Diet suggestions

A lot of us have achieved great things using a Low Carb High Fat diet (the LCHF you will see mentioned a lot in these threads) . I myself have lost just over 3 1/2 stone following this regime since diagnosis at the end of October last year. It has also helped to control my blood sugars and I don't take any meds. Check out the low carb diet thread on the forum and the "what have you eaten today" thread for lots of advice and recipes. Personally I eat very few carbs, just above ground veg and salad with meat and soy products with no sweetener instead of milk (apart from the daily coffee with double cream). Because the fat content of the diet make you feel fuller for longer you don't get the hunger pangs that occur on low cal diets where you are always hungry (at least that's what happens for me). Give it a try you have nothing to loose (except the pounds).

Hi @Clcap71 and welcome to the forum. As @bulkbiker says a lot of us follow a Low Carbohydrate High Fat approach to eating which has certainly worked for me with reductions in both blood sugar levels and weight - I have lost 2 and a half stone in six months. Have a read through the success stories and testimonials thread. Ask any questions you want to, people are friendly and supportive on here and you will get a lot of good advice.

Welcome @Clcap71

I have tagged @daisy1 who will post some really great information that is well worth your time to read.

I have just completed the Newcastle Diet and a similar diet known as the 8 week diet is also followed by members on here. These are fairly extreme 800cals a day but have had an amazing impact on my BG Levels and Weight. You will find details around the forums or ask if you want more information.

A LCHF as indicated above is a fine option and is very effective and sustainable over long periods of time or as a permanent diet and can achieve both BG improvements and great weight-loss.

This has been a great place for me to learn and deal with my Diabetics, so look around, read the responses and post any questions you have

bulkbiker said:

A lot of us have achieved great things using a Low Carb High Fat diet (the LCHF you will see mentioned a lot in these threads) . I myself have lost just over 3 1/2 stone following this regime since diagnosis at the end of October last year. It has also helped to control my blood sugars and I don't take any meds. Check out the low carb diet thread on the forum and the "what have you eaten today" thread for lots of advice and recipes. Personally I eat very few carbs, just above ground veg and salad with meat and soy products with no sweetener instead of milk (apart from the daily coffee with double cream). Because the fat content of the diet make you feel fuller for longer you don't get the hunger pangs that occur on low cal diets where you are always hungry (at least that's what happens for me). Give it a try you have nothing to loose (except the pounds).

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Bang on! I agree totally.!

@Clcap

Hello Clcap and welcome to the forum Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will always be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Here's something that doesn't take will power. Must of us wolf down our food so quickly, our brains don't have time to register that we are full up. We've already exceeded our comfort point and by the time our brains tell us that we've had enough, we've pigged out and overdone it. Try this: one leal a day with chop sticks. It will make you eat more slowly. Your brain will tell you when you have had enough and because you are eating more slowly, you will stop. No calorie counting, no special food - just one meal a day eaten slowly. Evening meal usually works best - we have more time then.

Bulk biker and Prem51 I'm very interested in how you lost the weight on the low carb, did you count carbs or calories? Have you got a typical days menu? Also is low carbing as effective as the 800 Cal Newcastle diet, as would love to do that but really don't think I could actually manage to do it Thanks in advance for any help.

@meJulie if you need to lose weight it will always be Calorie intake that matters.

On a LC diet you need to count Carbs as well. What tends to happen is that as your body adjusts to eating much less Carbs your appetite seems to reduce as well. Carbs are addictive and when you eat a lot, you tend to continue eating more and more thus consuming more Carbs. Once you break that cycle, hopefully you will start to lose weight, as well as having better control of your BG.

Fat, of course contain more calories per gram than carbs, about double in fact so you have to make sure you are not just replacing the calories from carbs with calories from fat, but consuming fat will fill you up rapidly and are not so addictive, so you should feel sated whilst ultimately consuming fewer calories.

Thus you lose weight.

Thank you britishpub, very helpful, anymore tips or advice from you or anyone on forum will be gratefully received. I am definitely in need of some .

@meJulie I didn't carb count. I am not organised or disciplined enough to do that. I just knew I had to lose weight to control my diabetes, as virtually all my fat was round my belly, the worst place for diabetes. I was shocked and scared enough to motivate myself to eat far less than I had been. I ate usually one meal a day, in the evening. Sometimes if really hungry I might have a snack or sandwich at around midday. I drank a lot of water, not just a glass, but a pint, 4 or 5 times during the day to make me feel full up.
I did feel hungry at times, but I just persuaded myself that I would rather feel hungry than risk progressing to possible blindness, amputations, strokes or heart attacks, if at all possible. I embraced the initial hunger pangs as proof that I was beating the diabetes. After a few weeks my mind and body became used to less food and I don't miss three meals a day now.

I wasn't strictly low carb. I did and still do eat a (smaller than before T2) portion of rice, potatoes, or pasta. I have the occasional sandwich, though with wholemeal rather than white bread.
I use sweeteners instead of sugar, but still like a bit of high cocoa content chocolate and 'no sugar' or 'no added sugar' sweets.

I have gone down from 12st 5-6lbs last August to under 10st now. I was losing at least 1lb a week. But I have seem to have stayed at around 9st 12-13lbs for the last 3 weeks, though today my scales did show 9st 9lbs at midday. I don't take that as permanent until it shows the same weight for 4-5 days.
I am aiming to reach 9st by July, but would be happy with 9st 7lbs. Actually 10st is good but I feel I need a target to aim for.

Edit: Before diagnosis I was also drinking 3-4 pints of beer most nights. For the first 3 months after diagnosis I only drank a few glasses of red wine. My wine consumption has gone up lately to half a bottle 5-6 nights a week. That might be why I haven't lost much weight over the last 3 weeks, as alcohol does contain a lot of 'empty' calories. But I do like a glass or two of wine in the evening, and it isn't bad for diabetics, apart from the possible weight gain from calories.

Thank you Prem51 for taking the time to reply, very interesting reading, I am taking all advice on board

@Clcap71 HI all the advice given in the previous posts has been very good and I'm sure you will find it very useful I my self have lost 4 1/2 stones in the last 6 months by following similar regimes to all of the above except I'm useless with chop sticks all I can add is the importance of establishing a routine and sticking to it no matter which method you choose.

Best of luck in your quest for weight loss.

John

Hi @Clcap71 my advice FWIW would be not to focus too much on thinking of it as a Diet to lose weight, but much more a Diet for Life, or Lifestyle choice.

After a few weeks following a Low Carb approach your appetite will most likely reduce naturally, and you will begin losing weight.

There are so many examples of members/posters doing this. I found it a huge help and inspiration when I started out nearly 12 months ago, and I am sure you will do so too.

meJulie said:

Bulk biker and Prem51 I'm very interested in how you lost the weight on the low carb, did you count carbs or calories? Have you got a typical days menu? Also is low carbing as effective as the 800 Cal Newcastle diet, as would love to do that but really don't think I could actually manage to do it Thanks in advance for any help.

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I stopped eating any bread pasta rice spuds other below ground vegetables and anything with sugar in. My meals are made up of meat, fish, above ground veg, salad and soya yoghurt with a healthy dash of double cream as a dessert or cheese. I have pork scratchings as a snack treat. Drinks are tea with unsweetened soy milk (carbs 0.2 per 100g) or coffee with the same soya and again a healthy dash of double cream. For me that's about it. I always check the carb content of any food and try to get the lowest carb content one (e.g. salad dressings vary wildly). I have also recently started a fasting regime just having tea or coffee in a kind of 40:8 hour eating regime. ( I stop at dinner one night then eat nothing the next day then start eating at lunch the following day). I gave up breakfast when I was diagnosed because I find it an easy one to not have. I'm not hungry very often and the weight has fallen off (which I find a real incentive to carry on). also I am by nature a contrarian so when the Diabetes Nurse first told me the disease was progressive at that I would end up on insulin my first thought was F you I'll try something different. I had thankfully already found this site so was able to reply to her "I'll only end up on insulin if I do what you tell me". So that's me..if you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.
All the best and happy low carbing
Mark

Hi I swapped white bread for Burgen bread [ linseeds in it] have 1 slice of it toasted nearly every day, love the Lidl high protein rolls, lots of us eat these, also have had twice since Jan this year 2 tblsps of Basmati wholegrain rice with a meal. No pasta at all. The odd potato recently no more than 2. Eat lots of alpro Almond or Coconut Yogurt and now have Alpro unsweetened milk. Plenty eggs, bacon, mushrooms and tomatoes mainly for breakfast, salads nuts and some fruit every day. These are just ideas for you try and test I say. Hope this has been a bit informative for you.

bulkbiker said:

I stopped eating any bread pasta rice spuds other below ground vegetables and anything with sugar in. My meals are made up of meat, fish, above ground veg, salad and soya yoghurt with a healthy dash of double cream as a dessert or cheese. I have pork scratchings as a snack treat. Drinks are tea with unsweetened soy milk (carbs 0.2 per 100g) or coffee with the same soya and again a healthy dash of double cream. For me that's about it. I always check the carb content of any food and try to get the lowest carb content one (e.g. salad dressings vary wildly). I have also recently started a fasting regime just having tea or coffee in a kind of 40:8 hour eating regime. ( I stop at dinner one night then eat nothing the next day then start eating at lunch the following day). I gave up breakfast when I was diagnosed because I find it an easy one to not have. I'm not hungry very often and the weight has fallen off (which I find a real incentive to carry on). also I am by nature a contrarian so when the Diabetes Nurse first told me the disease was progressive at that I would end up on insulin my first thought was F you I'll try something different. I had thankfully already found this site so was able to reply to her "I'll only end up on insulin if I do what you tell me". So that's me..if you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.
All the best and happy low carbing
Mark

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bulkbiker said:

I stopped eating any bread pasta rice spuds other below ground vegetables and anything with sugar in. My meals are made up of meat, fish, above ground veg, salad and soya yoghurt with a healthy dash of double cream as a dessert or cheese. I have pork scratchings as a snack treat. Drinks are tea with unsweetened soy milk (carbs 0.2 per 100g) or coffee with the same soya and again a healthy dash of double cream. For me that's about it. I always check the carb content of any food and try to get the lowest carb content one (e.g. salad dressings vary wildly). I have also recently started a fasting regime just having tea or coffee in a kind of 40:8 hour eating regime. ( I stop at dinner one night then eat nothing the next day then start eating at lunch the following day). I gave up breakfast when I was diagnosed because I find it an easy one to not have. I'm not hungry very often and the weight has fallen off (which I find a real incentive to carry on). also I am by nature a contrarian so when the Diabetes Nurse first told me the disease was progressive at that I would end up on insulin my first thought was F you I'll try something different. I had thankfully already found this site so was able to reply to her "I'll only end up on insulin if I do what you tell me". So that's me..if you have any further questions don't hesitate to ask.
All the best and happy low carbing

Mark

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Sound advice. Our diets are very similar except the pork scratchings (my treat is nuts) and I drink black tea and black coffee. Diagnosed T2 5th Oct 2015. 143Kg down to somewhere south of 110kg. Haven't weight myself lately, but clothes are getting looser - even my watch!!

Sean01 said:

Sound advice. Our diets are very similar except the pork scratchings (my treat is nuts) and I drink black tea and black coffee. Diagnosed T2 5th Oct 2015. 143Kg down to somewhere south of 110kg. Haven't weight myself lately, but clothes are getting looser - even my watch!!

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well done sir.. i was diagnosed 30 Oct 2015 but haven't lost as much as you ... yet! last weigh in was 121.5kg down from 143kg as well.. your figs are very impressive indeed.

bulkbiker said:

well done sir.. i was diagnosed 30 Oct 2015 but haven't lost as much as you ... yet! last weigh in was 121.5kg down from 143kg as well.. your figs are very impressive indeed.

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Thank you - and keep it up. It will come. You've still lost over 40 lbs in old money. That's a family sized suitcase stuffed to the gills. Pick up one of these now and realise just how much you've lost!