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Type 2 Newbie T2 overwhelmed by diet change

Captain Crunch

Well-Known Member
Messages
187
Location
London
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I've recently been diagnosed with T2 and apart from my GP advising me to cut out sugar, reduce bread intake, and take more exercise, I've not received any professional advice about diet. I'm seeing my GP again next week and I'll request a dietician referral.

My eating habits to date haven't been the healthiest to be honest. Bread, potatoes and a sweet dessert formed part of most meals. I've been attempting (and failing spectacularly) at carb limiting to the extent that I'm neglecting the other food groups and feel very light-headed most of the time. I'm finding the whole diet thing really overwhelming and don't see how I can change. Cutting out sweet stuff won't be a problem, it's finding nutritious and filling 'main' foodstuffs that's the problem. N.B. I don't eat fish or eggs.

My question to experienced T2-ers is:- How did you manage the transition from 'normal' eating to carb-conscious eating?
 
To start with, I just cut the carbs (bread rice potato pasta fruit and fruit juices and so on) right down and filled the plate with extra veg instead.

Later I increased my protein a bit.

Later still I increased my understanding about how red meat and saturated fats are not the Evil Incarnate made out by the media and old style medical advice, and now happily eat them all the time.

If you want to make things very simple, and are used to a way of eating around bread potatoes and pudding, then you can do a bit of research and do some direct swaps.
Bread - swap to a lower carb bread like Burgen (read the labels on the packaging and you will see how reduced carb each slice will be compared with your usual brand)
Potato - my husband used cauliflower cheese, cauliflower mash, as direct swaps.. He now prefers them to potato.
Puddings - there are vast numbers of cake, pud and snack recipes that are very low carb. Have a google.

A good website to start is the www.dietdoctor.com site which does both menus and shopping lists.
But if you google 'low carb recipe carrot cake' or 'low carb recipe chocolate mug cake' you will find yourself inundated with suggestions.

Hope that helps.
 
Hi. You need to reduce all carbs and not just sugar, but you can have fats and proteins fairly freely. It sounds like meat will help with your protein input. Cheese is a vey good option for main meals and snacking. Nuts and berries are good for snacking. Non-root veg are always good and so are non-tropical fruits. How about sausage and bacon for breakfast? BTW we careful with NHS dieticians as many haven't clue about diet; this may seem strange but they tend to follow traditional western teaching much of which is not based on good science. These forums have the best advice.
 
Thank you for your reply Brunneria.

I think the extra veg route is the way to go. I can probably manage that. I do like the idea of cauliflower cheese as a potato substitute. I'll investigate Burgen as an alternative to my usual brown bread.
 
Thank you Daibell.

I have to be a bit careful with fats as I apparently also have high cholesterol. The GP wants to address that later.

I'm not very knowledgeable about food groups but I suspect I'm facing a steep learning curve.

I appreciate the warning about NHS dieticians. I assumed they'd be clued up.
 
If you don't know what your hba1c number was, you should find out. You need to know your starting point.

Most of us fund our own glucose meters. We all tolerate carbs differently. A meter tells you how your body reacts to food. It is invaluable for setting you on the right path. We can advise on meters if you want.

Read around the forum. Ask lots of questions.

If you are offered medication, ask if you can put it off until after your next hba1c. Unless you have had a cardiac event, I would resist statins, until you have researched the subject.
 
Captain Crunch said:
I have to be a bit careful with fats as I apparently also have high cholesterol. The GP wants to address that later.
Click to expand...

actually it’s probably the very same changes that will apply to reduce bgl and cholesterol. An awful lot of us have improved readings on low carb despite eating an awful lot of saturated fats!

Much like being outdated re carbs many medical professionals now are unaware of the huge amount of evidence casting very serious doubt on what we’ve all been told about cholesterol and saturated fats.

take a look at this thread (it’s huge!) https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/cholesterol-and-statins.156985/page-13#post-2169633 and go to some of the links. You’ll have a whole new understanding and probably know more than many a medic if you get through even half of it.

Please note that whilst losing weight cholesterol can temporarily be raised but this applies to all weight loss methods not just low carb! It’s the fat leaving your body via the blood in a sense
 
How did I manage the transition? Badly, because I got a whole lot of bad advice and had to experiment a lot. But hey, that's where my meter came in, and a whole lot of reading. If I'd found this place sooner, it would've been less of a muck-up, but hey.

Lots of people deal with this whole carb thing while also taking other issues into account. Food allergies, dislikes or sensitivities, religions and principles... You name it, you can adjust low-carb to suit it. Don't do eggs and fish? Up the meats, cheeses, creams and above-ground veggies. You have to get your fats and protein from somewhere, so... You know there's people who only eat meat? So one way or another, it'll work. Just takes a little time to figure out what suits you. As for the light headedness, well... Could be the fast reduction of carbs is giving you a touch of carb flu, but that'll pass. (Drink bone broth or coconut milk to replenish the lost electrolytes). Also, when you reduce carb intake, you'll probably ingest less salts, so your bloodpressure could be dropping. I know mine has. Take it easy. You'll get there. It won't happen overnight, but you're on the right path.
 
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Captain Crunch said:
I apparently also have high cholesterol
Click to expand...

If you can find out your numbers we can help to open your mind to the weirdness that is cholesterol too.
Plus you'll discover that dietary fats don't have a great deal of impact.. spooky!
 
Hi. Don't assume that eating sat fats will increase your overall cholesterol despite what we are all told. The liver determines the amount of cholesterol in the blood and what you eat has only a small influence. Make sure that any cholesterol tests are a complete lipids profile so that you can know the various LDL, HDL etc ratios. Any decision to take statins should be based on those ratios and not the total of 4 mmol that NICE says diabetics should meet - a number plucked out of thin air. You only need to be careful if you have a family history of circulation issues and are probably male. I do take low dose statin mainly to keep my DN happy and it doesn't cause me any problems. I guess you may be beginning to think of this forum as composed of NHS rebels! It does have many good areas but it does have food industry vested interests and a bit too much ignorance.
 
I decided to go keto, less than 20g carbs per day. This is because I was starting out with an hba1c of 122.

I fell off the wagon several times. Carbs are addictive. About 4 weeks in, I suddenly found I was no longer hungry, had to be reminded to eat.

Numbers tumbled and so did the weight.

It's a a minefield at first. You will get the hang of it surprisingly quickly.
 
Captain Crunch said:
I have to be a bit careful with fats as I apparently also have high cholesterol. The GP wants to address that later.
Click to expand...

You need to know the numbers of your cholesterol. Your GP's idea of "high" depends on which numbers he is looking at, and is probably the Total Cholesterol, which is meaningless. You can ask for a print out of your blood test results. This will tell you all you need to know, and I suggest you do this immediately so you have time to ask questions on this forum and do some research. Anything you don't understand, people on here will help and explain. You need your HbA1c, and your serum lipids (HDL, LDL and triglycerides) These are essential knowledge.
 
Captain Crunch said:
Thank you for your reply Brunneria.

I think the extra veg route is the way to go. I can probably manage that. I do like the idea of cauliflower cheese as a potato substitute. I'll investigate Burgen as an alternative to my usual brown bread.
Click to expand...

I am on a low carb vegetarian diet. I have substituted celeriac and squash for potatoes. Also I would echo the warning about NHS dietitians. I got criticised by my one for not eating enough carbs. She also tried to tell to to reduce my fat intake, However I ignored this advice and my HBa1c reduced from 65 ( October 2017) to 49 ( March 2018) I also introduced Intermittent Water Only fasting and got my HBa1c down to 40. It is now down to 36 on my latest test ( November 2019) I slashed Grains Potatoes and Sugar. Also avoid artificial sweeteners in 0 calorie drinks. Aspertim really screws up your system. Take a look at the video;s of Dr Jason Fung on You Tube. Also
 
 
Didn't work for me unfortunately. We are all different. The only way is to taste and test.
 
 
I am a recovering carb addict! Small changes with small results are a real motivator to keep you going. Things like having spag bol with a really small amount of pasta and a large salad - with out garlic bread - really are enjoyable! It’s just changing habits - chicken fajitas with 1 wrap, if necessary, served on a bed of salad instead of rice etc. Half my plate now is always either salad or veg.
I am by no means an expert and only new to really taking this seriously, but I am finding it manageable - just!

Good luck!
 

REDUCE carbs and ELIMINATE sugar. No potatoes,no rice, no pasta,nothing sweet,no processed snacks.
Nothing fried but boiled.
Two slices of brown bread daily cannot harm you.
Eat reasonable portions of fruits, but no juices at all.
Daily fat intake from cheeses,nuts and olive oil. (Do not eat saturated fats whatever they say, because they will clog your arteries).
Do not listen to keto diets, they are dangerous. Otherwise they would be suggested to children with T2 and they are NOT.
 
want_to_be_well_ said:
Take a look at the video;s of Dr Jason Fung on You Tube. Also
Click to expand...
These pictures of people supposedly sticking lancets into the nerve endings with a horrified face really annoy me. Finger pricking doesn't hurt if you do it right.
 
I've tried posting on here, but get a silly artificial intelligence type message to say that the content is probably "too spam-like".

It then tells me to contact an administrator - I can't find one. Can an admin help me out? I'll gladly send you the post for you to moderate before it's published.
 
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