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hey, can i pick your brains??

DeejayR said:
Hello Sarah from another T2. As a newbie on here I find the welcome and info on here really helpful. There's a lot of conflicting advice outside this forum so I've copied off some of the posts such as those above and if I get confused I just re-read them, and they remind me of what is at heart quite a simple series of steps towards managing my condition, and give me a sense of achievement. Thank you all again and all the best, Sarah.
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thanks deejay, I hope you are coming to terms with it ok, and getting plenty of support x
 
sanguine said:
Hi Sarah and welcome!

T2 (I assume that is what you have been diagnosed as) diagnosis usually comes as a bit of a shock followed by confusion from often conflicting advice. But don’t panic, it can be managed. It does require a bit of a lifestyle change in terms of diet and discipline, but we can and will help you with that. We were all in the same boat once!

The main priority is to get blood sugars under control, and there's a lot you can do even before your appointment with the DN (the delay and lack of immediate guidance is not uncommon). This means not just cutting out sugars but significantly reducing carbohydrates as well. Carbohydrates metabolise quickly to sugar in the system (some take a little longer than others) and so for diabetics they act basically as if they were sugar. So you need to cut out starchy carbs as much as possible – bread, potatoes, pasta and rice. This may be contrary to medical profession guidance you will receive to eat carbs with every meal – this is fundamentally flawed advice rejected by most well-controlled T2s on here.

In order to learn what foods you can and cannot tolerate it is recommended that you have a test meter (not usually prescribed for T2s). With this you can measure your blood glucose (BG) levels before and after meals and see what ‘spikes’ you. Again this may be contrary to professional advice you might receive which often regards testing as pointless. But how else are you supposed to learn? Many on here use the SD Codefree system (from Amazon etc) because the strips are the most cost-effective.

For low carb foods try and go for those that have less than 10g total carbohydrate per 100g, less than 5g if you can. Ignore the ‘of which sugar’ bit, that’s irrelevant to us. You will become an avid reader of food labels! As well as carbs avoid tropical fruits including bananas which are full of sugar – for us berry fruits are best.

Try to relax and ask any questions you like.
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thank you so much for your advice and support sanguine, will keep you all posted when I see dn x
 
Yes its a brilliant site. Full of kind people with lots of information and knowledge from first hand experience:)
 
sarah74 said:
hi, I have just been diagnosed diabetic, I haven't actually seen a dr or diabetic nurse just spoke to them on the phone when getting my blood results, she told me to out all sugar until I see her on the 27th October, my mind is saying they have got it wrong if I was they would want to see me sooner, or on the other hand it cant be that bad or else they would want to see me sooner as well! im soo confused the lack of sugar aint helping either!!
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I was diagnosed on the 9th Sept 14,.have still had no contact with any diabetic personal as yet.
When I was told the 1st thing I did was ditch the table sugar & only buy things with a "of which sugar " level of 5g or less. The lower the better, I also try to keep the Carb level as possible, I aim for 40g/100gram. Switched the sugar for sweetner.
 
Paul59 said:
I was diagnosed on the 9th Sept 14,.have still had no contact with any diabetic personal as yet.
When I was told the 1st thing I did was ditch the table sugar & only buy things with a "of which sugar " level of 5g or less. The lower the better, I also try to keep the Carb level as possible, I aim for 40g/100gram. Switched the sugar for sweetner.
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Oh that's not on, that's over a month without any input from a health worker, I have ditched the sugar also, cutting the carbs is proving more difficult though :( I need a substitute of something to nibble on a evening,x
 
sarah74 said:
Oh that's not on, that's over a month without any input from a health worker, I have ditched the sugar also, cutting the carbs is proving more difficult though :( I need a substitute of something to nibble on a evening,x
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Cheese? Nuts? Olives?
 
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