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Diabetes Help

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Becky32

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hi,
I'm Becky, and I was hoping someone could give me some advice. I better start with a brief background: I have type 2 diabetes, and was diagnosed a little over a year ago. I've had an eye test thingy already and have been told that there is some damage there but nothing that needs immediate attention as long as I take care. I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes, and at that point I cut all sugar out of my diet for a period of around 3 months, doing so kept my blood sugar under control without use of metformin but I was told to take the metformin anyway - so I stopped being so careful with my foods. Even eating badly, the metformin kept things under control.
I am housebound. I don't go out unless I absolutely have no choice - which severely limits exercise potential. I'm also very weak willed. I eat when I'm bored. I eat for comfort. I'm not seriously overweight (yet) though if I keep this up, I will be.
I can't talk to people, which is why I'm posting here rather than asking a doctor. The last week or so, I've started checking my blood sugar frequently, and is has been quite high - between 10 and 13.8... This morning, it's at 14, the highest yet. I don't know how long it has been that high, it could have been for as long as 2 weeks. Seeing it at 14 has shocked me - enough to determine yet again to cut out all sugar.
The problem is that I'm also a fussy eater. It's not just that I don't like certain foods - its like a door closes at the back of my throat and I physically can't swallow it. Meats, vegs, all the go to things for diets - I can't eat. My usual day consists of something like this: Breakfast bar, crisp or turkey sandwich for dinner (if any), takeaway cheesy chips or home-cooked curry for tea, and for snacks I'll have about 2 chocolate bars, maybe 2 packs of crisps. I drink Pepsi max or coke zero as I don't like a lot of the juices available.
Cutting out all sugar is not going to leave me much to eat, and when I start trying to cut out things like bread, potatoes, rice - I'll basically have nothing. I'm hoping someone might have some suggestions for things I could try that skips the whole veg thing?
I also wanted to ask - the main reason I've been checking my blood sugar more thoroughly the last week, is I've been having a hard time getting to sleep. There's this weird tingley sensation in my legs - below the knees and in the feet, not like pins and needles or anything like that, but just enough to keep me awake. Could that be related to diabetes?
Sorry for such a long rambling post, I know I'm probably one of those hopeless cases, but I thought I'd post here and see if there were any ideas that could help. Thank you for your time.
 
Hi @Becky32 and welcome to the forum. You will get a lot of good advice and support on here. Unfortunately your diet is going to raise your blood sugar levels. It's not just sweet sugary stuff you should avoid, but also starchy carbohydrates like bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. Starchy carbs turn to sugar in our bodies. The breakfast bars, crisps, chips and chocolate bars are some of the worst things you should eat.

Your high bs readings could be causing the tingly feelings in your legs and feet. It could be something else that's causing it, but high bs can cause neuropathy in feet and legs.

It doesn't matter too much that you can't exercise. Exercise can help but what you eat is more important. A lot of us on here find that adopting a Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF) approach to eating has lowered our bs levels. Have a read round the threads to see how it works and ask any questions you want to.

Some things that are good for diabetics are oily fish like salmon, trout and mackerel, dairy produce, eggs, avocadoes, nuts and olive oil. Any meats are ok. Most vegetables which are grown above ground are ok.
There is a section on this forum about low carb recipes, and there is a thread 'Type 2s What have you eaten today' which will give you some ideas about what you can eat.
 
Becky32 said:
I cut all sugar out of my diet for a period of around 3 months, doing so kept my blood sugar under control without use of metformin but I was told to take the metformin anyway - so I stopped being so careful with my foods. Even eating badly, the metformin kept things under control.
Click to expand...

I think that some of your problem is here. Metformin does not give you freedom to indulge in a poor diet. In fact Metformin does just about nothing to help someone with your problems. Take the Metformin or don't take the Metformin but in either case you are going to be careful with your foods and cut out sugar.
 
Have you had any psychological help with your eating issues? It may be a texture thing, but, from the foods you have describe which you can eat, it may be psychological. Perhaps your doctor could refer you to some help with the food issue? Especially as it is now interfering with your health by making it too difficult for you to eat the right foods to help your diabetes.
 
It is your decision if you want to have a diet which will work better with your diabetes . There are plenty of people here who can help.
Here are some suggestions
I note you like curry but not meat so you have vegetables in the curry ? Of so maybe you can consider low carb curry with above ground vegetables ? I am sure there recipe on diet doctor site on internet . You could try cauliflower rice with it

As you like turkey I take it you like chicken as well . Try say chicken, (& chopped bacon ? ) and mayonnaise ( full fat ) this should make you feel a but fuller . Do you like eggs as they are nice and low carb ?

Crisps, any grains ( including breakfast bars ) , rice, potatoes and pasta are not low carb but for example if you can get someone to go to Lidls they have high protein roll ts which are lower carb . I also read in the paper today that Hovis are going are to produce lower carb bread - not sure when it will be available or if it will be any good taste wise.

Snacks Nuts are low carb but not too many . As regards chocolate go for dark chocolate 85% .. Tesco do a relatively low cost version but try to eat only two cubes a day. Olives are nice so try and give them and go.I like pork crackling but I guess if you do not like meat that may be a no no. I have tried kale crisps which I found revolting but others may like..Chorizo crisps are nice but are meat so may not attract

Do you like berries ? Strawberries or raspberries with cream are a nice low carb . Also high fat yogurt and berries is an option.

Fluids -some people find ( me for example ) that diet drinks make me feel more hungry so I ration them as treats and drink mainly water and black tea . Fruit juices are very high carb but as you do not like them then you may not be interested. You need to have one half to two litres of fluid a day and more in hot weather .Low carb alcohol is dry white wine or red wine or spirits but in moderation ( and not beer which is high carb )

As your current diet looks low in vitamins might be worth considering taking some vitamin tablets?
 
Hi Becky,

I’ve never done anything on this forum before, so I hope I’m getting this right… I was diagnosed T2 last summer, and when I found out diet could impact the diabetes, I went for it. Diabetes is a disease that can and will get progressively worse, unless something’s done about it…. Pills and the like can help slow things down, yes, but diet and exercise can not only slow it down, but also reverse the condition. (It’ll never go away, but you can stay ahead of complications! Yay!)…. Considering my bad experiences with medication (I’m prone to side effects), I wasn’t going to just let myself slide into darkness. That’s how it felt, you know…? Like I had one foot in the grave, at 37 years old. Little background here: People terrify me and I am a shut-in, for the most part. People scare me so much I don’t have a job, and am at home all day, sitting by the computer doing not much of anything useful. Anyway… A lot of foods are triggers for my rheumatism (all dairy), and migraines (too many triggers to get into). It makes me a picky eater, because I rather like being able to retain the use of my hands and being able to, you know, think. So I spent about two months figuring out foods. Not only what could I eat without triggering joint pain, migraines and sugar-spikes, but also, what did I actually enjoy eating? What wouldn’t feel like a sacrifice or punishment? Hummus was a revelation (Didn’t do anything for me until I found one with sundried tomatoes mixed in. Heaven, and still low-carb!), and I found an Italian veggie mix at the local supermarket which I eat every day. I found crackers that didn’t remind me of cardboard (crackers with rosemary and seasalt… Good!) , and a salad I have at lunch. Breakfast comes from the freezer; blue berries, with some brazil- and walnuts to keep my cholesterol under control to boot. Herbal teas to stabilise my sugar, keep the cholesterol down, and relax me some… I found a chocolate bar with stevia instead of sugar and no milk, (Céréal)) so I can actually still eat chocolate…. Just a piece at a time, not entire bars, but that’s fine; it still feels like a clandestine treat and makes me happy. Basically, I changed everything, because I used to just plain barely eat…. I’d have drinks with high-sugar content to get me through the day, skip breakfast and lunch, and I’d have something meaty, high-carby, high in animal fats in the evening, but that was about it. Now I have my fruit and nuts in the morning, two crackers with hummus and cold cuts three hours later, three hours after that a salad, then more crackers, veggies and low-fat high protein meat (usually chicken or something else lean/unprocessed), and before bed, more crackers. I eat six times a day, every three hours, about 100 grams of carbs a day, usually less… And it works just fine for me; my levels are in the “normal” range, unless it’s as ridiculously hot as it is now, now they’re a little wonky, but I still don’t hit 10. Anyway… For all that, I didn’t start losing weight (after the diabetes took the initial 10 kilo’s off), until I got a little fitness apparatus that fit at the foot end of my bed. Like I said, I sit all day, and I’m not going to go outside for a walk: there are people out there! So putting on some headphones with my favorite music and hitting my stepper made a huge difference: I lost another ten kilo’s. (I was 102 kilo’s when I started to crash due to undiagnosed diabetes. I’m at 82 now. 8 more to go for my target-weight!). So if being relatively immobile due to the “aaargh why are there people in the street when I need to move about?!” factor is an issue, just find something that’ll be easy to do at home. I didn’t have room for a home trainer or a treadmill, but just keep looking and you’ll find something, just like I did. People don’t realise how much exercise they get just going outside to work or shop or whatever… When you’re home all day everything just grinds to a halt, and you might want to tackle that somehow. I know you mentioned quitting sugars, but the things you mention you do eat are, as others have pointed out, high in carbs… Which get turned into sugar in our bodies. I know it’s hard, especially when eating brings comfort as well, and eating differently might have consequences (having to get over whatever it is that closes up your throat when you try to eat something for you; trying things that had an impact on the migraines and such for me), but it is worth it in the long run. Also, yes, people are hard and you don’t want to see a doctor, so I’m guessing a shrink is out of the question too (as it is for me, so yeah, I really do know where you’re coming from), but you might want to delve into the relationship you have with food… Why does this closing-up happen? Is there some underlying problem/trauma you can deal with to let your body let you take proper care of yourself? Self-help books might help….? Because it does sound a bit like an eating disorder, and there’s been truckloads of books written on that. That’s kindof my go-to, for medical issues anyway…. (I think I have the depression more or less under control now, far as that’s possible.)But maybe that could help?

It’s not easy. Far from it, any of it… I know. And I know exactly what kind of stumbling blocks there are for people like us. But I manage, somehow. So I believe, you can too. If you want to, if you choose to. There’s a thousand reasons you can come up with why you can’t, probably. All you need is to find one reason why you can.

Good luck.

Jo from the Netherlands
 
PS: Do you produce sufficient saliva? Some medication (like anti-depressants) and illnesses like Sjögrens might make it hard to swallow, because your mouth just gets too dry to process foods... Having something to drink with your food might help. Just an idea.
 
The pain in your feet will be due to poorly controlled diabetes. Do a search for low carb recipes and try to find some things that you are willing to try.
 
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