• Guest, the forum is undergoing some upgrades and so the usual themes will be unavailable for a few days. In the meantime, you can use the forum like normal. We'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Another Newbie...

Daff

Daff

Active Member
Good Day Everyone!
Newbie here, well, sort of...

A couple of years ago I was feeling tired 24 hours a day, and after a couple of months went to see my GP who sent me for a blood test. The results told her that I had Pre-Diabetes/IFG. I was told to improve my diet etc. etc.
To be honest, I didn't pay much attention until last October when I became friendly with a lady who has Type 2. When she learned that I wasn't really taking this seriously, she gave me a good verbal kicking (well deserved) and proceeded to shower me with advice, which I took. I bought a low GI cookbook, and as a result made small but very significant changes to my diet.
My last blood test was last month and my fasting BG level was 5.4 and my cholesterol had dropped by quite a significant amount.
I've lost a stone in weight in 6 weeks - Excellent! I need to lose another one!
My intention is to watch myself as though I had type 2, which might happen further down the line...
As a result of these changes (no white bread, rice, fatty foods, any high GI food really) I feel fantastic. Much more energy (I'm a shift worker), I'm losing weight and I just feel so much better.
I was offered no advice from my GP except to improve my diet, no advice on diabetes or anything else. My blood test is an annual thing so the onus is on me to sort myself out, which is no bad thing.
I'm going to buy an Accu-Chek Mobile reader and test myself regularly until I'm confident that I know what foods are good for my BG levels (and my losing weight diet).
I shall read the posts on this forum - I'm quite certain that with your help and advice, I can manage this thing successfuly and fend off type 2 for as long as I can! It will probably come sooner or later, but I'll be ready!
Thanks!
D.
:D
 
Well done you!! My husband was wasn't taking his diet seriously either, he loves his food!! However, like you he is now living life in a very different way, good diet, no longer has lots of bread and butter with all meals (even those with carbs!) :cry: No more trying every new choccie bar that comes into the shops..... :lol:
Again, like you, he is losing weight now and taking advice given seriously.
All the very best on losing yet another stone ..... :clap:
 
Hi Daff and welcome to the forum :)

You are wise to start looking after yourself to try to avoid the onset of diabetes. You seem to have made very good progress so far. Here is the information we give to new members which should be useful to you. Ask all the questions you like 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
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.
 
Daff said:
Good Day Everyone!
Newbie here, well, sort of...

A couple of years ago I was feeling tired 24 hours a day, and after a couple of months went to see my GP who sent me for a blood test. The results told her that I had Pre-Diabetes/IFG. I was told to improve my diet etc. etc.
To be honest, I didn't pay much attention until last October when I became friendly with a lady who has Type 2. When she learned that I wasn't really taking this seriously, she gave me a good verbal kicking (well deserved) and proceeded to shower me with advice, which I took. I bought a low GI cookbook, and as a result made small but very significant changes to my diet.
My last blood test was last month and my fasting BG level was 5.4 and my cholesterol had dropped by quite a significant amount.
I've lost a stone in weight in 6 weeks - Excellent! I need to lose another one!
My intention is to watch myself as though I had type 2, which might happen further down the line...
As a result of these changes (no white bread, rice, fatty foods, any high GI food really) I feel fantastic. Much more energy (I'm a shift worker), I'm losing weight and I just feel so much better.
I was offered no advice from my GP except to improve my diet, no advice on diabetes or anything else. My blood test is an annual thing so the onus is on me to sort myself out, which is no bad thing.
I'm going to buy an Accu-Chek Mobile reader and test myself regularly until I'm confident that I know what foods are good for my BG levels (and my losing weight diet).
I shall read the posts on this forum - I'm quite certain that with your help and advice, I can manage this thing successfuly and fend off type 2 for as long as I can! It will probably come sooner or later, but I'll be ready!
Thanks!
D.
:D
Click to expand...

Update...
Hi All,
Well, all of that weight I lost has gone for good, and I'm still losing the pounds albeit slowly. I have another half a stone to lose before I'll be happy! It'll happen...
I still feel fantastic - full of energy except after a 12 hour night shift but that's to be expected! :mrgreen:
I'm still testing my BG levels but not as often. One morning, a few weeks ago before breakfast, my BG level was 11.3! I nearly fell over...
It's normally in the low 4's early in the morning. Now I know what the 'DP' is, I concluded that DP was to blame for that little result.
A few days ago, I decided to do a quick test around lunchtime, and recorded 3.1! That's rather low I believe. Yesterday morning, at work at around 0730, my reading was 8.1 and stayed high all day, peaking at 8.9 around 1800 before I left for home.
This morning my reading was 5.1.
Folks - In your considerable experience, do you find that rather strange? I still felt fine. I suppose that every now and then, we all get wierd readings from our meters. I must admit, I really didn't like the 11.3 one...
All in all, I'm going great guns!
Hope you are too! :D
Daff.

Strange...
 
Back
Top