New diabetic struggling with meals

Hi and welcome to the forum,

My advice is to ignore the "you don't need to test" advice and buy a meter. This will show you at a glance what your food choices have done to your levels, and I imagine that if you test the foods you have listed most of them will be off your menu! (sorry!)

All carbohydrate turns to sugar once inside the system. As a Type 2, your body cannot cope with the sugar in your blood stream so adding much more is not a wise thing to do. The worst culprits are breakfast cereals, grains such as corn and oats, wheat and so on, rice, potatoes, bread, pasta and anything made with flour. We also need to be very careful with fruit and steer ourselves away from the sweeter ones (mostly tropical ones). Raspberries and strawberries are better choices. Bananas and grapes are among the worst choices. Peas and legumes can also cause problems for some people. We all react differently, so this is why you need a meter to show you how you react. It may be your body can cope with small portions of some of these foods. Or maybe not.

This website will give you some ideas. https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/60-seconds

I will tag @daisy1 as she will come along with some useful advice and information given to newcomers.
Meanwhile have a good read round the forums and ask as many questions as you like.

Poolkid83 said:

Thank you. I will buy a meter. Do you have an idea of cost? or which model is best?

Thank you

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You won't regret buying the meter, I promise you! Once you have it, we will help you to use it to your best advantage, so just let us know when it arrives.

The most popular meters for self funding T2's are the Codefree and the Tee2 because the strips are much cheaper than other meters, and you need a lot of strips but you only need one meter. You can't buy them in pharmacies.

Try here for the Codefree meter
http://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/blood-glucose-monitor/

and here for the extra strips
http://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/sd-codefree-test-strips-to-be-used-only-with-the-sd-monitor/

There are discount codes if you buy in bulk.
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833

The Tee2 is here and the meter is free.
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-blood-glucose-meter/

Don’t forget to check the box that you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for either meter)

Hi Poolkid and welcome to our lovely friendly and informative corner of the internet!
First let me tag in @daisy1 who’ll post loads of useful links for you.
So Metformin will only do a tiny bit to improve your blood sugars, diet is the major part. On this forum most of us would disagree with your nurse and many other Diabetes nurses, that home testing isn’t required. Unfortunately we have to fund it ourselves. Ask if you decide to go for it and want more details. Now diet, whilst losing weight will help, a lot of weight watchers style meals while being low in calories they are carbohydrate heavy. A lot of us cut carbohydrates as all carbohydrates turn to sugar so need to be cut as well as obvious sugars. Looking at your menu above I’ll point out higher carb foods, porridge is high but some people tolerate it, this is where testing comes in handy. Your spaghetti and meatball ready meal is 44g carbs, quite a lot to be eating all in one go. Fruits can be high in natural sugars, here’s a graphic showing how kiwi and banana stand:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/fruits
Minced beef is fine, meat is virtually carb free, watch what you add to it though. I can tolerate peas and sweetcorn, some type 2s don’t, again this is where the personal testing comes in. Hartleys SF jellies are pretty lowcarb but the 10cal ones are even lower.
I was diagnosed last May and cut my carbs to <100g a day initially, then when my blood sugars plateaued I dropped to between 50-70g per day and that’s where I stay. My blood tests now show normal blood sugar levels.
Hope that helps x

EDIT Sorry duplicated a lot of what Bluetit1802 said. I got distracted mid typing and Bluetit1802 beat me to it!

Rachox said:

EDIT Sorry duplicated a lot of what Bluetit1802 said. I got distracted mid typing and Bluetit1802 beat me to it!

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At least we said much the same! Great minds and all that!

Poolkid83 said:

Thank you. I will definitely buy a meter. It's just that everything I seem to like has a lot of carbs in it. I used to eat a lot of takeaways and sweet things so I thought I might only have to cut the sweet stuff out but it seems like I am going to have to be a lot more strict. Are you now "cured" so to speak?

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I don’t consider myself ‘cured’, possibly ‘in remission’ or ‘reversed’ but really I just think I’m just ‘very well controlled’, my GP describes me as that too. If I stopped my meds or relaxed on my diet I’m sure my blood sugars would rise again.

Poolkid83 said:

It's just that everything I seem to like has a lot of carbs in it.

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It is a matter of finding stuff with few carbs that you like, and changing your mind set. It is hard and confusing at first, but it works - it is perfectly possible to lower your blood sugar down to non-diabetic levels as many people on this forum have done, and even come off medication. That could be your motivation. There is nothing wrong with meat, fish (provided they are not coated with anything), eggs, all dairy, bacon, most but not all vegetables, tomatoes, mushrooms, avocados, olives, olive oil, nuts and seeds. Perhaps write a list of the foods you do enjoy that have no or very few carbs in them. You may be surprised what there is. Just keep away from ready meals and pre-prepared meals. How about a good fry up of bacon, eggs, high meat content sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms? A good choice for breakfast or brunch. A nice steak or piece of fish with veggies or salads is also a good choice.

Poolkid83 said:

Thank you. I will definitely buy a meter. It's just that everything I seem to like has a lot of carbs in it. I used to eat a lot of takeaways and sweet things so I thought I might only have to cut the sweet stuff out but it seems like I am going to have to be a lot more strict. Are you now "cured" so to speak?

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When I was first diagnosed I thought the same - never had a sweet tooth so cutting out sugar will be a doddle....its only once you realise its carbs as well that you start to see the real impact, especially on foods that you may of though of as healthy in the past - I followed a Low Fat diet for years and years, never lost any weight, and meanwhile in the background was sliding into T2. This forum, and the dietdoctor website is a real eye opener, its like a journey of discovery once you realise the universal presence of carbs in modern foods - having said that - I am now lighter, fitter, than at any point in my adult life, at 50 I am enjoying life to the full - I consider myself to be in 'control' ie, normal non diabetic blood sugar, maintained mainly by diet, no meds, and eating very healthy food that I once would have run a mile from ! - have a look at the success stories in this forum - lots of people here doing amazing things.

Hi @Poolkid83 Welcome to the forum, its a steep learning curve but there is lots of help on the forum, remember you are a human so you will make mistakes, dont be too hard on yourself. Highly support the advice others have given to get yourself a meter, we are all different so whilst one member can eat porridge or toast, others (myself included) get an increase in our blood glucose levels (BG) after eating these sorts of foods.

There are lower carb options for traditional high carb foods:

mashed potatoes: mashed cauliflower or mashed celeriac work very well, add butter or splash of cream if doing LCHF. I like to add garlic and herbs.

Chips: celeriac works well instead of oven chips, or cut courgette into a fat chip shape and coat in egg and almond flour ‘batter’ and bake into a courgette fritter/chip

Dauphinoise potatoes: Celeriac works really well in place of potatoes, add plenty of cream, butter and garlic for a LCHF version.

Pasta: "pasta" quills - use courgettes slices into sort of chunks instead, steam or cook briefly in boiling water – don’t overcook or like pasta it will go mushy, serve with low carb sauce.
Small patty pan squash cut into quarters also work well, cook until just tender.
for fettuccini or tagliatelle – can use courgettes cut into thicker strips
for spaghetti - spaghetti squash is great when I can find it or can use courgette ( I use a julienne peeler much cheaper than a spiraliser ) but needs to be cooked gently or it will fall apart, I normally add to sauce to be warmed up
for cannelloni pasta tubes - I use aubergine slices rolled around the filling or leeks carefully sliced to open them into a sheet and then rolled around the filling .
for lasagne sheets - aubergine or courgette sliced lengthways or leeks folded all work well, don’t need precooking.

Bread - use nut flours instead of wheat flour, lots of recipes on forums such as oopsie bread or almond flour breads, I add a spoonful of ground flaxseeds to add fibre to the ‘bread’

Wraps – large lettuce leaves make great sandwich filling or burger holders

Crisps - melted cheese blobs is yummy

Nachos – use thick strips of raw pepper to serve guacamole or chilli beef etc

Gratin/breadcrumb topping - Almond or coconut flour instead of bread works great, add savoury seasoning such as herbs or garlic for gratin toppings etc as the nut flours can be a little sweet.

Crumble topping – use ground almonds instead of wheat flour for sweet crumble topping, fruits don’t need any extra sweeteners or sugar, add cinnamon and mixed spice for added sweet taste without needing sugar, serve with double cream for extra sweet taste.

Poolkid83 said:

Is cream ok then? I thought that might be bad. Would strawberries and cream be ok for a dessert?

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Double cream is virtually carb free. I have strawberries and cream with low carb coconut ‘porridge’ (not real porridge, not a grain in sight) for breakfast: https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/keto-coconut-porridge) and strawberries and cream for dessert every night.

Poolkid83 said:

Is cream ok then? I thought that might be bad. Would strawberries and cream be ok for a dessert?

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Cream is better than milk. I have double cream in my coffee every morning instead of breakfast, and on strawberries or raspberries for dessert a couple of times a week. (sometimes instead of cream I have a full fat Greek yogurt with the berries). See! Low carb isn't all that difficult or nasty!!

@Poolkid83 Hello. Just to say that everyone is different but I find that potato is the biggest culprit for putting up my blood glucose levels. Do you eat eggs? How about omelettes ?

Poolkid83 said:

Baked potato with cheese and beans. Would that be ok?

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Potato is very high carb, especially a baked one as the starches break down in the cooking. Baked beans are also very high carb (have a look at the total carb amount on the tin) Cheese is fine!

Cream has very, very few carbs and no sugar to speak of. Milk has a lot more sugar (lactose) Anything ending in ....ose is sugar.