Denial or just plain stupid?

jeanser said:

I've been T2 for just under 2 years and I don't test, so wouldn't consider myself an 'expert' on how different food intakes affect one's BG levels. However, I've just embarked on the low carb diet (3 weeks) and if it helps, I rationalised the removal of potatoes, pasta, rice and bread from my diet by considering that they don't really taste of anything, they are just vehicles for the tasty stuff you serve with them. So, just increase the tasty stuff (chilli, bolognaise, stew, casserole) and serve with veg to give it some bulk. And what I've noticed, since taking on this diet, is that my sensitivity to sweetness has increased. I had some French onion soup the other day, homemade, and it tasted as if sugar had been added, although of course none had, it was just the onions somehow (maybe cooking them releases sugars? another thing to learn!). So I think this diet has actually made me more averse to sweet things, which can't be bad. So please, give up the carbs and sweet stuff, start enjoying loads of meat, fresh fish , cheese, veg and salad - it's actually a really enjoyable diet!

Click to expand...

I have come to the same conclusion about pasta and rice as just being a vehicle to get the tasty stuff from plate to mouth! I've virtually given up trying to find alternatives, though I am partial to cauliflower rice now!

jeanser said:

I rationalised the removal of potatoes, pasta, rice and bread from my diet by considering that they don't really taste of anything, they are just vehicles for the tasty stuff you serve with them.

Click to expand...

I have to dissent a bit. good bread has definitively a taste. Tuscany bread taste quite differently compared to thawed buns for fast foods.
Potatoes have a taste of potatoes.
And definitively a good pasta taste different from a bad one...
But I have to agree that the dressing and the sauces are important to make a dish. This is true for any food, even for meat and fish.

So, just increase the tasty stuff (chilli, bolognaise, stew, casserole) and serve with veg to give it some bulk.

Click to expand...

Ratatouille? Yes Ratatouille! You've found the answer.

Onions somehow (maybe cooking them releases sugars? another thing to learn!).

Click to expand...

Onions are sugary and the cooking make them release the strong taste so one can taste the sweetness.[/quote]

Resurgam said:

I used my long term knowledge of Atkins to sort out my diet and found it really easy to get normal readings for just about everything in 6 months.
I know some people struggle, - I kept quiet about my last results for a while because I felt a bit guilty at how easy it had been.
I use Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution book as a guide as to what to eat. I use the UK version published in 2003 and eat all sorts of foods with a carb count of ten percent or under. I eat berries and cream, put cream in my coffee, have chicken thighs cooked in my air fryer - the crispy skins are so good. The foods I can eat are delicious. I can have a steak with mushrooms, tomatoes and other veges pork chops roast chicken, roast lamb - and I buy protein rolls from Lidl.
Not only do I get normal blood test results, I have lost weight and my waist has shrunk - the only downside to this diet is that I have had to buy or make new clothes as things were falling off me or flapping around - even my feet are smaller.
There are things you can take to help with the cravings for carbs, but I was concentrating on my health and just got on with it.
I saw my grandmother dying from the complications of diabetes and I would not wish that on my worst enemy.

Click to expand...

I have noticed that my feet are smaller, my family didn't believe me. And my hands, none of my rings fit properly. Even my sunglasses don't fit properly anymore. Love LCHF. Going to see my family in another part of the country in a week, they are going to be so surprised to see how great I look.

I play recorders and have noticed a slight alteration in my fingertips, so I can achieve a fingering which used to result in squeaks as air escaped. I think that they feel slightly firmer now - less water retention perhaps.

snowysandie said:

i was diagnosed 2007 ish with t2 diabetes. I take minimal drugs and refuse insulin. Foxiga 10 and sitagliptin. Can anybody relate to my head in the sand attitude? I have got to the point where my sugars are daily between 15 and 26 depending on when I have eaten. I never had a sweet tooth til diagnosed and used to eat a moderately healthy diet. Now my diet is rubbish, I crave sweets and carbs. I'm feeling pretty rubbish most days and my energy is at an all time low. But still I carry on with this stupid head in the sand ......

Click to expand...

snowysandie said:

I go to work struggle to get through the day, come home eat tea and then go to bed, hardly a great life. But still I continue on this ridiculous path........my family worry but I seem to be numb......well maybe not so numb else I wouldn't be writing this post.
How can I get to a point where I start to take this seriously and try to make myself feel better?

Click to expand...

First of all, well done for actually saying there's a problem. Whether you know it or not, that's far from being in denial.

This may sound harsh, but I'm not going to patronise or baby sit you by apologising. You know what's wrong and - reading between the lines - you sound as though you know how to fix it.

I get the impression that somehow, you seem to think the diagnosis is your fault; you're now subconsciously punishing yourself - and your family for that. Well, guess what? The diabetes diagnosis was, is and never will be, your fault. Your body broke down and it's telling you it needs help to function. Now, unless you do something about that - and only you can - you're sentencing yourself to a world of pain, some of which you've already described above.

Give yourself, your body and your family a break and ask for some practical help. It might be useful to see a dietitian. You'd be surprised at what you can keep in your food choices. If you can, rope somebody in to do the food changes with you. If necessary go talk it out. Counselling's not a dirty word, it's a great way of cleaning the **** out of your head.I found Cognitive Behavioural Therapy enormously helpful.

What you really need to do though, is get those meds sorted. You weren't prescribed insulin for nothing, your body needs it. If you do that the fogginess might lift and the cravings improve.

Good luck

keitjones said:

In the words of Henry Ford if you think you CAN or you think you CAN'T you are right.

Click to expand...

I love this quote, it's kicked me up the bum many a time.

@MikeTurin Thanks for the ratatouille suggestion, I've never tried it but I just looked up a recipe and it sounds tasty!

snowysandie said:

i was diagnosed 2007 ish with t2 diabetes. I take minimal drugs and refuse insulin. Foxiga 10 and sitagliptin. Can anybody relate to my head in the sand attitude? I have got to the point where my sugars are daily between 15 and 26 depending on when I have eaten. I never had a sweet tooth til diagnosed and used to eat a moderately healthy diet. Now my diet is rubbish, I crave sweets and carbs. I'm feeling pretty rubbish most days and my energy is at an all time low. But still I carry on with this stupid head in the sand ......
I go to work struggle to get through the day, come home eat tea and then go to bed, hardly a great life. But still I continue on this ridiculous path........my family worry but I seem to be numb......well maybe not so numb else I wouldn't be writing this post.
How can I get to a point where I start to take this seriously and try to make myself feel better?

Click to expand...

snowysandie Please behave and get with the program I thought I could just take it easy and still do as I like then ended up in hospital, even at my age I still do stupid things but there is a pay back.
Get it together and enjoy life.