Hi newbie here

Angelheart262 said:

Thank you so much for the replys, a lovely welcome.
I am type 2 controlled by diet, for three months now I have been at 14.8 I should have seen my diabetic nurse last monday but I was too ill to go, the advice I was given over the phone was drink
lots of water, but it doesnt seem to be coming down.
How serious is it to myself or is 14.8 ok and whinin the normal
Angelheart262
Thanks again for your warm replys

Click to expand...

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid or reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating then two hours after eating you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the affect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

Ken/Sue.

Click to expand...

Angelheart262 said:

Thank you so much for your very prompt reply, I cannot use the urine test strips, they wont even give us Glucose meters anymore, I get the feeling from them, there not particularly interested in type 2

You can buy urine test strips ( Glucostix) from the chemist for about £5 for 50.


However I appreciate this advice my 14.8 is not molymls its the old measure I take it three hours after meals.

Bit confused by that statement. :?

The standard measurement on all UK meters is millimoles per litre which is written as mmol/L which, as you are using a Breeze 2 is the measurement you get when you take a finger prick test on that meter. This measure has been in use for many years.

You should really take the test two hours after a meal as per the guidelines, three hours is too long for a normal meal.

My morning one has come down to 8-9

Any improvement has to be good

The list of foods is good advice and I will certainly follow this, if it wasnt for you sending me a free glucose meter I wouldnt be able to check so a very big thanks for the breeze 2 you sent me
Thank you all once again and much appreciated.
Angelheart262

Click to expand...