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Hi, another newbie...

Will D

Will D

Member
Messages
13
Location
Warwickshire
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi All,

I came here via a slightly complicated route, which started in 2011, following a general blood test, as I wasn't feeling well in general, but nothing particular that I could pinpoint.

Got a call back to the surgery, to see the DN, as blood glucose levels were high. Had a chat, took further blood for more testing, and DN said that if I wasn't a full blown T2 that she'd eat her uniform!

When I was again called back, she informed me that I wasn't diabetic after all, but didn't follow through with her promise!

As this had taken some weeks to reach a conclusion, I had purchased a Boots branded BG meter, and during one visit the DN gave me a prescription for a pack of lances and a pack of test strips. When shortly after the all clear was given, this kit was relegated to the cupboard and forgotten about...

Fast forward to a few days ago, and I had again been feeling under the weather for some considerable time, and I remembered the test kit, and fortunately managed to put hands on it.

I took several readings over a couple of days, mostly they were peaking at 8.5 or so, but there were a couple of 10.9 and 12.8, so I have another appointment with the DN in a couple of days.

I'm 6' 2", and was a few days ago about 16 stone, with a "bit" of a belly, and had decided that the first thing to do was to get rid of that.

I set out on a very low carb diet, which I think is giving me an intake of around 600 - 800 calories a day, in the past week and a bit I've lost just about a stone in weight, belly is much smaller, maybe another stone or so to go...

That's pretty much me, apologies for the length of this post!

Regards,

Will.
 
@Will D

Hi Will and welcome to the forum :)

You are making a good start by reducing the carbohydrates in your diet which will help to keep your levels under control. Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will help.


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 over 150,000 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

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

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

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 bloodglucose 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.
 
Well done, that's a really good start. So keep up the good work, it might also be a good idea to test before and after eating to see how different foods affect your bg. I am only pre diabetic and I had a normal bmi at diagnosis but my bmi is now 19 and my readings have improved with the extra weight loss, above and beyond the effect with low carbing.
 
Jo123 said:
Well done, that's a really good start. So keep up the good work, it might also be a good idea to test before and after eating to see how different foods affect your bg. I am only pre diabetic and I had a normal bmi at diagnosis but my bmi is now 19 and my readings have improved with the extra weight loss, above and beyond the effect with low carbing.
Click to expand...

Thanks to you both for your encouragement.

As I'm really trying to get my excess weight off, I'm eating very little of anything, and almost no carbs, as a consequence my fasting BG is usually in the 4s.

Since I've almost run out of test strips, I'm only doing a fasting test at the moment, having used maybe 40 strips in the past few days.

I don't anticipate getting any more strips on prescription, so I've ordered a new meter with strips which should arrive very shortly.

The real need for testing will start when I've lost the weight, and begin to eat a proper diet again...

Thanks,

Will.
 
Hi and welcome,

Yes, it looks like you need to lose a couple of stone to get down to an ideal BMI. You have started well with this, but if you do get a diabetes diagnosis you will eventually need to find a diet you can sustain (and enjoy) for the rest of your life. Have a good read round, and ask as many questions as you like.

PS. Beware your strips may be out of date if they are from 2011. Also, use your meter to test before and 2 hours after meals to check what that meal has done to your levels. If you don't know the before number, the after number means very little.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Hi and welcome,

Yes, it looks like you need to lose a couple of stone to get down to an ideal BMI. You have started well with this, but if you do get a diabetes diagnosis you will eventually need to find a diet you can sustain (and enjoy) for the rest of your life. Have a good read round, and ask as many questions as you like.

PS. Beware your strips may be out of date if they are from 2011. Also, use your meter to test before and 2 hours after meals to check what that meal has done to your levels. If you don't know the before number, the after number means very little.
Click to expand...


Thanks for your welcome, just had a quick look at the NHS website to check BMI before I saw your reply - apparently I should be 13st 13lb at heaviest, so still a little way to go...

The test strips are well out of date as you say, but they were individually foil packed, and do still offer varied readings, so in the absence of an alternative I have trusted them - the DN will no doubt put me straight when I see her in the week.

As I mentioned in a recent reply to Jo123, I'm eating so little, and so little that will affect my BG levels, that I'm only just keeping an overview look at my BG for the moment. When I start to eat properly again(?) the test readings will be much more important in allowing me to control things.

I have to say it's a huge shock to me not to have any dairy, sweets, cakes, bread and countless other things that I used to eat without a second thought!

Regards,

Will.
 
For most of us there is no need to restrict dairy foods. In fact, it is better to eat the real stuff than the artificial low fat stuff as they often add sugar to compensate for the lack of taste.
 
Hello again Bluetit,

I didn't make myself very clear I'm afraid, I wanted to lose around 2 to 3 stone very quickly, as although it is difficult being permanently terrifically hungry for a month, I'd rather do that and know that the weight is going to go, rather than cut down on bits and pieces and maybe lose the weight, maybe not.

So with that in mind, I have for the moment banished almost everything from my diet, apart from lean meat and vegetables/salad greens.

When the weight has gone, I'll adjust my diet to maintain a steady weight (and hopefully make room for the odd enjoyable snack!).

I have spent some hours looking at the make up many foodstuffs, and youtube videos relating to diabetes - there are many good videos on there, but one or two quite bizarre ones too. I haven't got my head around ingredients and recipes as yet, but I will begin to collect some shortly.

I have read some articles about how bad some artificial sweetners are for one's body, and likewise "spreads" containing various sorts of oils. There's a vast amount of information to be digested, hopefully it's all something that I'll get a grip on one day!

Regards,

Will.
 
Hi Will and welcome :) You have made a great start so far and well done on the weight loss. Have a good look round the forum, especially the food sections and What Have You Eaten Today thread...it will give you a huge insight into some of the yummy food you can eat and still achieve weight loss if you want to. The Low Carb High Fat diet is pretty good and there is a lot of delicious food to be enjoyed on it....worth having a look at for when you are ready to eat more than you are now. Always someone here to answer any questions you may have. Good luck with the weight loss and the visit to the nurse :) http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
 
Thanks very much Gezzabelle for the welcome and the pointers as to where to look.

I'm looking forward to some nice food!

Thanks,

Will.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. A good place to look for recipes is Pinterest, its where I have found most of mine. I admire your determination to get the weight off.
 
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