Need advice please

Hello and welcome to the forum

I'd start by cutting out the fizzy drinks (diet as well). Equally, things like fruit juice will have just as much impact on your BG so try and avoid those too.

With any form of diabetes, reducing your carbohydrate intake is essential. This combined with regular exercise is pretty much all that you need.

You're at a stage in your life where you can turn this around. Keep active, keep your weight stable and watch what you're eating - it sounds easy when you put it that way

@daisy1 can provide some information which also includes dietary advice.

Hi @Jojotaylor and welcome to the forum. Yes you need to cut out the fizzy drinks and all sweet sugary stuff. But you also need to avoid or limit starchy carbohydrates like bread, potatoes, pasta and rice as much as possible. They turn to sugars in our bodies,
A lot of us on here have found that adopting a Low Carbohydrate High Fat (LCHF) approach to eating has lowered our blood sugar levels and usually weight too.
Have a read round the threads to see how that works and ask anything you want to, the people on here are friendly and supportive.

Jojotaylor said:

Thank you for your advice. I am currently lowering my fizzy pop intake i cant just cut it out atm as im addicted to them which is awful i know and if i dont have even 1 can i shake so im cutting right down and drinking the zero sugar ones and weaning off as much as poss. I dont have sugar in tea so maybe ill have an extra cup of decaf. I try to drink water but it doesnt do anything at all for me. What can we eat instea of bread and pasta bearing in mind we love spag bol jacket potatoes etc. I love most fruit and we eat lots of veg i have to cook for 7 of us at times so no pasta no bread isnt always that easy and i like toast for breakfast. Sorry im totally useless at this

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Well one step at a time then, as long as you know that you'll eventually have to stop them altogether - work at weaning yourself off them.

You can still eat carbohydrates, including your beloved bread and pasta, I love bread and eat it all the time The key is to not eat so much of them. When you do eat carbohydrates, try brown varieties instead of white, slightly smaller portions and lower GI varieties. This will help with your overall BG levels and also post-prandial spikes.

I often feel that if I increase my exercise levels, then I can have a bit more carbohydrate in my diet. As you're pre-diabetic, you will have an element of insulin resistance. Exercise is the best way to increase your insulin sensitivity, and in doing this - you will find your BG levels stay in the target range a lot more and will react better to the carbohydrates that you eat.

Jojotaylor said:

Thank you for your advice. I don't eat mega amounts of bread and pasta but once what we have has gone ill turn to wholemeal pasta etc and eat more fruit and veg. As i say im cutting right down on fizzy pop and ill get there with cutting them right out type thing but weaning myself off them. Im quite active as i walk alot at work etc. A lot of mine is the hrs i work and fizzy pop but i will work at getting better. I will see what dr says on monday when i see him. Thanks again for not slating me with my addiction to fizzy drinks

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Now if I was to slate you for having an addiction then that wouldn't help would it? We all have addictions, some are just more positive than others.

You could maybe try choosing wholemeal varieties over white to start with, tbh - I genuinely prefer brown breads, rice and pasta to the white ones. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck!

Some fab advice already but I just wanted to add a note about eating more fruit - fruit can be very high in sugar. I think it's berries that are recommended but a look around the Low Carb forum would answer it for definite. (I don't eat fruit so have no idea!)

@Jojotaylor

Hello and welcome to the forum Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful in addition to the advice given to you already by other members. This information contains a lot of advice about carbs and a link to the Low Carb Program which you could try. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 220,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

@Jojotaylor Go to the Home page and there is a section there called 'Food and Nutrition' which has sections on different diets and food suggestions.