I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 2 days ago.

6728karena · Jan 25, 2014

Hi
I would be grateful for any advice re diet, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 2 days ago, I was discharged from hospital after seeing a diabetic nurse who gave me some leaflets and told me to change my diet, she did not tell me how to change my diet or what to eat, she said I should be seeing a dietician before being discharged, this didn't happen so I am struggling to work out what will and won't affect my sugar levels. The nurse told me to take my blood sugar readings before breakfast, lunch, tea, and bedtime (insulin 4 times a day). I am still waiting to see the dietician. Any advice would be appreciated.

Andy12345 · Jan 25, 2014

Hi, Welcome

Im sorry youve experienced the nhs at its best but dont worry, although im not one of them there are lots of brilliant and knowledgable fellow type 1s that can help you, watch this space

6728karena · Jan 25, 2014

Andy12345 said:
Hi, Welcome

Im sorry youve experienced the nhs at its best but dont worry, although im not one of them there are lots of brilliant and knowledgable fellow type 1s that can help you, watch this space

Thanks, like you say NHS at its best...

Gary25566 · Jan 25, 2014

I was in the same boat as you three your ago when I started insulin the NHS was as helpful as a chocolate fire guard

I found google to be a good source of information on low sugar foods
The dietitian was useless unless you have plenty of money for fresh fish and low fat foods ect

My big downfall was bread and to much used to spike my sugars

Avoid to many carbs bread potatoes rice ect

Everything in moderation is ok even the odd treat

I have a weight issue but I'm still able to keep my specialist happy with low sugar readings

Good luck

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SamJB · Jan 25, 2014

Hi, to answer your question, carbs raise sugar levels. You will need to eat them in moderation. Have you been prescribed any insulin yet? There are a couple of ways of controlling your diabetes with insulin, but we need to know what insulin you're on first.

With testing, you need to test before and two hours after eating. Again, it's difficult to give you specific info on what to do with these readings before knowing what insulin you are on, as there are a couple of regimes.

6728karena · Jan 25, 2014

Gary25566 said:
I was in the same boat as you three your ago when I started insulin the NHS was as helpful as a chocolate fire guard

I found google to be a good source of information on low sugar foods
The dietitian was useless unless you have plenty of money for fresh fish and low fat foods ect

My big downfall was bread and to much used to spike my sugars

Avoid to many carbs bread potatoes rice ect

Everything in moderation is ok even the odd treat

I have a weight issue but I'm still able to keep my specialist happy with low sugar readings

Good luck

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

Thanks, I'll have a good look on google, it was my daughter who advised me to join a forum I haven't done this before so this is new to me, at the moment any advice is good.

Gary25566 · Jan 25, 2014

You are welcome I hope you find some good advice

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

6728karena · Jan 25, 2014

SamJB said:
Hi, to answer your question, carbs raise sugar levels. You will need to eat them in moderation. Have you been prescribed any insulin yet? There are a couple of ways of controlling your diabetes with insulin, but we need to know what insulin you're on first.

With testing, you need to test before and two hours after eating. Again, it's difficult to give you specific info on what to do with these readings before knowing what insulin you are on, as there are a couple of regimes.

Hi
I have been prescribed insulin I inject 6 ml NOVORAPID flexipen at breakfast, lunch and teatime then 10ml LEVEMIR flexipen at bed time, I also have to take 1x500mg METAFORMIN in a morning. My blood sugar readings vary between 7.2 and 11.4. I was only told to test before meals which does seam stupid, as I don't have any indication of what foods affect me, I am going to start a food diary in the morning based on what I have read up to now on these pages and will test after meals as advised.

hale710 · Jan 25, 2014

Hi! Nothing new to add, just wanted to say go and welcome

Blogging at drivendiabetic.wordpress.com

SamJB · Jan 25, 2014

With Novorapid you can match the dose to the carb quantity. A lot of people start off with 1 unit of NR to 10g carbs and tweak it from there. It's important to keep a record of your BGs before and after eating. It's also important to not eat too many carbs as there's less room for error when your carb quantities are low.

6728karena · Jan 25, 2014

SamJB said:
With Novorapid you can match the dose to the carb quantity. A lot of people start off with 1 unit of NR to 10g carbs and tweak it from there. It's important to keep a record of your BGs before and after eating. It's also important to not eat too many carbs as there's less room for error when your carb quantities are low.

Thank you, I will start with this in the morning and see what happens over a few days.

SamJB · Jan 25, 2014

There are so many experienced, well-controlled diabetics on here that can help you, so if you have any more questions, then ask away.

noblehead · Jan 26, 2014

Just go along with what your healthcare team says for now. There some good books to read on diabetes for those who are newly diagnosed such as Type 1 Diabetes for Dummies and Think Like a Pancreas when your more confident with your diabetes.

6728karena · Jan 26, 2014

Brian_H said:
I've just joined this forum too, but I've been Type 1 for about 45 years (since the age of 12).

As has already been mentioned, aim for 1 unit of NovoRapid to 10g of carbohydrates. Look on the food labels to see how much carbohydrate is in the food e.g. a 400g tin of Heinz Minestrone soup is about 25g of carbohydrate (about 7g of which is sugar). So this would be equivalent to injecting 2.5 units of NovoRapid (on a 1:10 ratio), and on its own you could choose whether to inject 2 or 3 units of NovoRapid. HOWEVER, it often depends on time of day as to the ratio, and this varies from person to person. For some people, 1 unit would do it, for others, they might need 5 or 6 units. Also, the time that you inject before eating is an art. NovoRapid is recommended half an hour before eating, but for me this is too soon, because my digestion is slow. There is an assumption that the stomach empties after 6 hours, but this is not always the case.

The model to bear in mind is:
1. the food is absorbed in the small intestine, and the food reaches there from the stomach, at varying rates
2. carbohydrates are generally absorbed quickest, but it also depends on the "glycaemic index" of the carbohydrate e.g. coca cola is rapidly absorbed, a 300ml bottle of coke is 30 carbohydrate I think, and it gets through the stomach very quickly. Nuts are at the other end of the index, so if you just ate a lot of nuts equal to 30g of carbohydrate, I would not recommend injecting the NovoRapid half an hour beforehand, else you would need to drink a bottle of coke and then inject more again for the nuts later (yes it can be that complicated when over analysed LOL)
3. as I mention, the ratio of NovoRapid to carbohydrate often varies during the day

I think that's about it for now, but diet itself can be your own choice if you find the skills and information.

Thank you for your advice, there doesn't seem to be much support from the NHS. I have had got more information from the pages on this forum. I would have thought diet should have been discussed before I left hospital due to it being a main part of managing diabetes I am still waiting to hear from and see a dietician.

6728karena · Jan 26, 2014

noblehead said:
Just go along with what your healthcare team says for now. There some good books to read on diabetes for those who are newly diagnosed such as Type 1 Diabetes for Dummies and Think Like a Pancreas when your more confident with your diabetes.

I don't have a healthcare team that I know of.
However, I was advised by a diabetic advisor before leaving hospital to notify DVLA and my car insurance provider.
She also said I would need to be able to inject myself before I could go home (this was the moment I found out I was type1).
I was shown how to test my blood sugar and how to use the insulin pen.
I haven't seen a dietician, when I asked about diet before leaving hospital I was told a dietician would be in touch.
I have found out more about diabetes on these forum pages than from the NHS.

I will definitely look for the books you have mentioned thank you.

noblehead · Jan 26, 2014

I'm sure your healthcare team will be in touch shortly, if not chase them up.

6728karena · Jan 26, 2014

noblehead said:
I'm sure your healthcare team will be in touch shortly, if not chase them up.

I will ring the surgery in the morning. I have just ordered Type 1 diabetes for dummies from amazon, so that should arrive tuesday.

kerrygrant26 · Jan 28, 2014

Hi there and welcome! I was diagnosed t1 a week or so ago (my days are all mushed up at the moment). I wasn't and still haven't been given any information on what types of food to eat/ avoid by my diabetes team either but have learned from the lovely people on this site that reducing my carbohydrate intake or switching to better carbs has brought my blood glucose levels down and increasing my insulin (on the diabetic nurse's advice) has just this last day or two has lowered my levels further. Today I bought the book carbs and cals which is great, it shows the amount of carbs in different types of food and by portion size so whilst it's too early for me to carb count it lets me see exactly what I am eating.

If you need to talk to someone in the same sort of stage of diagnosis then please don't hesitate to message me anytime, it seems to be a steep learning curve at first

You will get a phone call in the next couple of days from a diabetic nurse who will want to see you and keep a close eye on things and it shouldn't be to long until you see a dietician, I seen one a couple of days ago but if anything like my appointment he/she will just go trough the bare bones of diabetes and a healthy diet with you in the first appointment.

Keep us updated on your journey and any questions you have please don't be afraid to ask on here, everyone is lovely

neilalastair · Jan 28, 2014

Keep checking in and letting us know how you are getting on.
I was really confused when I first started on this journey not knowing the difference between basal and bolus that sugar wasn't the same as carb content!! I thought I would be keeping records for ages and that I would never get used to it but I did finally through the excellent support of groups like these. You can be successful managing diabetes and you can enjoy better health than most so called healthy people .

Just finished watching Sir Steve Redgrave skiing on TV

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midlands girl · Jan 30, 2014

Hi, Type 1 for 13 years. On a recent DAFNE course I went on I learned a really useful piece of information (among other things) on how to know if you were on the correct nighttime insulin dose for you. I had been on 18 units of Levemir for a year or so and often had problems during the day with going low. At the course I learned that whatever you BS reading is before bed (ie 6) if your nighttime dose is correct it should read the same in the morning (ie 6). Stupid as it sounds this was a revelation to me and my Levemir dose was put down to 14 units at night instead. This made a huge difference to my daytime readings. Still need to get my average lower, but thought this was a simple piece of info that may help.) EJ

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 2 days ago.

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