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Help needed as the wife of someone with T2

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karenb1410

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Hi Everyone - I really need some help and advise. My husband was diagnosed with T2 4 years ago. He has is massively struggling with his levels although he is on 2 x metformin plus 1 Januvia in the morning and 2 metformin plus a statin at night. He’s not massively over weight, tries to eat what he should but still gets readings such as 10.6 first thing in the morning and then anything between 6-8 before tea. He is now so down about it all - very moody and has no energy. He hates what he is eating but won’t go back to the nurse because she will just give him more medication. It’s really affecting all our lives now, including our 12 year old daughter, and really getting me down.

Has anyone any advice as I desperately need help
 
First question what's he eating?

Edit to add Second point get him to join up here.. learning directly from those who have been there is far easier than learning through someone else and he can take control of his own health.
 
For breakfast it’s either porridge or weetabix. Lunch during the week will be flatbreads with cooked meat and salad plus some fruit and maybe soup. Possibly also some low fat crisps. Tea (dinner! ) we tend to have about 6:30-7:00 and is usually standard protein with a carb and veg. He will sometimes have yogurt and fruit after tea or something else snacky. We tend to go to bed between 9 and 9.30 as we are up shortly after 6 each day

I’ll see if I can get him to join - although not sure he is in the right mental place right now hence my cry for help
 
As a T2, we are carb intolerant. Change breakfast to bacon and egg or cheese omelette. Flatbread are also a no go area. What are evening carbs? Potatoes and rice should also be avoided.
 
far too many high carbohydrate foods lm afraid ....i wonder if @JoKalsbeek would put in an appearance..shes a mine of information ..look around this site im sure others will chip in and help the pair of you..
 
I have absolutely fantastic news for your husband! His diet is absolutely horrible and he doesn't have to eat that stuff anymore. (Not kidding). Long story short: practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested, so carbs will make his blood sugars rise... And he's having a LOT of carbs in a day now. Not especially tasty ones either. I don't know who put him on this diet, but they need a lesson in how to eat like a diabetic... Honestly, there is so much to gain here. Not just get a new relationship with food (a pleasurable one), but in all likelyhood he'll be able to cut back on the medication. He wouldn't be the first one here who could ditch all the meds. Speaking of which, statins are for cholesterol, not diabetes, and can raise bloodsugars (and in some people, even cause T2. If he was given them because it is the standard to give any newly diagnosed T2 statins, and he hasn't had a cardiac event in the past, he probably doesn't need them.). So... No bread, spuds, rice, pasta, cereal (One portion of weetabix or porridge contains more carbs than I eat in two or three days!), fruit (don't worry, there's plenty of vitamins in vegetables to compensate).... So yeah... He can bring his bloodsugars down, probably cut down on or completely ditch medication, and probably enjoy eating a lot more. Have a read here, which is basically everything I wish someone'd told me when I was first diagnose and life looks absolutely bleak... https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html If it sounds like something he, or even the both of you could stick with, dive deeper into it with Dr. Jason Fung's The Diabetes Code book or his (free) youtube video's, this forum's website (diabetes.co.uk that is, not .org!), and www.dietdoctor.com .

Get him started in the morning with some proper breakfast: three eggs, bacon, high meat content sausage, maybe a tomato tossed in, and he'll sail through the morning with excellent blood sugars. Green salad for lunch with something fatty to fill him up (no sugary dressing though! Try olive oil and apple cider vinegar or mayo), so add salmon, tuna or warmed up goat's cheese. Dinner? Above ground veggies/leafy greens with fish, meat or poultry. Just get some extra veggies and meat in there to compensate for the loss of fillers like spuds. Cauliflower rice is a stupidly versatile replacement. For snacks, go for hard cheeses, olives, extra dark chocolate (85% and up), pork scratchings, walnuts, pecans... And absolutely do steer clear of things that are low in fat. They're usually full of carbs to compensate the loss of flavour and bulk, plus, fats are a glucose flatline: they will not raise bloodsugars. better yet, they slow down the uptake of the carbs one does ingest, so spikes are less severe. Yay for bacon.

Anyway.... It's a lot to take in and change, but this way I have gotten rid of my medication, have been in the non-diabetic range for over 3 years now, lost quite a bit of weight, got rid of my non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and my cholesterol, even with all the extra fat I've been consuming, is perfectly in range. And I'm not the only one here who's done it. So you guys can certainly tackle this too.

I know your husband isn't feeling right at the moment, but did you know high bloodsugars can and will affect mood and feed into depression and panic attacks? Get his blood sugars down and he'll start feeling a whole lot better, both mentally and physically. Get a meter, test before a meal and 2 hours after the first bite, and see whether he goes up 2.0 mmol/l or less. That's pretty much the ideal. With the new regime that should be more than do-able, and he can see instant results, which are a great motivator, besides giving one a feeling of empowerment. He can tackle this, and he's got you in his corner. (Plus, this diet is perfectly safe for non-diabetics too, so you're welcome to join him).

Good luck!
Jo
 
Wow everyone - thanks so much! What is so annoying is that so much of what has been said is contrary to what he has been told by the diabetic nurse!

We have spent so long looking at labels and trying to work out what he could eat that food is no longer fun
It is so infuriating! The job that he does makes it hard to eat what he was told was the right things, but getting eggs and bacon for breakfast at work would not be a problem at all!!
It all makes so much sense to me now - low carb, high protein and high(er) fat is the way to go!! And far tastier than cardboard cereals and flatbreads!

@JoKalsbeek - thankyou so much for all that detail and the positive spin! I'll definately check out your blog!

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The most important take-away from all this... He's going to be fine. I hope he'll dare to believe that too. Makes life a whole lot easier.

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The great thing about here is that we've been there and done it (and sometimes even got the t-shirt).
 
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Fortunately I found this forum before the appointment to discuss "diet".

Once you have a meter, download the mysugr app. Record your food and readings. After a few days worth of data, it will give you an estimated hba1c. I found it highly motivating.
 
I agree with the other posters, that is too much carbs for a T2, we just don't cope well with carbs and the official 'Eatwell plate' is a disaster for us.
There are GPs and nurses who haven't caught up with the research published over the last few years but even the NHS has at last agreed low carb is better, they just don't think we can do it!

I don't like eggs for breakfast so my usual is porridge made with milled flaxseed plus a little oatbran and chia seeds, made with water and coconut milk, served with cinnamon and double cream. Plus the first of my two milky coffees but made part water with full fat milk and coconut milk.
Lunch, if I have it, is green salad (tuna/ham/egg/cheese) or just cheese. Otherwise just another coffee.
Dinner is usually chicken, or salmon/eggs/ham with cauliflower rice and plenty of green veg followed by plain Greek yogurt and raspberries. I make a low carb curry or casserole, or add herbs/spices/lemon, etc. to the meat/fish to change it around.
Then my bedtime treat, a cocoa made with water and added milk/coconut milk and cream with a couple of squares of 85% chocolate.

I do make low carb cakes/biscuits sometimes, and 90 second bread, or have a sugar free jelly with some stevia sweetened low carb icecream. There are loads of great recipes for cooking with coconut flour or ground almonds.
 
@karenb1410 congratulations on finding this community. What you can't learn about diabetes here probably isn't worth knowing. Your life, and that of your husband, is about to take a massive upturn.

Welcome
 
Karen when he gets his numbers down take a look at LivLife bread at Waitrose at 3.8g carbs per slice. If you look at other bread packets you will see the difference. I wouldnt make bread a big thing but sometimes I just fancy scrambled egg on toast. Quick lunches on the run can be packets of cold meat and cheese, hardboiled eggs, egg mayo and bagged lettuce.
 
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