Thanks
@Jaylee for the tag and hi
@Susie2021 and welcome to the forum.
It’d be good to understand what diabetes meds (if any) you’re taking, but working on the assumption that it’s either none or just metformin, I have a few suggestions for you. Shout if you’re on anything else and the thoughts can be tailored! And apologies, this might be a long reply.
I’m going to suggest as a starting point that you ‘count’ something other than calories or fat/protein/carb ratios (macros) as I don’t think that’s the best starting point. I’d focus on:
1) Tracking your blood sugars using a BG monitor (we can recommend the most economical ones if you don’t already have one). As someone with type 2, control of your blood sugars is the single most important thing you can do. If those numbers are going in the right direction it’ll be a lot easier to manage everything else. Above all, they’ll allow you to see the impact of the foods you eat on your body. In turn that will help you to adjust what you eat.
2) My personal view is that it’s too easy to get sidetracked by following the ‘perfect’ set of macros. At first I’d keep it simple and reduce carbs as much as you’re comfortable with or in line with what a blood glucose monitor is telling you (if you need guidance on testing, then we can help with that. Eat foods that are as unprocessed as possible and eat to satiety. Stick to mealtimes and avoid snacks.
Maybe a potted version of my personal journey will be helpful here. On diagnosis, I did exactly as I’m suggesting you do. Ditched all the ‘beige’ carbs (bread, pasta, rice, potatoes) as well as starchy veg. Ate when I was hungry. At first that did include snacks, I just made sure they were things like nuts, which are low in carbs. I counted carbs, but nothing else. And once I found this forum (a couple of months later) I got a blood glucose meter and tracked my blood glucose.
About 6 months in I did start tracking my macros - out of interest really, to see what they were (NB I always entered the nutritional values for food myself as I found that entries in apps were often wrong, being based on other user entries). Did that for a couple of years or so, and found that fir me it wasn’t the best indicator of progress or what was working. Ditched the app and went with the BG numbers, my taste buds and how I was feeling.
Gradually I’be shifted from a protein and above ground veg based diet plus added fats (butter on meat/fish/veg or avocado on salads) to a 95% animal based diet, eating fatty cuts of meats and fish without additional fats added. My joints do far better with minimal plant foods and I enjoy the protein rich way of eating - as do my blood sugars.
This is a bit of a long winded way of saying your journey will be personal to you, your likes, how your blood glucose responds and any other health issues which may be impacted by what you eat.
3) Cholesterol. This is a thorny issue. There is much debate about cholesterol, the way levels should be interpreted and the extent to which what you eat impacts it. Suggest you do some research around this and come to your own conclusions. There’s a great thread on the forum (see link) which is a good starting point and
@bulkbiker tagged above and starter of that thread is very knowledgeable in this area, so hopefully he’ll be along later.
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/cholesterol-and-statins.156985/
Again a bit of personal history. My total cholesterol is now higher than at diagnosis, but on its own that’s a pretty poor marker. All the other markers - HDL, triglycerides and the HDL/Triglyceride ratio are vastly improved. Results of blood tests yesterday put all of these in the ‘ideal’ range. That’s four years into a very low carb, pretty high fat and high protein way of eating.