I Have just been told I could have type 2 Diabetes and told to try and control it by diet,then have a HbA1c in 8 weeks.I have already had 2 fasting blood test with high results, I was then passed on to the nurse for advice and to arrange the blood test she informed me she knew nothing about Diabetes printed me off an article from Patient.co.uk told me to eat healthy and would see me next time. Could someone advise me of the best diet and should I buy a monitor to check my blood levels. Thanks Sammico
Advice Please
- Thread starter sammico
- Start Date
pav
Well-Known Member
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- 361
- Type of diabetes
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- Tablets (oral)
Daisy will be along shortly to post some useful information and links.
To most of us a meter is very important as it helps in identifying what food/s groups effect us and in what way. Some foods like white bread tend to be bad for most of us sending sugar levels high quickly. Other foods tend to effect each of us in different ways, which is why the meter is important.
Others can advise more on diets and the beat foods to eat.
The meters you can normally get for free from the suppliers like Accu Check, Abbott medisense, Bayer, Lifescan etc. The problem is getting the test strips on prescription, as newly diagnosed you should in theory get them. Doctors keep telling us you don't need to test and let the doctors manage you, which is rubbish as the doctors don't do it.
If you self fund your test strips then the SD code free system is about the cheapest to fund at strips around £7 for 50 while the major players are a lot more. You can buy direct of some suppliers where you can same a lot on over the counter prices.
To most of us a meter is very important as it helps in identifying what food/s groups effect us and in what way. Some foods like white bread tend to be bad for most of us sending sugar levels high quickly. Other foods tend to effect each of us in different ways, which is why the meter is important.
Others can advise more on diets and the beat foods to eat.
The meters you can normally get for free from the suppliers like Accu Check, Abbott medisense, Bayer, Lifescan etc. The problem is getting the test strips on prescription, as newly diagnosed you should in theory get them. Doctors keep telling us you don't need to test and let the doctors manage you, which is rubbish as the doctors don't do it.
If you self fund your test strips then the SD code free system is about the cheapest to fund at strips around £7 for 50 while the major players are a lot more. You can buy direct of some suppliers where you can same a lot on over the counter prices.
Andy12345
Expert
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hi, welcome I agree with pav
try to avoid carbohydrates or reduce them as much as possible, regardless of what the leaflet says, the obvious bread potatoes rice and pasta and even more obvious sugar is to be avoided, how far you want to take this will depend on the meter as mentioned and how much these and other foods effect your blood sugar numbers, if you eat bread try to eat burgen bread or wholegrains rather than white or wholemeal, wholemeal bread whilst sounding healthy is just while bread with a little bit more fibre, if eating potatoes try to eat new potatoes, rice and pasta eat brown, low GI is a good way to start if you want to do a search on google, there is much to learn so have a read.
good luck
try to avoid carbohydrates or reduce them as much as possible, regardless of what the leaflet says, the obvious bread potatoes rice and pasta and even more obvious sugar is to be avoided, how far you want to take this will depend on the meter as mentioned and how much these and other foods effect your blood sugar numbers, if you eat bread try to eat burgen bread or wholegrains rather than white or wholemeal, wholemeal bread whilst sounding healthy is just while bread with a little bit more fibre, if eating potatoes try to eat new potatoes, rice and pasta eat brown, low GI is a good way to start if you want to do a search on google, there is much to learn so have a read.
good luck
Thanks Pav & Andy12345 I find it confusing with all the different information out there. Sammico :crazy:
Hi. I agree with Pav and Andy's advice. Try to set yourself a carb target of, say, 150gm per day and with the meter see how your blood sugar responds over the next few weeks. Your HBa1C which, is a very good test, will tell you what you have achieved as it is weighted to the last 1 month of blood sugar but does span 3 months overall. Yes, the NHS will say to have a healthy diet but the NHS diet from the dieticians is in practice unhealthy. Don't worry about proteins or fats but do reduce the carbs and overall portion sizes. Veg is of course always good and so is most fruit.
Fairly new myself but I already feel prety well informed but only because of this site my dn and Dr have given no practical advice. There is more expert advice on here than at your drs . Testingbis important so id get a meter asap even if you have to paybfor it then down load nice guidelines and go deat your dr with it to get free strips . Guidelines stat testing shoud be undertaked when starting new medication ( you will prob be put on metformin if not already) so that covers that one and also says when changing lifestyle and trust me you will have to do that. So being a new diabetic you cover atleast 2 of the criteria for self testing if refused ask to see practice manager and threaren to go to local papers saying you are being refused treatment that the guidelines insist you have and also threaten to go to mp and report tomgenral medical councel I would imagin this would get their attention!
daisy1
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Hi Sammico and welcome to the forum
Here is the information for new members which pav mentioned and I hope you will find this useful. Ask all the questions you need to and someone will 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:
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
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
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.
Here is the information for new members which pav mentioned and I hope you will find this useful. Ask all the questions you need to and someone will 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
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
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
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.
