food

[paul a carr]

hi could some one advise what you can eat with type 2 diabetes im being told dif things by my nurse and doctor.

 

[Yorksman]

You need to cut some or a lot of your carbohydrates. To begin with, sugary foods, cakes, buns, biscuits, chocolate bars but also sugary drinks, cola and so on. What is not immediately obvious is that foods like white bread put a lot of sugar into your blood, along with white rice, mashed potatoes, pasta and so on. This is where people on different types of diet vary. Not everyone is the same and some will eat say one of these foodstuffs, or smaller portions. People like me however will eat brown rice, wholegrain bread etc which contain just the same carbohydrate, but which enters the blood stream more slowly and over a longer period of time. Some eat hardly any carbohydrates at all.

The best advice is to get a blood meter and test your sugar levels before and after various foods. See what works for you.

This booklet from Ireland, Healthy Eating for People with Type 2 Diabetes is a good introduction:

http://www.diabetes.ie/wp-content/uploa ... ooklet.pdf

 

[paul a carr]

thanks yorksman .ive only been told i have type 2 two weeks ago and im still trying to get my head round it all .im also on my 2nd week on metformin 500mg twice a day next week it gose up to 3 a day.its ok in the morning but its giveing me headakes in the evening.ive just bought a book called THE 1ST YEAR TYPE 2 DIABETES BY GRETCHEN BECKER.which im starting to read.

 

[ewelina]

I think you should cut highly processed carbohydrates such as white bread, white rice, pasta and go for more natural food. Brown rice, quinoa, pulses, brown bread, barley are all good but still in moderation. Testing is the best way to see how you react to certain food. Eating lots of veggies is a must i think.
Cook from scrach so you will know whats inside your dishes and learn to read the labels. sometimes it can be surprising how much sugar is in some foods

 

[paul a carr]

thank for replying ewelina.ive explaned to the nurse that i eat wholemeal bread oranges porage and was told to cut down im a big man of 19 stone and have not had a pint of beer since i was told i had diabetes its hard to no what to eat when in the past ive eaten anything.it dosnt help when the nurse says 1 thing and a doctor says another.

 

[ewelina]

it difficult to change your habits. It takes time but its possible. I used to eat a lot of bread before diagnosis and now hardly any. Its just about trying new things and starting to like them You will feel much better and then you will see its really worth it. Try to introduce changes slowly. Maybe once a week cook something you have never eaten before and see if you like eat. Avoid fruits or have only small amounts. I used to like friuts a lot but Ive noticed that since i eat lots of veggies i dont need them that much (only small apple as a snack). If you eat sandwiches for lunch replace them with a proper meal. test a lot so you will see what food to avoid

 

[maddiemo]

I have just read a bit of the book suggested and it tells you to eat carbs potatoes, bread etc. know wonder we all get confused.

 

[ewelina]

Ive just had a look at the book....yes a bit confussing For me there is one simple rule. Avoid food that affects your sugar levels and that is carbohydrates. Go only for carbs with low GI. i found very useful Montignac website where you can check nearly every food. Anything below GI 50 is ok for diabetic (in moderation)

http://www.montignac.com/en/search-for- ... mic-index/

 

[))Denise((]

A good website that explains what to eat as a Type 2 is http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

 

[))Denise((]

Just looked at that Irish leaflet, if I followed that, I would have sky high blood sugar levels. It is the same nonsense that the NHS peddles.

 

[Yorksman]

The booklet needs to be read, not skimmed. A portion of potatoes is one medium sized potato and is in preference to chips, roast potatoes, fried noodles or fried bread:

1 portion of starchy foods is equal to:
1 medium potato
1 slice of bread
½ pitta bread or ½ roll
2 ryvitas or 3 crackers
3 dessert spoons cooked rice/pasta/noodles/couscous
1 serving of breakfast cereal (1 weetabix, 1 medium bowl
porridge, 5 dessert spoons of high fibre flakes)

It also advises "Try to use wholegrain or wholemeal varieties of these foods to increase the fibre content of your diet e.g. wholemeal or wholegrain bread, wholegrain cereals, wholewheat pasta and brown rice."

For someone starting out with a meter and having to learn what works and what does not work for them, that is reasonable advice. One medium potato will spike some people, but not everyone but, as it is limited to one potato, it won't be disasterous. I can eat two or three small new potatoes but a pile of mash is just as bad as a king sized mars bar. We all have to learn and we all have to start somewhere.

 

[Yorksman]

ive explaned to the nurse that i eat wholemeal bread oranges porage and was told to cut down

Porridge is one of the most variable foods for type 2s. If you type in porridge in the search box, you'll see how often it is mentioned. It used to always spike me but I have found if I exercise after, my BG after 2 hours is the same as pre meal. Oranges do contain sugar. It all depends how big? One orange is fine but if they are really good oranges, it's easy to have two, maybe even three. I love 'em myself but need to be careful. Cherries on the otherhand are fine. Generally yes they are good for you, but moderation is the key. It is rarely a case of this food is good, that food is bad. There are many in betweens and that's where a meter will help you learn how much of a food you can have. Everyone is different, different hormone levels, different enzymes, different tolerances. Mostly, you can find a portion size to suit you.

 

[paul a carr]

hi every one went to see the nurse last friday she was happy with my progress and i can have a beer a cople of times a week .but i think im going to lose some weight 1st.

 

[smidge]

Hey Paul!

If you haven't been given a testing meter and strips, buy one - it is the single most effective thing you can do to manage your Type 2. At first, test before your meal and two hours later - if your levels are similar, that was a good meal for you - if they have increased significantly you need to reduce portions or cut that meal out. Once you have worked out what causes you to 'spike' you won't need to test as much. Without testing, you will have no idea what food is OK for you and what isn't.

Meters are cheap (or free from the manufacturers), but strips are very expensive for many of the big brand meters. The SD Codefree meter has fairly cheap strips, so is used by many type 2s who don't get strips on prescription. They sell the meter, lancets and strips on Amazon.

Smidge

 

[paul a carr]

hi smidge thanks for the advice got a meter im around 4 to 5 before a meal and around 8.7 to hours after.i test before breckfast and im around 5 .i think thats ok.i havent been told what its surposed to be my nurse dosnt realy want me to test myself.

 

[Finzi]

hi smidge thanks for the advice got a meter im around 4 to 5 before a meal and around 8.7 to hours after.i test before breckfast and im around 5 .i think thats ok.i havent been told what its surposed to be my nurse dosnt realy want me to test myself.

Your before meal figures are very good and would suggest your diabetes is in quite an early stage. However, given how good the pre-meal figures are, the post meal ones are rather high. This would suggest that you are having too many carbohydrates in your meals at the moment. Ideally, it would be nice to see your post meal readings be no higher than a point or two above the pre-meal. This is exactly why regular testing is so important, and your diabetes nurse is, quite frankly, wrong. If you, say, only tested once a week, when you woke up, you could be forgiven for thinking that you didn't have diabetes at all, as your fasting figures aren't really indicating a problem. And yet, all the time, your body would be suffering the effects of high post meal blood glucose because you are ingesting too many carbs for your body to handle (a non diabetic would not have regular two hour post meal readings of 8.7, no matter what they ate).

So, although your pre meal readings are better than mine (I've hardly ever managed a 4, the lowest I get currently is around 5.5 - 6.0), my post meal readings are also around 6.0. That is because I have cut right down on carbs, and you need to do the same if you can. As for how to do that (and its unlikely from the sound of it that your diabetes nurse is going to be much help, if she doesn't even want you to test) - you need to get a book that tells you the carb values of different food (Collins Gem Carb Counter is great), look at what you're eating and make changes. A good start would be cutting out breakfast cereals, fruit juice, white bread, chips, potatoes and pasta, as well as the obvious sugar, chocolates, cakes and biscuits. BUT there's lots and lots of things you can eat - meat, chicken and fish are all carb free, most vegetables, salads, nuts, butter, oils. By testing after each meal, you can learn what level of carbs your body can cope with, you don't have to cut them out completely, although cutting right down will probably help you lose some weight. As for how many carbs per day to aim for, that's an individual decision and depends on how drastic you want to be and how much weight you want to lose, but you could aim for 100g initially and see how you do. I eat under 30g, but that's fairly hard core and you have to be quite committed. However, I have lost 12kg (23lb) in under four weeks, and reduced my sugars from 8-9 to 5-6 in that time.


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