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Don't know what I'm doing?

Disco Stu

Newbie
Hi everyone. I was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago.. Doctor didn't tell me what my level was and what it even should be.. Just gave me a generic printed out T2D sheet and made an appointment as a "new diabetic" to see the nurse in a couple of weeks time (15th Feb in fact). On a diet only.. Borderline perhaps? Bit of a joke really isn't it?

The thing is.. I've had to read up on the internet about what to eat and reading so many conflicting things.. One site said this is good, other said it's bad.. Wife has been so supportive and has even joined in with me in cutting out white bread, full fat milk, white rice, pasta etc..

This is what I've been doing roughly.. Am I doing ok?

Breakfast: Fruit and Fibre cereal with skimmed milk each morning with a cup of coffee with 1 sugar ( Only one of the day as I drink a lot of water in work)

Lunch: Wholemeal baps with low fat chicken tikka and low fat mayonnaise/low fat cheese with low fat mayo/or Wife's blended vegetable soup.. Eating an Apple and a couple of nectarines instead of chocolate. I've cut out fizzy drinks/fruit juices..

Tea: Casseroles.. Low fat stuff..

Usually have a couple of pints after work (More than likely the worst part but I packed in smoking 5 years ago)

Just hoping what i'm doing is kinda ok? I don't have a blood machine or anything.

Lost about 2 stone I'm 6ft broad and just under 12 stone which isn't exactly ideal! But it's nice I guess! I'm fairly active, I walk everywhere and play in a band which is exhaustive carrying stuff about so I don't need the gym!

Would welcome any input.. Thanks!
 
Hi @Disco Stu
Welcome. What you are eating and drinking appear to be carb heavy and probably not ideal for you! I'll tag @daisy1 who will be along to give you some information. In the meantime have a look around and settle in!

ps I think it would be a good idea to get a meter so that you can see what impact the meals you are eating are having on your bg levels.
 
Hello and welcome. The newbie squad will be here soon. They will give you so much information. The one top that I will give you it to get a testing meter. No matter what the nurse says, get one. Test you BG (blood glucose) levels before food and test 2 hours after the first bite. I try to remain under 7.0 so I’m now aware that anything over that, means that my body does it like it. Don’t be scared but do educate yourself, this site is so useful and everyone so friendly. Good Luck
 


Please read this mate, and welcome to our community!

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb
 

Treating T2 is not about adopting a low fat diet. That’s completely wrong!

For Type 2, the advice would be to follow low carbohydrates, high fat diet.

“Low-carb” means completely eliminating high carb foods like potatoes, white bread, pasta, cereals, noodles, flour, starchy vegetables like sweetcorn, peas, and all root vegetables ie turnips, swede, peanuts etc.

And replace these with “above ground” low glycemic vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, brussel sprouts, courgettes, water cress, lettuce, cucumber etc.

“High fat” means consuming healthy fats ie oily fish like salmon, walnuts, pecan nuts, macadamia nuts, olives, extra virgin olive oil, hard cheeses, butter, cold pressed rapeseed oil, avocados etc.

Also avoid fizzy drinks ie Pepsi, Diet Coke etc., ketchup, mayonnaise, salad creams, white and brown sugar etc. Lots of hidden sugars!

Use “Stevia” instead. It’s 200x sweeter than sugar and it’s zero carbs, zero sugar.
 
Type two diabetes is all about carbohydrates - your breakfast is cereals - high carb - with skimmed milk - milk which has had the fat removed, leaving all the sugar (lactose).
Lunch - bread - high carb, with low fat versions of foods - not good as that usually means starch or sugar added to compensate, or soup - blended which means that any starches are easily digested and so impact BG levels faster. The apple and nectarines are high in carbs - you could have some high cocoa chocolate and do better.
Your casseroles are low fat - they should be low carb, and leave the fat.
The couple of pints, I'm afraid, are just carbs in liquid form. At least you have cut out the fruit juice and fizzy drinks.

The good news is that you can test at home using a blood glucose meter and see just how you are affected by different foods.
 
Research the term "glycemic index". Diabetes is all about consuming foods with a low GI to make blood glucose management a simple, stable process.
The key is a regular amount of low GI foods to avoid variations in blood glucose. Some complex carbohydrates in your diet are fine, but sugars and starchy foods like rice, wheat and potato are really best avoided if you can.
 
You don't have to go low fat. When you cut out the carbs, your body'll have to run on something, and that something will be fat. So forget everything you think you know; fat's your friend. (Somewhere in the 60's or 70's someone did a bad study that blamed a lot on fat... It made the sugar lobby very happy. And as it turns out, half a century later, a lot if people diabetic.) So by all means, use full fat milk and mayo, cheeses, eggs, olive oils and avocado's. Cereals are full of carbs, fruit too (15 in an apple, 20 in a banana, off the top of my head). Berries are a good choice though, full of vitamins, antioxidants and fibres. No idea about the vegetable soup, depends on what's in there, I just know it's better if the fibres are still intact rather than blitzed to death. Being Dutch I don't know what goes into an average casserole, but basically, what you want to avoid is anything really carby/starchy. Bread, rice, corn, potatoes, rootveg, pasta, cereals... Stick with above ground vegetables, meat, dairy, nuts, berries, fish... And most importantly... Get a meter. If you test just before you eat, and two hours after the first bite, you can see exactly what impact a specific food has on your bloodsugar. Or whether that sugar cube is worth the spike, yes or no. Knowledge is power, no kidding. Loads of people here can explain it better, give links and whatnot... But that's what I needed to know when I started out, in a nutshell. Took me 4 books, three months and lots of googling to sort out by myself, haha. You'll be okay. This weekend I attended a party with a barbecue buffet... Salads, ribs, steak, skewers and sausages aplenty with my name on them. Just couldn't dip into the fries and dessert. *shrug*. Life's still good. Beer's not the best idea (very carby, and no fibres or fat to slow it all down, so your bloodsugar'll spike a lot off that, and fast), but maybe white wine? In any case... You'll get there. Good luck!
 
Far too carb laden but glad you have a supportive woman behind you. In essence, no more cereals. Fructose also not recommended. A meter is near enough to mandatory
 
Oh, just realised... I'm used to "proper" Dutch mayo... There's not supposed to be any sugar in there. No idea what's in your brand.
 
JoKalsbeek said:
Oh, just realised... I'm used to "proper" Dutch mayo... There's not supposed to be any sugar in there. No idea what's in your brand.
Click to expand...
Heinz and Hellmans two of the popular brands of mayo in the U.K. don’t contain sugar. Carb count is negligible, not worth worrying about! I love Dutch mayo, wish we could get it here
 
@Disco Stu

Welcome!


The reason everyone above has said you need to reduce all those carbs is because all carbs convert to glucose once inside the system. That includes the wholemeal/brown varieties. This isn't a fad idea, it is scientific fact. As a diabetic your blood stream is already full of glucose that is doing you harm and your body can't cope with it, so adding more in the foods you eat is a bad idea.
Cereals, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and anything made with flour are especially tricky for us. You may be able to eat small portions of these but only a blood glucose meter will tell you what your body can cope with. (we all have different tolerances).

Fats on the other hand do not raise blood glucose levels. In fact they help keep it down a little.

Fruit is not a good idea at all. The best fruits that are OK for us are berries (raspberries and strawberries) eaten as a dessert with cream or a full fat plain yogurt. Beer is definitely not a good idea, but red or dry white wines and most spirits are fine.

Please consider getting a meter and then you will see at a glance what certain foods do to your levels, and you will be able to adjust your portion sizes accordingly, or eliminate the worst ones.
 
@Disco Stu

Hello Disco Stu and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

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 well over 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why

  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 
Hello and Welcome
Agree with all the other comments and info re going low carb! Would like to add that as a type 2 you should be offered some kind of education course (your employer should allow you leave albeit unpaid to attend) to provide fact to face support. It is good that you have some time now to do your own research and find out what works for you. The DESMOND course will be focussed on a low fat solution but the X-PERT (SEE YOU TUBE and their website) is more balanced and leans towards low carb as an option so I would personally recommend that one. I am a type 1 but have a professional interest in type 2s plus i ts in our family big time!
 
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