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Guidance appreciated!

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nannoo

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OK, so I know to go low carb, I am armed with my Collins Gem carb counter, I am taking my insulin and my oral meds, but I am still not sure exactly what I'm doing. I want to get to the stage where my BS levels are within the right range, and generally even. Without becoming obsessive (or do we need to become obsessive??) what is my best way forward? I am Type 2. Could someone just guide me through the best course of action? Should I go totally low carb immediately, or should it be done slowly? Should I keep a diary of everything I eat, my exercise, stress levels, etc, or is that just too much? I threw myself into low carb eating but my levels dropped dramatically immediately which is good, but I felt out of control and was worried about hypos - should I have eased myself into this? Guidance would be much appreciated.
 
nannoo said:
OK, so I know to go low carb, I am armed with my Collins Gem carb counter, I am taking my insulin and my oral meds, but I am still not sure exactly what I'm doing. I want to get to the stage where my BS levels are within the right range, and generally even. Without becoming obsessive (or do we need to become obsessive??) what is my best way forward? I am Type 2. Could someone just guide me through the best course of action? Should I go totally low carb immediately, or should it be done slowly? Should I keep a diary of everything I eat, my exercise, stress levels, etc, or is that just too much? I threw myself into low carb eating but my levels dropped dramatically immediately which is good, but I felt out of control and was worried about hypos - should I have eased myself into this? Guidance would be much appreciated.
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Actually Nannoo obsessive is good for the first few weeks till you get the hang of it!!
Once that has happened you can relax and know that what you are doing is helping your BG control.
Read through you carb counter book and see which foods you like to eat that you can use .It's probably better for you to reduce carbs slowly so you can get the hang of dealing with your insulin dose effectively.Yes ,keep a diary with foods,readings and amounts of insulin so that you can refer back to a 'good' day .As you say,ease yourself into it.Get comfortable with it.It is not a race but it is important that your levels come down in time.
 
Definitely find out your insulin/carb rattio. there are several places on-line that can help wth that. Then realise that if something is over 10% carb( 10g in 100g of food.) it's probably not a good idea for everyday. Then once you.ve learned that, you can investigate which foods affect your BG least.
You'll feel you should be awarded a Ph.D when you get to grips with it all.
 
I would say go for it carefully at first. If you are on any other drug than Metformin, there is a real risk of hypos and things can go bit haywire at first. Your pancreas won't know what has hit it if you go cold turkey. I have been doing reduced carb now since diagnosis, for about 4 weeks and have seen my sugars come down from 14-16 to under 6, where it stays now most of the time. Needless to say, my weight is dropping quite dramatically and now I weigh less than in 11 years or so... :mrgreen:
 
Hi saz. Yes you are right - I started an extremely low carb diet on Monday, and despite my doctor saying that my BS levels would go down slowly, they shot down to levels I haven't had for five years. I was worried enough to add some more carbs to my diet so to avoid any hypos. Could you possibly give me an idea of what you were eating when you started lowering your carbs - maybe a sample day's meals - to put me on the right track? Thanks. Have a good weekend.
 
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