Confused over carbs and sugar

Welcome, I'm also a newbie and the more experienced members will be along soon. But don't worry, there's no reason to ever be hungry. I've lost a stone in the past two weeks without having a single pang of hunger. Go and make yourself some bacon and eggs whilst you wait for the experts! To partially answer your question, yes you should avoid all carbs and basically count carbs as sugar, although the NHS will advise you differently.

Mummy_r said:

I've just been diagnosed with diabetes 2 . My doctor has put me on metformin 1500 daily with the order to cut out sugar from my diet.im confused about what I can eat or can't. Do I count sugar content in food or carbs .i don't know what I can eat. I'm starving. Help.

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Hi @Mummy_r
Welcome to the forum, it is all rather confusing, at this stage so many conflicting advice!

I've tagged @daisy1 to give you the newcomers welcome information!

Read that and then read the low carb forum. It has some great advice and recipes.

Hi Mummy, welcome to the forum you are at the right place for good information, help and advice yes, read Daisy's post and take time to digest it. There is so much to take in at first but you will come to understand how you can lower your readings and also lose weight with the low carb high fat or low carb full fat diet and you need never go hungry because there are lots of snacks to eat and even cake. Ignore the sugar content on labels and look for low carbohydrate, choose full fat dairy products like cheese (wonderful) yogurts and butter instead of spreads. Low fat products all contain sugar, it's hidden in everything. The highest carbs are in bread, pasta potatoes & rice so you need to cut these out for the time being. You would also find control easier if you have a meter but most surgeries will not give them for type 2 so you would have to self fund this. It works by testing before you eat then again 2hrs later the aim being to get a reading below 8.5 (nice guideline recommendation) you need to test everything you eat and illiminate any foods that push you past this number. Keeping a food diary helped me, I listed everything I ate followed at 2hrs with my reading, this way you will accumalate a list of safe foods and a list of no no foods. Read through past posts and the recipe thread you will be surprised at what you can still safely eat & gain control. Good luck

People vary in their approach. Some aim for less than 50g a day. Some under 100g a day.

Devonbear said:

People vary in their approach. Some aim for less than 50g a day. Some under 100g a day.

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I don't count carbs but am very careful not to overdo them, I have one slice of seeded bread per day and don't eat potatoes or rice, I do eat reheated pasta which does not cause a problem for me, I have also found a few other foods I can eat safely but that others here can't. It is different for everyone and there is no 'menu that will suit everyone' you have to test and find the foods you can & can't eat to suit your body

@Mummy_r

Hello and welcome to the forum To add to the good advice above, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

That sounds like rather a long time to wait, but as I don't live in the UK I have no frame of reference for it. Someone else will be able to comment I'm sure.

In the meantime, the info you can get on the forum will probably be enough I would think? 1500mg of metformin is a fairly typical dose. What was your HbA1c blood test result? Do you have any other medical conditions, are you on any other medications? Do you have or are you planning to get a blood glucose testing meter and test strips? Doing your own testing will probably help you more than seeing the nurse would, generally speaking, and if you don't have other issues, or a very high HbA1c or blood glucose level.

Unfortunately it's not untypical to wait that long, especially given the increasing rate of T2 diagnoses etc (see BBC report on their website today).

Here's what I would do in your position:

1) get a test meter (SD Codefree for example) to check the impact of foods on your levels
2) try and eat only foods with 5g total carbohydrate per 100g, or at least less than 10g/100g. Get the book 'Carbs & Cals' to help you here, as well as checking the labels at the supermarket
3) when you have your appointment on 17 September, gobsmack the DN with the progress you've made - you will be able to counter any suggestion made to eat carbs with every meal.

Have a look at the links below to see how I did it, and other things.

Cheat Sheet for beginners
(1) Don't panic & don't blame yourself.
(2) Always read the info the label.
(4) Carbohydrates are just a name for slower acting sugars.
(5) Don't count the carbs just cut them out as far as is sensible.
(6) Avoid all root vegetables, except in very small amounts..
(7) Vegetables grown above ground are always OK, but remember tomatoes contain some sugars.
(8) Anything made from a grains or cereals including bread, pasta ,Rice and coucous are very high in carbs.
(9) All kinds of meat and fish and eggs are OK, but be careful of carbs in coatings on prepared products.
(10) Fatty dairy products including cheese cream and full fat milk are fine.
(11) Any fruit that only grows in hot climate is a no-go. Berries are OK in moderation but Grapes are a must avoid. One small apple is OK for most type 2 but in.moderation. Pears are lower sugar than apples.

Hi, 106 (HbA1c, mmol/mol) is quite high but not beyond reach to manage back down with diet and minimal meds. Cut out as many carbs as you can between now and 17 September and see if you can get retested then. You should see a significant improvement, but you need to be vigilant about it and it won't always be easy. I had a three week gap between diagnosis and seeing the DN, I started low-carbing straight away with the incentive (or one of them) being 'right, I'll show these people I'm not going to take this lying down'. Many have done it, you can do the same.

Sirmione said:

Cheat Sheet for beginners
(1) Don't panic & don't blame yourself.
(2) Always read the info the label.
(4) Carbohydrates are just a name for slower acting sugars.
(5) Don't count the carbs just cut them out as far as is sensible.
(6) Avoid all root vegetables, except in very small amounts..
(7) Vegetables grown above ground are always OK, but remember tomatoes contain some sugars.
(8) Anything made from a grains or cereals including bread, pasta ,Rice and coucous are very high in carbs.
(9) All kinds of meat and fish and eggs are OK, but be careful of carbs in coatings on prepared products.
(10) Fatty dairy products including cheese cream and full fat milk are fine.
(11) Any fruit that only grows in hot climate is a no-go. Berries are OK in moderation but Grapes are a must avoid. One small apple is OK for most type 2 but in.moderation. Pears are lower sugar than apples.

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I generally think that those work as basic guidelines, but I am uncomfortable with presenting them as a list of rules.

Every diabetic, of every type, has different tolerances to foods. Some are ok with bananas, others cope well with porridge. Some are fine with potatoes but not grains. Some can't do ANY fruit at all... some just inject insulin and eat what they like.

@Mummy_r I agree with Sanguine - just cut down on carbs and sugars to start with, get yourself a home test meter and start testing your own blood glucose. That way you get a diet that is perfectly tailored to your body's version of diabetes.

And believe me, there are some delicious menus out there that you will love! No need for suffering and deprivation.

Good for you - if it's any consolation after about a month I really didn't want bread, croissants, cereal etc any more, your body seems to adapt to the new regime quickly although you may get the odd craving ('carb 'flu'), this is normal. And guess what you can eat butter, eggs, avocadoes, double cream etc so it's not all bad ...

Read the stuff linked in my sig - it sounds to me you've got the right attitude to this, you'll be fine.

Hi. You've had a lot of good advice and sad that HCPs don't understand the difference, or lack of, between sugars and carbs. You would think their medical school training would have given them these basics, but there you go. You will find that you get used to a lower-carb diet. We've all been thru it. Having carbs gives you a carb high and you crave more. By moving more to protein and fat you will feel full for longer and the lack of sugar spikes reduces the need for more carb intake.