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low gi diets

Hi Ally
One of the reasons I posted on here was out of frustration that I can't seem to get any help from a "good person" such as yourself.When you have had the sort of experiences I have dealing with one of the countries "top" teaching hospitals you may think again.I am not speaking specifically here about dieticians,in fact not at all but I am referring to eye clinics that cancel laser appointments and don't rebook you.referrals to cardiologists that never happened (again from the eye clinic),GP sending you to see a consultant who prescribes you her latest "super statins " - 3 different ones.Also a GP who I never get to see ,every appointment is with a diabetic nurse who has to go to see the doctor to get the latest cocktail prescription even though he has never seen me in person regarding my diabetes,though I did see him once about severe muscular pain in my upper arms and told me to do some excercises.At the time Iwas working as a mechanic using my arms all day long.These pains stopped when I stopped taking the statins!!!! This from a surgery that boasts about having specialist diabetic services.
I could go on.
Maybe you could suggest someone who could help ??
 
Another tuppence worth:

T2's need carbs, but must restrict them.

The best way to do this is to know what a 'portion' is.

One portion of potatoes: mashed : a tennis ball sized lump.
Baked : size of a small fist.
New: four small ones.
Chips: Six nice fat ones, preferably oven baked.

Pasta: two ounces cooked : as much as will not slide off a serving spoon. Do not overcook - al dente is best.

Protein: a piece of meat or cheese the size of a matchbox ( normal sized, you gluttons, NOT the giant cook's size, sorry.)

My daughter invested in a set of Worral Thompson's scales ( bung the plate on and weigh yopur food as you serve ) which I then appropriated.

Once you come to know what a portion looks like, you can give the scales to the next fatty you see. Pass on the love!

And if you exercise, fat weighs less than muscle. If you are converting flab into lean, you may well GAIN weight, but lose on the BMI. Inch loss is your best guide here. And how you feel.

Best of all - eat SLOWLY. Give you body ( it's correct title is appestat ) time to tell you that it is full. THEN STOP EATING, NO MATTER HOW MUCH IS LEFT ON THE PLATE.

Sometimes I leave enough to heat up for another meal.

We eat first with our eyes, so we tend to put more on a plate than we can eat: so we eat it anyway, since our culture says it is polite to do so. Try that in China, where your host WILL keep the food coming until you leave some, indicating that you are satisfied ! That way we educate our stomachs to expect more than we need, and so overeat. We need to retrain, folks!

Food need not be boring to be healthy. It needs to be tasty, colourful and bright. Have a competition: how many colours can you fit on a plate?

Goody, we can start a new thread - What's the most colourful plate of food you have ever eaten?
 
actually the most frustrating thing is that alot of staff just do not have the time to spend and are being forced to see patients in an alloted time - it never gives time to ask questions.

Statins have a place but if doctors had better access to dietetics they could try sorting the diet first!

You can get as effective a reult by using a portfolio approach - using different aspects to diet and exercise.

I have to agree it is so frustrating - personally I think docs and nurses should back off with diet - they do not understand enough and they pick up misinformation!

I am not sure why u put those web links in but remember alot of people to not have computers and cannot access alot f the info u have found!
 
oh really for a start if she behaved in that slovenly way report her!

You see the problem is that every one thinks they are dietitians - thank u internet for that!
 
I think a lot of it has to do with portion size.A reasonable amount of potatoes,rice ,pasta etc is fine but the trouble is we have all forgotten what reasonable is! In the age of 'supersize' we eat far too much. Whitemare's post about portion sizes is a good visual aid to portions.Do we see posters with this on it in doctor's surgeries? No..not in mine anyway.It wasn't until I stopped thinking about cooking for 5 and started thinking one portion at a time that I finally lost weight and started to get control of my BS.
 
ally5555 said:
oh really for a start if she behaved in that slovenly way report her!

You see the problem is that every one thinks they are dietitians - thank u internet for that!
Click to expand...

Soon after I was diagnosed, I was referred to hospital diabetes education sessions with nurse, dietician, chemist, eye specialist & podiatrist. Subsequently I had appointments with some of them.

I consider the service excellent, & I have no complaints wi the GP either.

I live one road into Hounslow. A blind diabetic friend lives in the neighbouring borough, Ealing. Her treatment & advice from Drs & nurses is very unsatisfactory, & they allowed her BS to rise to the 20s. My only course of action is to liaise directly with the Ealing hospital diabetic nurses, & they act on my information.

I went with her to the dietician, & he was very helpful. Problem is she is lactovegetarian, & Indian, so there is an awful lot of curried spinach & rice.
 
How about this then.Becoming increasingly concerned about my high levels ,I have just rung my GP's (diabetic specialists).First appointment offered for any doctor 23/05/08,no nurses available till next Tuesday (told they are allowed time off you know),cannot even get blood forms from them so I can go to Hospital to get blood tests done and if I could they told me they would not be able to book follow up appointment because it takes that long to get results.!!!! Funny how vets get results same or next day!! Tried ringing Diabetic department at Mayday - no reply suprisingly, once I finally managed to get correct phone number from the switchboard.
Please tell me what my next step should be - sit in A&E for hours to be eventually seen an fobbed off .
I really am in need of some suggestions please.
 
demand an emergency appointment - most practises these days keep morning appointments for booking that day. If they are high you cannot wait til 23rd - a phonecall to the practice manager usually does the trick!
 
Ally and Chocfish
Thanks for the advice,I had to take a deep breath and a couple of chill pills when I was on the phone to them as I was getting more and more wound up.I have decided to pay them a visit first thing in the morning as I have already arranged some time off work.I'll probably phone to speak to the manager en -route.
Stay tuned for the next installment.
 
If you've got time ,just go in there and sit until they let you see a doctor! You really need to be seen and get this sorted.Good luck tomorrow.
 
S**t ! Stockcar, we get bloods in twenty four hours!

Diabetic coverage does seem very patchy. My sugery might just be a shining light: if I can't get an appointment, I can ring up and speak to a doctor that day. The Three Counties Health Trust has a speciaist diabetic unit you can ring in to and make appointments with advisors: I am regularly harassed by podatricans, opthalmists and diabetic nurses:I can get bloods done by dropping in to the hospital lab and ringing the surgery two days later.

As to dietary advice, I prefer to come here to hone off thirty years of family cooking. I may not be in the Masterchef league, but as cooks go, I must be good enough. :lol:
 
Hi Whitemare, I think you are getting exceptionally good blood analysis service. I am south-east based, not far from Stockcar, and our surgery gets blood test results back in a week to 10 days. But, like you I can generally see a doctor (albeit not necessarily my own) the same day, or next day at worst.
 
Hi everbody
Just to let you know,I went to the GP'S this morning and waited to see one of the doctors (not my usual one) and to be fair to him I came out quite happy for once.I had deliberatly fasted overnight so that I could get bloods taken straight away- which was done.Had an unrushed chat about my problems,and my confidence grew when we spoke about what I have been eating when I said that I had cut the carbs right down he said thats good,it's protein that you need not carbs.(Was I in the right place or was Istill half asleep?)I have to go back next Friday for results-even though he had no spare appointments and told me that if I needed to I should phone and ask to be put through to him.
He was not happy about my experience the previous evening,but didn't seem that suprised.
He will review my blood results next week and said he will probably the refer me to Diabetic Dept. at hospital.
I have to say at the moment I'm happy to draw a line in the sand and hope for some more positive action when I go back - at the moment I feel I've finally found someone who can help.
Thanks to everyone who has replied to me.I will certainly be sharing any ideas etc with you all.
Keep up the good work,we all need to help each other.
 
Got very ill whilst on Metaforin, 21/2 years ago Type 2 ended up with Ketoacidosis Very very large keytones weight loss down to 9 stone 8 ounces from 16 stone, BS 35+. Diabetic nurse put me on insulin am now OK eat as normal as possible just watch the carbs and sugar in food BS now average 7 over a day 6.8 a week. Haven't felt better still get slight hypo's at night 1 a month. Low GI does not work for me.
 
Hi Poppasteve and welcome to the forum. Good to hear that you have blood sugars under control now, but as I'm sure you realise, when you have insulin injections you are able to adjust the amount of insulin you need to the amount of carbs you have eaten (in other words carb counting). A type 2 who is not on insulin can't do that, so has to reduce the carbs to match the medication, not the other way round.
 
I have been diagnosed for the last 3 years with Type 2 but so far no one has suggested that I see a dietitian! I have a lot of sympathy about the cholesterol issue. Before Christmas, at my GP's diabetic clinic the nurse was more concerned with this than with my sugar levels which she did not even ask about. As my level of Cholesterol was 5.4 I was not too worried but I was disturbed when she suggested that I eat "Better for You" products. When I told her that these had higher sugar content she just looked at me blankly? When asked she admitted to never having read the labels on such items. This not encouraging!
I am waiting to have an operation on my knee and as a result of the pre-op assessment it was discovered that my blood glucose levels were permanently between 15 and 27 despite taking Metformin, Gliclazide and Pioglitazone. At last someone accepted that I felt really unwell and I have now been taking slow release Insulin (37 units per day) for a month. I am feeling so much better and can stay awake all day! The only problem is that I seem to be gaining weight.
As I am now in my sixties and have been "cuddly" all my life I have no intention of living on lettuce for the rest of my life.
Does anyone else feel, as I do, that I would rather die happy than obsessed with diet and exercise?
 
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