Mind boggled!!

Hi bron, and welcome

I understand it is a confusing time, and I am probably not able to fully answer all your questions. I understand that some salt is okay, as a diet very low in sodium can increase insulin resistance. Hence, I make sure I eat a bit of salt every day, but I am no expert here and am not aware of your overall health.

I love peanut butter (too much!) It includes some carbs, so I suggest you account for them and measure your blood sugar a few times after eating, as peanut butter is also high in fat, which may delay any blood sugar spikes.

Some here drink diet coke, others don't. I belong to the second category, as it makes me feel awful. It has also been found that sweeteners can increase the risk of diabetes. I find them generally too artificial, so avoid them.

Whether you will get a blood glucose monitor prescribed depends on your diagnosis, medication and maybe on your GP. I bought myself the sd codefree meter, as it is the cheapest around, with strips.

I'm perfectly OK with the occasional Diet Coke. Can't answer for either peanut butter (as I've never liked it) or salt. I've always been minimal with salt and certainly never added it to a meal I've cooked or to a meal other than chips from the chip shop. (Not that I've had any for months...)

I went to Slimming World just for the weigh in for 6 months, and managed to keep quiet about my diet, but I struggled when they were talking about low fat products all the time.

Hi @bronwend peanut butter is OK if you get the right one! I find that whole Earth crunchy is the lowest carb and it's great with celery or a Ryvita Crackerbread. This is when you start turning into a 'food label geek' and your shopping will take twice as long to begin with but persevere and you'll get there. Good luck and remember to ask questions if you need to because one of us will know the answer!

Peanut butter can be fine - nuts in general are a good source of both oils and protein - but avoid any brands that contain added sugar - just read the nutritional information! Whole Earth is also my brand of choice.

Regarding salt - you need some in your diet, and as you'll not be eating so much in the way of processed foods, there'll be less of it available automatically in your new diet. When you go low carb, you'll generally find too that your kidneys flush out more fluid, and with it more minerals - salt, potassium, etc, so you do need to make sure that these are being replaced.

Sweeteners - if you have a good rummage around the forums there's lots of threads about various different sweeteners that people favour and find OK to use. I use erythritol and liquid stevia both of which are recommended and perfectly safe for diabetic use - they should have no impact on your glucose levels and have the added advantage of being very low in calories too! There are many different polyols/sugar alcohols that may be used as sweeteners (identified by names ending in "itol"); these actually appear to be very high in carbohydrates, but these are not digested and so should have little impact on your glucose levels, but they can instead have some very nasty side effects in the form of bloating, wind and diarrhoea. I believe now some products may have warnings about this included.

Robbity

bronwend said:

A couple of questions 1) is salt ok? 2) peanut butter? 2) Diet Coke/ sweeteners?. Will my GP give me something to monitor my blood? Why do i feel generally well at the moment? Sorry it's all just such a jumble at the moment. Bron

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Salt is essential and the current recommendation is up to 6g/day. You can get quite ill if you cut out salt altogether. Personally I am not into fizzy drinks and suspect them all of having sugar in. I have heard some bad stories about sweeteners also and found it easier just to have unsweetened things. In time even tea with no sugar tastes quite sweet. Nothing wrong with peanut butter if the label is carefully looked at but I don't know what you will put it on since bread is a bad idea. You will only get a blood monitor if you are given medication capable of causing a hypo. This does not include Metformin.

I think the weight watchers No Count is better for diabetics, minimal carbs but plenty of healthier foods, i am likely type 2 with a cholestrol of 6.8, repeat bloods tomoz but i know my fasting was 7.5 this morning so am expecting it after the next bloods.mthink gp has to have two readings before they will diagnose. I have looked at my ww eating plan, lost half stone in last few weeks and i think this will be ok to do as a diabetic, love carbs tho thats the trouble AND cake

Munkki said:

It has also been found that sweeteners can increase the risk of diabetes.

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Does that include Triple Zero Stevia, which is available from the online shop on this site?

neety41 said:

I have looked at my ww eating plan, lost half stone in last few weeks and i think this will be ok to do as a diabetic, love carbs tho thats the trouble AND cake

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If you're happy to cook, @ewelina has some great cake recipes on her blog: http://www.diabeticgoodbaking.com/p/cakes.html

debrasue said:

Does that include Triple Zero Stevia, which is available from the online shop on this site?

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No, I am just wary of all sweeteners I just found some studies that actually show some 'hypoglycemic' effects of crude stevia extract. Thanks for pointing this out. I might give stevia a try when I feel like I need to sweeten something.

bronwend said:

Hi Neety, I was doing no count before this so I'm trying to keep it in mind. Giving lc ago but willing to adapt, will see what nurse says tomorrow

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... and based on some of the horror stories I've read here, be wary of their advice and check back with us.