just diagnosed type 2

Hello Kerry,

I hesitate to welcome you to the forum, but it is a helpful place to be. It is a shock to be diagnosed with a condition that will affect the rest of your life, but it is manageable if you take control.

I'm surprised they have started you on tablets before getting a clear picture of your diabetic condition. Meters are useful, with at least a reading taken overnight to give a consistent picture. Look at this site for recommendations.

If your feet are limiting your ability to exercise, a whole body exercise machine you can use sitting down may be the answer. I've got a rowing machine I bought in Asda for £30 set up in front of my TV. I don't like excercise bikes as there is too much stress on the knee, & no upper body excercise.

As far as diet is concerned, low fat/sugar/salt is the general rule, with an increase in fresh fruit & vegetables. I use the glycaemic index as a guide. Low GI means slower digestion and therefore slower sugar build-up & better control. Its basically a healthy diet for everyone, so your family will benefit.

There's plenty more help available.

Hope that helps for starters.

Welcome to the club, Kerrie. Actually, you just qualify and no more. A fasting blood sugar over 7.1 mmol/l and a glucose tolerance test over 11.1mmol/l are the minimum entry requirements!

You're right to cut out the sugars of course, but since diabetes is essentially a disease of carbohydrate metabolism, you would benefit from cutting back on the foods that release sugar into the bloodstream, even though you may not percieve them as sweet. These are the starchy foods which deliver a big sugar hit as they are digested and they include breads, potatoes, white rice, pasta and anything made with refined white flour or sugar.

If that sounds like a big part of a normal diet, it's largely because what we've come to perceive as normal is actually far from it. If you replace these things with healthy natural foods that have a much smaller impact on blood sugar levels then your readings will improve, and so should your weight. Such foods include meat, fish, eggs, nuts, dairy, most vegetables and some fruits.

Now the good news. If you make these changes, you may find your readings drop back into a non-diabetic range, which would be fantastic.

All the best,

fergus

Hi Kerry

I know from personal experience that a good whinge now and then works wonders, so dont ever hold back, this is the place to be.

Its a good idea to cut down on carbs, also you say you eat dairy products, many diabetics find that the lactose in milk causes their blood sugars to rise quite a bit so do your testing.

Everyone is different, some do low carb/high protein diets, others just cut back, I did the low GI thing, so work out what appeals to you, as for exercising, I have just responded to a mobility impaired member of this forum and suggested he checks out the Rosemary Conley DVD whole body workout as it contains a section specifically for unfit/disabled people, its terrible to hear that you had to wait all those years for an operation to make you more mobile again, but it is nothing new, my husband needs spinal fusion surgery and has been on the waiting list for 4 years, twice admitted to hospital and discharged again because they needed the bed for an emergency.

Also can your GP refer you for physio or gym so that maybe you can learn some safe exercises that you can do at home, even if you are sitting in a chair most of the time or lying down you still can do some exercises, anything is better than keeping still, even just twiddling your fingers and thumbs, any movement will help burn a few extra calories and help circulation and give you hope of eventually being able to build up and do more.

All the best

Karen x

Hi xkmac,welcome to the forum.I used hand held weights sitting in a chair to do a lot of my exercises as I have a dodgy knee which doesn't take kindly to high impact exercise(neither do I actually!!) I also found doing standing up press ups against a suitable height work top good exercise for the tummy,I'm not sure how your ankle would cope with that however.Try standing about 1-2 feet from work top then doing press ups ,if it hurts ,don't do it!!I also have one of those elastic gym things which you can use and don't need to bend legs,it's good for the tummy as well. I hope you find something that works for you,good luck.