- Messages
- 1,383
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Not much
Had first appointment with Dietician today. She's a lovely young lady and seems to be keen and knowledgable. Just a shame that her knowledge was not particularly relevant to me. She spent about 20 minutes, with a beautiful coloured diagram, explaining all the do's and dont's of the "Eat Well Plate" and then asked me if I had any issues with it. I said - "Yes - the starchy carbohydrates". She then explained (another 20 minutes) that I should have no more than a "fist-sized" portion of rice, potatoes, pasta etc and maybe only 2 slices of bread - with low fat spead, of course. Then I told her that I don't eat bread (for several years), or rice or pasta (don't like them) or potatoes (given them up since diagnosis). I also told her that I have given up my 2 (sometimes 3) pints of lager a day, at which point she asked .. "well where do you get your carbs from"? So I showed her my food diary and my spreadsheets detailing my daily carb intake of around 40 grams. "That's a bit low .." she said, ".. we recommend between 130 - 150 grams" Then, to my surprise, she added a little pearl of wisdom .. "But don't worry, I won't be round checking your cupboards and, at the end of the day, it's all about what works best for you" .. WoW
Finally, we spoke about testing and I asked her why there was no support for strips or lancets from the Surgery. She then gave me what I assumed were the stock answers that she is told to churn out ...
# no need to test if you're on Metformin
# people test but don't really understand what they're doing or the results that they are getting (patronising ??)
# some people beome very upset by their high (?) readings and some even have to be treated for depression
And then she said "that's why we have stopped giving out meters and strips .. but the real reason is because it costs too much" Wow again ..
As I said, a lovely young lady doing a pretty pointless job .. but with a refreshing touch of realism and honesty
Finally, we spoke about testing and I asked her why there was no support for strips or lancets from the Surgery. She then gave me what I assumed were the stock answers that she is told to churn out ...
# no need to test if you're on Metformin
# people test but don't really understand what they're doing or the results that they are getting (patronising ??)
# some people beome very upset by their high (?) readings and some even have to be treated for depression
And then she said "that's why we have stopped giving out meters and strips .. but the real reason is because it costs too much" Wow again ..
As I said, a lovely young lady doing a pretty pointless job .. but with a refreshing touch of realism and honesty