Newbie - high glucose AND high cholesterol HELP!

[daisy1]

@debsf1mad
Hello Debs and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it interesting and useful.


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 147,000 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 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.

 

[Aurelien_1009]

High insulin, being obese and high BP are greater risk factors than the LDL cholesterol numbers. Many of us have researched this to "death" if you excuse my choice of words. LDL is bad if it gets oxidised / damaged (the best method of doing this is a carb heavy diet), LDL "fixes" damage within the arteries, so the issue is to resolve the underlying health issue which LDL is trying to patch up.

If you are still concerned and want to straddle the line between current advice and accepting that HDL being high is more important, as well as lowering Triglycerides, walking and physical exercise can reduce LDL, reducing dairy a little and adding usual LCHF / Keto fats (I add and use butter, MCT oil for pancakes, I drink fresh coconut water, and reject the guidelines).

I would recommend YouTube, swat up on the Dave Feldman Protocol (this will show the variability of cholesterol numbers and what influences these). You might also want to watch Ivor Cummins, Dr. Paul Mason and Nina Teicholz, and research Ancel Keys and the 7 countries study. If you do these things, you will have choices about the science and where you should place your trust i.e. lowering cholesterol based on the ideas of Ancel Keys and others, when your body makes circa 85% naturally and your brain is made of 25%, or that other risk factors under your control reduce your risk of CVD / CHD even when using the risk calculators the NHS use.

Thank you for your great info. I still very confused about my Chelesterol, but seem understand more

 

[Mbaker]

Thank you for your great info. I still very confused about my Chelesterol, but seem understand more

I can assure you I am no where near fully up to speed on this, I solely rely on common sense science and the works of brighter people than me. "We" have 2 things the other side do not, which for me is vital - Engineers and those who have been trained in exactly the same way as the proponents of the diet heart hypothesis.

The engineering methodology I believe is untainted, whilst I think the scientific method is ok in theory, but has been hijacked for agendas; for example how can those in the sugar camp even say with a straight face sugar is not ultimately deadly - we can show with a £15.00 blood glucose monitor the affects of this stuff in seconds, and what do they think causes the number 1 operation on children in the UK (tooth removal). The corruption goes deep, they never test people like us on this site, who would show a drop in CVD / CHD and many other markers - too inconvenient. Studies are usually backed by either vested interests and or run by persons who for example are against meat, often not declared. Results are then spun when they don't even reach the scientific standards regarding hazard ratios (above 2). It is shameful.

The engineers have come to this party with clean hands, unbiased scrutiny and handed the other side their own bac.... on a plate. I did not know 2 years ago that we make internally 85% of the cholesterol we have or that HDL and Triglycerides are better predictors of heart health than LDL. I did not know that LDL is required for both oestrogen and testosterone production, and as a precursor to vitamin D synthesis. I did not know that carbs turning to fat make Triglycerides, and I did not know we can manipulate our readings to be either excellent or poor within 3 days. I have researched several references which can be summed up at 3 minutes and 9 seconds into the below video:

 

[Bluetit1802]

@debsf1mad

It is extremely important that you know all your numbers, and which tests you had. You will be having regular blood tests from now on, and you need to know these things. It is vital.

I urge you to contact your receptionist and ask for a print out of your test results/. You are entitled to these. They will detail which tests you had and what the results were, plus the standard ranges expected. Otherwise you are just starting a long journey with a blind fold on. If you are in England your surgery should be putting test results on-line. You can ask at your surgery how to register for this service. You will be able to see all your results, including many historic ones.