Hiya. Help!!

Hi Helenelizabeth and welcome to the forum I think you will find that some of your questions will be answered in this information written for new members. You are right to lean towards the low carb diet as this information explains. If you test before and 2 hours after meals you will be able to see which foods suit you and which you need to reduce or cut out. This way you will be able to work out how many carbs you personally will eat. It is different for everyone. Start fairly high and gradually decrease the number of carbs you eat. You may find as you do this diet that your craving for carbs diminishes. We don't recommend the traditional high carb diet as that will keep BG levels high. As for alcohol, personally I go for red wine but I know that doesn't suit you. Other members will be here soon and they will tell you what they drink. Don't feel that your life will be shortened - you just need to take a little more care of yourself than a non-diabetic. You will also get lots of answers to all your questions as members log on. Ask more questions as the need arises and there will usually be someone who can answer from his/her own experience.

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 well over 30,000 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 ... rains.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 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.
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Please sign our e-petition for free testing for all type 2's; here's the link:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/petition/

Do get your friends and colleagues to sign as well.

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Helenelizabeth said:

Hi im a newbie. recently diagnosed type 2 after being generally unwell for quite a while maybe a year and a half? despite there being a reason for not feeling right ive been really ragin aagainst the diagnosis - i dont want to have my life curtailed!! i have to say i feel in agreement with the member who kept calling it 'this sugar thing' because i dont want to SAY im diabetic - my DH said when was i going to accept things coz i kept saying 'The Doctor says im diabetic' rather than just that i am. and my oldest son said he pictured me sat in the Drs office going 'no, YOU are' when he told me!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Anyway im glad ive found this forum ive been net-surfing for a few weeks now and this seems to be an absolute fount of information. Im sort of moving on from the rage now. and into confusion. So can i ask a few questions? is this the right place to do that?
1. I know there's major controversy but should i low-carb or follow 'traditional' high starchy-carb diet. i feel drawn mostly to low carb as ive always felt better when i restricted carbs and concentrated on lean protein, fruit and veg? however i have a strong sugar-addiction thing and once i start with the sweets that me gone, basically :cry:
2. Im not a huge drinker (anymore :lol: ) but i find socialising without alcohol like pulling teeth without anaesthetic! I do go out loads less than i used to but dont want to be a complete hermit, so what the take on alcohol and whats the best thing to drink? I love wine but it makes me feel like **** for half a week these days.
3. What is type 1.5 diabetes?
4. If i eat sugar, or even too much of 'good' carbs, i get hot and tachycardic, my pulse races. is this normal. well normal for a diabetic, has anyone else experienced it. like i know sugar will do it to me so obviously try to not, but i can have one slice of whole grain seeded bread but not two without starting symptoms?
5. if i do decide to do low carb (actually almost certainly will) how many carbs per meal, how many in a day and whats a good book to get my head round carb counting? and do i have to leave a certain length of time between meals/snacks or will i be carb-stacking. oh its so confusing. im only very slightly overweight (BMI 27) but I'd like to lose 10lbs to a stone if i could. have found that since theres lots of snack foods I CANT eat im eating stupid quantities of nuts. which are high fat and calorie arent they? but dont seem to have any effect on my sugars and dont make me feel ****.
All advice gratefully received Helen xxx

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Hi Helen and welcome to the forum.

Here's some really quick answers!

Although near enough everyone on the forum agrees with reducing carbs the important point is to realise a reduction in carbs is used as a means of controlling your blood sugars first and as a diet second. To that end the best way of working what your personal tolerance is would be to get a blood glucose meter and start testing your sugar levels. That way you can pretty quickly work out what is good and bad for you. As a rough guide people tend to start at around 120 - 150g / day then using testing adjust up or down from that point. I suspect that even at 150g / day you will be eating a lot less carbohydrate than you are use to. You really should give up the sugar and sweets (except for the odd occasion) as being diabetic they can now be dangerous to your health. Remember when counting carbs use the "Total" amount not just the "of which sugars" amount.

This ones going to sound blunt. Like you I was only "slightly overweight" when diagnosed but I'm still a Type 2 diabetic so tough you'll just have to deal with it like me, life's a *****... The more weight you can lose the better as what's called your insulin resistance will come down meaning the insulin you produce will work better so that long term you MAY be able to eat a bit more carbs without your blood sugars going dangerously high. Remember a BMI of over 25 is overweight and to get to "normal" you should be aiming for a BMI around 22. Studies have also shown that waist measurement is a good indicator (if not better than BMI) of diabetic risk. For a woman anything over a 80cm (31.5") is considered to indicate an increasing risk factor. For men its 94cm (37"). You should do the measurement at the biggest part around your tummy I'm afraid i.e not the same as the waist masurement for jeans and trousers as I found out

Drink shorts. Alcohol is good at suppressing blood sugar levels as I think it stops your liver releasing glucose as it has to spend all its time dealing with the poisonous alcohol in your bloodstream! If I go out for a meal and want to be a bit bad then a couple (or more!) G&T's (slimline tonic of course) work a treat.

If your heart races if you eat loads of sugar / carbs then that's going to stop once you stop eating loads of sugar and carbs! Many new people actually report things the other way round saying they get dizziness and other symptoms when their blood sugars fall "too low" and worry that they are hypoing. Firstly as a Type 2 you have no different reaction to low sugars as a non diabetic unless you are on insulin or some of the very powerful diabetic drugs. Even if you get down to the really low levels that a hypo can occur your body will compensate automatically within a short while. The symptoms that people do get are real and can be unpleasant but in most cases its just you body going "give me back my sugar fix NOW"

The difference between Type 1.5 and 2. In simple terms Type 1.5 is where a persons pancreas is gradually giving out meaning in the end they are likely to end up like a Type 1 requiring insulin. In Type 2 the problem can be thought the opposite in that the pancreas can be producing loads of insulin but for whatever reason your body has become resistant to it. There are tests that can be done to detect between Type 1.5 and Type 2 one is called a GAD test. It is not 100% accurate though and costs so your gp may be loathed to pay out for the test especially if you begin to respond to standard Type 2 medication and diet. The trouble is if you low carb you can confuse your gp as both a 1.5 and 2 may initially respond well to a low carb diet. Even worse don't assume that your gp understands that a low carb diet can help as many don't! If you can't persuade your gp to do the tests (I can't) then you may just have to accept that low carbing is the best thing to do for now.

Just keep asking as many questions as you need.

Helenelizabeth said:

thanks guys.
little overwhelmed with info at the moment (and tired from a night shift )
but answered a lot of my questions so thanks. and yes will go with the low-carb? seeing practice nurse on friday and 90% sure she'll talk to me about the 'traditional' high carb/high fibre approach, dont know whether to just agree with her and then ignore it, or challenge and ask about low carb?
agree i need to lose weight.
? recommended books/carb counter resources.
Thanks again Helen xx

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When I saw my practice nurse I told her I was eating low carb, and she said well done. I just didn`t say how low my low carb was. One week later, to the day, and I had my lowest reading yet tonight. 4.5. I am not changing my eating habits for anyone!

Hi Helen, google blood sugar 101, plenty of info, and search the internet for low carb, there are so many people out there doing it. Gary Taubes, Atkins et al.

Hello, it's natural to want to know all there is to know about what's happening in your body, but my advice is don't get too hung up on it. The advice and information you've received already is more than enough to get good control. I always believe in small manageable changes, I know I wouldn't have the discipline to do what a lot of people here put themselves through regarding strict diet, but likewise they couldn't put themselves through some of what I do regarding exercise. Which is my way of saying you now know the theory of good practices so decide what will work for you and slowly move toward it, small changes can have big effects if they're maintained.

Hi Helen, and welcome!

Don't worry, you are not alone in your reaction to diagnosis - my GP said 'You're diabetic', I said 'No I'm not!' That was in the April. I finally allowed them to register me in the December as I wanted Metformin, which can help with weight loss - and I had a lot to lose. I've lost half the excess and what's left is still a lot! :lol:

I'm a devoted follower of low-carb, Atkins style. The book I would recommend you to get, written by two of his colleagues after his death, is:

Atkins Diabetes Revolution by M C Vernon and J A Eberstein.

Robert Atkins discovered that his low-carb weight loss diet also did amazing things by lowering blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol, and all that has been true of me.

I'm on my second go at Atkins now -the first was in 2005/05 - lost 5.5 stones. No need to go into why I lapsed, but I started on it again immediately on diagnosis (determined to prove that doctor wrong!). This time I've lost 4.5 stone in 2 years, and my BG levels are now hardly ever above non-diabetic levels. If I go back to high-carb eating, though, I know my BG will shoot up again. It's for life this time.

There is definitely life with diabetes. I drink red wine, less often than before but still too much when I do drink. I have a friend, Type 1, who was drinking whisky well into her 80s. No need to worry about eating out - there's always something you can have, I find, and an occasional treat won't hurt.

As it says in Daisy's advice, get a meter, test regularly, and you'll soon find out what you can and can't eat. Eventually you'll hardly need to test at all, except occasionally to make sure things are still under control.

Tell your practice nurse that you want to try eating a carbohydrate-controlled diet, and that you need a meter to let you see how different foods affect you. Don't mentioned the word Atkins! and don't say low-carb. If she insists you need plenty of carbs, ask her why? as all carbohydrate turns into glucose in the body. If she says 'No, only sugars do that' she doesn't know what she's taking about (this rarely happens, but they do exist!). Don't argue. Just smile sweetly and agree with everything she says. Then go home and do what you want.

There are plenty of very good, enlightened GPs and nurses about - my practice has examples of both. If they're not, it's not worth antagonising them - you need to build a relationship with your HCPs, because you're going to need them, for your regular checks and blood tests. Don't argue with them, but do your own thing and keep a record. Then, when they ask how you've done so well - say 'low-carbing'!

Do let us know how you get on on Friday, and ask any questions you like. We were all new to it once.

Viv 8)