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Message: <blockquote data-quote="xyzzy" data-source="post: 279225" data-attributes="member: 40343">Paul a lot of people on the forum regardless of diabetic type would tell you to "Eat to your meter". Regardless of what "style" you choose the bottom line for a T2 diabetic is to choose the route that two hours after eating a meal gives a blood reading less that around 8. There is a lot of research that shows going above 8 (8.5 is the UK NICE guideline) but 7.8 is recommended in most other countries is when complications leading to blindness and amputations WILL begin to occur. You can see the blood glucose levels that the UK recommends here <a href="http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html" target="_blank">http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html</a>Now you have choosen the T2 diet only approach that I and many others on the forum choose but that doesn't just mean you can simply select what appears to be a healthy choice if that choice does not get your blood sugar levels down. If you can get them down through a pure low GL route that is great but very few diet only T2's can achieve that. To be blunt many of us would recommend you just cut out a load of bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and cereals and after that worry about glycemic load on what little remains.My meter tells me for example I can tolerate ONE level tablespoon of boiled white rice and TWO level tablespoons if its low GL brown basmati rice cousin. Big deal! I have a similar pathetic tolerance (25g) when applied to white pasta and brown or tri coloured pasta. I have NO tolerance to bread be it white or wholemeal although I can eat ONE slice of burgen soya bread in anyone meal so long as what I have with it is effective zero carbs. I also take 1500mg of Metformin to help me get that pittance of a tolerance for starchy foods. Now you might be lucky and may have a higher tolerance of things and thats why getting a meter is important, far more important than any "style" at this time. Even the toughest of us diet only T2's can probably only do 3 or 4 level tablespoons of brown basmati rice especially at the point when we were newly diagnosed.Sorry if that sounds shocking but that is the truth about T2D and one that is rarely spelt out by the HCP's in this country. On the plus side if you lose weight you will consequently lose insulin resistance and then you MIGHT regain some extra tolerance to carbohydrates but that depends on how long and how high your blood sugar levels were running high before diagnosis. That is what T2D means. It means you can no longer process carbohydrates effectively because you have got a combination of insulin resistance (the insulin you produce doesn't work effectively) brought about normally by being overweight and a loss of insulin production capability which will be permanent because high blood glucose levels have killed off an amount of insulin producing Beta cells in your pancreas and they don't regenerate.You are right to think that the diet (regime) you chose is the best and most effective thing you can do. Chosing the right diet is ten times as effective as any diabetic drug but the keywords are RIGHT DIET. Low GL is a good start but it is not the be all and end all of it. Again without wishing to sound aggressive. I and others choose the right diet. I was diagnosed just 5 months ago with an HbA1c of 11.3%. I reduced that to 5.3% in 3 months. My doctor is eccstatic; his words "You have put your diabetes into remission". I now run my blood glucose levels in the same range as a healthy non diabetic person so between 4 and 6 for 98% of the time which is just as the NICE guidelines say I should.  I normalised my cholesterol in the same period and my blood pressure and lost 20kg (3 Stone) in weight by making the RIGHT DIET choice. I have done that by cutting out carbohydrate, pure and simple. I am not "cured" if I eat a normal portion of rice or pasta of whatever GL then BOOM my levels go straight through the roof.</blockquote>

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