're clinging for dear life onto the "old life", rather than embracing the new one. I'd urge you to take that step forward if you can. It makes life simpler and much more enjoyable.

Oh, and on the less great days, I just sulk a bit until I give myself a bit of a talking to.

How are you feeling now @PenfoldAPD ?

16% manage to control their BG on diet alone. I am surprised it is so many.

spendercat said:

16% manage to control their BG on diet alone. I am surprised it is so many.

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I was also shocked at that statistic and am surprised it is that many.

But is that 16% the ones who are fairly recently diagnosed and haven't yet been following the carbtastic NHS diet?
After all, most of us know that it is carbs that pile on the weight and raise the bgs, and then require escalating drugs...

Maybe T2s spend the first 16% of their diabetic life on 'diet control' before they move on to the drugs.

Which is a VERY depressing thought because the RIGHT dietary advice might prevent or seriously delay that escalation to drugs for years if not decades, depending on the cause of the T2.

I was diagnosed three weeks ago today. Before that I ate low carb, but then tried to lower cholesterol by diet, but that is obviously not something I can live with. I am now back on low carb.
I feel ten years younger and my BG was 6.2 last time I tested - when the test was done at the clinic it was 17.1mmol/l.
Perhaps if you made a list of anything you can eat when doing a low carb diet it might help. It might be a rather long list - if you look up Atkins Induction instructions, which is the classic way to start a low carb way of eating there are lots of foods, guidance and recipes, even menus.

I think the other thing we need to ponder is how many newly diagnosed T2s are given the option to try diet only initially. Until recently, I would say the majority of those diagnosed went directly to Metformin.

I don't have any studies to back that up; it's more my sense of what I see "walk through the door".

I think Metformin is automatically given by lots of GP's. When I questioned this I was told I had to take it and no one else from the surgery was managing without medication of some sort. About a year later my GP told me he now had 3 of us controlling diabetes without medication, though he had never known a diabetic with a HbA1c as low as mine. Seems diet and walking beats pills. I do know lots on here have much lower HbA1c's than mine.

I feel fortunate that when I was initially diagnosed my practise's Diabetic nurse was on a six week holiday somewhere wonderful. With that initial shock/horror impetus that we all experience I found this site and started to change my diet. Initially I tried the GI diet and in six weeks had dropped my fasting BG so much she decided to let me continue with diet control only.
Sheer luck that I was able to discover so early that it was all about diet. I keep thinking that all newly diagnosed diabetics need a support group to get them through the trauma of diagnosis, and then later to get them through the stage of mental exhaustion that Bluetit describes. Considering so many people have the condition I am surprised there aren't more support groups around.

spendercat said:

I feel fortunate that when I was initially diagnosed my practise's Diabetic nurse was on a six week holiday somewhere wonderful. With that initial shock/horror impetus that we all experience I found this site and started to change my diet. Initially I tried the GI diet and in six weeks had dropped my fasting BG so much she decided to let me continue with diet control only.
Sheer luck that I was able to discover so early that it was all about diet. I keep thinking that all newly diagnosed diabetics need a support group to get them through the trauma of diagnosis, and then later to get them through the stage of mental exhaustion that Bluetit describes. Considering so many people have the condition I am surprised there aren't more support groups around.

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we're all here supporting each other?

AndBreathe said:

I think the other thing we need to ponder is how many newly diagnosed T2s are given the option to try diet only initially. Until recently, I would say the majority of those diagnosed went directly to Metformin.

I don't have any studies to back that up; it's more my sense of what I see "walk through the door".

Click to expand...

For me Metformin was the 'go to' drug, no consultation on that, Dr justed headed for the script pad, and told me, almost with glee that I would be getting bigger doses as time goes by. We've not spoken since.
I don't think a study is required, but how about a poll?

walnut_face said:

For me Metformin was the 'go to' drug, no consultation on that, Dr justed headed for the script pad, and told me, almost with glee that I would be getting bigger doses as time goes by. We've not spoken since.
I don't think a study is required, but how about a poll?

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You could set up a poll. It would be interesting, but you would need to incorporate a question about when the diagnosis was made and the HbA1c. The HbA1c is important. The NHS guideline target for a controlled T2 is 53. A diagnosis of 53 or less is not normally a reason to prescribe Metformin on diagnosis, but rather a 3 month trial of diet and exercise - or so I was told. I have no idea when this was introduced.

AndBreathe said:

I think the other thing we need to ponder is how many newly diagnosed T2s are given the option to try diet only initially. Until recently, I would say the majority of those diagnosed went directly to Metformin.

I don't have any studies to back that up; it's more my sense of what I see "walk through the door".

Click to expand...

I was given the option, and encouraged by my GP and DN to try diet and exercise only and succeeded for 8 years before Metformin was mentioned. In my experience after taking it for 2+ years, there is absolutely nothing to fear with Metformin.

I have only been diagnosed since may and am diet controlled. I am only just diabetic if you like. My 1st HbA1c was 58. Down to 42 after 6 months.