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Confirmation of Type 2

KimG

Well-Known Member
Messages
549
Location
West Sussex
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hello

Well today I was confirmed as a Type 2 diabetic. I am on Metformin (not SR) and statins for cholesterol, even though it's not too high, the doctor still wants it down to 4. I have been told to follow a low carb diet LCHF to get some weight off. I've ordered my glucose meter from Amazon as well as a steamer. I'm starting off on 2 x Metformin a day and will have to increase to 3 per day. I'm seeing the nurse next week, apparently, she's a toughie
Thank you all for your support so far. I need to work out how many carbs I should be sticking to.
 
Hi. It's good you now know where you are. A good start target for carbs might be 150gm/day or even less. See what the meter says when you receive it. The cholesterol taregt of 4 was set by NICE and is lower than the 5 for everyone else. It's an arbitrary figure and assumes your diabetes will not be well controlled. The right measure is the LDL/HDL ratio and this website and Google give good ratios to aim for. If the nurse gets difficult about total cholesterol ask her for the LDL and HDL readings and ratios.
 
Thank you for that. I'm prepared to battle, but I must also be sensible. At the moment I'm trying to find recipes to suit me nd my husband. He's not diabetic and really isn't happy about LCHF. He's been doing Slimming World/Hairy Bikers Diet (they work well together) I can't do these any more. Unfortunately, I don't like natural or Greek yoghurt and these feature quite heavily in quite a few recipes. I'm going through the Diabetes UK cookbook, looking for inspiration
 
Thank you for the info on cookbooks, I'll check them out. What's HDL and LDL please? I've got a glucose meter arriving with ml readings
 

Hello Kim. Although it must be good to have your diagnosis, it's a shame it's T2, but it could be a lot worse!

Adjusting your diet is a long game, because clearly we want to adopt a way of eating we can maintain for the longer term. On that basis, what I would do would be to start using something like myfitnesspal.com (or the App is free, for smartphones) to record what I eat. Bearing in mind the longer term nature of things, I would consider not changing too much for now. Doing that isn't ideal long term, but it will give you an idea of what sort of carb level you have been operating on, and that knowledge could help you understand the impact of the changes you then contemplate making.

If your current diet is very high carb (and that wouldn't be unusual at diagnosis), then it makes sense to cut down gradually, as a sudden change can increase the likelihood of side-effects of the approach. For example, when some people cut back a lot, in one step, they can suffer headaches for a while.

Once your meter arrives, using that will help you understand the impact of the foods and drinks you consume, so that helps inform you of the specific changes you need to make. So, for example, if eating bread makes your blood scores shoot up, then maybe bread has to go or at least cut back. Do you see where I'm coming from?

Many arriving here feel the same sense of bewilderment you do now, but give it a short while and that will pass. Good luck with it all.
 
My husband likes meat, but isn't a veg or salad lover lol. He's not a diabetic but wants to lose weight eating rice, potatoes, brown bread and pasta. I'm easy, apart from natural or Greek yoghurt.
 
Thank you for your support. I am going to do this carefully as I don't want any more side effects. Unfortunately, I've been advised to lose the first couple of stone quite quickly as I have arthritis in my spine and legs due to an accident a few years back. Not yet sure how I'm going to exercise yet but I'm working on it. I can't walk very well at the moment because of Policeman's heel - so no golf. I am going to Archery though.

I've loaded myfitnesspal and have had a look at it. I started my medication today
 
KimG said:
My husband likes meat, but isn't a veg or salad lover lol. He's not a diabetic but wants to lose weight eating rice, potatoes, brown bread and pasta. I'm easy, apart from natural or Greek yoghurt.
Click to expand...
I wish him good luck. The four items he has chosen are certain to put weight on and not take it off.
 
KimG said:
What's HDL and LDL please?
Click to expand...
I saved this from somewhere. I hope the figures are correct.
  • Total Cholesterol (TC) - this is the total amount of cholesterol in your blood. Ideally it should be 5 mmol/L or less
  • LDL-Cholesterol (LDL-C) - this is the amount of LDL-cholesterol), ideally it should be 3 mmol/L or less
  • HDL-Cholesterol (HDL-C) - the amount of good cholesterol, ideally it should be over 1mmol/L (men) and over 1.2mmol/L (women).
  • TC:HDL ratio This is the TC figure divided by the HDL-C figure. A ratio above 6 is considered high risk - the lower this figure is the better.
  • Triglyceride (TG) this represent your body's ability to clear fat from the blood after a meal. Ideally it should be less than 2mmol/L on a fasting sample)
 

Thanks for that. I will attempt to save ot somewhere too.
GC
 

I wasn't desperate to lose weight when diagnosed. I didn't have a lot to go, by comparison to some, and I decided my sole aim was to get my bloods in order. When I started to adjust my carbs, coordinated with testing, my spare poundage just disappeared. In due course, it was a challenge to stop losing, which is most bizarre.

This advice to drop the "first couple of stone quite quickly", when did that come in relation to the timing your your diagnosis?

Do try to estimate your pre-diagnosis carb intake, then take a view though. Even if you just try putting in a few typical days, historically. It'll be enlightening.
 
Exercise helps with weight loss, but not as much as most people think. Swimming, aquajogging or using an exercise bike might work well for you. Have you seen a podiatrist about your heel?
 
KimG said:
Thank you for the info on cookbooks, I'll check them out. What's HDL and LDL please? I've got a glucose meter arriving with ml readings
Click to expand...

HDL - high density lipoprotein, LDL - low density lipoprotein.
 
Thank you. Now I know
 
I got the news about the speedy weight loss today when the doctor and I went through the results of the glucose tolerance test. I estimate my carbs to have been well over 200gms.

I think he just wants me to lose the first couple of stone quickly to give me a kick start. I shall check this with the diabetic nurse next Thursday.
 
Yeah, it would be ideal to get a kick start, but on the other hand, if for some reason your body wants to lose it steadily from the start, that is fine too. To me, you seem very well motivated, and likely to stick with this whether or not you happen to get a kick start.
 
Watching the hairy bikers on TV recently, I reckon they've stopped dieting!! Slimming World never worked for me, looking back I can understand, I followed the rules religiously but ate an excessive amount of fruit (all sugar) LCHF is working for me and I only started eating this way as my husband's diabetic, so it was luck rather than good management
 
I'm very well motivated. There's a lot to take on board, and I need to understand it all first before I put it all into practice. I've started the LCHF tonight, that's the first thing. I should get the meter in a couple of days, and I see the nurse next week
 
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