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Type 2 Newbie T2 overwhelmed by diet change

Thank you for your encouragement and meal suggestions.

I'm not much of a cook. My previous life was takeaways and ready meals mainly. Wonder where my T2D came from? .

I did enough of my chicken casserole for four portions (as that's what the recipe was for). The remaining three portions are in the freezer. I got the recipe from diabetes.org.uk and it's here: https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/recipes/chicken_casserole. There are a couple of unfamiliar ingredients (to me) but they were found easily enough in Sainsbury's in the UK.
 

Buy a smaller yogurt tub?

Shame about no eggs or fish. They are soooooooooo good for us. You could do yourself a fry up with bacon, a high meat content sausage ( I buy Hecks), a tomato and loads of mushrooms. I had that for my lunch today, except I also had eggs.

Do you like alcohol? Red wine is on the list, if you do. Along with most spirits with sugar free mixers. Always in moderation of course.

Don't forget that reducing your carbs and processed foods means you need extra salt.
 
Heh heh!! Long walk as a penance .

I find seeing all the things I used to be able to eat on display quite upsetting. Not to mention trying to find the aisles in the supermarket where my new purchases have to be made. I do appreciate that everyone's been through what I'm feeling right now. It's all very new and strange to me and still a bit of a shock. I'm very grateful for all the support and understanding I've received here and I'm not usually such a misery guts .
 
Smaller tub? What sorcery is this? You're absolutely right though.

I'm not much of an alcohol drinker. I can take it or leave it.

Good thinking on my salt intake. That's where the bacon will come in. (at least for some of it)
 
Hotpepper20000 said:
I only eat breakfast on sundays with Mr Hotpepper. So today I had cheese, local high quality bacon, sliced tomatoes and cheese!!
What ever you do it has to be sustainable, delicious and you should not be hungry.
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I guess it's just about re-educating myself re: eating and food prep habits. It kind of threw me off kilter when I realised that my entire dietary regime had to change and I panicked (with minimal support from my healthcare professional - "Cut out sugar and reduce bread intake"). I can't say I'm exactly relishing the prospect, but I feel I now have some strategies thanks to your good self and others.

Thank you everyone!!
 
Like many others here, I lost loads of weight without counting calories. Going low carb but having cheese, full fat milk, double cream and full fat real Greek yogurt keeps me full and I still lost over 5.5 stone - given I spend a lot of time in bed and do almost no exercise that was even more amazing than getting my T2 into remission. And my cholesterol/blood lipids improved.

As for cooking
Roast a chicken eat some with plenty of green veg, using the juices instead of gravy
pull off a chunk when hungry,
or stir fry it with spring onion, cabbage and mushrooms
or for snacks add it to cream cheese with plenty of black pepper and garlic, spread onto romaine lettuce leaves.

Grate cheese over a cooked pack of broccoli and cauliflower.

If you have a slow cooker, put in chunks of beef with a little onion and garlic (not too much onion) and mushrooms. Make enough for a few days then add a little fried chilli peppers to one part, some turmeric and curry spices to another to vary it.
Both good served with cauliflower rice. Or you could make cauliflower mash or have a small amount of roasted butternut squash.
After dinner I usually have 100g of greek yogurt with about 5-7 (depending on size) raspberries mashed in.

I have low carb bread occasionally, but just a small slice. Some people find even this too much carbs - test before and 2 hours after to check if you can tolerate it.

I usually miss lunch, or have a small salad with a little protein. But breakfast is a mix of flaxseed, chia seeds and oatbran to replace porridge, or a coconut flour/milk pancake with berries. A slice of lowcarb toast at the weekend - max 9g carbs.
I do use 90 second bread - if you don't like the eggy taste use the vegan recipe with flaxseeds instead.
 
Well done on the weight loss and some useful tips there. I'll definitely look into 90 second bread. I miss my bread although I do have one slice of wholemeal with peanut butter for breakfast.

You mentioned chia seeds. I got a packet today as I'd heard they were good for diabetics (no idea what they taste like) but there's no preparation instructions. I'd read somewhere that they can be dangerous to eat 'raw' as they absorb moisture and swell up potentially causing problems internally. How do you take yours?
 
Take a look at these links for more ideas
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/ for food ideas

also https://www.dietdoctor.com/ for more food ideas and general info of carb content of foods. Excellent site and first port of call for many getting their head round low carb.

Lots of other websites for recipes out there too. Just use the term low carb or keto with whatever you fancy and you’ll have loads more options. Just be aware many sites are American and they count carbs a bit differently. Their carb listing is total and then they knock fibER off to get net carbs . UK labels have already done this for us and fibRE is already separated.


I ignore GI and GL and just look at carbs and keep it simple especially til you get more used to it all. Then tweek it to suit.
Generally under 5%. Under 10% is a maybe depending on quantity I’ll eat. Over than is highly unlikely unless tiny amounts.
 
I decided I wasn't going to carb count, this was too much hassle, and I was determined not to take medication. I wasn't good with my 5 a-day fruit and veg, hardly touched the stuff. I also learnt not to take notice of the 'which sugars' figure on food labeling and only bother with the carb figure. I also decided I wasn't going to get hung up on how many carbs I should limit myself to on a daily basis. So I simply reviewed the products we bought and ate as a family and swapped brands based upon which one had the lowest total carb content, an example might have been swapping HP for Heinz or vice versa. I did at first cut out mash, rice, pasta, cakes, biscuits, crisps etc. and swapped white bread for low carb seeded breads, preferably no crust, and swapped full fat milk for semi-skimmed.

I massively upped my intake of fruit and veg and oily fish, although I did some homework on sugar/glucose content of fruits and chose the lower content ones. The great thing I learnt was I could eat cheese and as much cream as I wanted. My favorite breakfast is now porridge with fruit usually blueberries, strawberries and red grapes and sometimes rhubarb. As for mash we swapped it for a carrot and swede mash wish we now quite like a lot.

My big problem was always in the evening when I sat down with a cup of tea, I craved for chocolate, cake or biscuits with it. Now I reach for a bag of hazelnuts or a small chunk of dark 70% chocolate, 80 or 90% is too strong for my taste given I was always a milk chocolate person. Also during the day when I felt a little hungry between meals I would take a drink (usually tea) and this would often reduce my hunger, or I would eat something like a piece chicken or drumstick, or maybe some nuts usually hazelnuts because of their lower carb content to other nuts.

I did also upped my daily exercise level, got a dog so I can walk him 3 times a day.

These simple changes brought my levels down from 64 mmol/mol to 42 inside 6 months and took me out of the diabetic state, and to a level I've been able to maintain for over 2 tears now even though I've allowed rice and pasta to creep back into my diet but I moderate it.

Oh I also lost approx. 9kg in weight over a 9 month period which I didn't set out to do it just happened as a result of the changes.

The best thing was when I was first diagnosed I refused to go on Metformin and told my doctor that if I made the lifestyle changes and took the meds I wouldn't know which one had reduced my glucose levels, his words were "I understand your logic but your levels (64) are to high and I don't think you'll be able to reduce it sufficiently". 6 months later when I was down to 42 he said "I was wrong, I really didn't think you could do"
 
Captain Crunch said:
That's great to hear your blood sugars dropped fast.

I've gone to virtually no carbs in one hit. I'm eating mainly chicken/beef and cauliflower/broccoli and I have almost constant hunger. This is Hell on Earth.
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Your current diet chicken, beef and cauliflower/ brocolli is missing the vital element of fat. It's true we have been indoctrinated to think of fat as bad for us. But for those if us with a carb intolerance it's essential . Have you made cauliflower rice? ( just grate up a cauliflower) Try frying it in butter with whatever herbs and spices go with your chicken /beef.
Do you eat cheese? An excellent source of both protein and fat. Full fat, unsweetened yoghurts and berries are tasty and filling. And a delicious desser for those of us who need that.
Obviously you are concerned about your cholesterol levels. However you need to know that most of it is produced by our liver. Dietary fat has little effect on cholesterol levels, but will stop the incessant hunger. Try bacon and eggs for breakfast. Coffee with cream.
Snack on nuts.
Hope this random rambling helps.
Best wishes from a fellow prediabetic.
Liz
 
Oh yes! Exactly how I felt at first. It gets better, I promise.
 
Full fat dairy products are usually 3- 9%fat.
Not exactly massive amount, but enough to stop you feeling hungry for hours.

Edited for typo
 
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When I make a sugar free jelly and add frozen fruit to it, before I throw that in I stir in a spoonful off chia seeds and they suck up the juice from the fruit as I eat my way through it.
 
Full fat Greek yoghurt- portion size around 100-120g

How about bacon, sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes for breakfast?
It's also possible to make Grain-free Granola.
Several different recipes on the web. And a batch will do 10-15 breakfasts.
 
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I don't use chia seed but I do use Flaxseed (milled/ground). I sprinkle it on my food at least once a day, every day. Two or three pinches. It is full of essential Omega 3 and provides me with plenty of fibre because I am not a vegetable lover and I don't eat fruit.

I have also found some lovely bread. It is my local supermarket's own brand (Booths) and is labelled as their low GI seeded bread, but each slice is only 8g carbs and they are lovely thick big slices just right for toasting. It is well worth searching all your local supermarkets for bread and looking at the carb amounts per slice. You never know what you may find.
 

Chia seeds are good added to other foods, and help thicken - just be careful not to eat too many at first, get use to them slowly.

I use chia seeds as part of my lower carb porridge - a lot lower in carbs than oats. You can also use them to make a sugar free no cook 'jam' with raspberries.
My breakfast is 2 dessertspoons of milled flaxseeds, one spoon of chia seeds and one spoon of oatbran - cooked in 200g of water (large bowl, and microwave for 2.5 mins) - I started with more porridge and less flaxseed and swapped it out over a few weeks as I adjusted to the taste
stir in some coconut milk (and extra milk if needed), cinnamon and a pinch of salt, serve with double cream.

Lots of recipes for chia jam out there.
 
Make yourself liver and bacon. Fry a small onion in butter, add the ox liver ( I buy a pack that costs around 90p and freeze half, you get a lot for your money!) and bacon. Fry until the bacon is nicely browned. Put a lid on for 5 or 10 minutes to give a rich gravy. This is enough for 2 people. Serve with cauli mash. I guarantee you will be stuffed!
 
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