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Dealing with hunger

K

kellywelly

Member
Messages
17
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes about a year and a half ago and it was dealt with diet only. I hadn't had any symptoms at that point it was picked up on a blood test for something else and a hba1c was at 52. Through diet I was averaging 47 for about a year until November when it crept up to 58. At that point I wasn't concerned as I knew there were areas in my diet I could improve and my doctor said that if I could lose around 8lb before my next test, I should be fine.

At the start of the year I started experiencing recurring water infection/Thrush, extreme tiredness, my IBS got worse, I lost quite a bit of weight and was always hungry. After 6wks of going back and forth to the docs, they did another hba1c test and it was 71. I was pretty confused as I had lost the weight I'd been asked to and improved my diet, but my doctor seemed to think that given my family history it was inevitable.

I've now been give Metaformin to take and was taking 1 a day for the first week and then from yesterday I am up to two times a day. But I'm still so so hungry. Even though I would never eat as much as I am now, I've been going to bed with a rumbling tummy for the last week. I'm trying not to give into the hunger all the time as I don't want having more sugar to make things worse. I'm also still feeling exhausted.

Is it normal for it to take this long for Metaformin to kick in and for the hunger to be so bad?

Also when I'm feeling that hungry, any tips on what is the best thing to snack on? I've been having fruit, but I realise that might not help.

Sorry for the very long first post, but I'm quite confused Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks

Kelly
 
In my views snacks are a slippery slope. The goal should be to eat enough during the 3 main meals to get you to the next meal without having to snack in between.
 
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Hi. We need to know what you eat. You're right that in the beginning fruit is best avoided.
Read the forum a bit and you will see you're not alone.
 
Welcome @kellywelly - I'm sure you'll find this forum very friendly and very helpful (I know I did!)

This quoted post is very good advice

s_k_s said:
In my views snacks are a slippery slope. The goal should be to eat enough during the 3 main meals to get you to the next meal without having to snack in between.
Click to expand...

Before I was diagnosed, I snacked far too much and it seemed like the more I ate, the more I wanted. However, after cutting right down on carbs and starting on a healthier diet, I found that within 2 weeks, those cravings disappeared and I now only have my 3 meals a day with nothing between them, and I feel fuller for longer now than I can ever remember
 
There is only one thing that makes me Hungry, and crave snacking - and that is eating more carbs than my body can tolerate.

In my case (and we are all different) if I eat more than 40-50g carbs spread out through the day, then The Hunger (aka carb cravings will strike).

Again, in my case, the answer is to eat good, filling, reasonable portions of protein and fat, while restricting my carbs to non-starchy veg and one portion of berries a day. Works like a dream.

And on the rare occasion I do get the cravings, snacking on cheese will kill them dead.

Hope this helps!
 


Hi Kelly,

It would be helpful to know more details about your diet? I have always found that for me the only way to control hunger is with low carb - high fats approach... nothing else helps me in that area. I have had the rumbling in the stomach so I know what you mean.

When I low carb though, my hunger completely disappears to the point where I eat for the sake of eating, and not because I'm hungry.

If I feel hungry between meals I would have some almonds (5-10 no more), cheese (like a babybel or two), dark chocolate (if I fancy something sweet), or I have a coffee with cream and tablet sweetener, however I don't need to snack much when I am eating my meals properly.

Hope that helps
 
Hi

Thanks for the replies and the welcome.

I'm guessing diet is the issue and it sounds like specifically carbs. The initial advice from my doctor when I was originally diagnosed was to not worry about sticking to a specific diabetic diet but to focus on dropping some pounds instead. That was working for me and I lost weight, but I guess now given my latest results I should switch what I'm eating to a diabetic diet.

Normally on a week day I would have had:

Breakfast: 2 slices of granary/seeded toast with Marmite & sometimes a hard boiled egg
Lunch: Meals are free at work, so usually I select either the fish or meat option (usually chicken) and have salad, boiled potatoes or rice with it
Afternoon: A small fruit pot of grapes, strawberries and blackberry's (no juice or anything)
Evening: Varies quite a bit depending on how hungry I am according to what I had for lunch. Tonight I had some fish with a small jacket potato. I usually stick to Slimming World recipes (not that I'm a member), but just because I know they should be healthy'ish and I've previously lost weight with them.

On weekends for lunch I might just have a sandwich or snack for lunch instead of a hot meal and usually porridge for breakfast rather than toast.

If I have anything sweet it's maybe a chocolate bar once (or occasionally twice) a week, sugar-free jelly, or the low fat sweet & salty popcorn.

Since I started feeling really ill and the hunger started, I've been snacking on nuts, twiglets or extra fruit when I can't ignore the hunger. I know there is no way I should be hungry and need this though.

I realise I'm probably way off with what I've been having, but every time I try and figure out what it should be I seem to be getting more and more confused, when I just want to figure out how to start feeling better. I'm assuming once my levels come down or the Metaformin kicks in, the hunger should stop and I can cut out having any extra snacks. Is that likely?

Any help is appreciated.

Kelly
 
Metformin isn't a magic bullet and it won't suddenly make your hunger pangs go away, I'm afraid

I can't say it will work for everyone, but what worked for me was to cut my carbs down dramatically, eliminating all potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, milk from my coffee and getting my carbs pretty much solely from vegetables (no root vegetables though). I also stopped eating any fruit except strawberries and raspberries (and them only occasionally) because fruit is pretty high in carbs (any fruit that ends in berry is better than one that doesn't though)

Over a period of about a month, I gradually reduced my carbs to 100g / day, then 50g / day then 30g / day to where i am now (about 15-20g a day) and during that time I found my hunger pangs decreased and I now only eat my 3 meals and no snacking at all. I never feel hungry and am enjoying my food more than ever. When I first started and my pangs were still there, I ate raw pumpkin seeds as a snack (I'm allergic to nuts so they were out) - they're delicious and reasonably low carb.

Since November, I've lost nearly 25kg by sticking to a LCHF (low carb / high fat) regime and 1500 calorie a day diet, feel fitter, healthier and more alert than I have for years and my blood sugar has stabilised to non diabetic levels (see my signature). One thing I have seen that's less positive is a rise in cholesterol but that could be temporary and caused by my rapid weight loss - I'll find out at my next check, but overall I'm delighted with the results.

Have a read of the LCHF diet forum on here and decide if it might be something you want to try: It's not for everyone but many people have seen great results with it
 
I like the sound of a LCHF diet. It seems like it would be easy to remember what I should and shouldn't have, which I would welcome right now.

I think I'll give that a try.

Thank you so much.
 
kellywelly said:
I like the sound of a LCHF diet. It seems like it would be easy to remember what I should and shouldn't have, which I would welcome right now.

I think I'll give that a try.

Thank you so much.
Click to expand...
It is pretty easy to follow, once you get past the carb cravings. The lower the carb intake the easier it is.
 

There are lots of threads about low carb diets and recipes here in the forum and how we all eat if you are interested in the low carb approach. Some people are more drastic than others at eliminating or reducing carbs. The choices are there for you to weight out and see what best suits you.

Some people choose to go on to a low calorie approach but in my personal experience I find it really difficult to control hunger like that.

When I followed a low carb diet for the first time many years ago, I wasn't taking metformin or was diabetic (although I was insulin resistant for sure but I didn't know) I did it to lose weight, and it is exactly the same eating style I have followed now to bring my blood sugar back into non diabetic levels.

For me, going straight into less than 50grms of carbs a day to begin with works great, although at the moment I am below 30grms a day as I have a lot of weight to lose. I take metformin too, it helps the best when taken together with an improvement on diet, particularly reduction of carbs, at least that's how it works in me.

As NoCrbs4Me says, Low Carb is really is easy to follow once you get used to it, although it can be challenging for a couple of days, mostly at the beginning. Once you are over that phase it becomes second nature.

People here are all really supportive and very helpful. Don't hesitate in making questions if you have doubts
 
kellywelly said:
I like the sound of a LCHF diet. It seems like it would be easy to remember what I should and shouldn't have, which I would welcome right now.

I think I'll give that a try.

Thank you so much.
Click to expand...
I was very 'addicted' I felt starvation for 2 days and then it stops, you feel schite for the rest of the week..well worth it though.
For me, the more carbs we eat the more carbs we want. they don’t give up easy
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/firstweek.htm
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbliving/a/Food-Cravings.htm
 
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