Hello everyone,

[mrstall]

Hi everyone,
Newbie to both the website and to diabetes here. I've recently been diagnosed with type 2, about a month ago. And boy has it been a learning curve. :crazy: The doctors decided to investigate after me not being well for a while. I had an abcess in my back that needed operating on, also a kidney and a chest infection at the same time. The results of my fasting blood test was 19. something, and was told my hba1c was high although wasn't told exactly what it was. Have been put straight on metformin, 2 x 500mg a day at the moment.
Have been given a glucose monitor to check my bs levels, and doing this regularly to see what different foods do to my levels. Theres not much i can change with my diet as i have always eaten healthily and i really and truely don't have a sweet tooth at all. Also get plenty of exercise, going to the gym 3 times a week and walk a lot, always have. I don't know what else i can do, but still getting high readings, before eating its between 8-10 and 2 hours after between 10-14 most of the time. :shock:
Anyway, lookin forward to getting involved on here.
Mrstall. xxx

 

[chocoholicnomore]

Hi Mrstall and welcome to the forum.

There is loads of info and everyone is so friendly and helpful. It truly has been a godsend to me.

You sound as though you are getting the hang of it and you were lucky to get a meter from your GP. Alot of us T2s had to buy our own.

The main thing is to reduce your carb intake but it is not just sweet sugary stuff that contains carbs. There is alot of hidden carbs in food. When reading the food labels you need to count total carbohydrate and not just the "of sugars" figure. I am sure you will be shocked at some of them.

If you give us an idea of what you eat, we can better advise you.

Read around the forum and ask as many questions as you want. There is always someone with experience and good advice.

Good luck with it all. It is hard at the beginning but well worth it in the long run.

 

[daisy1]

Hi Mrstall and welcome to the forum There is a lot to learn to start with but you will soon get the idea of what to do. Chocoholicnomore has given you some helpful advice. The most important thing is having joined this forum. Here is the information we give to newly diagnosed members which should help you get your levels down. Ask all the questions you need to and someone will have a reply for you.

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 30,000 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

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

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

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.

 

[mrstall]

Hiya, thanks for the replies.
Am already keeping an eye on how much carbs i'm eating, always checking the labels on food and have a carb counting book that i keep referring to if something isnt in packaging. Also choosing low fat and low/ no sugar alternatives, and most of what i eat is either salad or vegetables, with one or two pieces of fruit thrown in. Just feel like if i restrict myself any more there will be next to nothing that i can eat.
xx

 

[chocoholicnomore]

Also choosing low fat and low/ no sugar alternatives

I find that sometimes these are actually higher in carbs.

How many carbs do you eat in a normal day? Some people have only 30g (I think that's right??) per day whereas others can manage BG levels on 100-150g per day. Personally I manage on about 100-130g per day.

Have you looked at the thread called Vivs modified atkins diet? This contains alot of ideas of what to eat.

 

[mrstall]

Hiya,
Yeah i found that thread, what i eat is pretty similar to that most of the time, am thinking my medication might need tweaking a bit, but have got an appointment with my DSN in a couple of weeks so will talk to her about it then. As i said, not much else i can cut out, and i still want to enjoy eating.