Gday all..

Sounds like you're on the right track but mainly focus on keeping the carbs down. Don't worry about calories as it's the carbs that affect blood sugar and weight gain.

Hi and welcome,

I'm tagging @daisy1 who has some excellent information for newcomers. Meanwhile, have a good read round and see how others are managing. You will notice that cutting carbs one way or another is the best way forward. Have you got your own blood glucose meter? These are essential if you want to learn which foods you can tolerate.

@TIANDB

Hello 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 be able to 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 250,000 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 free 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. They're all 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.

TIANDB said:

Hi Guys I have not as yet posted before as I have not had any tests for T2 or PD I have a doctors visit coming up to request some testing as I am 55 already and have this year reduced from 98 KG to 80 KG ish now BMI 26 this by strict 5/2 ing reducing calories generally some fasting and some LCHF ing.. I am hoping my figures are ok but I have always been a sugar monster and creeping from mid 80kg to 98kg over a few less active years has had me wondering and doing some basic research . All the best Guys.. Kevin x Firefighter.
PS I am hoping I am one of the 30% ? with a high carb count tolerance.

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Hi @TIANDB and welcome! Outside of your previous weight gain and subsequent change in dietary regime that resulted in weight loss (which is brill!) Why are you looking to have tests done (for diabetes I assume?) at this time rather than in 4 or 8 or 12 weeks time? And before anyone else takes this as an attack, it is not and there is a perfectly rational reason why I am asking at this time as will be made clear when I follow up after @TIANDB responds.

TIANDB said:

Hi Robert.. After retiring early from the fire service at the age of 50 I have happily had a relaxed life. I left my career early as I seemed to get excessive sweating in my final few years whenever I donned my gear or the weather was warm, I thought this might be due to stress of some kind ? Nothing has changed and no reason can be found for this condition I have just learned to live with it.. After a few years of reduced or slightly less activity I had weight creep on up to 98kg ( 80kg is my ideal ) .. After loosing this weight over a few months mainly with a strict 5-2 regime I have also looked into other weight loss ideas.. LCHF was one I have tried and with some small research The Link with Diabetes success stories had me thinking to have another blood test last done in 2012 due to iron deficient Anemia and include a Diabetes check.. I am presuming I do not have diabetes and will be interested to see my figures due next week.

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Hi @TIANDB right I see. My reason for asking why now? Is because most people who have never tested positive for Diabetes sometimes think it might be a good idea to have an interim test before they have completed their weight loss/cholesterol/exercise regime loss/adjustment and don't fully appreciate the ramifications of a positive result on their medical records if they have not achieved their optimal goals before such testing.
There is subsequent loading on premiums for health and other insurance cover including travel insurance for those who have tested positive and got a diabetes diagnosis which is loaded more if you are taking anti diabetic medication and even more so if you have tested positive for raised cholesterol and are put on Statins to reduce it. Hence my words of warning prior to that test undertaking that one does all possible intervention measures and get informal interim testing done as suggested below
I may be already late in my opinion giving as I realised on reading your post again, that you have probably already had the test and are awaiting the results next week? If I had known that I would have worded my question a little differently.
I didn't raise this to alarm you in any way just know from experience that many don't know the point about Diabetic and raised cholesterol markers on their medical files and because you have already embarked on a sensible eating plan and have reduced weight, thought you should know this before undertaking formal testing. In any event the point may be useful for others.

Personally I would suggests if people are able to get a BG monitor and some strips to test and consider fasting and pre and post meal results to consider before formal testing as an indicator or if that is not possible whilst you are waiting do as I did before investing in a monitor, , get random BG blood tests taken at Tesco pharmacy (cheeky I know but they do them free if you ask as part of a health check on losing weight and want to check your blood sugar levels) And than if you want you would then plan formal tests around those. Generally just having a sweaty condition in its own right would not in isolation point to a diabetes and Insulin resistant diagnosis without some other markers present as your tests c 5 years ago confirmed but you will have peace of mind when you get your test results next week Good luck and apologies if I jumped too quick but I am a great believer it's better to be forewarned than late....

Obviously the above comes with the caveat that those who are presenting with serious symptomatic diabetes outcomes and or serious high blood glucose readings should not hesitate to be tested formally.

Those are excellent results, although it is a shame there was no HbA1c. Next time make sure you ask for one.

I note there is a question mark next to your HDL level. I can't understand that range. The higher the HDL the better. The range on my lab reports is 1.2 to 3.5. HDL is what is known as the good cholesterol.

TIANDB said:

I thought the HDL range was to narrow on my print out but those were my lab results..
Never has any cholesterol numbers before so non for my individual comparison..

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Don't be concerned. It is a strange range I've never seen before. We all aim for higher HDL. Mine is 2.47 and is ideal.

TIANDB said:

Well collected Blood results yesterday and no real surprises they do not look super good glucose numbers to me but then I am a bit of a sugar monster ( Still trying to moderate this ! Only 2 biscuits Kevin )
When I requested a full blood test I also asked to check for any hint of diabetes and was not notified of any such hint. I will
input my glucose figures below. No HbA1c I presume this is done if diabetic or pre D ?

Fasted..
Serum cholesterol level (XE2eD) 5.8 mmol/L
Serum triglyceride level (XE2q9) 1.6 mmol/L (<2.2)
Serum HDL cholesterol level (44P5) 1.56 mmol/L ( Above range 0.9--1.4 ) ?
Non HDL cholesterol 4.2 mmol/L
Serum LDL cholesterol level (44P6) 3.5 mmol/L (<4.5)
Serum cholesterol/HDL ratio (XaEUq) 3.7 ( <5.0)
Plasma fasting glucose level (44g1) 5.2 mmol/L (4.0--6.0 )

Any comments most welcome..

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Hi @Tandb
As you don't appear to have had a previous positive diagnosis of diabetes, nor have you reported any diabetic symptoms in this thread other than excessive sweating by donning your fire suit or it being hot (neither of which point to a possible diabetic diagnosis), I'm not sure why your doctor would agree in any event at this stage, to an HbA1c test. And in fact it appears he hasn't hence the reason why you weren't given one.

Ordinarily one normally presents either with symptoms or a random blood test undertaken at the dr's surgery throws up a high end Blood Glucose result which would result in a further retest at another visit and if that provided another rogue result than you would be after you have failed 2 random BG tests by finger pricking to undertake an Oral Glucose Test to see how your body reacts to a large glucose dose being consumed and being tested every half hour or so to see how your body's insulin deals with bringing your blood sugar down to normal (non diabetic) levels. if this doesn't happen in a regulated way,you might be Insulin Resistant/Diabetic etc and generally, only then would you have a Diabetic diagnosis and then have a follow up with an HbA1c after lifestyle education/pharmaceutical intervention have been undertaken.

The random fasting test of 5.2mmol wouldn't in its own right give rise to a concern that you are diabetic and would at worst just require you to have a further retest in a couple of months if you are still concerned that you might be, even though you have no reason to suspect you might be
.
I personally wouldn't get too concerned about focusing on a positive diabetic test result purely because you have a sweet tooth, that in its own right is not a sign of diabetes. Your Doctor's reaction to your request for a test to confirm any hint if diabetic is reflected by his lack of anything more than a home test in his surgery which as I mentioned previously Tesco's do free of charge. In any event it doesnt appear your random fasting test gives rise to any concern and personally I would simply check back every 3 years if you are concerned.
So keep up your good work on the weight loss and improve your activity levels and enjoy what life has to offer. what you don't need is to focus on a condition you don't appear to have on a diabetic forum that will always be here if and when you need us to help with prevention or treatment which hopefully you shouldn't need if you can maintain a healthy weight level and a low carb regime to support a healthy weight.

Good luck

welcome here TIANDB