Hi orchidlady, I too am only a few week into diagnosis and am following a low carb diet, to be fair I don't believe Nhs advice is mythology however I do think we need to be careful and ween ourselves off carbs gradually over a few weeks. I started on metformin once a day 500mg and it has slowly been put up to 3 a day. My levels are not down to 7 or 8 yet but have come down to between 10 or 12. This is a vast improvement on what it would have been 5 weeks ago! My hba1c was 12 which should suggest my bg levels were around 18/19 as an average. My doc has told me and after a lot of personal research your hba1c is now considered to be a more important factor linking to future complications than your instantaneous bg levels. Obviously they go hand in hand and your aim is to keep them both low but the odd spike after a treat won't do the harm, it will be long term treating ;0)
This converter is quite interesting as you can roughly average you bg levels and see which way your hba1c is going
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/hba1c-to-blood-sugar-level-converter.html
I myself am quite pleased to find that bg on average of 11, although still high has brought my hba1c down to around 8 give or take. I know this is only guesstimating but it is going the right way
We are all entitled to treats so long as we are sensible
and life would be miserable with out them occasionally
On your low carbing try swapping to sweet pot or celeriac as I have found both an acceptable alternative and lower carb. Also, most restaurants etc are more than happy to swap chips for granary bread if you go out so although carbs not half as loaded as a massive pile of chips ;0)
It's a life adjustment and you need to do it in a way to suit you
if you do it as a fad just like a diet you won't stick to it. I find although most people a very supportive on here i have had some advice I find negative which doesn't help when we are so newly diagnosed and doing our best
keep smiling and working on it, we will both get there
