Hi there, over the past six months dad has lost control of his type 2 diabetes,

[cookie1]

My (now 90) year old dad has been T2 for ten years and went lower carb 18 months ago. He sticks to less than 30g a meal, and has mostly dropped bread, potatoes, pasta, rice. This allowed him to come off meds (he was on gliclazide) lose weight and generally look/feel much healthier. He buys 1 person heat up meals for his evening meal but chooses ones with less than 30g carbs. His bgs are now slightly higher than normal (his nurse took him off his last gliclazide tablet without doing an hba1c, which I wasn't impressed by, but honestly his levels are probably better than mine as a T1 diabetic). My brother and he have been isolating from COVID together so my brother has been cooking low carb even meals during lock down (it suits them both as my brother was probably heading for T2 before he went low carb).

The potential issue with your dad is that the insulin may cause hypos if he reduces his carbs without reducing insulin (though at levels that high some reduction in carbs will probably just normalise his levels). Is there anyone living with him to help with the management? (I believe you can get a transmitter to attach to your dad's libre to allow it to send readings to a phone and possibly then to your phone. Look up miao miao????)

Good luck.

May I ask which meals your father has in the evening please as dad is struggling to cook with his arthritis.

No one is living with him, but we go and see him almost every other day.
X

 

[Oldvatr]

Hi. I am an elderly T2D with similar cardiovascular problems to your Dad. I am slightly younger, and luckily still able to look after myself. I am using Low Carb to control my diabetes, along with a small amount of medication/ I have managed keto dieting, but found it too restrictive for me, so I have moved to a more moderate carb Mediterranean type diet form of LCHF. Although I can cook from scratch, I have found that I am now able to use some ready made meals without major upset. I have a freezer and a microwave, so for me frozen prepared meals are simple to prepare, and not too naff for nutrition.

As an omnivore, my choices are biassed. I am not a user of many vegetarian products.

I have found by using my meter that I can tolerate some of the ASDA economy range such as cottage pie, fish pie, lasagna, etc and although not quite as low carb but infinitely more tasty, the Bisto range of equivalents, With some frozen veg done in a saucepan or steamer then it is a goodly meal for me and prepared inside 10 minutes , Another range I have used is the Aldi Slimwell range but these are more expensive, I have tried other frozen meals from other sources, but they tend to be higher carb or have more additives in them so cannot recommend others.

Aldi also have some cook/chill prepared meals such as cannelloni, spaghetti, curry, etc, but these tend to be a bit more carby, and although they can be frozen, they take longer to cook thoroughly. They also tend to be on the more pricey side of the wallet.

ASDA do home deliveries, but slots are difficult to book. Aldi do not do deliveries. I avoid WW meals because I found them to be ridiculously high in carb values and have added sugars to boot. But they can deliver too.

Foods to beware of because they tend to hide nasties that upset my meter readings: Faggots, beefburger, any cheese or yoghurt with a cartoon on the packaging. Anything in BBQ sauce. Frozen veg with cartoon character ( I got very high readings from some frozen peas I once purchased because they had added sugar).

There are minefields out there and it is surprising how much processed food gets adjusted for the non discerning general public. As a diabetic, I read labels and stick to known and proven sources

One added bonus from using frozen meals is that most of the packaging is becoming recycling friendly, and there is very little washing up to do. Good news for us older generation.with CVD history.

 

[cookie1]

Hi. I am an elderly T2D with similar cardiovascular problems to your Dad. I am slightly younger, and luckily still able to look after myself. I am using Low Carb to control my diabetes, along with a small amount of medication/ I have managed keto dieting, but found it too restrictive for me, so I have moved to a more moderate carb Mediterranean type diet form of LCHF. Although I can cook from scratch, I have found that I am now able to use some ready made meals without major upset. I have a freezer and a microwave, so for me frozen prepared meals are simple to prepare, and not too naff for nutrition.

As an omnivore, my choices are biassed. I am not a user of many vegetarian products.

I have found by using my meter that I can tolerate some of the ASDA economy range such as cottage pie, fish pie, lasagna, etc and although not quite as low carb but infinitely more tasty, the Bisto range of equivalents, With some frozen veg done in a saucepan or steamer then it is a goodly meal for me and prepared inside 10 minutes , Another range I have used is the Aldi Slimwell range but these are more expensive, I have tried other frozen meals from other sources, but they tend to be higher carb or have more additives in them so cannot recommend others.

Aldi also have some cook/chill prepared meals such as cannelloni, spaghetti, curry, etc, but these tend to be a bit more carby, and although they can be frozen, they take longer to cook thoroughly. They also tend to be on the more pricey side of the wallet.

ASDA do home deliveries, but slots are difficult to book. Aldi do not do deliveries. I avoid WW meals because I found them to be ridiculously high in carb values and have added sugars to boot. But they can deliver too.

Foods to beware of because they tend to hide nasties that upset my meter readings: Faggots, beefburger, any cheese or yoghurt with a cartoon on the packaging. Anything in BBQ sauce. Frozen veg with cartoon character ( I got very high readings from some frozen peas I once purchased because they had added sugar).

There are minefields out there and it is surprising how much processed food gets adjusted for the non discerning general public. As a diabetic, I read labels and stick to known and proven sources

One added bonus from using frozen meals is that most of the packaging is becoming recycling friendly, and there is very little washing up to do. Good news for us older generation.with CVD history.

Thank you for the heads up on asda foods, I've been taking a look at the ingredients of some as a lot have added garlic powder which he hates, palm oil, and now I see and emergence of lemon oil in beef meals.
I just though having a few of these each week would help him plan foods for the week ahead and quick for him.

We had a dialog with his dbn yesterday only to discover he has been giving himself insulin upto 4 times in one day, but he on novomix 30!!!
Its no wonder he feels crabby and tired.
Thank you