My Granmother's struggle

Seriously limited options

Mike D said:

Seriously limited options

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Agreed

How about

Use diet to put it into remission.

It's cured in the sense that your blood sugars are normal, not cured in the sense that they'll go back up if you eat too many carbs....

mckay1979 said:

I'm not one to just accept the reality of a lifetime of poking and testing if there's a better, or possibly a more natural way to approach this disease.

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Of course...

mckay1979 said:

My Grandmother struggled with diabetes for a very long time. I remember my Mom telling me that I may have it as well, and that scared the daylights out of me. I'm not one to just accept the reality of a lifetime of poking and testing if there's a better, or possibly a more natural way to approach this disease.

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More natural way... Low carb high fat eating, a ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting... Those are natural approaches. But once someone has T2, their metabolic system is impaired. While those diets can keep one in the normal range, there is no cure as yet.

I've been a T2 for 3 years now, and have kept my blood sugars in the normal range through the way I eat. No medication aside from those first 3 months where I was reading everything I could and experimented to see what I could do myself. I'm not kidding myself though, I'm not cured. Just a-symptomatic. And I hope to stay that way.

Welcome to the forum @mckay1979. It isn't inevitable that you will become diabetic because your grandmother had Type 2 diabetes. While it might be more likely if there is a family history of diabetes it can be avoided by being careful about what you eat and drink.
Obviously sugary food and drink should be avoided, but starchy carbohydrates should also be avoided or limited as much as possible. Starchy carbs turn to sugar quickly in our bodies so aren't good for pre-diabetics, Type 2 diabetics or people who might be genetically more likely to become diabetic.
The main culprits are bread, potatoes, pasta and rice. Beer isn't good either, if you drink.

Welcome to the forum @mckay1979

Here’s a link to some useful information for newbies:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/basic-information-for-newly-diagnosed-diabetics.26870/

Have a good read and ask as many questions as you like.

mckay1979 said:

My Grandmother struggled with diabetes for a very long time. I remember my Mom telling me that I may have it as well, and that scared the daylights out of me. I'm not one to just accept the reality of a lifetime of poking and testing if there's a better, or possibly a more natural way to approach this disease.

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Hi makay1979,
Has your Blood Glucose been tested yet? The Hba1c test is the best because that is able to measure what your average Blood Glucose was over the last 1 to 3 months (so taking an average of the average, say 2 months).

Now here I am assuming that the type of diabetes your grandmother had is Type 2. This usually builds up over many years causing damage long before it is actually diagnosed - so the sooner the diagnosis the better!

Because the good news is that although not a 'cure', Type 2 Diabetes can be halted or reversed by dietary changes without the need for medication (conventional medication most usually makes Type 2 diabetes worse rather than better).

Now the bad news: In order to find out which foods cause a Blood Glucose spike, you have to monitor your Blood Glucose.
Most in this forum do that with a simple test Meter and test strips (one per test). We test before a meal and then either 1 or 2hrs after first bite. depending upon the reading (i.e. if high) they may well take another one hr later. Unfortunately for those who are 'needle phobic' the way to get a blood sample is by using a finger prick to get a drop of blood. This is done with a lancing device. So there is lots of that going on, though for us we ourselves are in control of it!

Remember that a few (of even few thousand finger pricks over decades) is much better than blindness or amputation, which can happen if Type 2 diabetes if ignored.

Have you received a T2 diagnosis?

If not, established risk factors are: being overweight, smoking, being sedentary/inadequate exercise and poor diet including too much highly processed food. These are not “causes”, so no guarantee if you avoid them, but it should lower your risk if you do.