Hello.

Welcome! Daisy will be along shortly to give you important and useful information for new members. If you are overweight you probably be advised to minimalise your carbohydrates. The usual "healthy"? cereal advocated for diabetics and non diabetics is unsweetened porridge. I, myself, just have unsweetened organic cocoa made with organic semi skimmed milk - around 14g carbohydrates. (I'm not needing to lose weight but just improve sugar levels.)

im1487 said:

I am 47 years old and reasonably fit. I have just been diagnosed with type 2.
I have been wondering what the best breakfast cereal is that I could have.

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Hi there and welcome to the forum! You may wish to look at our Low Carb Program- it has a wealth of recipes, cookbooks and covers everything from breakfast, to drinking, eating out, cooking at home and everything else in between. It is a complete re-education about food. Our member's results has resulted in anything from weight loss, to a balance of their blood sugars, a reduction in medication to even putting their type 2 into remission. It's completely free- take a look here: www.diabetes.co.uk/lowcarb

If you need any help or any further info at all, please feel free to contact me- I'm always happy to help!

Hi @im1487 and welcome to the forum. The best breakfast cereal you can have is NONE! Cereals are almost entirely starch carbohydrates which turn to sugar in our bodies, so aren't good for T2 diabetics. Protein and higher fat alternatives like eggs, bacon and mushrooms would be better. Have a look at the 'T2s What have you eaten today' thread to get an idea of what T2s eat for breakfast.
Some find they can eat porridge without raising theis bs levels, but others can't. You would need to test your bs level before, then 2 hours after first mouthful, to see how it affects you.

Please could someone tag Daisy? I don't know how to do it.

@daisy1 will post you some very useful information later. Please read it carefully and ask any questions you may have. The only thing I would add is, if you don't have a BG Monitor, please get one. It is the best tool by far for to control this condition

@im1487

Hello and welcome to the forum Here is the basic information we give to new members and I hope it will be helpful to you. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will be able to help. Some useful replies above already.


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 210,000 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.

Hi Ian

Welcome to the forum - the best place to be, I have to say. Loads of very experienced diabetics on here who are always happy to answer questions etc.

You will discover that a lot of members here have had great success by eating Low Carb High(er) Fat and avoiding the main starchy carbs like bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, pastry and being careful regarding eating fruits as they are fairly high in sugars etc. I've lost weight by reducing carbs and enjoying having some fruit with douible cream - the fats slow down the absorption of the sugars so I tend not to spike, etc. Surprisingly, I'm coping with this 'diet' much better than any of my previous failed attempts at Weight Watchers and Slimming World However, it's an individual thing and your choice re how you want to go. Certainly, it's the starchy foods that cause your blood glucose to rise so definitely needs some care if eating them

Good luck on your journey

@asparagusp, to tag someone, just put an '@' immediately before their forum name. I'm not sure but I think you have to type something after it. Experiment

im1487 said:

I am 47 years old and reasonably fit. I have just been diagnosed with type 2.
I have been wondering what the best breakfast cereal is that I could have.

Click to expand...

Hi Ian,

I wish you luck with the information available at www.diabetes.co.uk forum. When I first started 8 yrs. ago with advice from my hospital team, I was able to eat not just a muffin but some other stuff, like milk, etc. for breakfast. That was at 80 glyclazide and metformin. As the years went by, and just in the past year raising my glyclazide to another 40g, it doesn't matter if I just eat a muffin. 80g and metformin until 11:00 a.m. and the numbers at commonly 9-12. Hmmmm. I think research in diabetes may be better than glucose advice.
I hope you will stay at a constant good number with a small breakfast.

@im1487 - Hello and Welcome to the Forum .