• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

First Time Post



Yes I am quite surprised how quickly I have adapted to reduced carbs, I thought initially the energy would run out and I would be tired all the time but it has been quite the opposite to be honest. Yes you have to be conscious as there is so many unsuspecting foods that previously I would have been happy to eat but knowing what I know now it is a totally different story. Yes me too the new diet is defiantly helping my general health and helping to mange the condition
 
Have you tried counting the carbs in all those fruits, sandwiches and oats ?
 
Antje77 said:
Have you tried counting the carbs in all those fruits, sandwiches and oats ?
Click to expand...

No I haven't to be honest, I keep meaning to but have also put it off as my numbers have been in a good range when testing so rightly or wrongly have been assuming the food I am eating is ok
 
MattGreaves said:
No I haven't to be honest, I keep meaning to but have also put it off as my numbers have been in a good range when testing so rightly or wrongly have been assuming the food I am eating is ok
Click to expand...

Your hba1c of 44 to 46 tells you your blood glucose has been averaging above 7. So something has not shown at the times you are testing, although your hba1c is pretty good for someone with diabetes. With all the fruit you've been eating you 've basically stuffed yourself with very quick acting carbs,and a lot of them. I think you won't find it hard to change some of the fruits to greens, cheese, avocado , meats or nuts, and get an even better a1c.
 
Last edited:
@MattGreaves

Hello Matt and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it interesting and useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will 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 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.
 
If you ever have to stop the exercising then you might have to rethink your diet quite quickly - most of the foods you eat are far too high carb for me to even think about - but you are obviously burning them off by exercising.
 
Welcome, Matt
Your journey sounds similar to mine over the past year though without the medicine and I don’t manage quite as much exercise. You may be interested in a few points I noticed along the way.

1) After an occasional week with less exercise, I soon notice a return of the complaints I first had when the GP spotted a fasting value of 6.1 a year ago.

2) using a constant meter such as the Freestyle Libre sensor soon showed me a) my random checks told me next to nothing about my blood glucose, b) that one fasting value was not enough to give me the whole picture and c) that indeed my response to some suppoedly ‘good’ carbs was bad. Yes, the sensor is dreadfully expensive, but my first one (a special luxury ‘birthday present’) gave me a two-week insight into my blood glucose patterns and how I responded to particular foods and exercise. I aim to use one now and then to keep on track. The GP saw 6.1 which is supposedly only a shade too high but in fact I registered 10 and 11 regularly and even a whopping 16 once following a holiday cappuccino and jam croissant!

3) it was a big shock to see that ‘good’ carbs like wholemeal bread and oat porridge made with only water and cinnamon sent my levels skyhigh after breakfast. Using mainly rye-based and other low-carb breads has helped when I’ve gone all out, as has omitting fruit esp oranges, only eating a few berries. Now, I can reintroduce a little fruit in moderation. Other alternative carbs that have helped are items like lentil or chickpea pasta.

I’ve managed to achieve a HBa1c of 37 but I realise I was not just a little high as told, but actually in pre-diabetes! And that I haven’t ‘reversed’ it because it’s still just around the corner. The flash meter with sensor is prohibitively expensive but if used preventively would save misery and health costs long-term if used to screen people. No wonder so many people are (pre)diabetic without knowing. Every year I was relieved my fasting bloodsugar was not higher than 6! So I (and my GP) never saw a problem until the complaints overtook me last year.

Good luck on your journey. With your hard work, insight in your nutrition - and not least the wonderful information and support on this forum you will do well. Katie in Holland
 

Hi Katie, thanks for the information, I have been intrigued with the idea of swapping to a constant blood sugar monitor to give me a better insight of what goes on throughout the day not just the few times a day I test, one concern I do have it’s my understanding with the constant monitor you attach a sensor to your arm I was just curious would this be ok with significant amounts of exercise and swimming, glad you are doing well with managing your blood sugar. I totally agree the money spent helping to prevent complications further down the line.

Thanks
Matt
 
Contralto said:
Not just bananas, but the oranges you are having and the grapes? I was seeing your diet and wondering if you are hypoglycemic. Except for meat and veggies at dinner, just precisely how do you think you have changed your diet to combat diabetes?
Click to expand...

Rightly or wrongly I was under the impression natural sugars were ok in moderation and the diabetic nurse was happy when I told her what my diet was. My diet has significantly changed I previously ate many processed foods lots of carbohydrates white bread pasta and chips and had quite the sweet tooth. My hba1c score would imply my new diet is a vast improvement from my previous diet although maybe not perfect I’m guessing the exercise is keeping the sugar levels down
 
The problem with fruit is two-fold.
1. It triggers large insulin responses, which are not desirable as this leads to high circulating insulin, which is just as bad as high glucose.
2. The liver treats the fructose as toxic, like it does with alcohol. The fructose is a major contributor to fatty liver. Not desirable.
 

Not that I’m questioning the information you mention, but this is one of the points I mentioned in my original post there is so much conflicting information out there how do you know what is the fact or opinion, just been doing a quick google search and many sites and articles recommend to eat fruit as a diabetic hence my confusion, think I defiantly need to see the dietician to get a science approach to the matter
 
Sure fact is if I eat more than a small bit of fruit my sugar shoots up like a rocket. I regularly use a quarter of an apple as a hypo treatment...
 

Fructose is metabolised by the liver and excess is stored there as fat. Given time and excess this leads to Fatty Liver, NAFLD, Fibrosis and in some cases sclerosis.

N.B

NAFLD IS Non Alcohol Fatty Liver Disease.
 
Well done for taking control and making those lifestyle changes.

It is always good to research anything we are told including info from health care professionals who have limited time for updating their knowledge and even less for explaining things to their patients. While not perfect, there is a lot to be said for listening to experiences of those living with diabetes and then deciding for yourself what to try and what might work for you.

I'll share my recent reading on fructose and nafld raised in this thread.
http://openheart.bmj.com/content/4/2/e000631

Hundred of articles/studies can be found here:
https://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?q=nafld+and+fructose&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart
MattGreaves said:
what is the fact or opinion
Click to expand...
 
There is so much 'information' which is positively wicked - fruit IS high sugar - oats and all grains ARE high carb, and HCPs happily repeat the same sort of nonsense - but then instruct type twos not to test at all and type ones to test before eating - is it to hide just how high the recommended foods send BG levels or what? It is like some mad but sincerely held religious belief, and having been on the receiving end of 'carbs good fats bad' for decades, it gets very wearing.
 
Bluetit1802 is right, and you can't necessarily rely on HCPs to give you the right diet advice.
 
For the last forty years dieticians, Diabetes Specialist Nurses, GPs and government agencies have been giving advice and setting targets and guidelines. Meanwhile the rates of Type 2 Diabetes and obesity have risen to epidemic levels across the globe. Type 2 Diabetes is described by health care professionals as chronic and progressive even when patients take their advice and act upon it. Spot any mistakes?
 

And you don’t think the increase in diabetes has anything to do with the fast food/sugary snack world and sedentary lifestyle we live in now and people’s unrealistic health optimism. At the end of the day the Health care teams can only provide advice and guidance they cannot force you to make lifestyle changes a large responsibility lies with the individually to act upon the advice so put a blanket blame on the healthcare teams I feel is unfair
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…