Help to get started

[FranCheshire]

Good morning my partner got his diagnosis of type 2 yesterday and he has to loose weight as well as reduce his sugar levels. We have read so much since yesterday afternoon and now unsure of the best way forward. Any advice or help would so appreciated as we are analysing everything at moment. Thank you in advance. Fran

 

[bulkbiker]

Hi and welcome

Reducing carbohydrate consumption to an absolute minimum is the best way to start.

Lots of great recipes on the www.dietdoctor.com website and other info re food (most of it is free no need to sign up)

Base meals around meat, fish and above ground veg with eggs and dairy.

Cut out sugar, any grains and root veg.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Good morning my partner got his diagnosis of type 2 yesterday and he has to loose weight as well as reduce his sugar levels. We have read so much since yesterday afternoon and now unsure of the best way forward. Any advice or help would so appreciated as we are analysing everything at moment. Thank you in advance. Fran

Hello Fran, always nice to see a partner taking an interest, as this is so much better than having to deal with it all alone. He's quite welcome to join our merry band as well though, if he wants to. There is so much information online and coming from the pro's, so it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Getting diagnosed is a big blow, and the information overload that follows, with a whole lot of contradictions, makes it that much worse. So.... When you're trying to wade through all of that, get a meter. It's the most important tool you'll ever purchase, because we're all different... It'll tell you without bias or private agenda how your husband is doing and what advice is working, and what isn't. It'll weed out the sense from the nonsense right quick.

That said, low carb, as @bulkbiker already stated, is something T2's do well on, generally. I got my numbers back into the normal range within months, which could've been faster if I'd not listened to some bad advice i was given, but I kept experimenting and testing my blood sugars, and that steered me right. It took me a long time to get to this place, otherwise I would've been sorted in weeks, I'm sure. On low carb, high fat, I got my blood sugars back under control, lost weight (I was morbidly obese.... About as wide as I was tall), healed my non alcoholic fatty liver disease, lowered cholesterol, that sort of thing, and while my blood pressure was suprisingly normal, these days it's a little low. It's really a bit of a fix-all, as all those things are affected by high blood sugars. Fix those, and everything else follows.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ is a bit of a quick start guide to get you guys started, should make grocery shopping a little easier, but... Thank you for being such a support. I know I wouldn't've made it this far without my husbands' support in all this, so you're about to make as much of a difference as a change in diet and the use of a meter would.

Good luck!
Jo

 

[Estragon]

Welcome to our Forums! Your partner is truly lucky to have you come here and register.

I totally agree with what has been said.

Now, today’s ACTION is to take ALL your food stuffs out of your cupboards and off of shelves and place them on a table, .

Once you’ve got ALL the packages, tins and dried stuff on the table start quizzing the food contents and noting, writing down the Carbohydrate and Sugars as part of the percentages of 100 grams - all this info is already there. You will be shocked and ASTOUNDED by those which are 30% and higher, much much higher. Oh yeah, do pay particular attention to those that are DIET foods - interesting, huh?

This Carb AUDIT was my first action I took back in October last year, when I was informed that my next option could’ve been Insulin, my HBA1C had rocketed to 88! My early action - carb audit - plus METFORMIN adjustment has gotten me down to 53 and that’s even having had COVID19 earlier this year.

So, taking early action is correct. Coming here is a great step forward, now, ACTION!

 

[Sugarlisa]

Good morning my partner got his diagnosis of type 2 yesterday and he has to loose weight as well as reduce his sugar levels. We have read so much since yesterday afternoon and now unsure of the best way forward. Any advice or help would so appreciated as we are analysing everything at moment. Thank you in advance. Fran

I’m 4 weeks in so I’m a newbie too as a type 2 to I’m loving using diet doc recipes for all the family ie shepherds with carrots and turnip top and I’m starting to get weight loss results

 

[Resurgam]

I was actually surprised to realise I had lost quite a bit of weight, just by reducing the carbs in order to get my blood glucose numbers in the normal range. It seems that easy weight gain is a symptom of type two, as the body stashes away the glucose in order to prevent it doing damage, so getting hold of a meter with low use costs might be the way to make a start. I use Spirit Healthcare's tee 2 meter, as it seems to work well and be one of the cheapest to use.
Like Jo I was almost spherical at diagnosis, having been put on a high carb diet to reduce cholesterol - which it did not.