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New type 2 carbs/blood glucose/exercise

Jok11

Member
Messages
24
So I have been diagnosed in the last few months my HbA1C came back as 9% 76mmol and have managed to lose 2 stone since then on Lighter Life . I’m not on any medicine as I asked I could try and go into remission using lifestyle changes.. however I would say that if I eat a fair few carbs ( I’ve had the odd day) then my blood sugar shoots up. Last few days I’ve eaten some sausages, crackers, crisps, cheese and nuts and today I was a bit silly and had some rich tea biscuits and a couple of Oreos. Reading was 13.8 on my monitor. I then went for run and it came down to 7.0 then a few hours later back to 10? What’s going on? I realise I may need to be a lot thinner than this to go into remission my BMI is 28.4 I am in the overweight category. I am female and 48 It seems to be all over the place unless I’m on 600 kcal a day!
 
Jok11 said:
It seems to be all over the place unless I’m on 600 kcal a day!
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Welcome to the forums.

It's not the calories, it's the carbs. Most of the folk on here don't count calories at all, but they do count their carbs and keep them down. (How low you need to go will depend on your own individual metabolism, if you buy a blood test meter you'll be able to tell whether your body can cope with an individual meal). Think of T2 diabetes a bit like being gluten intolerant, except your body can't process carbs. @JoKalsbeek has written a pretty good blog on T2 and diet.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog/jokalsbeek.401801/

And weight gain is a side effect of T2 diabetes - high insulin levels (because you produce lots due to insulin resistance) and high blood sugars (because insulin doesn't work well enough to process those carbs) leads to weight gain. Reducing your carbs may well reduce your weight.

Good luck.
 
I was diagnosed in September with hba1c of 76 as well. How often do you test ? It seems that blood sugar levels really vary with different people. You might tolerate certain foods better than others.
 
I test first thing in the morning last thing at night and 2 hours after eating. I was told I didn’t need a blood glucose meter by my Doctor as it wouldn’t help me. But it does, I don’t do it every day but I do see what impact my eating is having. I am recognising when my blood sugar is high from physical symptoms tired headache etc along with when it’s lower, can sometimes feel light headed and weird. This is generally when I am yo yoing between high and low blood glucose levels.
 
Having uncontrolled blood glucose levels will give you the symptoms.

As a newly diagnosed T2, you have to reduce your carb intake, reduce your portion size accordingly and increase protein, saturated fats and your exercise. This will help you lose weight.
Because carbs and sugar create the spikes quickly, your insulin response is weaker due to insulin resistance. After time, your fasting levels will go up into diabetic levels.

Carbs are the foods that you don't need, if you want to be healthy, then I would read the threads on the low carb diet forum and the success stories forum about a low carb diet.
It does work

Keep safe
 
I will try the low carb, I would maybe need to watch my fat intake as I don’t have a gallbladder anymore but I could see how that goes. This is such a supportive and helpful place. Thanks everyone.
 

Testing was the single most useful and powerful tool in my dealing with T2 diagnosis. I tested like crazy at first but after a while you start to realise what you can and can’t eat. This really helped me to
Change and manage my diet for the better.

I also recommend reading the diabetes code by Dr Jason Fung. Really interesting stuff in there. Good luck!
 
Jok11 said:
I will try the low carb, I would maybe need to watch my fat intake as I don’t have a gallbladder anymore but I could see how that goes. This is such a supportive and helpful place. Thanks everyone.
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From what I understand, slowly (and I do mean SLOWLY) upping the fat content of your food could work, until you're up to whatever level of fats works for you. So don't dive straight in with a butter/coconut oil filled Bulletproof Coffee and lots of bacon. Just start out nice & easy, to get your body to adjust.

Good luck!
 
I have read a post my a member without a gall bladder who is on LCHigher Fat and they said that they can cope with fats provided that they don't eat too much fat at once.
Also don't forget to increase the amount of protein you eat - that too will keep you feeling satiated.
 
Restricting carbs is what will give you the best shot at reversing through lifestyle (all IMO of course). You need to get it pretty low and be consistent about it. As some have said, counting calories is not nearly as useful as tracking net carbs. Many people aim for 20-ish net carbs daily, but some people get good results without going this low. Replacing carbs with fat is possibly challenging for some people without a gallbladder, but others seem to have no issue at all. My sister-in-law went full keto with no gentle phase-in without a gallbladder and had zero issues. Others have not found it so easy. You wont know how you tolerate the extra fat until you try though.
 

My diagnosis numbers were a lot worse and my original diagnosing GP said the same. I ignored what he said, bought a Libre sensor and learned what makes me spike. Thankfully I have a far more understanding GP at the same practice, and have made progress and it can continue to be challenging.

I will just say not EVERY T2 puts on weight with the increase of insulin. To give my diagnosing GP some credit, I had lost a lot of weight rapidly with the onset of increased insulin in my system and looked and felt terrible. I had gone to see him because of weight loss without really even trying to lose any weight, and that was the red flag to him to send me for blood tests. And the rest.... was history.
 
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