Diagnosed yesterday

DONT PANIC i was very similar

so mu h info here and many successs tories which i followed and had great success
exercise more
go low carb and embrace the new control u will have
happy to give my expereince just drop us a message

paul

Hi and welcome. The main thing is to re-do your diet and reduce the carb content. Beware of NHS diet advice. Some can be very good and up to date but it can be truly awful. Have low carbs and enough fats and proteins to keep you feeling full. You may be prescribed the drug Metformin which is very safe. It doesn't make a big difference but every little helps.

Mattrblue said:

Thanks guys. Should I rush out and buy some sort of monitor or hold off for now?

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I would rush out and get one right now. It is the only thing at this moment that will give you a really good understanding of diabetes and how certain foods affect you, some are VERY surprising. Also it will give you a few weeks of data which will be very useful for your Nurse when she sees you in a couple of weeks. You have found this site so you already HAVE started, would you mind giving us a typical days food/activities for you, and if you have them, your actual test results. Try not to panic, for many it can actually be a life saver in many ways in that it forces you to make whatever changes may be necessary for you. Welcome by the way. x

There are a range of blood pressure monitors, what you want to check is the cost of the strips as that is the major ongoing cost. A bit like buying a cheap printer and paying loads for new inks.

Many of us got our blood sugars down, even into remission (back to 'normal' levels), by going low carb. I told my GP I didn't want metformin as I preferred to try low carb first.
The GP I saw a few times after this insisted on calling it low carb/high fat but he was very anti (old school) and told me my cholesterol would go up - in fact my triglycerides went down, total cholesterol up a little but the LDL/HDL ratio improved, ie all the key measurements were better.
.
I started by dropping to 100g of carbs a day then to 85g (I was lucky as some need to go lower). I tested every morning, then before and 2hrs after every meal. I measured everything. But once my numbers were dropping and I knew what I could eat safely I tested less and was content to judge the amount by eye. I still tested for a day once a week after getting into remission but now only once a month to make sure my numbers, and the carbs, don't creep up.

I knew I'd find it hard to give up some of my favourites so I checked around for good substitutes. There are so many low carb or keto recipes!

Hello @Mattrblue, I'm type 1 so won't offer any advice on diet etc but wanted to share this thread about monitors from a few weeks ago https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/which-meter.181631/#post-2398238
Whilst Boots do sell meters the strips for those meters are around £20 for 50 so have a read of that thread (or have a search, there'll be plenty of others) and see which monitors are recommended

Don't panic, this has taken time to build up and will take time to resolve. You don't need to learn everything and change everything all at once. Better to take it slowly as this will be a change to a way of eating for life. And theres a huge amount to learn.
At first use your meter to see what your current food is doing to you.
I panicked and cut everything out and know don't know what I could have kept.
Keep reading and asking questions, we've all been there and few questions are new, just keep an open mind and learn

Hi. 12 is a bit higher than you might hope for but I'm often in the teens so don't worry. The time to start worrying is when you go into the 20s

The good news is that you can eat meat, fish eggs cheese, have stir fries, stews curries - just pick the low carb veges, and leave off the high starch and sugar foods.
You can - for instance, make some low carb crackers for your cheese, eat bacon folded into a cheese waffle aka 'chaffle', have cream in your coffee, and chopping steamed cauliflower is a common occurrence here, to make a base for curry or cauliflower cheese. I cook stews and serve them fairly dry, with mashed swede, roast chicken with slices or cubes of swede or celeriac cooked underneath the roasting rack - I turn them over when I turn the chicken half way through cooking.
There is no need to starve. Eating low carb often sorts out several problems with one regime. Once I got my blood glucose sorted out I realised that I had lost quite a bit of weight without trying.

Mattrblue said:

Thanks KK. I have emailed my GP for the actual results and will post them here when available.

To be honest, I feel like I am in a panic, all I have had is water so far today. I feel the thought of it all is consuming my mind at the moment... it's difficult to put into words.

I live on the Isle of Man and work in an office for a bank (lots of sitting down).

I am not a big breakfast eater, so I usually skip it during the week, however, every Saturday I cook a fry-up for us all at home.
For lunch I usually have a soup (from the cafe downstairs), sushi (from M and S) or a sandwich with crisps.
Dinner is usually a Hello Fresh dish, and can be anything really... also at least one take away a week, usually curry or chinese.
I cook a roast every Sunday.

Finally, I drink too much in the evening, malt whiskey, red wine or vodka.

I am not a fussy eater though, I eat anything apart from strawberries and grapefruit.

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Hi @Mattrblue

others have answered better then i could.

and we have all been YOU at some point when all our journeys started.

So don't panic, lets think through the positives..

you are now aware you are T2D..and many aren't.

You have found this forum so it seems like you want to know the BEST way
to look after yourself from here on in
particularly in regard to the T2D.

so all Good so far.

So let me just say, we took a long time to get ill.
so a little leeway here while you find your way won't kill you.

BUT before you devour the fridge of all it's contents.

take a calm look at what you currently eat.

Now remember it's carbs that cause the issue for us.

so for the moment lets just try to see ways cut back.

think of the food you DO or did eat last week or pre DX.

Take out the Rice or Pasta or bread.

it was still food right ?
kept away the hunger AND powered you to get through the day, until you next ate.

on a desert island without anything to eat, if a meaty dish with salad dropped into your lap you'd eat it right.?

that's your kebab..except no pitta bread..still tasty n delicious even if missing a part of it...nom nom nom.

Minced meat, tomato sauce with some mushrooms..delicious
wot no spaghetti..then i can't possibly eat that anymore...course you can.

see the food you eat in the same light.
and try to adapt by missing out the carbier bits.

some foods for me came BACK into my life.

that sausage bacon & eggs..was a missed treat and now it's a winner, cos the carbs are so low..

There is much you can eat, so don't starve yourself.
but there is much to learn too.

Diet doctor, was my GO TO for the BETTER choices of foods to eat.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/visual-guides

you won't get there today or tomorrow, you'll make mistakes,
but that's ok.

you will learn what works for you and you will take away from here what others did ,
how they did it and in time give back what worked for YOU, to someone just like, err you..

But for now, it's a journey of discovery.

Your the detective trying to find out what's trying to kill you in the kitchen.
(and in supermarkets, restaurants. It's a Cereal killer.. ok i'll get me own coat )


Use the meter, find out what foods you don't tolerate so well.

and that will help you find the ones that you can eat, without the meter showing too much of a rise..

start small and you'll soon build up a list of foods you like AND tolerate very well.

Good luck, your off to a great start just being here.

Mattrblue said:

Hi

What a strange new reality I find myself in. I was diagnosed with Type 2 yesterday afternoon. I'm in complete shock, whilst at the same time really annoyed and upset with myself.
I am 49 and 18.5 stone, I piled on a couple of extra stone during the last 2 years, death of parents, lockdown etc (I'm not making excuses) it's just reality. Now I find myself here.

For extra spice, I have been on blood pressure and Cholesterol tablets for 10 years now... perhaps thinking I was invincible....

I literally have no idea where to start now. The nurse from my GP gave me the news over the phone yesterday and asked me to arrange another set of blood tests within the next couple of weeks and then book an appointment to see her.

And this is where I find myself....

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Hi @Mattrblue ,

Sorry about your diagnosis. It is quite the shock, but rest assured, you're not alone and you will get a handle on this. Can I be 100% certain of that? Well, pretty much. You're here and you're looking for answers, so.... That's a good, and hopeful start.

@KennyA already gave you the link to my Nutritional Thingy, which I hope helped. When looking at your current diet it's some tweaking that'll get your numbers down to acceptable/normal levels. Let's see.

"I am not a big breakfast eater, so I usually skip it during the week"
That's fine. Quite a few of us practice Intermittent Fasting, meaning we skip a meal, sometimes two, a day. Normally I skip breakfast, and my first meal of the day then would technically be lunch, which tides me over until dinnertime. Breakfast is NOT the most important meal of the day. The most important meal is every single meal you do have, as long as it is nutrient-dense and low carb. In other words: it keeps you sustained, and not deficient in vitamins, minerals and what have you.

"however, every Saturday I cook a fry-up for us all at home."
I take it a fry up is the traditional english breakfast? (Sorry, I'm Dutch). Some things you'll want to skip, some things you'll get to double up on. Bacon, eggs, high meat content sausages ("regular" ones often have a lot of carby filler and are to be avoided). Maybe some cheese and the like, to make up for the lack of beans, pud and spuds.

"For lunch I usually have a soup (from the cafe downstairs), sushi (from M and S) or a sandwich with crisps."
Soup can be problematic, but not all of them. If there's noodles in there or corn starch, flour or whatever to bind it, or say, liquefied tomatoes, or chunks of underground veggies... Have some, test around your favourite soup and see whether it's still suitable for you. Broth should be fine. Steer clear of chinese tomato soup. It's pure sugar. Sushi's a carb-bomb with all that rice, and a sandwich with chips is too, with the starches in there... You might want to look into alternatives, maybe check dietdoctor?

"Dinner is usually a Hello Fresh dish, and can be anything really..."
Hello Fresh, if they do pretty much the same as they do here, aim for an average eat-well plate. That means a portion of the plate'll be carby. If you can ditch the potatoes, rice, pasta and corn that'd be better, but it would make for a rather meagre meal, I fear. If you can buy an extra cut of meat to go with it, or a chunk of salmon or something....?

"also at least one take away a week, usually curry or chinese."
...Chinese take-out... Haven't had that for almost 5 years. *sigh* Just too many carbs in the rice, noodles, soups and sauces. Unless you can order the meats without sauce, which I feel is easier to request in the restaurant rather than the take-out window, it's pretty much a no-go. Curry, if you make your own rather than take-out, can be made with cauliflower rice rather than real rice. I've discovered the joys of gyros and shoarma, though some might have sugars in the marinade. Again, test and see what happens.

"I cook a roast every Sunday."
Meat, yay! That's good. The puds are out, but if you can stick with above-ground veggies, like paprika, mushrooms, broccoli, caulifower and whatnot, it should be fine. Careful of thickened gravies, don't drown your meals in 'em.

Also, you say you've been on statins for 10 years now. Statins can raise blood sugars and in some people, can cause diabetes to arise. Considering your blood sugars as they are right now I think a tweak in diet should nullify whatever the statins are doing though.

You've got this.
Jo

Mattrblue said:

Thanks ever so much guys, it really is appreciated. I had under 75g of carbs yesterday, in what was a very low calorie day.
Today is a fasting day, only one meal this evening which will be under 700 cals and well under 75g of carbs. I have had a strong cup of tea and just water so far, but, my readings have gone up - 13.2 when I woke up and 14.1 about 15 minutes ago. Is this to be expected on fasting days initially?

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In the morning your liver dumps glucose to get you some energy to start the day. It usually knocks it off when you eat something. So on fasting days it may take a while for it to get a clue, and while you're trying to get rid of stored glucose, which you could still have a lot of, it might as well get dumped, so it's on it's way out. Not something to worry much about. I would say, if you're seeing double digits, then 75 grams of carbs may be too much still... Fasting's a excellent idea, no problem with that at all, but when you do eat you might want to opt for nutrient dense, no to low carb foods... Maybe 20 grams?