I was told by a locum GP in a phone consultation to lose weight and take more e ixercise. He had never even met me and new nothing about my lifestyle. Only advice I was given on my first visit with the DN was our body does not need a jam doughnut.
Three very valuable nuggets of advice, if I may say so.
Like many (NOT ALL) diagnosed with T2 diabetes, I was extremely overweight (18st 8lbs and 5ft 8ins) and did not move around much. My diet was poor in the sense that I ate all that I should but ate and drank a lot that was unnecessary. I think that the modern day diabetes guru Prof Roy Taylor calls this *over-nutrition", I think that "gluttony" would be the old fashioned word.
On diagnosis (HBa1c 82 mmol/mol) I resolved to lose weight and to do this I would follow the diet recommended by the doctor (or strictly in the leaflet I was given by the doctor) and increase my activity levels by an hour or so brisk walking every day. I reasoned that I had been eating abnormally for several years and that the first thing to do was to bring my calorie consumption down to normal levels. I also resolved that I would review the question of diet when I had seen the effects of (hopefully) losing weight.
I had read on this forum the views of many who advocate a low carb diet, usually described as LCHF with the HF being high fat. Shortly after being diagnosed, the BBC Horizon programme "Fat v Sugar" was aired. The programme had twin doctors one of whom had a diet of almost exclusively fat based nutrients and the other whose diet consisted of sugar. The programme concluded that neither was a healthy diet but the glucose readings of the twin with the fat diet shot up more that the readings of the twin with the sugar diet.
I therefore decided that a balanced diet with carbohydrates was for me. I cut out white bread and potatoes, substituting wholemeal and sweet potatoes in their place. Red meat was also to go and replaced by fish. Vegetable (broccoli and beans) intake was increased. Some primitive form of portion control was introduced. I stopped eating as a form of recreation. The net effect of the above was that the weight fell off and and Hba1c likewise went south to 38mmol/mol) in first 3 months from diagnosis. I had decided that I would not take any medication until I had got myself down to a normal weight, so I have not taken any metformin although my diabetes team did want to prescribe it for me.
The upshot of the above is that I am now over 5 stones lighter than at diagnosis but still a few pounds over weight, I eat a normal diet and have normal blood glucose levels. I probably would have been in the same position if I had followed a LCHF diet, but who knows? The advantage of the NHS advised diet to me is that I feel that I can stick to it for the rest of my life, I do not think that I could say the same about a LCHF diet. So my advice to the original poster is to try the balanced diet advised by the NHS and other bodies around the world before embarking on a more restrictive diet, such as the LCHF advocated by many on here.
However, T2 diabetes is not a disease which is contracted overnight and in most (NOT ALL) cases is caused by many years over-nutrution/gluttony and that the main thing to do is to stop doing what one has been doing which has given you diabetes in the first place, which is overeating.
With respect to the original poster and to her DN, I do not think that the latter is advising to former to gorge on bananas and digestive biscuits. I think that the point the DN was making is that there is nothing out of bounds provided it is taken in moderation. I would also say that my diabetes team of a doctor, diabetes nurse and nutritionist (all NHS) have been conscientious, professional and knowledgeable. I have no doubt that they have been acting in my best interests.