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Diabetes diet awareness

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HpprKM

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Self absorbed and rude people! Motorists who are oblivious to the rest of the world, and really don't give a ****!
I think that more needs to be done by the Government and the NHS about diet awareness in diabetics. Whilst I am far from an authority on the subject, I was really quite shocked when I met a couple of other T2s at my annual retinal eye scan last week. Two very nice ladies in their early seventies and we chatted and had a bit of a laugh whilst waiting for our scans. One of the ladies asked where she might learn about diabetic cooking, I immediately mentioned the internet - but as is often the way with people of a certain age this was met with 'Oh I have no idea about that - I am frightened of the little mouse'. Then the started talking about carbohydrates and they were quite shocked, one of them said that he Practice Nurse told her husband he must eat potatoes every day! I mentioned not having white bread, pasta, rice etc and they both said they hated anything but white bread, and the other lady said she had eaten three crumpets the day before and were they OK! However, not wishing to alarm them I did not say too much, but they both said they were going to consider these facts. I also mentioned that fruit is good in small quantities and that bananas and some other fruits were quite high in sugar - again they had not known this.

As a former teacher in a Business and having quite a fair knowledge of computer use I wondered if I should set myself up to help people with diabetes access the internet, or would this just confuse them more. Any thoughts? Naturally I am not a dietitian and my own knowledge of diet is somewhat confused, ie I kind of sit on the fence with carbs by eating very small portions - but I am not really looking to give advice as I am not qualified, just wondering if being able to gain access to this forum and other diabetic information on diet would benefit some people.

Is this a really daft idea :oops:
 
HpprKM said:
I met a couple of other T2s at my annual retinal eye scan last week. Two very nice ladies in their early seventies
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If these two ladies are in the 70's then perhaps they could have taught you a thing or two? Not everyone low carbs as I've said a thousand times, many are able to control their diabetes by eating an almost normal diet as long as they dont over eat :D
 
sid may be right here - I learnt about carbs from my dad about six months before I found this site - he is T2 in his 70's - never read a book about diabetes and the nearest he has been to a computer is in my dining room sitting at the table on christmas day - I think he thinks its a music player :lol:

He learnt all he knows from his health care team ( same one as me) - the info he gave me at the beginning was from his dietician and was invaluable to me. I still refer to it now (it is not the usual carbs with every meal info - I have to be honest and say I have never been told that and have been told by my all HCP's to watch my carbs)

Not poopooing your idea HpprKM - it's lovely that you think of others - why do you think your idea of diet is confused because you eat a small amount of carbs? - if it works for you then it's right :) - like Sid said a lot of us eat carbs of at some level

To be honest with you I think that anyone who doesn't use a computer in this day and age does it by choice and not because they can't/have no acess etc. - There are lots of courses these days for those who don't have knowledge of computers - from little 3 hour sessions to learn about the internet to internationally recognised qualifications so the ability to learn is out there.


Maybe you could gather up info for you area courses or taster sessions and pass this info onto people who would like to learn about computers rather than take it on yourself - you could also make up a list of helpful sites to pass onto those who do use the net but not sure where to get info from
 
HpprKM said:
but they both said they were going to consider these facts. I also mentioned that fruit is good in small quantities and that bananas and some other fruits were quite high in sugar - again they had not known this.
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I meant to say in my last post - well done you gave them something to think about so maybe they will go out and find out more - or maybe not - the choice is theirs - you passed a bit of your knowledge on and that's all you or any of us can do - just keep doing that and you never know it may make a difference to someone :)
 
Yes there are many courses available but the difficulty is getting the very people who might benefit most to attend them.
People who have never used a computer are often afraid of making fools of themselves especially
if there are likely to be younger people present. Or someimes they feel i is too late or too difficult.

In some areas the local council offer courses specifically for certain age groups in small classes

where people can learn attheir own pace. ofen volunteers assist at the sessions.

Certainly the poster should go ahead , There are imes when I would have been completely isolated without my computer. Last year for example, when my husband ruptured his achilles tendon and was on crutches for four months at the same ime as my reinopathy treatment had caused a cataract to almost completely obscure my vision in one eye -the better eye. I was legally blind , could not dsafely leave the hoiuse alone and definitely could not see the value of coins, bank notes or input numbers from my plastic. Living in a small village with poor punlic tansport anyhow and a few small shops , we might have starved without my trusty computer..

It is a lifeline to many .

I don't think that age is a facor with nutritional knowledge. It is more a matter of attiitude.
Many people are her because hey found that the advice they have been given -or the lack of it does not help to control heir diabees, If you trust your Gop or whoever and are happpy to follow he advice given by them then you may never have been promped to try o take control of your own reatment and if not in touch with other diabetics may never have questioned it
As we are constantly old that T2 is progresve many must just accept it and i have no idea that there is anyhing more they can do to help themselves.

It is a combination of confusing messssages from the medical profession and lack of confidence in
the, sometimes, illinformed and undertrained people substituted for GPs in diabetic management
which lead people o look eleewhere. They should be given every opportunity to acccess his information. The elderly just neeed a little more coaxing.
 
Some good points and that was I wanted! It's just that I have worked in the field of assisting seniors with IT before and hence idea, but as someone said not using internet may be by choice. However, in my experience many are frightened and are thrilled when they find how simple it is. I am not trying to be patronising though suspect it may sound that way. I also Agee on the low carb comments and I am sure they could teach me a thing or two, although I am not a young thing as I retired this year :-). My thoughts were that may not have the recourse to do more than trust NHS advice, which I know can be very useful, but access to more information would present the chance of a more informed decision. I can also see it may be a 'dumb' idea :-(
 
You are right about the more information one has the better chance you have of reaching a conclusion that is best for you, knowledge is indeed power. Unfortunately some people whatever there age just have no interest in technology, I know quite a few people who just cant be bothered with computers or indeed mobile phones, dont forget that not so long ago these technical advances were not available and some people especially those in their 50's 60's 70's and above just dont 'get it' and are more than happy just to carry on as normal.

Didnt Tony Bliar or some other politician famously have all their emails printed off for them as they had no idea how to use a PC?

It never fails to surprise me how tech phobic many people still are when it comes to PC's and the internet, but I enjoy computing, most people couldnt care less and just learn to do what they need to do ie email, banking and occasional shopping etc. And thats fine if thats all they want to do.

What I am trying to say is many people are happy to carry on as they have always done, change can be very frightening.
 
Agreed, my dear old Dad did not want a mobile phone and had no interest in any of that stuff, and I fully appreciated that. However, no one would wish to force something on anyone who really is not interested - the thought is for those who may be :D
 
Perhaps the way to help some people is to provide support which is not dependant on the Internet.

Birth of the PC was in the early 1980s.

Most people born after 1960 will have been exposed to computers fairly early on during their working life, or mixed with people who are compouter aware.

People born before 1940 are much less likely to be comfortable with computers and will not have been exposed to them in their formative years or when their childern were growing up.

Baby boomers sit somewhere in the middle and those with families will probably have been exposed to computers through their children, although not all will have.

So there will be a lot of people out there, especially amongst the elderly, who have no real grasp of computers not the confidence or motivation to learn about them.

After all, they have managed their lives so far without them.

So a face-to-face support group may be the way to involve these diabetics and to encourage them to discuss issues such as diet and medication; the things we talk about here.

This may lead them to take an introductory computer course; there are usually ones available through adult education. It may not, and the group may be one step away from the Internet but a very useful conduit for information through members who do use the Internet.

Consider how many diabetics there are with computers, and how many subscribe to fora such as this. I suspect that there are a lot of computer literate people with PCs and Broadband who never look anything up on the Internet to do with diabetes.

One of the big issues associated with the Internet is that people who do not have access are increasingly marginalised as putting content on the Internet is far simpler and cheaper than contacting people via snail mail, newsletters, or face to face.

[A minor digression - I had some physio for a hip ache and the local PCT runs a self referral system where you fill in a form on the Internet, a consultant does triage on the information, then they contact you to arrange an appointment. Whilst I was there a potential patient came in very upset - he wanted an appointment and was told by his GP to use the Internet service. He told the GP he didn't have a computer; the GP said "Well, go and find one then." Major demerit for the GP, the nurse/receptionist sorted out his details there and then. However this does illustrate that many now work on the assumption that if you don't have Internet access then you are not normal and any problems are your fault.]

So a web site to make information easily available to diabetics is a good thing.
Training people to use the Internet is a good thing.
Supporting those who can't (or won't) use the Internet is vital.

Cheers

LGC
 
Purely practical point - beware of setting yourself up to be blamed when things don't go right for an individual. Doesn't matter if it wasn't your fault, if you weren't getting money, if you were just providing access etc - as soon as you're in the advice business you're vulnerable
 
Grazer said:
as soon as you're in the advice business you're vulnerable
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Is that your advice? I think I might sue :lol:
 
Yes have to agree. Teaching and helping people to access the internet is one thing. Giving dietary advice to those with a medical condition is quite another.

I often wonder how he HHS has got away wih it for so long! :D
 
Hi HpprKM .

In principle a great idea, but one that is difficult to implement .
If you "google" diabetes diet awarness" you will get around 32 million hits .
The trick is to produce sometime that really stands out and to get as much publicity as possible or to pay Google to make sure it come up high on the search engine.

The other thing is not everyone has or can get broadband, my x laws for example , live out in the depths of Suffolk and can only use dial-up which frankly is useless , they are both in their 60's , have a laptop and have some basic instruction, they want to use it but the lack of broad band makes it vey hard for them .

I think it's a great idea :D the more information out there the better.

Cheers
Hamish
Ipswich ( analyst/programmer )
 
''frightened of the little mouse''............ :lol: ............I was like that only a few years ago and I am certainly not a OAP :lol:
 
Also, it's not just that there's alot of people who don't want to use computers, but there are many who can't afford one, or the monthly payments? I can't, I have to use my old mobile.

Helena
 
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