Type 2 hgv food advise

Hi @big_red_dog,

Welcome to the forum. I am tagging @daisy1, who provides some wonderful advice to newbies.

Could tell us a bit more about yourself? This would help us to maybe make some suggestions.

Are you on any medication? Do you have any other health issues that might be impacted by diet? What kind of blood sugars do you see normally?

i doubt you need us to tell you what you need to do. you know it cut the bread spuds ect. how about soup in a thermos or learn to love salads with a little dressing it helps with the taste. investigate lower carb choices.

Hi. It can't be easy. You can eat proteins and fats fairly freely so make use of eggs, bacon etc. Fruit is good if not tropical. Try to find some veg that you do like; have a look round the supermarket and see if there's some veg you haven't yet tried. 85% Dark chocolate is good is good for snacking - same for cheese. Nuts are always good.

Low carb doesn't seem to suit me, I eat more or less what I want but I keep an eye on the calories, keep portions small, I have round of toast for breakfast a cheese or ham salad sandwich with salad cream for lunch and whatever is going for dinner, but no snacking I between.in 6 weeks I have lost 8kg and halved my BG doing this, also I will eat nuts and dark chocolate, and a small amount of fruit.

big_red_dog said:

I like meat

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Eat meat then.. cold sausages, bacon, hams maybe cheese? pork scratchings. scotch eggs ideally home made without the breadcrumbs. Ditch the spuds. But eggs, bacon, high meat sausage are all fine.

@big_red_dog

Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it both interesting and useful. Ask as many questions as you need to 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 well over 259,000 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 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.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.

Hi @big_red_dog,

Based on your information, cheese (such as mini-babybels) seem to be a good option. Another option that might work is full fat unflavored greek yoghurt. I sometimes also buy wiener sausages -- they are easy to take along even cold, just make sure they have a low carb count.

Do you or your wife bake? If yes, dietdoctor has a great recipe for low carb bread. Here is the link: https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/the-keto-bread.

If you have a sweet tooth (and given the infos you gave us, you might not), small portions of high cocoa content chocolate (85% or higher) seems to be okay for most of us, as are small portions of raspberries, blackberries and strawberries.

I also like olives -- but I know they are not everyone's favorite. Do you like any vegetables at all?

I cook a load of chicken and some low carb sauce or rub, Nando’s for instance and portion it into 3 Tupperware pots. Then microwave it before I leave and throw it into a thermos. You could do the same with a meat stew, without the potatoes or a chilli,soups, pulled pork etc. Two slow cooker meals based around a meat could last you a week.

bulkbiker said:

Eat meat then.. cold sausages, bacon, hams maybe cheese? pork scratchings. scotch eggs ideally home made without the breadcrumbs. Ditch the spuds. But eggs, bacon, high meat sausage are all fine.

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I couldnt agree more @big_red_dog . All the above are fine. Nuts are ok too in low amounts, maybe bagged up in small portions as sometimes cheaper to buy in bulk.
Well done for making these unusual but very very effective changes.