Books

I've bought Gallop's The GI Diet: The Easy, Healthy Way to Permanent Weight Loss and Living the GI Diet: To Maintain Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss. I also bought The GI Diet Pocket Book for my wife's handbag when she goes food shopping :shock: Seriously though, the pocket book has a handy guide to eating out as well. If you like I can PM you the Amazon links to the books.

As for snacks, Gallop suggests that you can eat as much low GI foodstuff as you want, there are a few exceptions to this rule (Bread, Cereals, Nuts, Margerine, Meat, Fish, Poultry, Olive/Rapeseed oil, Olives, Pasta, Potatoes (boiled new), Rice, Crispbreads).

As for prolonged exposure to stress causing diabetes, there is no evidence that stress directly causes diabetes. Having said that, in the eighteen months leading up to my diagnosis I was experiencing high levels of stress, as a result my lifestyle was not the best, so there could very well be an indirect causal link.

Regards, Tubs.

Hi WaG,
Welcome to the forum, with all due respect to Tubs I don't think that the GI diet would be suitable if you want to stay diet controlled, be wary of potatoes pasta and rice these are high in carbs and will have an effect on your Blood Glucose, also bread is another problem area try the weightwatchers at between 8 and 9g carbs per slice. You could get the Collins gem carb counter £3- 59 from Amazon, then you could gradually reduce the carbs in your diet till you find a level that suits you. Did you get issued with a test meter and strips on diagnosis? Its vital that you test so that you can see the effects of various foods on your BG.

You will find the following links helpful:

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

http://www.dsolve.com/



I personally think there is a relationship between stress and depression in developing Diabetes, in my case I was not overweight or inactive, nor was there any history of Diabetes in the family, I was diagnosed after a traumatic 12 months, previous 12monthly MOTs at my surgery showed no signs. My doctor says in his opinion it was brought on by stress.

Seasons Greetings
Graham

Hi WaG,
Everyone is different and what works for one may not work for someone else.
I follow the G.I. diet and did so successfully for five years without medication. I am now on a low dose of metformin and am hoping to come off that next month. The book that Tubs has recommended is a great buy as it lists all the foods in a traffic light system so that you can see at a glance what is right for you. It also explains portion size and what snacks you can have, in fact it lists snacks as part of your programme. There are also recipes and meal planners and it also explains why exercise is crucial. Obviously you have to cut back on high carbohydrate foods but I can guarantee if you follow it you will not be hungry and your energy levels will increase.
Try and control the stress in your life as this does have a bearing on your blood glucose readings as does illness.
As Graham says, you do need to test so see if your G.P. is willing to issue you with a meter and strips. Some P.C.T's are reluctant to supply them. The meters are cheap to buy but the test strips are expensive. If you have to buy your own meter there will only be 10 test strips with it. On average the test strips are £25 for 50. Explain to your G.P. that you cannot be expected to see what is happening with your diet if you cannot test.

Hope this helps,
Catherine.

Graham is quite right, we need to reduce carbohydrate intake in order to improve BG levels, how far you have to reduce carbs is an individual matter, your mileage may vary. There are several "low-carbers" on this forum who are doing very well and there are some of us who have been fortunate enough to receive some sensible advice from the NHS and are also doing well. There are a number of approaches you can take to diet, I would say that there isn't a one-size fits all diet for people with diabetes.

The biggest thing a BG meter will tell you is how your diet affects your blood glucose. As your regime has recently changed, I would advise you to get a BG meter sooner rather than later and press your GP into prescribing you test strips - don't take no for an answer, NICE guidelines stipulate that you should be testing, and PCT interpretation of those guidelines also acknowledge you should be testing. Your practice may have some "sample" BG meters, there is a "competition" on this site where you may win a meter, but BG meters aren't a prescribable item - meters are comparatively cheap though.

I wish you good luck with your diet, it's worked for me and a couple of others; I confess I am taking medication for my type 2. I do wish though, that I had been given the opportunity to try diet and exercise first.

Season's greetings, Tubs.

Don't laugh: I found "Diabetics for Dummies" to be pretty helpful. Unlike the strictly computer programme oriented books of ten years ago, this one was actually written by someone who can communicate at a level that a reasonable adult can follow without feeling patronised.