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Another Type 2

blueowl

Newbie
Messages
2
Hi
My husband discovered he had type 2 immediately after his heart attack two years ago and this reawakend my knowledge of the type 2 condition as my grandfather and late father both had late onset type 2 and my second cousin on my father's side of the family also has it. Although I was aware of type 2 I had no idea how silently it creeps on until my husbands heart attack (he's in his mid 50s) and the impact it can have on heart and strokes as he'd had very few symptoms apart from tiredness which we had put down to his work, which is very physical.

Unfortunaately, having been a yo yo dieter over the past I dare not say how many years, and coupled with a desk bound job, I have piled on the weight again. For a while I have been aware how sensitive my weight and body shape were to carbs but like the ostrich I buried my head in the sand. The proverbial boot up the backside of said ostrich came a couple of months ago when, on registering with a new GP following a move, they took a fasting blood test. It came back 7.5. When the practice nurse rang to tell me the reading was high I felt there had been some mistake (I'd been tested a couple of times previously at my last surgery) I sheepishly found myself confessing to "comfort eating" - the previous nine months prior to the move in August had been extremely stressful for a number of reasons - and asked if I might take it again. They nobly obliged. I was feeling pretty confident with a week of sensible eating it would come back down. Shock, horror. The second one was 7.9 and I was called to see my new gp who kindly confirmed that I was now diabetic.

Armed with all this knowledge you would have thought it would have immediately got me rushing to a low Gi diet book, getting out walking every day etc. but somehow it isn't quite registering and I can empathise entirely with the earlier posting on the boar "In Denial". It is utter folly to not make changes - given my gene pool I am in a high risk area and need to take steps to rylive a more healthy life style. I enjoy vegetables of all kinds and fish etc but my downfall is the "comfort food". I have recently been reading the physiological effects of stress (cortisol) on the body and the cravings it creates whilst under stress for fat and sweet items. A lot of the stress I had in my previous job and the problems we encounter prior to moving house have gone but in trying to adjust to new surroundings, only having temporary work for the moment, my attention has been diverted from watching my food intake and my weight. Time to get back on the wagon and with the positive input I see from the threads on here I will be in good company. The second boot up the proverbial has been the prescription for a statin! My chlorestorol wasn't particularly high but the gp want me to start on a statin given my family history etc (I;m on tablets for hypertension as well). I know that weightloss is the key to improving my health and I'm going to have to grasp that particular nettle. The only thing in my favour is that I rarely drink :D

Any help re the statin would be much appreciated - I'm going to be checking what sets my levels off over the next few weeks and plaster big "Step away from the carbs" signs in the kitchen
 
Ho Blueowl, welcome to the forum.

I can relate to your post as I was a comfort eater and went from a tradesman working on building sites to a managers office job and watched the pounds creep on. I felt helpless as I hadn't the time or energy to go to a gym etc when I get home after a stressfull 12 or 14 hour day.

I had also suffered with depression and was taking medication for stress.

I found little and sustainable changes have helped me turn things around. I now take a 1/2 hour walk in the day at lunch time. I never even took lunch before. I have dropped the big carbs like potatoes and pasta and replace them with more protein at meals. I still snack but on nuts, seeds, pepperami's and bizzarely nice cheeses. I eat 'little and often' as opposed to big meals. These little changes have helped me get my BG and weight issues under control. My wife and dad who are not diabetic have 'come on board' with my lifestyle for the past couple of months and seen the benefits straight away. Both have lost weight and not having the cravings any more for the junk foods and carbohydrates.

People tell me I look great and ask for my 'secret'. I have taken lately to accepting praise for all the hard work in my 6 stone weight loss, but between you and I, its been quite easy changing to a controlled intake of carbohydrates and making these small changes.

Have a look round on the forum and keep asking away with the questions.

Best wishes, carl

PS - Hartleys sugar free jellys have been a life saver :D
 
Hi Carl

Thanks so much for your reply.... it was a great relief to know someone else has been there (the comfort eating cupboard - I've made an art of the Amnesic Munching eg "who ate all those bisuits!!!!!!"?) and got the tee shirt and it does help having the rest of the family on board too. Six/seven stone is what I need to lose too so I will focus on the small changes and make them part of the routine. I can certainly squeeze in 30 minutes at lunch break to. I used to do the eating my lunch on the desk bit but have now stopped it but have got quite as far as getting out for a walk but that is a really good tip - that and the sugar free jellies!!! yey!!! :D

I'm going to keep a food diary this coming week and watch what happens. Thanks for you advice - greatly appreciated.
 
Hi blueowl.
Welcome to the Forum. You will get plenty of support and good advice on here as you have already found. Here is the advice we regularly post for newly diagnosed Diabetics which may be of some use to you in covering the basics, also help start shifting those pounds.........

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.
As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try!!
If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.
Ken / Sue.
 
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