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New and saying hello, with some questions.

K

khanm78

Member
Messages
18
Location
England
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
Most Veg
So first of all Hello i'm Mo, male 38 years old and diag type 2 later end of 2016, 2,000mg metformin a day and now starting to take it seriously.
probably like to many people when I was first told I didnt care enough or pay attention and just lived like i did pre diag. now I have had time, its sunk in and im trying hard to be better. I dont have excuses to justify the foods and snacks I should not eat so I dont eat them. but its hard, i know you all know this feeling, especialy since im trying,,really trying to live the LCHF style.
I miss my carbs, never thought a food group could be hard not to eat. I dont think its the carbs but the fact that I like most have been raised to have so much carbs on the plate, in the menu and in daily life its when you look at what you cant have you notice some to a lot were fav foods and snacks. but I think with the double whammy of sugar and carbs is making it harder and depressing.

so thats a bit about me and my mind set atm. I will just keep at it.

Now for some not so bad news.
before paying attention to my BG levels when I did test they were mainly in the 10 - 14 with spikes at 15 -18 range highest I had was 21 but and its a BIG BUT. I now have (for a week) a much better balance between my food and BG level and have had mainly between 6 - 8 range with the odd spike to 9.6 processed spicey saucage, didn't know it had sugar to reduce chillie power.
so yeh that a big possitive for me.

now the questions you know you love them.

How do I find out how much carbs is low enough for me. 0 is not an answer.
low enough to keep things good but high enough so i can enjoy foods. (not rice pasta etc etc) but foods.
(38yrs, not to active, 14st, 5ft 6)

I would like pizza but base is no go so what can I do, dont want bread sub like coliflour or other veg I dont like many veges, but is there a alternitive. if not then theres not.

Also I would like to make some snack bars like flapjack, trackers or nutragrain but without all the stuff I cant have like carbs & Sugar, I have an idea but what can I use as a binding agent. also if you have any recipes please share.

thank you for taking the time to read and sorry it was so long.
 
@khanm78 - Hello and Welcome to the Forum .
Tagging @daisy1 who will provide you with some basic information that all new members receive.
 
khanm78 said:
I now have (for a week) a much better balance between my food and BG level and have had mainly between 6 - 8 range with the odd spike to 9.6 processed spicey saucage
Click to expand...

That is a pretty good range to be in. Congratulations!
 
Welcome, you are doing pretty good now that you're knuckling down and coming to terms with it and actively wanting to be healthier..

As for pizza, some people like fat head pizza... I haven't tried it yet, but do plan on it.

http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2015/04/23/fat-head-pizza/

As for carbs and how many you need to consume, you will just have to experiment and watch bg levels to see how you handle them 100g, 50g, 30-20g for some. It is an individual thing. When talking about carbs, I'm referring to starch. Vegetables are important, coat them with cheese is one way to eat them. Adds some flavour, or butter. Others will have suggestions. Some eat zero carb, but eat plenty of veges for fiber. Last thing you want is constipation. You may get a stronger response to diet questions if you post a thread specifically asking about diet.

Again, welcome aboard!
 
One way to get it figured out is to go full out to 20 grams per day. Once your blood glucose is stable, which happens remarkably quickly, you start adding 5 grams per week back in. So 20 for a month say and then 25 for a week, 30 for a week. When weight loss stops or your blood glucose begins to rise then you dial it back 10 grams and stay there. This is how you can determine what the right level is for you. If you don't want to lose weight then add in nuts and dairy (not milk). Fathead pizza is amazingly good, the crust is a lot like a cheezy foccacia (sp?) bread. Very filling. Just be careful to read labels on the pizza sauce, some are full of sugar. I like it with a fair amount of italian seasoning mixed into the dough.
 
@khanm78

Hello and welcome to the forum Here is the basic information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. It contains advice on carbs and levels and a link to the Low Carb Program. 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.
 
Thank you all for a good warm welcome
. I am on a mobile atm and just skimmed replies but reat assured i will read thrm all in depth asap. I will try advice regarding carb amounts and increase while watching BG levels. Also will try base suggestions. And ty all again.
 

ty for the info it was deff something I was looking into reg carbs, i have no main issues at the moment to the reduction of carbs as I could stand to loose 2 stone, (28lbs) but not my main reason for carb cutting its just a happy side effect. but dont wnat to much more than that off
nice to know dairy is ok within reason, just milk and sweetened dairy is off menu.
as for consipation not an issue so far with metformin but i iwll keep what you say in mind. and will do a thred n diet section cheers for the help
I will also be trying the fat head pizza thin crust looks good.
 

So far im holding good at about 10g - 15g a day its a darn big drop from what I was on before, I dont mind dropping more as long as I can stay satisfied but then again I do like my meat so not so bad in that way. the feathered pizza is that the cheese base, as for sauces I make my own load of mixed italian herbs and some spice.
thank you for helping
 

Now Daisy what can I say, very full very informitive, I have read and understood you well. thank you.

Deff not the right place but I have made a simple no macro or links spreadsheet for type 2 diabetics to monitor there BG over a year period, its created on openoffice, anywhere I can send it to need some people to test it with me?
I would like to know its what people are interested in doing so I can rewright it in google sheets for cros platform use (Mobile, tablet, laptop, pc, windows or mac or linux) your results with you even on the go. no more book to carry around, also I have made it public source so no one owns it or can charge for it.

also no disrespect but all I can do when seeing your name is sing daisy daisy in my head. you deff lighten my mood ty
 

Yeah, milk I don't use... too much lactose sugar for me.

Good luck with everything. I'm looking forward to trying the pizza also!
 
if you want you can use the APP "lifesum" to keep track of all you eat while loosing bodyweight, it is free and makes it much easier to have an overview longterm
 
@khanm78, welcome!

It's good that you're testing, so you can work out from that what to eat and what to avoid.

Re your pizza conundrum - I may have stumbled across a suitable pizza base while trying a savoury cracker recipe. It made lousy crackers (being more like flatbread than cracker, and it may have been my fault), but tasted amazing, almost pizza-y.

Here's the link if you fancy trying it out as a pizza base. Let us know how you get on.

http://divaliciousrecipes.com/2012/07/05/savoury-garlic-cheese-crackers/
 
Thank you i will try this also. If it works i think i can expand on it well.
 
@khanm78 welcome to a place you would rather not be. You will find that it isnt carbs that make you feel satisfied, they do, but one f*rt or an hour later you are hungry again. Fat will fill you up and make you satisfied, and for hours and hours.
The only bread I can now eat, and then not a whole one, is the Lidl protien roll.
I challenge you to make a coli mash with cream, garlic and parmesan and NOT like it. It is better than mashed spud - honest!

Good luck with your Diabetic journey
 
I tried the fathead pizza today - nom nom! My whole family loved it. Did it with olives, peppers, onions and salami as well as mozzarella. Everyone said they wanted it again - they are not diabetic, BTW..
 
I make the fathead pizza base in a square shape and then cut it into smallish slices. It makes a good sturdy sandwich.
 
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