Anxious Newbie

Any ose is a sugar.

Tell us what you eat in a typical day and maybe we can give you some pointers. You need to reduce carbs as they are also sugar.

Do you know what your hba1c number is?

Hi @Houlds19 and welcome to the forum. You’ve come to a great place for help and support. Here’s a link to info for newbies:
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/basic-information-for-newly-diagnosed-diabetics.17088/
There are many members here that manage to control their blood sugar levels using diet alone, but it will require an overhaul of your eating habits. Even with medication you’ll need to adjust your diet.
Have a read of the info and come back with any questions you have.

To get your numbers down you are going to have to overhaul your food, it's incredibly carb heavy.

You need to drop bread in all its forms. Potatoes, pasta, rice. Fruit juice is unsuitable, oats so simple not so good.

Houlds19 said:

Hi folks ,
I recently got the news over the phone that I was type 2 ! This literally has sick left me with worry ! I’d only gone to the docs with what I and she thought was a simple water infection . As a matter of course she asked me to pee on a stick , then said my blood sugar was high and booked me in for a blood test ! Being slim , and having always been fit and healthy , I wasn’t too worried . Then I got a phone call from the practice nurse ... This was it , “You’re diabetic type 2 , I’ve sent a prescription to your chemist , take a tablet in the morning and night with a meal and I’ll either ring or see you in 3 months ... oh yeah , swap sugar in your tea or coffee for sweetener “ !! That was it !!
It’s literally knocked me for six !! I’ve had no dietary advice apart from sweetener in my tea ! I have been taking Barocca Boost effervescent drink every morning for 3 years , so wondered if that was my sugar was high . I looked on line and indeed , it said “Can cause high blood sugar “ ! How true this is , and if it’s anytime to do with it .. I don’t know ! I was also told that I should have fasted before my blood test ?? I didn’t because it wasn’t mentioned ??
I saw a chat on here were a chap said he’d been using ALDI STEVIA sweeteners and they’d been making him ill because he didn’t know , but they were crammed with DEXTROSE ! Another chap replied that he used Aldi SUCRALOSE sweeteners abd they were fine . So I went and bought the Sucralose from Aldi , and have been using them for 4 days , and they taste ok . But today I read the minuscule ingredients on the pack .. The first ingredient listed is DEXTROSE !! So they are no better than the Stevia ??? So are the Sucralose ok to use ?? I’m literally at a complete loss and stressed to the max

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First off, take a breath. Yes, you just got hit by a truck, and yes, everything's going to change now. But while it's a lot to take in at first, you will get the hang of this, and you will be okay. Believe it or not. (I know I wouldn't've believed it 4 years ago. But there it is).

No dietary advice whatsoever.... Well, that goes for the most of us, and when few did get advice, it was the polar opposite of what is actually good for a Type 2. The Boost didn't cause the diabetes. There's very few medications that can do that (Steroids and statins do), so it's not going to happen with one multivitamin concoction. Your blood sugars were high because you ate carbohydrates. Which no-one ever told you were bad, right? You see, Type 2 is a genetic, metabolic condition that means you cannot process carbs properly. Plenty of insulin around, contrary to what T1's go through, but you're insensitive to it. And all carbs turn to glucose once ingested. That's not just sugars (all the -ose's), but starches too. And carbs are practically everywhere, even in what we consider "healthy". Anything made with any kind of grain or starchy base, or containing fructose and the like, like bread, cereal, pasta, rice, corn, potatoes, fruit (berries are okay though, but in moderation), wraps, underground veggies, most pulses... They'd all raise blood sugars. So that sandwich at lunch, or the "healthy" cereal at breakfast, the spuds with your dinner, they all contributed to high blood sugars. Thing is though, that's also where the secret lies in getting your blood sugars under control. Cut out the carbs and your glucose levels will come down. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html <- that's my own little quick-start guide with everything I wish someone'd told me when I was feeling exactly like you are. Because to you, at the moment, it feels like everything's out to poison you, right? Right. There's plenty of foods that will not only nourish you, but keep your blood sugars at acceptable, even normal, healthy levels. What that means? That Type 2 diabetes does NOT have to be a progressive condition, you do NOT have one foot in the grave, and that you actually have a say in how all this goes.

You'll have to learn to read labels, as there's about 50 different names for various types of sugar, but the most important bit is the carb content. Forget the "of which sugars" bit, because practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested. You want as little as possible under that little header. As for stevia (proper stevia), it is pure carb, but you need so very little of it, it won't make much of a dent in your blood sugars. I started out using lots of artificial sweetener per day (about 50 tabs in my many cups of tea, as well as having diet coke), but the artificial stuff is toxic to gut bacteria, which I found out the hard way. So these days I drink my tea and coffee without sugar or sweetener. Too me about a week to get used to it.

Anyway.... You will be okay. And if you have questions, throw them out there eh. We're here to help. If you want to list what you eat/drink in an average day, so we can help tweak your diet, feel free.

Good luck!
Jo

You'll be ok, Houlds.
Your diet is full of carbs, so that's pushing the blood sugar numbers up: cut the carbs, and you should be able to get this under control.

Houlds19 said:

I just eat usual stuff , usually something like scrambled , boiled egg on toast , or oatso simple porridge for breakfast or brunch (sometimes miss breakfast) , a snack around afternoon , sandwich or maybe a pie , then for tea what I fancy , could be lasagna , steak n chips or something like a Chinese curry . I have a few cups of tea a day , usually with 2 sugars . I drink quite a bit of semi skimmed milk . Usually eat tiger bread . Drink fresh orange , not a massive lover of veg but eat salad stuff with ham or chicken etc . May have supper sometimes , but not always , something like cheese on toast .. like most people , I’ll have the odd glass of coke and maybe 6 pints of lager a week .

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You eat more carbs in a single meal than I do in a whole week.

That means there's a MASSIVE amount of room for improvement! Good news, really! No bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, pie, oats, porridge, toast, orange juice (Lots of sugar in oranges, and when they're juices the sugars hit your blood stream fast and hard), skimmed milk has more carbs than full fat, and even then, cream is preferable over milk, lager isn't called liquid bread for the heck of it... So. The eggs are fine, as is the steak, tea, ham and chicken, salad (no dressing, unless mayo, vinegar/olive oil or something) and you can have curry if you make it with cauliflower rice. Stick with full fat cheese, proper butter, olives, extra dark chocolate, meat, poultry, fish, above-ground veggies, and there's plenty of alcoholic beverages that are fine. (I think there's a few light beers that are relatively low carb, but dunno what brands are available to you there. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/alcohol might help some). It does mean a complete overhaul, but really... Staring your day off with eggs, bacon, high meat content sausages, tomato and/or cheese doesn't sound all that bad, I hope? Lunch could be a tuna salad or something meaty. Believe it or not, I can still go to McD's and Burger King and just order my burger without the bun, no-one'll bat an eye, though they might forget to give you cutlery. (Five Guys can actually wrap your burger in lettuce or just put all the ingredients in a bowl. Makes for a juicier burger too, the bread doesn't sponge anything up. ). You have options. There's hope here.

About 10% of people diagnosed in the UK with type 2 are slim, confounding all the medical expectations about fat = T2.
It is all about carbohydrates.
Including sugars.
As for sweeteners, avoid Aldi as they really aren't great. I managed to give up in tea and coffee but use a little truvia for cooking or in cocoa.
I started off counting carbs very carefully, weighing/measuring everything I ate to get my carbs down to under 100g a day, then down to 85g. I was fine at that level although some people need to go lower.
I substituted a milled flaxseed and chia seed porridge for oats. I stopped eating rice and started making my own cauliflower rice (tastes better than expected) and only occasionally eat bread but always a low carb/high protein bread - otherwise I make 90 second bread.
Ground almonds make a decent bread and a great pasty/crumble mix. I make a delicious raspberry and rhubarb crumble with an almond crumble topping, to have with real egg custard or cream.
I swapped from skimmed milk to full fat, using less in coffee as a result. And I use double cream instead of milk in the flaxseed porridge and in cocoa.

Don't worry about the extra fat, you need it instead of carbs and as expected from the research my blood fats actually improved while eating cream and extra cheese and butter.

If you like a drink, spirits are fine with diet mixers.
Red wine is ok. There are low carb beers but if I were you, I would recommend you get to grips with a new way of eating first.

TriciaWs said:

About 10% of people diagnosed in the UK with type 2 are slim, confounding all the medical expectations about fat = T2.
It is all about carbohydrates.
Including sugars.
As for sweeteners, avoid Aldi as they really aren't great. I managed to give up in tea and coffee but use a little truvia for cooking or in cocoa.
I started off counting carbs very carefully, weighing/measuring everything I ate to get my carbs down to under 100g a day, then down to 85g. I was fine at that level although some people need to go lower.
I substituted a milled flaxseed and chia seed porridge for oats. I stopped eating rice and started making my own cauliflower rice (tastes better than expected) and only occasionally eat bread but always a low carb/high protein bread - otherwise I make 90 second bread.
Ground almonds make a decent bread and a great pasty/crumble mix. I make a delicious raspberry and rhubarb crumble with an almond crumble topping, to have with real egg custard or cream.
I swapped from skimmed milk to full fat, using less in coffee as a result. And I use double cream instead of milk in the flaxseed porridge and in cocoa.

Don't worry about the extra fat, you need it instead of carbs and as expected from the research my blood fats actually improved while eating cream and extra cheese and butter.

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Many of that 10% slim 'T2s' will be mis-diagnosed LADA.

Sweeteners can be a minefield, because things like sucralose and stevia are many times sweeter than sugar, so in order to reduce that to manageable levels they are mixed in tiny amounts with bulking agents, but the label just shouts ‘Stevia’ or whatever. Often this bulker is dextrose or similar, fine if you are just counting calories but no good for diabetics. Just read the ingredients, and avoid things ending in -ose. Also some can cause digestive issues for some people when taken to excess, or if they are just sensitive, so it may take a bit of trial and error to find one you like.

A stevia/erythritol blend is a common diabetic-friendly sweetener, but I don’t take sweetener in drinks so I don’t know if it tastes weird - some are fine for baking etc but unpleasant in tea and coffee. An internet search for diabetic-friendly sweeteners will probably throw up some more options.

Beware any product labelled as suitable for diabetics. Check every ingredient they list. I have never found one I would touch.

Liquid sweetener tends not to have the dodgy bulking agents if you are set on a particular brand eg Splenda for taste. Getting the same amount of squeeze each time is a fine art however.

In my personal experience xylitol is the closest tasting to sugar that has no bgl effect. It is however toxic to dogs and has a few carbs. Erythritol is the best all rounder for me in tea, coffee and baking. I buy it from amazon. No bgl effect. No carbs. Some people report a “cooling” after taste. At first it tasted odd in tea but now it’s fine.

I agree with everything was said in this thread about carbs . The only thing that I would add what worked for me when I first diagnosed as a type 2 I checked my blood sugars when I got up in the morning and 2 hours after each meal and compared the results against what what would be appropriate and logged it to a spreadsheet. I basically learned how food effected me. In the beginning I made some mistakes and had some spikes, but I figured what I could eat and how much I could eat. I will be honest I was very lucky to work with a get dietician.

You are in a new situation and learning new things so you will make mistakes. But if you regularly check your blood sugars you will discover what foods are giving you trouble and act accordingly. I hope this is helpful and best of luck!!!! I am confident that you will figure out how to tame this beast

Dave