• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Confused

xfieldok said:
Lots of us self fund meters, SD CodeFree has the cheapest strips. It is the most valuable tool in the box as far as we are concerned. @Rachox has some useful links.
Click to expand...
I was unsure if I could buy my own..didn' want to do the wrong thing
 
You learn the hard way that there are times when we should ignore the advice handed out by the NHS.

You will learn loads of you read around the forum. Don't be afraid to ask questions. There is no such thing as a silly question. We have all been where you are now.

I made loads of mistakes when I started low carb-ish. Treat everything as part of your education.

Keep a food diary along with your numbers, include portion sizes.

Read the 8 week sugar diet by D Michael Mosley.

Keep in touch!
 
Can't see your profile to check if you've already had @daisy1 's excellent welcoming post, so just in case I've tagged her, and if you've not already had it she'll post a lot of useful information for you on this thread.
Take one step at a time, you don't need to learn everything in a day . With your hba1c of 51 you'll probably need to make only minor changes to get back in a healthy range.
 
Thanks I've just ordered the Tee2 and all the other bits and pieces to see how I go with that. Thanks again
 
I appreciate your patience with Me, thanks again
 
Hi. Don't worry to much about the carbs in any particular meal but watch the daily total which many would keep below 150gms and quite a few below 50gm even.
 
dbr10 said:
Ignore the 'if which sugars' and stick to the total carbs. When I check food labels I would try to find something <=5g carbs per 100 g as a rough guide.
Click to expand...
I think that is rather confusing advice for a newbie. It is the total number of carbs in a day or in a meal that counts. Having 100g of something with 10% carbs is no different from having 200g of something with 5% carbs.
 
There is no "supposed to be" level of carbs, different people find they can get their BG under control with a different amount of carbs, you have to experiment to find out. I would expect most people on a low carb diet would find a limit somewhere between 20g and 100g a day. A zero carb diet is almost impossible unless you only eat meat.
 
I agree with @Mr_Pot, I’ve found my level at between 40-60g of carbs per day. However that doesn’t mean I can eat none throughout the day and then have 60g at my evening meal! I’ve also found I do tolerate carbs better in the evening, but after having around 10g at breakfast, 10g at lunch and 10g for snacks, I leave a max 30g for dinner later.
 
@bell27

Hello Bell27 and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful and interesting. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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 well over 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why

  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 
Thanks Daisy, you have all been very kind and helpful, I think my main struggle is carbs vs sugars, I don't know how carbs and/or sugars is the "right amount" if you know what I mean...some of the food' are high in carbs and low in sugar...I think to myself that' ok as it' lower in sugar. I have ordered a BG tester and all the bits and pieces. I also have IBS so there are already foods I've eliminated from my diet years ago. Trial and error I suppose. Thanks again guys much appreciated
 

@bell27 , please just ignore the ‘of which sugars’ amount. Just look at the carb amount (the sugars are included in the carb count). I’ll tell you how I started. I looked at things I already cooked and counted the carbs. I found for example that my from scratch bolognese per portion was around 14g carbs, it was just the spaghetti with it that made it a high carb meal, so I still make the bolognese but eat it with butternutsquashetti. I make a curry but eat it with cauli rice in place of the higher carb basmati rice. Have a look at the low carb forum thread “what have you eaten today”. Loads of recipe swaps and meal ideas.
I started on keeping under 100g carbs/day then after six weeks dropped to 50-70g/day. I now tend to be 40-60g/day.
 
That makes much more sense!! Told you I needed the dummies guide!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…