Diagnosed today ................... stuck HELP

Hi Rebecca,

I posted my Type 2 story recently - you'll find it here:

viewtopic.php?f=20&t=10512

Hope that you might find some of it useful.

Basically, be careful about carbohydrate - cereals, bread, potatoes, pasta, rice etc.

Best Wishes - John

Sorry to hear your problems, Rebecca. Most of us were knocked into a panic on diagnosis, especially if w are told too much straight away..

Diabetes 2 is very slow acting, so you have plenty of time to learn to control it. The basic rules are to keep active, cut out obvious sugar & reduce carbohydrates. Increase vegetables, cheese & meat. With your tooth problems, an increase in fruit & nuts may not be possible, however I add ground almonds to a lot of mixes, including a "porridge" (not as we know it) made also with oat bran & wheat germ & milled seeds. Its much more suitable than cereals. Its even the basis for "bread." See Coconut bread (substituting ground almonds for coconut flour

I use no-added-sugar squashes for sweetening fruit & jelly.

Ask away - somebody will answer.

Hi Rebecca

Welcome to the forum. You have certainly come to the right place for reassurance, help and support. I am still a newbie myself, having been diagnosed in May this year and fully understand like everyone else on this forum what a shock it can be when diagnosed - especially if you have other health problems as well - its a lot to cope with.

However, with the help and advice given here I have managed to get my blood sugars under control and lose over 2 stone in the process. My numbers are usually between 4.8 and 6.2, although I have occasionaly gone into the 7's - but this is rare. My goal was to keep then well under the 7 mark.

What I did learn very quickly was that I needed to change my diet (I have cut out all starchy carbs i.e potatoes, bread, pasta and rice) - I appreciate that everyone is different and my diet may not suit others - you have to find out what works for you - some people can tolerate more carbs than others. I, for one can't have cereal without my bg going skywards and I can't eat muesli or All-Bran.

And the way to do this is to test, test and test and keep a food diary of everything you eat.

The NICE guidelines are:

Fasting (waking)......between 4 - 7 mmol/l
2 hrs after meals .... no more than 8.5 mmol/l

I would suggest that you also test one hour after eating to see if you have 'spiked'. If you can get the above numbers even lower then so much the better. There are loads of threads on here regarding diet - have a read and see what you think.

If I get the munchies, I have all sorts of things - celery with cream cheese, boiled egg, ham or chicken, slice of frittata, parmesan crisps, macadamia nuts etc.

I, too have a sweet tooth and used to love chocolate - can't trust myself to buy a bar as I would eat it all in one go but I am finding other things I can eat. I have just posted a recipe for a chocolate mousse using unsweetened cocoa and mascapone cheese which is absolutely delicious and this satisfies my chocolate cravings - not that I really have cravings anymore since low-carbing - which is great - I also rarely get hungry.

I eat loads of vegetables or salads with everymeal but I have to limit myself with fruit. I can eat apples and pears without too much increase in my bg but apricots and plums send me way over the 7 mark. Most people can tolerate berries, and although I eat these they do send my bg levels up slightly higher than I would like - so I limit them.

As I said, this is what works for me but it may not work for you and the only way to do this is to test and monitor your bg levels. Your blood sugar monitor will tell you what the best 'diabetes diet' is for your body.

I have learnt all this from the people on this forum and am glad that I found it so quickly after being diagnosed - in three months I have halved my HbA1c from 12.5 to 6 and I couldn't have done that without the help I found here and I can't tell you how much better I feel.

Good luck

Rita

Great stuff that Rita! Wonderful advice for Rebecca!

An HbA1c improvement of 12.5% to 6% in three months is a tremendous change - I've never come across anything as dramatic as that before. My three-monthly improvements were far less sudden 8.5 > 6.8 > 5.7 > 5.5 > 5.3% over twelve months and I thought that I'd done well. Good luck with your improvement programme. Sounds like joining the "5% Club" isn't far away - might even be "4% Club" for you considering what you are doing!

Best wishes - John

Thanks for your good wishes John - it just goes to show what you can do if you really try and work at it which I do - I just hope I can keep it up.

I'm so glad I found this forum - apart from the numerous books I have read on diabetes (all pretty scary in their own way :shock: ) the most help I have gained is from people like yourself here on the forum - and I hope Rebecca does too. Thanks

Rita

Hi Becky what do you mean when you say fruit cocktail? Is this one you make yourself or the tinned variety? In tinned fruit cocktail there is 14.8 carbs in the juice variety and 20.1 in the one with syrup.

becky1966 said:

...............jacket pot for lunch with cottege cheese .......

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A relatively good choice but take care that the jacket potato isn't too big or that will take you high.

becky1966 said:

...... will keep testing my breakfast until i know what i can and cant eat ...........

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Try tomatoes fried in a little olive oil with grilled lean bacon or low-fat sausage or mushrooms or baked beans or something similar. That'll do nothing much for your blood glucose levels.

Which fruits are you using to make your fruit cocktail ? You can also get seedless tomatoes if you look for them.

Potatoes in general are very starchy carbs and raise the blood sugar whatever their size.

Potatoes, Baked , flesh and skin, 31.7gm of carbs per 100gm. Boiled and peeled 17gm per 100gm. That is a very small potato !

In general, check the nutrient info on the side of packaging. Look at the total carb content.
Yoghurt can vary a lot , Greek yoghurt made of cows milk are lower than ones made of sheep's milk. The cow's milk Greek yoghurt are 3 carbs while the sheep's are 8 ! Other yoghurt ,such as custard style are also 3 carbs for a small pot. Watch out for the fruit or low fat yoghurt though, they are usually higher in carbs.

what sort of carbs work the best?

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I suggest you get a Collins Gem carb counter book and then you can work out meals with reduced carb content.
All carbs turn to glucose in the body and put up your blood sugar levels.

Which fruits are you using in your fruit cocktail ?

Hi, Becky,

I presume that all fruit is fresh and not any tinned ?

Pineapple......................10.1g carbs per 100g weight.
Banana.........................23.2g carbs " " "
Nectarine......................9g carbs " " "
Grapes.........................15.4g carbs " " "
No idea what Rachel's Low Fat Vanilla Yoghurt is, not in my book. Most of these are very high in carbs so I would steer clear unless you can tell me the carb content.

Depending on the portion/weight you have they can quickly mount up to a sizeable amount of carbs which will convert directly into glucose and elevate your Bg levels. Test to see what your after meal readings are. Banana's/Grapes are are NO for most Diabetics.

I love fruit but go for berries, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries which are lower in carb content. I also go for creme fraiche ( low fat) as I do not eat too much fat either.

Don't give up on the fruit Becky !!!!

Just cut down the portions, weigh them till you get the hang of portion size, eat more berries, buy fresh pineapple, ( you will never go back to tinned once you have eaten fresh ! ).

Above all , test before and two hours after to see how you are tolerating the fruit.

When you reply , Becky use the ' post reply' button as typing inside a quote is very difficult to read! :?