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New to Type 2 and a Coeliac

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Rushway

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Diabetes, Celiac Disease !!
Hi, I'm a newbie to both Diabetes (Type2) and the board ! (which is why I'm here !)

Brief history....47 years old, male, 12st was 14st ! Celiac, diagnosed in 1999, generally in good health until March 2011 when I had a heart attack which was treated with a stent.

Have now been diagnosed with Type 2 by having a Glucose Tolerance Test of 7 (fasting) then 12 (+2hours)...my HbA1C was 6.3

I believe 7 is the trigger so I was bang on the money for that one, lovely !..

I'm now extremely confused by all this as I have to balance fat, gluten free and now sugar/carbs. As I can't break down cellulose and just eat grass, I'm perplexed ! Any advice would be great - thanks....

First mistake this morning, cut out my usual Gluten Free corn flakes and replaced with pineapple chunks and yoghurt, now read that pineapple is a big no-no...AAGGHHH...
 
Re: New to Type 2 and a Celiac

Hi Rushway, and welcome!

I don't know much about coeliac, I'm afraid, but for a basic list of low carb/no carb foods, have a look at Viv's Modified Atkins Diet, which is on the Sticky Thread section. Sorry I can't post you a link - I'm a techno-wimp :lol:

The diet contains 25g carb per day, if you take out the mention of cereal, crispbread and oatcakes. It's very good for weight-loss and very good for blood glucose control. You don't sound as if you need to restrict your carbs to that level, so work out how many carbs you want to eat in a day, and just add in your usual gluten-free ones, though maybe in smaller portions. As you increase the carbs you decrease the fat content.

I would think you've been put on a low-fat diet? I am not medically qualified so I could not possibly comment, except to say that Dr Atkins was a successful heart specialist, and developed his diet programme especially for his heart patients.

Speaking for myself, who has fortunately not yet had heart problems, I eat natural, unprocessed fats. Except in so far as cheese, butter and cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil are processed :D . I don't gorge on them, but I don't avoid them.

You've got a lot to cope with, and learning about diabetes can be a bit overwhelming at the beginning. However, by the look of your figures they've caught you early, so it will probably be easier for you to take control of the dratted thing. Have a look round the site, and don't be afraid to ask questions! There's no such thing as a silly question on this forum, and there are lots of people eager and willing to give you all and any of the support you may need.

You seem to have been given good advice about controlling your carb intake. Do you have a meter and strips for testing blood glucose readings? I think you could make a good case for getting one, with all your conditions. Tell them you want to test to see how different foods affect you BG levels so you can take control. It's a lottery at the moment - some Type 2s don't get them 'cos it's considered too expensive to have Type 2s test; others get everything they need - but you can only ask!

A meter is an essential tool, because we are all different, and some people can eat carbs that would send others' readings sky-high in a 'spike'. Grazer, for instance (you'll meet him soon - he's a sheep :lol: ) can eat Shredded Wheat for breakfast without a problem. I can't :(

Good luck!

Viv 8)
 
Re: New to Type 2 and a Celiac

PS berries and unsweetened yoghurt would have been fine for breakfast! Lowest carb fruits are berries, plums and apricots. I can eat a small apple without much problem. All that lovely cream :D slows down the digestion so the glucose hits the blood stream more slowly.

Bananas, grapes and piineapple are a no-no for most people - but not all. Buy yourself a carb counter book - Collins do one in their Gem series, which has the odd error but is portable. There are others. Then try different foods, and test 2 hours after. You'll soon learn what you can and can't eat.

Viv 8)
 
Re: New to Type 2 and a Celiac

hi Rushway.... I feel for you as I did a low FODMAP diet last year where I had to eliminate gluten, lactose, and all fructose from my diet. That pretty much cut my options a lot. I wound up getting a lot of hypos on that diet. I don't tolerate carb vegies very well at all and my BGLs tend to crash and hour and a half after eating them. I guess only having just the one thing eliminated may make it a little easier.... wishing you the best. :)
 
Re: New to Type 2 and a Celiac

Thanks for the responses, appreciate it....it is overwhelming at the moment, I must admit but I'll pick up a meter etc. and start experimenting !...it's just a bit of a disappointment after adjusting my lifestyle after the heart attack to then have to adjust it all again, having lost a couple of stone and now eating more healthy than I was.

Still, it's another challenge isn't and it'd be so boring with nothing to challenge us !. Well that's my take on it anyway...

Thanks again and I'll keep reading the forum etc.... :thumbup:
 
Re: New to Type 2 and a Celiac

Hi , Your message caught my attention because I am a T2 diagnosed 3.5 years ago, and my 22 month old grandson has been diagnosed with coeliac disease (from the time he was first introduced to solids and became a very sick little chappy), he is protein intolerant and cannot have any food that could possibly be contaminated with wheat, using separate bread board, cutlery his own spread etc - none that his family use (he was having gluten free cornflakes but cannot have them as paediatrician said they are possibly stored with wheat) his diet is very limited poor soul as he has (to date) been diagnosed diary intolerant also. Not a problem as far as he is concerned and my his parents and all supportive relatives know how to cope, fortunately his loves his fruit and veg! Currently very happy and thriving thank goodness, and he is such a lovely natured little boy. However, I feel for him as this is a life long thing and he will be challenged mostly as an older child.

However, I digress, as a T2 I do not have anything relevant to add to the above posts (I know that fruit can only be eaten in small quantities and that bananas, grapes, pineapple are some the highest in sugar content). I just wanted to say that this Forum is brilliant, so many nice, knowledgeable people on here - and my commiserations with your two very challenging and rather complicated illnesses. :)
 
Re: New to Type 2 and a Celiac

I'm wheat intollerant, but not coeliac, but it has many of the same problems.

I can eat oats (not sure if you can) and get an oat based museli and add ground and flaked almonds and other nuts to it to bring the carb content down for breakfast. For lunch I have a salad and some fruit and my evening meal is meat/fish and vegetables.

I very rarely eat gluten free bread, and when I do it is to make cheese on toast or eggy bread. I don't eat pasta or rice (not keen) or potatoes.

I'm afraid you are going to have to give up the 'free from' aisle as it doesn't contain any items that are suitable for a Type 2 who is trying to cut carbs to get their blood sugar levels down.
 
Hi again and thanks again for the great input...

HpprKM - Sorry to hear about your Grandson, must be difficult....for info. the Corn Flakes that I am(was!) eating were Whole Earth Organic which are truly Gluten Free...I know what the Paed. was saying as this can be true particularly with oat products as the factories use the same production lines for wheat etc. but the Whole Earth have always been fine for me (no Barley Malt Extract either ehich is usually the ingredient that causes the damage...)

My staple diet was consisting of Corn Flakes, Corn Crackers, fruit mainly bananas/apples, main meal usually GF Pasta or potatoes of varying types with veg, chicken etc...as I now can't have most of those it's going to be fun...

It'll take a while to get there but it's a journey !
 
Rush way , thanks for info which I will pass to my daughter, luckily Caeden loves his veg and salad and banana was practically his first word as he had a passion for them, though currently into oranges. I told my daughter about your situation and she re
Armed that sadly one autoimmune disease leaves one predisposed to another. You have full sympathy, I know the difficulty of eating with both diseases and my daughter also has wheat intolerance - so pretty gamed up on all. I do wish you all the best and hope you find support in this forum with the disbetes which is such a complex thing to come to try with.
 
Hi Rushway. I'm sorry to hear about the coeliac and diabetes problems. I was diagnosed coeliac about 25 years ago, and have been on a strict gluten-free diet ever since. All I can really say there is that you just have to stick to it. It's much easier now, since almost all products are labelled. I only eat items which I am certain are gluten-free. That means that we rarely eat out. Some restaurants do know what it is about; others do not. You will know by now what happens if you ingest gluten after being gluten-free. There is no half-way stage with gluten intolerance; so many people say they mostly stay off it. Crazy, it doesn't work like that. A non-GF communion wafer once made me ill for 6 weeks. Recently, it has emerged that coeliac disease and diabetes are on the same gene, and I understand that newly diagnosed diabetics are now routinely tested for gluten intolerance; that has happened in the last 18 months since I was diagnosed as T2. Like you, I was not overweight, non-smoker, non-drinker, so diabetes was a surprise, but if it is in the genes, that's it. My late father was diagnosed diabetic just after a heart attack; they run in the family. Knowing the symptoms as I do, I now realise that he was almost certainly coeliac, undiagnosed, too. Of the two, a marginal T2 condition is serious, but probably not as serious as coeliac disease, especially if undiagnosed. The sooner they are diagnosed and dealt with, the better. As for food, as I said above, it's easier now, but watch it when eating out. Flour is used as a filler or coating on many foods. Never eat chips that are pre-packed; they are flour-coated. Gluten-free flour is available on prescription, and there is an allowance which you can have, in flour, biscuits, pasta etc. per month. Once it has been signed off by your doctor, you get a form from the pharmacy and just request the items you want. The doc only signs a form once; in effect, you self-prescribe. Gluten-free flour is expensive to buy, while now gluten-free pasta is not, so go for mostly flour, if you or partner can bake or cook with it. Obviously, staying off the cakes, biscuits as much as possible helps if there is a marginal weight problem, but probably not for you. Good luck. Frankly, you need it with this little-recognised combination of symptoms.
 
Hi - me again, I thought that it may interest you to know that we had a family meal out at the local Harvester, my daughter called them ahead to confirm that a) they could provide a) child's menu for Caeden (my coeliac grandson) and b) there was no chance of cross contamination. They were extremely helpful, and told her that as long as she explained the situation on the day they could certainly provide a meal for him without fear of cross contamination. We explained this on the day and, as he is also lactose intolerant, they provided a very nice little meal of chicken minus any butter or milk and veg that was prepared separately for him, and we given exclusive, friendly and helpful assistance, by one of their Senior Staff with Caeden's food throughout the meal - I found this highly impressive from a busy, but rather 'cheap' but popular restaurant :D
 
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