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Losing faith

I had a similar thing about pepsi max with one doctor. He said it was bad for diabetics and I shouldn't drink it.
I asked why as there is literally 0% carbs in it, he finally told me that it's because studies have shown (couldn't tell me which studies) that people who drink diet drinks get hungry and eat a lot more food, especially sugary food.

I have dropped from 20 stone to 13.5 stone and still drink pepsi max (only about 2 cans a day with a meal) and I haven't felt the need to stuff my face with sugary foods at all.
 
John 2 said:
Hi , I love cauliflower and sprouts ,unfortunately not a big fruit eater including berries , but nice to be told about cauliflower , underrated veg I think .
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Grated it makes a good rice replacement and you can also use it as a mashed potato replacement too, courgette is also good as a pasta replacement, You don't need to eat fruit, I'm not a big fruit eater either, but berries are the lower carb ones
 
When I first was told I was diabetic ,I attended a thing called Desmond , all about what you could eat and drink , loads of information , in fact , to much , but Coke and Pepsi zero max being two that was ok , so I agree with what you say , how far do you stretch things ,if I took things literally I would starve or be so lacking in some vitamins I would be worse off .
 
So , it’s been very interesting and informative posting on here and my thanks to you all for the info , it’s good to talk as the old ad used to say , the opinion I am forming and it is early days , is that given that diabetes is a national problem and a very expensive one for the N H S , not to mention the people that have it and can die or lose limbs or various other problems , is it not time that they re looked at things and started working together , it certainly seems out of date and at odds with each other as has been said , diabetes is not for just over weight people , it hits lots of others with type 2 and you do not need to be fat , on my first session at the Desmond meeting , people that did not have a weight problem also had it .
 
As far as I can see there is no difference between brown and white carbs - but it might be because I chew what I eat.
I just don't eat grains - a far better solution to the problem from my point of view.
If the drain is blocked turning on the taps is not going to end well.
I was eating a low fat high carb diet for decades - being told it was healthy.
I gave up working for a while as I became unable to move the knitting machines I service, but after diagnosis and starting to eat protein and fat my strength has increased - even though I am 74 years old I can now lift and lower the machines and other fairly heavy items with ever increasing ease.
 
Your doctor may have a point for SOME people, for me it doesn’t happen, but I only drink a small glass with food, about half a can. Some members here have reported a rise in BG & hunger from artificial sweeteners

There are lots of studies that back up the fact that the sweet taste it can trigger an insulin response, which in turn triggers hunger. Just one article

Is Diet Soda a Healthy Choice?

For those trying to adopt a healthier lifestyle, diet soda might seem like a sensible option. Learn why artificial sweeteners may be more harmful than sugar.
www.uhhospitals.org

Weight Gain & Disrupted Hunger Signals. The artificial sweeteners in diet soda trigger the same response in the brain as real sugar. The moment "sweetness” is detected, it signals the body to release hormones to process the sugar. And because diet soda is hyper-sweetened, it can trigger cravings for more sweet, high-calorie foods leading to weight gain and belly fat in particular.
 
Does that meal sweeteners are a wast of time then .
 
So , was supposed to have had phone call about results yesterday at 15.20 , did not happen so I rang surgery and asked if I was getting the call , yes I was told , nurse had a patient in with them and one more to see and then I would get the call , never happened , I am aware my comment is not strictly about diabetics and more a rant about my surgery , but I bet I am not the only one that gets let down by the system .
 
John 2 said:
Does that meal sweeteners are a wast of time then .
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It doesn't. The medical science (I'm taking this from Bilous and Donnelly's Handbook of Diabetes) currently says that insulin responses (which would lead to blood glucose falls, rather than rises) are chemically triggered by the presence of glucose, rather than by the taste of sweetness. This happens, for example, when glucose is given intravenously - no sweetness, no taste, but the glucose would (should) still trigger an insulin response.

The link above has this quote from the author, which did stop me short:

“Even though drinking a moderate amount of diet soda isn’t likely to hurt you, it has no nutritional value and offers no benefit to human consumption” says Dr. Wolf. “It’s better to quench your thirst with healthier alternatives like water, seltzer and unsweetened tea or coffee.”

“If you choose to occasionally indulge in soda, it’s better to choose one made with real sugar instead of diet versions with all the chemicals and additives. As always, moderation is key.”

I use stevia for coffee sometimes and I also drink quite a bit of caffeinated stuff from cans. It has absolutely no impact on my BG.
 
KennyA said:
I use stevia for coffee sometimes and I also drink quite a bit of caffeinated stuff from cans. It has absolutely no impact on my BG.
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I use sucralose and it didn't and doesn't have any impact either. I'd prefer to use stevia, but it tastes a bit weird to me.
 
Is canderel ok
 
Outlier said:
I found nurses very ignorant on T2 diabetes, and I've just come out of 5 months in hospital. Sample advice when I declined something carby " You can have a couple slices of toast or some biscuits"
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Same here. I had a DN dictate my life choices etc and this was after I had lost 3.5 stone. Unfortunately I did not hold back

[mod edit to comply with forum rules]
 
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lessci said:
Grated it makes a good rice replacement and you can also use it as a mashed potato replacement too, courgette is also good as a pasta replacement, You don't need to eat fruit, I'm not a big fruit eater either, but berries are the lower carb ones
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I eat konjac noodles and konjac rice, they are quick and filling if you add to them.
 
So , I got the call today from nurse , once again talking about tablets , just to recap , blood sugar went up to over 60mmo next reading it had dropped to 55 mmo and I am told good control and all ok , this time it’s gone to 60mmo and I am told I need to go on tablets if it does not come back down , I said I was very reluctant to start tablets , nurse said that if it stayed like it is , ( can’t remember what she called them ) but they will die off and I will stop producing insulin and I will be on injections for the rest of my life .

Does this seem right or is it scar tactics , she also told me I had had two blood tests days apart in August and could not understand why , I have looked back and no record of that , only one test done .
 
I think she was referring to beta cells (in the pancreas) dying off. I've read a little bit about this, but I have no experience of this. Somebody will, though.
 
KennyA said:
I had and have the same experience with canderel - no impact on BG. Ultimately the best thing is to test for yourself.
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So I assume from your reply that it’s ok , I have tried some of the others and am not keen Kenny
 
John 2 said:
So I assume from your reply that it’s ok , I have tried some of the others and am not keen Kenny
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No, we Type 2's are a very diverse group and can react very differently to the same food in the same quantity at the same time of day! So you should not assume that any artificial sweetener is OK for you just because it is OK for some other Type 2. Neither should you assume that you will get the same (or similar) glucose response to any particular carbohydrate as some other Type 2 does.
There are many examples of this in the forum: some can eat pulses and others find they raise Blood Glucose too much, some can eat carrots, yet (even raw) they raise my BG too much.

The only way to tell if a food is OK (in a certain quantity, at a certain time of day or mixed with fats or protein) is to test it using either a BG meter or a Continuous Glucose Monitor. This takes much less time than you may expect, because most of us eat similar things at similar times, several days per week.
When I first started I started with testing Breakfast - it took me 1 day to find out how bad my habitual breakfast of whole grain porridge was, so all other grains / cereals were also out automatically! It took just 4 more days to confirm that eggs were great for breakfast (boiled, scrambled, fried, omelette with mushroom). So that was one meal per day completely sorted with no affect on my BG!

Here is a summary of the advice I used to gain control of my T2 Diabetes (though I picked up bits and pieces from different parts of the forum, since this post is more recent): https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/jos-nutritional-thingy.210026/
 
Thanks for that , we should be getting this help from our GP practice , as was said , that is why this group of people exist, , it’s so wrong , why do they not offer the machines to monitor as you suggest , not all can afford to buy this equipment , my thanks though , finding out a lot with talking on this site .
 
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