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My head is spinning. First real post.

Welcome to the club :) The best usual advice to a new T2DM is to eat to your meter. It is just one change rather than too many all at once, it gives instant feedback, and usually results in food changes over a couple of weeks that mean ever improving numbers and health. I think from reading your posts that this method alone wouldn't suit your personality. You seem like a planner, researcher, and similar to myself - have a great need for information. The main drawback to this is that is increases stress in the short term - as there is SO MUCH STUFF to figure out all at once. Also some things you decide now, you will change your mind about later so just try and remember it's a journey - and the only person you are competing with/answering to is yourself.

I don't understand why you would go Vegan if you like meat and have no ethical issues with eating it. I get that it has suited your brother and I read the study you linked but I have seen a lot of studies that say better things about true LCHF. Also someone can always seem to find a study that says the opposite to another study. Nutrition studies can have a lot of underlying issues.

Also try and not worry about cholesterol for now - eating good (especially animal) fat won't clog up your arteries. Losing weight can also do weird things with your lipid profile. So if it's me - I just get the blood glucose numbers into range, this also reduces your insulin and you lose weight. After you are nice and settled there - then you can maybe worry about cholesterol numbers, or any other health tweaks. There is a really good, and long cholesterol thread somewhere on the forum that would be a good read.

I am not sure if you have heard of it yet but I use the Freestyle Libre rather than testing strips. It is expensive but the feedback I get from it is so much more extensive than what I can get jabbing my fingers. I do have to self-fund as I am also T2 and only on metformin. Just something to add to your "thinking about it" stack :)

It is really great that your husband is supporting you so much - that's going to help a lot. You got this - I promise you are going to feel healthier than ever very soon.
 
Bodewhin said:
Welcome to the club :) The best usual advice to a new T2DM is to eat to your meter. It is just one change rather than too many all at once, it gives instant feedback, and usually results in food changes over a couple of weeks that mean ever improving numbers and health. I think from reading your posts that this method alone wouldn't suit your personality. You seem like a planner, researcher, and similar to myself - have a great need for information. The main drawback to this is that is increases stress in the short term - as there is SO MUCH STUFF to figure out all at once. Also some things you decide now, you will change your mind about later so just try and remember it's a journey - and the only person you are competing with/answering to is yourself.

I don't understand why you would go Vegan if you like meat and have no ethical issues with eating it. I get that it has suited your brother and I read the study you linked but I have seen a lot of studies that say better things about true LCHF. Also someone can always seem to find a study that says the opposite to another study. Nutrition studies can have a lot of underlying issues.

Also try and not worry about cholesterol for now - eating good (especially animal) fat won't clog up your arteries. Losing weight can also do weird things with your lipid profile. So if it's me - I just get the blood glucose numbers into range, this also reduces your insulin and you lose weight. After you are nice and settled there - then you can maybe worry about cholesterol numbers, or any other health tweaks. There is a really good, and long cholesterol thread somewhere on the forum that would be a good read.

I am not sure if you have heard of it yet but I use the Freestyle Libre rather than testing strips. It is expensive but the feedback I get from it is so much more extensive than what I can get jabbing my fingers. I do have to self-fund as I am also T2 and only on metformin. Just something to add to your "thinking about it" stack :)

It is really great that your husband is supporting you so much - that's going to help a lot. You got this - I promise you are going to feel healthier than ever very soon.
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Yes, you got me right. I’m an info girl. Just my nature I guess.

I thought it may be worth trying vegan for a few weeks to see how I got on. Although the whole carbs thing just seemed a strange concept as I know it is the carbs that are the issue. I think I figured, my brother and I are genetically linked and so maybe it might be worth a go.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of how Farmed animals are treated, but in fairness, it hasn’t ever stopped me wanting to eat meat. Perhaps maybe in the choices where I get my meat from perhaps.

I did have a peak at libre, but not sure I wanna pay £100 a month. But i may consider it still as time goes on. I must admit, it is a struggle to find new finger stab space. Lol

I’m certain paying attention to my numbers. It has been handy to have them logged in the app i am using, as even from this past Sunday till now and since I carbs to 50g max per day, my morning BG is dropping daily, so that is a good sign to me.

Sunday= 16, Monday= 13.8, Tuesday= 13.1, yesterday = 12.6 and this morning 11. Ok, they aren’t great but going in the right direction. I’ve not had a single reading at any time of the day over the last couple days anywhere in the teens so I can see how it working.

I am kicking myself though, years ago, when i was so keen on losing my weight I did calorie counting and i mean to the last mircogram. I lost 6 stone in 6 months. But i was eating carbs then too. If only I had known back then it may not have come to this. And i have still since watched what i was eating, eaten ‘healthy’. Plenty of fruit and veg, with ‘everything in moderation’ and don’t drink, smoke or even drink anything but water so it has always annoyed me why I struggled to lose weight, even though I was ‘doing the right things’. I was just having the high carb veg and even my brown pasta and pea or chicpea pasta was not helpful.

Well, can’t worry about what I can’t change, right? Just gotta ride this boat through this storm and steer myself in the direction that works for my body. And losing weigh will be great. I’m looking forward to this whole journey and am so grateful for everyone who has contributed to increase my knowledge and awareness.

J xx
 
Jennji said:
Thanks so much for commenting. Yes, I was the same after, however, it did seem to help me with my lactose intolerance bit which I thought odd. So you found that your cholesterol was helped by eating more fats in replacement of the carbs? Was that animal fats or plant based fats? I am planning on trying some of the coconut flour bread and almond breads out to see how it goes. I do love bread but didn't have it that often, a few times a week before lockdown, but since covid, hubby was making more bread and well...it just smells so good. haha It probably didn't help me though and being less active being stuck in, but there it is. Luckily for me, I wasn't ever a big processed food fan and we always cook from scratch that is a great thing. I think I worry eating more fats will negatively impact my cholesterol and that is also a concern with raising my fat intake. Luckily, my cholesterol is fine as it my BP so, for now I am ok, and still young enough to get things shifted. I am sure in a month or two after keeping and eye on things I will be more of a believer and reading more testimonies.
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I mainly increased dairy fat, eggs and olive oil, but I also eat bacon - 1 pack over 3 days about once a month.
 
Jennji said:
Ok, interesting. So did you go on medication for your cholesterol. Will check out the pizza for sure. Gonna get my hubby to try and work his magic with the coconut and almond flour. Is wheat gluten a problem things cuz I am sure a small amount work work well in the “breads” and the amount for a whole loaf would only be like 5g total carbs and given there is no way i could eat a whole loaf in one go, I reckon it might be ok.
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I was taking Atorvastatin for a few weeks - it was disastrous, I thought I was losing my mind - I was. I have lost so much - but at least I have been able to regain the songs I forgot, as I was writing them down. I have had to relearn over 300 English folk songs, but at least I remembered all but two or three of the tunes. It is odd to remember a time when I could remember something and was describing or teaching it, but now the original memory is gone.
Wheat gluten is something I have been meaning to add to my own bread making - it is a protein so not a problem, and it should make the low carb bread rise like normal loaves. I have a big box full of it from Amazon as yet unopened.
I was going to try making muffin sized loaves as I love the crusts. I used to make tiny test loaves when I worked for Lyons Tetley, checking on the consistency of batches and also when the raw ingredients were changed. The tiny size was so I could make up 6 at a time in exactly the same way and cook them in the same oven on the same shelf.
 
Hi, diagnosed in February, started low carb, high exercise, and that changed my life. My doctor said I’m his best patient ever lol. My diet is mainly fish, other meats, nuts, green leafy veggies, chia, flaxseeds, kimchi, olives, cheese, avocados etc.

While you can’t out run a bad diet, regular exercise with low a carb diet can do amazing things. Exercise can help restore insulin sensitivity and burn off the past.

you’ll find your path and succeed!
 
Resurgam said:
I was taking Atorvastatin for a few weeks - it was disastrous, I thought I was losing my mind - I was. I have lost so much - but at least I have been able to regain the songs I forgot, as I was writing them down. I have had to relearn over 300 English folk songs, but at least I remembered all but two or three of the tunes. It is odd to remember a time when I could remember something and was describing or teaching it, but now the original memory is gone.
Wheat gluten is something I have been meaning to add to my own bread making - it is a protein so not a problem, and it should make the low carb bread rise like normal loaves. I have a big box full of it from Amazon as yet unopened.
I was going to try making muffin sized loaves as I love the crusts. I used to make tiny test loaves when I worked for Lyons Tetley, checking on the consistency of batches and also when the raw ingredients were changed. The tiny size was so I could make up 6 at a time in exactly the same way and cook them in the same oven on the same shelf.
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Holy cow! You lost your memories? I’m rubbish at remembering but sounds like I’d be more like a gold fish. I’ll skip it I think.

Well, my husband is an amazing home chef and his breads fantastic. He recently discovered vital gluten and wow! It makes ‘normal’ bread so soft and smell so yummy. He has a main recipe he uses for both white and wheat breads so will be getting him to work with the coconut and almond flours to see what he can do. Also plan on testing how they freeze so he can make us batches but they won’t waste. If he does that I will be super chuffed.
 
LaoDan said:
Hi, diagnosed in February, started low carb, high exercise, and that changed my life. My doctor said I’m his best patient ever lol. My diet is mainly fish, other meats, nuts, green leafy veggies, chia, flaxseeds, kimchi, olives, cheese, avocados etc.

While you can’t out run a bad diet, regular exercise with low a carb diet can do amazing things. Exercise can help restore insulin sensitivity and burn off the past.

you’ll find your path and succeed!
Click to expand...


Thanks so much for your comments. You know it really hit me yesterday why I struggled so much. It wasn’t that I had a bad diet. My diet was fantastic and healthy, for someone who my size. But i just didn’t realise how the ‘healthy’ carbs where so counter productive even though they where ‘healthy’. I.e brown rice, bread, potatoes, root veg, eating lower fat lean meats, etc, higher carb fruits etc. So, on one side, It is good to know, it wasn’t my fault as such, but now it doesn’t take a major shift to change my diet as it is just cutting the carbs and increasing my fats.

It is also fighting my instinct of fat is bad. When I was young ( in the 80’s) my mum had me on diet pill( at 8 y/o) for a short while till I complained of the side effects. And we were taught low fat was the way to go. And even as I got older and did more ‘diets’ or ‘lifestyles’ I was told, a calorie is a calorie no matter the form. How are people meant to make better choices when the info they are given just aren’t true? Nevermind. It’ll come together.
 
Well, I had my first nurses review about my T2. She was lovely and listened to what I had to say. After our chat she agreed that I could find out all the info I needed on my own and as she had been to the ‘desmond’ group to see how it worked she thought it may not benefit me as she could tell I knew what I was doing. She checked my feet and everything was fine and pulses fine and will arrange for my retina checks too. I showed her my readings from the last few days On my app and she was shocked how well the numbers were looking so soon. She weighed me too, and we realised I have lost just short of 2kg since Monday when the doctor weighed me, so that was nice too. And as I mentioned about my concerns about cholesterol and my new LCHF plan, she agreed that since they only just get the general cholesterol readings for the tests that at my next test she would arrange for the lipid breakdowns to be done so we can see where it might go from that next review. She also told me that from my last test in feb 2019 my cholesterol had been 6.8 but now was 6.3 so it had come down.

She was surprised that no one had ever told me I was pre-diabetic before this last test. And as I had explained to her, I had been trying for years to lose weight. Being active and having a healthy balanced diet, but had never realised that my ‘healthy’ foods were actually carb laden and further exasperated my issues and my lack of weight control. Had it been discussed whenI had my first borderline reading perhaps I would hace been able to make better more informed choices.

Well, anyway, I feel good, feel positive things are moving in the right direction. Thanks to everyone for your contributions, it has really helped settle my mind.

J
 
bulkbiker said:
Veganism has a pretty ropey record on reversing T2... this graph is from a study by one of the leading vegan activist doctors Neal Barnard. Not only did he not get anyone into remission over time their HbA1c levels got worse again. Slightly better than standard care but not a lot. My last HbA1c was 4.6% as a comparison.
Maybe show your brother that?View attachment 42849
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Didn’t you have a chart that added the low carb curve to this?
 
When I was moving house on my own I needed all the energy I could find, so I went off the high carb diet. The day before we moved was a 'weighing' day, so I went along and I had lost 5kg in a week. The nurse said it was impossible.
 
Resurgam said:
When I was moving house on my own I needed all the energy I could find, so I went off the high carb diet. The day before we moved was a 'weighing' day, so I went along and I had lost 5kg in a week. The nurse said it was impossible.
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Obviously not! Well done. Fingers crossed it isn’t water weight, but i do drink 3L a day so should be ok
 
I cannot believe how much things have changed in 1 week since i changed things. I’ve lost 3.5 kilos, well according to my scales it is more like 11 pounds but I’m ok with that. My weight going down is good but my sugars are what I am more concerned with. My AM morning sugars have fallen from 13.8 Last monday to 10.1 this morning, and has been dropping a little bit each day. My lowest reading has been 7.3 before dinner on Saturday, but all my readings as so so much better than they were a week ago. None of my readings have been more than 2 points up after 2 hours of eating and most are actually less than 1. I have completely stopped needing the loo at night since changing to LCHF and can even have a morning stretch and 20 minutes watching the news before getting up, which is nice as I used to have to race to the loo as soon as I woke. Still finding it weird consuming so much fats, but cannot say I am missing the carbs at the moment. Start on 2 metformin’s from tomorrow for a week, then up to 3. But it really is all looking well for now.

So thanks for the help everyone. It has been great.
 
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Jennji said:
I cannot believe how much things have changed in 1 week since i changed things. 3.5 kilos, well according to my scales it is more like 11 pounds but I’m ok with that. My weight going down is good but my sugars are what I am more concerned with. My AM morning sugars have fallen from 13.8 Last monday to 10.1 this morning, and has been dropping a little bit each day. My lowest reading has been 7.3 before dinner on Saturday, but all my readings as so so much better than they were a week ago. None of my readings have been more than 2 points up after 2 hours of eating and most are actually less than 1. I have completely stopped needing the loo at night since changing to LCHF and can even have a morning stretch and 20 minutes watching the new before getting up, which is nice as I used to have to race to the loo as soon as I woke. Still finding it weird consuming so much fats, but cannot say I am missing the carbs at the moment. Start on 2 metformin’s from tomorrow for a week, then up to 3. But it really is all looking well for now.

So thanks for the help everyone. It has been great.
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Almost magical eh?
 
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