Diagnosis Type 2 today.

You didn't do anything wrong - you just ate more carb than your body can cope with. This time.
Next time you can tweak the recipe or reduce/eliminate the pasta, or swap it for courgette noodles, or...

This is why testing is vital, because it means you get to tailor your food to your body.
Don't worry. Just take it step by step.

I was diagnosed Type II 5 days before you. Bewildered was the word to describe me. The advice I was given was very reassuring, the Metformin has kicked in, and the few lifestyle changes that I have made have had a positive effect on me. As someone has said already on here: It's not the end of the world, just the start of a new journey. We just need to follow the directions on our new journey and take time to smell the coffee (without sugar) now again.

serenity648 said:

How long does it take for my sugar levels to come down if i start low carbing? I am a bit wary of the High Fat idea as I am the size of a baby elephant already

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Hi Serenity
I've been T2 diabetic for around 4 yrs. I was put on metformin and it had a bad effect on my bowels. Then it was changed to slow release metformin. Then that had an even worse effect! The nurse had taken me off meds for 2 wks and I started them again. The effect was the same. So I looked here for advice. I started the LCHF (low carb high fat) diet on Easter Sunday and my sugar levels are slowly coming down AND so is my weight! With the diet the diabetic nurse recommended I was putting on weight! I'm not wanting to snack between meals. I can pass the biscuits and toast for snacks and supper and not miss them. Read more on here, there are lots of people with very sound advice. The nurse might not want you to self test, mine didn't. But I got my own meter and now check. Will be interesting when I go for my check-up next week!

serenity648 said:

where i live, in the back of beyone, we have a Tescos about an hour away, and thats it. I have yet to find good, unadulteratd food at Tesco, or full fat yogurts. Any idea of where to buy good foord online?

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I am in the same boat as yourself as we too have to travel miles to a supermarket. I now get a Tesco delivery once a week and keep the freezer topped up after a monthly shop at Aldi for the frozen veg for microwaving, fish and brown bread. I have often wondered if there is a meal delivery service for diabetics as it would be so much easier !

Amimal Fats are fine, lard, dripping, goose and duck fat......enjoy!

If you can not wean off milk go for whole milk as it has less lactose sugar than semi skimmed.

Sadly most HCP's are still convinced that Animal fats are evil rather than the processed vegetable oils which with the exception of Olive Oil and then not for cooking I would avoid like the plague.

You can read more about this by giving Zoe Harcombe a google or visiting dietdoctor.com.

Sorry can not edit as on phone......Olive Oil is not a processed veg oil obviously but I still would not cook with it but use for salad dressings and adding to veg and general oily drizzling

serenity648 said:

Another question. Tonight I had a home made vegetarian bolognese, with a couple of tablespoonsful of pasta, and parmesan. hours later and my bs is 11.5 - what did I do wrong?

oh, and the nurse said butter was OK, but lard and animal fats werent. She didnt know about goose fat being OK or not. Anyone know anymore about this please?

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Hi @serenity648 itvwas probably the pasta. I've found that by cooling cooked pasta and reheating it that it doesn't affect my BS so much. I've also cut down on my portion size.

Pasta can take a while to break down into glucose so you get a rise many hours later - also the fat in the cheese can delay the effect of the glucose in food. If you are happy to do some exercise you may find a short walk (around 15 mins) will have a fairly immediate effect in lowering your BG levels. I cook with coconut oil or butter and only use olive oil cold. Saturated fat as in animal fats and dairy are not the baddies they are made out to be. All 'low-fat'versions of anything contain sugar instead of the fat they've taken out (as fat is what makes things so tasty)! As you eat more full fat you should find your hunger and appetite reduce naturally. Fat seems to be self limiting whereas carby, sugary stuff is addictive.
I highly recommend the www.dietdoctor.com website. Loads of really good info and a great low carb for beginners diet complete with menus and shopping lists. Avoiding processed food is good too. And as the low carb high fat diet tends to mean you eat less and don't snack it can end up cheaper (no need to buy biscuits or sweets).
Instead of the pint of semi-skimmed try a half pint of full fat milk - more satisfying and fewer carbs! Just don't tell the nurse! Cheese is great too. Creamy cheeses are lovely. I was going to use cheese and nuts as snacks but found i never want to snack as I'm never hungry between meals any more.
You can ring your surgery and ask about getting a lipid panel done (this will be the cholesterol test) Make sure they give you the results of each part HDL, LDL and triglycerides as the actual total number is fairly meaningless. And don't let them give you statins whatever your cholesterol is - at least not until you have had a chance to read about statins and made an informed decision for yourself.
Edited to add: I was very upset when I first learned I was pre diabetic but in all honesty I can now say 10 months on that I have never felt better, fitter or more healthy in my life. The shock of being offered medication made me find out about nutrition for myself and this forum is one of the best resources around along with dietdoctor.com. The resulting effortless weight loss from the LCHF lifestyle (not a diet!) has spurred me on to make other changes and discover High Intensity Interval Training which improves fitness in a just a few minutes a day and resistance training and I'll be running my first ever 10k race in July. You can take control and you can make your life better. Good luck!

Your after dinner reading from when, the veggie Bolognese?

Then that's good news! What's confusing you? I think you will find that the couple of tablespoons of pasta with the Bolognese caused the rise in levels - pasta is a carb and they turn to glucose in the body. I(f you didn't have starchy stuff, like potatoes, or had just a couple new ones, then your levels would come down with this meal.

Is it the fat vs carbohydrate things that's confusing you @serenity648?

Right. There is a whole pile of conflicting advice on this so I can only give my personal perspective. What I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, is that carbohydrates raise blood sugar levels in all diabetics. By how much, it differs for all of us. I think the LCHF is somewhat misleading for someone new to the idea, I don't eat high levels of fat. When diagnosed, I did read up on low fat products, such as yogurts - they had lots of sugar in them. Margarine - all sorts of nasty additives in there. I love butter, it's natural, and I used to like a slice of bread with my butter lol. BUT - by testing regularly, I found that bread sent my levels right up, so that just couldn't be good for me! So, bread went and with it, large quantities of butter. I have a small teaspoon of butter on my veg - my cholesterol is fine. You don't need to have food swimming in goose fat or any other kind of natural fat, but just choose reasonable amounts. This can only work if you are cutting out starch, so if you had the liver with a portion of chips - spuds and therefore carby - it's a bad combination. There ate two different types of cholesterol, good and bad (someone can tell you more about that than I can!) - it's the bad one we need to be wary of.
If you are following a diet that is low in carbs, higher in fat, and your cholesterol of the bad kind increases, then it's not right for you. You can change it. Nothing is set in stone, and it's what works for you. But as we are looking primarily at your diabetes, we know that carbs affect you, your meter has told you this, so these are the foods you need to be reducing. very few of us who are diet controlled, could cope with tablespoons of pasta, it would be a lot less. I lost weight with giving up bread completely, but still managed small quantities of pasta, rice and potatoes - my aim was no more than 7.5 two hours after any meal.

This is a learning curve Serenity and I know it can seem depressing and confusing but you're not on your own. Use the meter, your numbers are coming down, and that can only mean that it's working for you - and your health will improve. Take heart, it's early days

Woo-hoo!! You're doing it, well done!!