Hi guys. New here. 26 years old and a type 1 for 3 years. I really struggle to keep my bs levels stable and always have done. I lived quite an unhealthy lifestyle before I was diagnosed. Drinking, smoking etc... I have given up smoking and replaced that with vaping, which has made me feel 100x better. I stumbled across this forum a couple of days ago and noticed most of you manage to keep your levels really low all day. All I want to know is, how? I now understand carbs are bad, which is the complete opposite of what my nurse told me. I eat bread for breakfast, bread for lunch, pasta for tea, and eat quite late at night due to my working shift of 1pm til 9pm. Guess that would explain my erratic bs levels. So basically long story short, been doing it all wrong for 3 years and I now want to change and deal with this illness properly. Thanks for reading.
-
Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »
Hello there
- Thread starter Sponge89
- Start Date
Liam1955
Master
- Messages
- 10,964
- Location
- York, England, UK.
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- Anti-Gay People, Self Centre People, Two Faced People and Bad Language.
Hi Sponge89, I've been Diabetic with Type 2 for 15years - and I have only gone onto Insulin a year ago. The Diabetes Doctor at Hospital Clinic AND Diabetes Nurse at GP Surgery have always encouraged me to eat bread, pasta, rice, potato. So, I would say that you are not doing it wrong! You did not say what your blood sugars are?
ButtterflyLady
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,291
- Location
- New Zealand
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Acceptance of health treatment claims that are not adequately supported by evidence. I dislike it when people sell ineffective and even harmful alternative health products to exploit the desperation of people with chronic illness.
Welcome, I am sure you will find out here what kind of foods to eat to get your BGs nice and stable. It's such a shame that the nurses give out wrong info about carbs. I will tag @daisy1 because she has some great info for people new to the site that she will post for you. Good luck and keep us posted, you sound like you have the right attitude!
daisy1
Legend
- Messages
- 26,457
- Location
- Switzerland
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Cruelty towards animals.
Hello @Sponge89 and welcome to the forum 
Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful, especially as regards diet. Ask all the questions you want and someone will be able to help.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS
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 over 150,000 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 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-and-whole-grains.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
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
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 bloodglucose 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.
Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful, especially as regards diet. Ask all the questions you want and someone will be able to help.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS
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 over 150,000 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-and-whole-grains.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
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
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 bloodglucose 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.
WeeFergus
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 579
- Location
- Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Cruelty to humans and animals.
Daibell
Master
Hi and welcome. Yes, following sesnsible diet advice rather than the NHS nonsense should enable you to have lower insulin shots with less bs variation. Foods like fats and protein allow more stable blood sugar as well; refines carbs cause spikes.
Wow thanks for the responses. My blood sugar in the morning is normally around 10-12 so my main aim is to get that down for now. It was 5 yesterday morning but I think that was more luck than judgement. Had a 3.4 reading at 7 this morning and had a small chocolate bar to raise it. Dreading the check I'm going to do soon.
S
Shar67
Guest
Hi a welcome Sponge89. Just a little observation, if you have a reading of less than 4 rather than eat chocolate a slice of toast will do the job but not suddenly spike reading then drop.
Liam1955
Master
- Messages
- 10,964
- Location
- York, England, UK.
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- Anti-Gay People, Self Centre People, Two Faced People and Bad Language.
Hi again Sponge 89, Personally I would not eat chocolate for breakfast - that's my "treat" at the weekend for being good during the week with my blood sugars. You could eat a yoghurt, toast, 1 or 2 bananas. And then have a sandwich mid-morning. Sometimes having a high result in the morning could depend on what you are before bedtime?
Oh ok. Thanks for the advice. I was 10.3 before bedtime but had some weetabix about an hour before. Maybe had too much insulin with it. Just had a low carb omelette with bacon mushroom and cheese for breakfast. My first ever low carb brekkie so will see how that goes in an hour or so.
- Messages
- 5,230
- Location
- Worthing, UK.
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- Not being able to eat as many chocolate digestives as I used to.
Hi @Sponge89 , and welcome.
I was lucky and found these forums just a few months after being diagnosed last year and the good folk here, helped me reach a better understanding of the 'carb effect'. My BS numbers stabilized significantly after moderating my carb intake.
Good luck with the new diet, catch you later.
Liam1955
Master
- Messages
- 10,964
- Location
- York, England, UK.
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Insulin
- Dislikes
- Anti-Gay People, Self Centre People, Two Faced People and Bad Language.
That's brilliant. So you need to THINK about what you eat. I always check on the amount of sugars in products - so that I don't go over my daily amount. (Fruit has it's own natural sugar) If in "doubt" just ask, there are loads of people on this forum helping each other.
Daphne917
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,348
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
I'm T2 diet only and tend to look at the total carbs in products so that I can keep an eye on how many I'm eating.
4ratbags
Well-Known Member
Hi and welcome to the forum, you are definitely in the right place to get yourself on track.
