is it true type 2 diabetes shortens your life

What do you mean everything has sugar in it?? Chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, lettuce, brocoli, mushrooms, they don't have sugar in them?? Some of these things have some carbs but once you get used to carb counting thats easy.

Ready meals have lots of sugar, some yogurts have lots of sugar. Its about finding the right things to eat. Personally I only ever have greek yogurt as it's very low in carbs and sugar.

But to reiterate plenty of food does not have sugar.

shaun1974 said:

it just scares me.things what can happen to you..but i got told if u look after yourself you will lead a normal life..it that true

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More or less yes. It's not wholly normal because you do have to watch what you eat but you can still eat normally. You don't have to go on faddy diets, nibble lettuce and carrots and if, like me, you had a large piece of a sickly sweet wedding cake full of flour, sugar and sugar packed fruits, coated with marzipan and icing sugar, you won't drop down dead. Just, don't make a habit of it.

That is the problem with some diabetics, they just carry on as normal. Some don't care, some think the medication will srt it all out for them. They can run into problems. But, there are many fit and active people in their 70s who have had diabetes for decades and you wouldn't know it.

Obvious things to avoid are sweets, chocolate bars, biscuits, sugary drinks, buns etc etc. Less obvious but equally important are refined white starches, white bread, white rice, mashed potatoes and so on. If you get a meter, you can see how things ike wholegrain bread, brown rice, small new potatoes, porridge etc work for you. If you combine these foods with losing weight and taking more exercise, they tend to be OK. I do two or three short periods of exercise per day, nt as part of a weight loss programme, but as an aid to digestion. I am far too unfit to exercise enough to make a difference to weight or cardio fitness, it's more like 'walking off a meal'. By blood sugar levels, triglycerides and weght have all dropped. So, I continue to just do the same.

I did treat myself to a piece of wedding cake over the weekend and I did wake up the next morning and my level was only 4.6 mmol/L. So, as long as not too many people invite me to their weddings, I should be OK.

It really is just a question of you being kind to yourself and lokking afteryourself. Don't kill yourself with mega diets or very vigerous exercise, just do watch what you eat, keep moving and eat a little less. Time will bring you back to normal levels.

Lenny3 said:

What do you mean everything has sugar in it?? Chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, lettuce, brocoli, mushrooms, they don't have sugar in them?? Some of these things have some carbs but once you get used to carb counting thats easy.

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Yes, as lenny says, there are lots of foods. I tried some Arbroath smokies for the first time and very very tasty they were too. It you are prepared to experiment with different foods and even cook some things yourself, eating can be fun.

I have never eaten better than I do now. I thoroughly enjoy my food and I have lost 25 Kg.

Don't trust packets and jars, you don't know what's in them.

Yorksman said:

and even cook some things yourself,

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That's made my day that has.

Hi Shaun,

Just wanted to say not to get too hung up just on sugar. Of course cakes, biscuits, sweets etc should be avoided most of the time but its more important to watch the carbs not just the sugar part as all carbs break down into sugar. It's also worth changing any carbs you do eat to low GI carbs if you don't want to cut them out altogether so...if you want to have bread, have granary or seeded bread for instance as low GI carbs break down slower which means its easier for your body to cope with. Diet is super individualistic though and what one person can cope with isn't necessarily the same as the next person welcome to forum.


Diagnosed with GD in 2010, Completely disappeared postpartum. Re-diagnosed December 2012 with type 1.5 diabetes, age 26, BMI 23 currently controlled by only Metformin, 500mg twice a day.

My dad was diagnosed type 2 at 58 and lived to be 85. And he didn't die of diabetes complications, either.

Shaun my mum and dad both lived till a month after their 84th birthdays and both diabetic. would you want to live any longer than that!!!! the only down side is i was a cert to get it from the genes and lo and behold diagnosed last october..

Hi Shaun! Its perfectly natural to get knocked for six on diagnosis and if you're human (I presume you are) then worst case scenarios are the first thing you'll think of. The same rule is true for diabetes and non diabetes - a healthy lifestyle and healthy choices are everyone's best shot at a long, healthy productive life. Diabetes is a lot to take in so pace yourself. If you follow all the brilliant advice everyone has given you then you can put your worries to bed. Be kind and patient with yourself and know that you habe it in you to get a handle on this

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Control is the key; watch those carbs!

Steve Redgrave is diabetic; so is Ranulph Fiennes. Mind you, neither of them lives a normal life :lol: . Depends on your definition.

I have no intention of letting diabetes shorten my life; it's been the best thing that ever happened to me, a real wake-up call.

If someone can tell me how long I'm going to live, I'll let you know if I make it or not :wink:

Cheer up, Shaun! You're among friends.

Viv 8)

This forum is great. Cracking Type2 diabetes isn't difficult. No sugar no carbohydrates no fruit. Swimming and or gym (a good workout not a relaxing session)every day if possible. Plenty of good meat, eggs, cheese, cheese, sausages and decent vegetables. Bin the ready meals and all ready made sauces etc. just use good honest basic foodstuffs. Stick to this regime and your blood glucose will plummet. Get a glucose meter and plot your readings everyday and bask in the glory of those readings approaching normality. Take Metformin by all means but try and leave the Gliclazide in the packets if you can. Try the diet and exercise first before using Gliclazide.

Hi Shaun

How are you feeling a few weeks on? Has the panic subsided?

You probably have not had your legs cut off and you are probably not blind yet. Those were my greatest fears when I was diagnosed.

I have found following a low GL (glycaemic load) diet is helpful. But the main thing is to take regular exercise - it doesn't have to be all sweaty just regular walking will help. With different food choices and more exercise you will lose weight and that will help with your diabetes - oh and your sex life too! :thumbup:

More than 10 years on I still have 2 legs and 2 eyes working, although I have had 2 cataracts removed.

Regards,

Wonky

wonky123 said:

More than 10 years on I still have 2 legs and 2 eyes working, although I have had 2 cataracts removed.

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Just lost the arms then

Food and exercise can be combined - grow your own vegetables. I never knew making compost involved so much fetch and carry. I'm so tired, I go to bed without eating so I save on calories and carbs. But, I have the pleasure of seeing the local slugs enjoying my produce.

I bought 10 x 2 litre bottles of fizzy mineral water from Tescos today. 17p a bottle. It is really nice and refreshing.
I intend to drink a few glasses a day instead of drinking tea all day which I have a large teaspoon of sugar in. I have bought Spendour...Hated it. Stevia... Hated that too so I have plumped for fizzy water. I also bought 4 lemons and 4 limes to give it a more interesting taste.And I bought 6 kiwi fruits and a stack of veg. I eat a lot of veg anyway but not much fruit. Oh, and a Galia melon too.

I am getting my head around this and have learned a lot since I got my diagnosis last Tuesday.

My life has changed. And I going to make damned sure it is for the better.

@wizardo, your body needs carbs for fuel, if you take no carbs you will die

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Hey Zola, be careful with fruit, especially tropical fruit - it's a sneaky dark horse and can push levels right up


Diagnosed with GD in 2010, Completely disappeared postpartum. Re-diagnosed December 2012 with type 1.5 diabetes, age 26, BMI 23 currently controlled by only Metformin, 500mg twice a day.

jimbob72 said:

@wizardo, your body needs carbs for fuel, if you take no carbs you will die

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Ha ha ha ha! Good one

Exercise is very important.

I am restricting carbs to less than 150g per day and avoiding the starchy white stuff like the poison it is, but my BG will still go high if I don't exercise, so I am on the rowing machine and rowing up to 35km per week, seems to work quite well. Just wish the wind and rain would let up a bit so I can get outside and do some real km on the kayak or bike instead of staring at my exercise space wall. Haven't got too far to go in my weight loss program now but I don't see me changing my routine too much as I'm enjoying it for the most part, so I'll probably just up the calorie intake to offset the exercise.

I've also found that chucking smallish dumbells around for an hour or so seem to have a positive effect so I do that when my training app tells me to take a day off the cardio stuff.

I seriously recommend myfitnesspal as an aid to monitoring what you eat, and if you are going to do cardio exercise then get a heart rate monitor and use polarpersonaltrainer to manage your cardio workload and ensure you are training in the correct heartrate zone, it's too easy to overdo it without realising it so you need to keep an eye on your loading and ease back during recovery periods


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zolabud said:

I bought 10 x 2 litre bottles of fizzy mineral water from Tescos today. 17p a bottle. It is really nice and refreshing.

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I drink green tea or other teas like earl grey. You don't need sugar with these. I did ween myself off sugar in normal tea a long time ago, so it is possible.

For a refreshing drink, I buy the cheap zero calorie zero carb supermarket lemonade. It doesn't taste very good but when yuo squeeze the juice of a fresh lemon into it, you have a very good fizzy lemon drink. It hits the spot. Lemon and lime are good for helping to keep blood sugars low and, if you add the fleshy parts, the soluable fibre is good for your blood vessel walls.

My favourite refreshing drink though is green tea with lemon. It's worth cultivating some new tastes rather than trying to replicate familiar tastes with diabetic friendly constituent parts. There's a world of interestng things to try out there.

jimbob72 said:

@wizardo, your body needs carbs for fuel, if you take no carbs you will die

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Sorry to disagree, jimbob72, but this is a myth.

All the carbohydrate we eat turns into glucose (hence its blood-glucose-raising abilities!), and glucose is the easiest fuel for our bodies to use, so it grabs what it needs for fuel and then stores the rest as fat.

If we lower our carb intake to the bare minimum (there are carbs even in green leafy veggies, so we can't avoid them completely), our bodies go into ketosis, a perfectly natural state in which our bodies metabolize fat for energy instead of glucose. For those of us who need it, this has the happy side-effect of weight loss as our fat stores are reduced.

NB ketosis is natural and safe, and not to be confused with ketoacidosis, which is dangerous. Google either for more info.

In addition to the ketosis producing energy for our bodies to use, about 20% of all the protein we eat is slowly metabolized into glucose, which our bodies will also use for energy. So even on a traditional Eskimo or Maasai diet, we still get a certain amount of glucose from our food.

A carb-based diet, as recommended by the NHS, is not suitable for everybody. My metabolism can't cope with carbs, so I try to keep my intake below 50g daily. If only I had realised this earlier, I might have been nice and slim all my life instead of struggling with my weight for 50 years, and in the end having so much stored internal fat (caused by sticking faithfully to high carb/low fat as recommended by the NHS) that my pancreas malfunctioned, leading to my diagnosis with Type 2 diabetes.

If I stick to my below 50g carb diet, I can now keep my blood glucose levels in the non-diabetic range at all times. Increase my carb intake, and up go the BG readings - and my weight increases. :roll:

Viv 8)