Hi Poolie, you will receive some great advice and support. what ever you do, do not worry too much, because this is new so the more you learn, the more you are in control. Do not whatsoever let them make you do stuff you do not want to do. Gp and nurses that is.
your level is only 51. it wont be much of a challenge for it to come down, the challenge will be telling the Gp and Nurse, telling them that you will not be taking metformin. There seems to be a trend for newly diagnosed T2 to go straight on to metformin, instead of dietary changes and other alterations.
Plus if they tell you, you need to have carbs, don't.
Drop your carbs, then your levels will, drop, that is it. All you need to do, simple. your weight will drop. If you want to become fitter, then become more active, take up a sport you enjoyed, that is what I did. I took up walking football when I was 50, after I was diagnosed at 49yrs. (I have been trying it work out the time frame) I became so much fitter, my levels and weight dropped and stayed put for 10 yrs and still diet controlled. Yes my weight and levels fluctuate, that is only because of consuming more carbs than I can tolerate.
Please buy a monitor, this is the only tool to stay in control of your diabetes and not the HbA1c. All you need to do is, test before you eat and 2 hours after first bite, simple. if your spike is too high after 2 hours, all it means you have eaten something that you cannot tolerate. That will be the carbs, even the so called healthy carbs, (complex Carbs) these are not your friend, so kick them out of the ballpark.
Carbs are replaced through having fats instead. They will give you so much energy, you won't know what to do with it. (I have more energy than my counterparts who are half of my age and that is after a 12 hour shift in a nursing home) and this will assist you in losing weight. you will be relying on fats for energy and become fat adapted.
Remove carbs from your meals: Rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, veg grown underground such as carrots, swedes and so on as these are very high in carbs. Tropical fruit; pineapple, bananas, grapes, oranges and so on. These are your enemies not very diabetic friendly. By the way there is no such thing as slow releasing carbs either, a carb is a carb and it will raise your levels quickly.
things to eat, endless list and they are more pact in the vitamins than those listed above: All your greens, Brussel sprouts, kale, spinich, cabbage, tomatoes, cougettes, aubaugines, mushrooms and so on. all salads, olives, avecodo's, eggs, cheese, yogurt but not low fat rubbish. 5g in 100g of carbs is your baseline in your products. Fish, all meats even sausages, (look at the meat content, the higher the better, fewer filler) bacon.
fruit any thing with the word berry in it is fine.
cereals such as weetabix and porridge, are a no, no some people can tolerate a small portion, how ever for you, I would leave them out for now.
you won't starve.
Hope this helps and good luck
: