Gaining control over type 2 bloods

After my last two HBA1c tests in March and September 2017 came back with poor results I have been shocked into gaining control of my blood sugar levels.

I was diagnosed type 2 in August 2009, I have tried a number of times to control my BM's but have never been really that successful. Recently I had been getting headaches and mood swings a bit too often for me to ignore, along with severe bouts of arthritis.

I think I have found a fairly good diet for me which appears to be working, this is going to sound odd but it is having a remarkable effect on my weight and blood sugar levels.

Breakfast Monday to Friday one cup of tea or coffee with one sweetener, a bowl of Quaker maple & pecan porridge with two table spoons of Whole earth no added sugar crunchy peanut butter mixed together.

Lunch Monday to Friday two rounds of Lidl Low GI bread with cheddar cheese and a piece of roast chicken, one medium apple.

Evening meal's can vary between an all day breakfast without bread or toast, a roast dinner with only 2 - 3 small potatoes, a bowl of Aldi chunky vegetable soup. We have started using a Sous vide cooker to cook steaks and meat joints and a firm favourite at the moment is lamb.

The best meal for me at present is a lamb rogan josh, made using Patak's rogan josh paste with plenty of onions, peppers etc accompanied by Morrisons Cauli Rice Indian Pilau or Cauli rice Original. this is a Saturday evening meal accompanied with a bottle of pale ale, usually after two hours my BM's are around 4.6 mmol. I usually make enough to produce at least 3 meals so I can have two during the week for my evening meal. my wife loves this as we both work and we do not get home until around 18:30 during the week.

Anyway this new eating regime is certainly having its benefits for me. the two main influences for me are the peanut butter in the porridge as I no longer have cravings between breakfast and lunch, and the Rogan Josh meal with the cauli rice which for some reason has no effect on my blood sugars. Prior to this diet I had no control over my BM's hitting highs of 18 -21 mmol regularly but now my average is 6.3 mmol.

My weight since 13 October has dropped from 111kg to 105.5kg currently purely by this change which essentially is a low carb diet. (BMI 39.5) Oct 13th 2017 current (BMI 37.5)

Medication:
Atorvastatin 20mg tablets 1 x evening
Lisinopril 20mg tablets 1 x day
Co-amilofruse 5mg/40mg tablets 1 x day
Gliclazide 80mg tablets 1 x day 1 x evening
Sitagliptin 100mg tablets 1 x day
Doxazosin 4mg tablets 1 x evening
Doxazosin 2mg tablets 1 x day
Metformin 500mg tablets 2 x day, 2 x evening

Now looking forward to my next HBA1c test in January 2018.

Boo1979 said:

Are you measuring your blood sugars to see the effects of the different foods are having? If you are in the UK, then your GP Should have provided you with a meter and test strips as you are on Gliclizide - from your post it sounds like you have a meter.
If you test immediately before and 2 hours after eating, you'll be able to see what foods are ok and which push your sugars too high. My sugar is a free app you can get - you just put your results into and it will estimate hba1c once it has a weeks worth of data
I would think the curry had no effect as the combination of curry and cauliflower rice is v low in carbs
Congratulations on your progress so far and welcome to the forum

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Hi, Yes I am checking my BM's with a CareSens N meter, dependant on how I am feeling it can be as low as twice a day or as much as six times a day. I use the CareSens USB lead and SmartLog2 software from CareSens supplied by my GP to keep accurate records. it will sync with my phone and iPad and create reports that I can send to my GP or print out.

I would be interested in what others have experienced with using peanut butter as I have found several case studies on the internet showing positive results.

Grateful said:

Welcome to the forum and well done on your recent progress!

When you say you are on a low-carb diet, it sounds like this is in comparison to what you were eating before? In your place, I might consider trying to lower the carbs even further. Some of the foods you mentioned (porridge, apple, potatos) are high-carb. You are taking three separate diabetes drugs, so any radical change of diet would have to be coordinated with your doctors as the doses might need to be reduced to avoid possibly harmful side-effects.

When I was first diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes earlier this year I was both fearful and confused. My doctor did advise a low-carb diet but getting good information about foods, and cooking, was difficult until I found this website: https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb.

There is also an explanation of the various low-carb regimes (ranging from moderate to extreme) here: http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diet/low-carb-diabetes-diet.html.

BTW the Morrisons Cauli Rice Indian Pilau sounds great! I haven't seen that kind of thing in supermarkets here in America, but will search around....

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I didn't get a great deal of advice from my GP other then "stick to what your doing, your heading in the right direction weight wise" during my last consultation. his reaction to the Peanut Butter in porridge was funny, he said that sounds disgusting!!

As far as my carb intake is concerned it is dramatically reduced in comparison to what I used to eat and I am certainly feeling the benefit. I was waking up constantly in the early hours of the morning and I would be feeling so hungry and thirsty, I would take my BM's and they would be in the 9-10 mmol range or higher which lead me to believe I was suffering from liver dump or dawn phenomenon. I am feeling more in control now.

Cauliflower rice can be made at home, take a look at this web site. https://ohmyveggies.com/cauliflower-rice/

Thanks