Newbies wife needs help

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michemell

Newbie
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Hi all

My husband Chris got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 3 weeks ago. At present he has not been prescribed medication as the hope is that diet will reduce his blood sugars. Chris has lost 3 1/2 stone so far, however his blood sugars are between 12.5 - 16 first thing in the morning. Chris's diet is strict so what are we doing wrong?

Also any advice on food labels would be appreciated. Is there a figure per 100 gramms that we should be sticking to regarding the sugar side of things?
 
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hanadr

Expert
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You say his diet is strict, but what is it?
If it's "eat plenty of complesx carbs with every meal and cut out fats", it won't bring his blood glucose down. You need to reduce his carb intake to do that. If you don't know what carbs are, look up my Carbs 102&102.
It's brilliant to have lost so much weight and that will start to help. still he needs to get in to the safe zone, which is BGs below 7. Is he measuring his own BGs?
 
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michemell

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Thanks for the advice. Like some of the other posts, i have found the information given to us contradictory, some are from the british heart foundation and say to eat plenty of carbs to regulate the blood sugars and the diabetes stuff says to cut them down. Chris has been having cereal at breakfast, usually shreddies, sandwich and fruit at lunch and i have been cutting his carbs down with the evening meal. Its all been a bit confusing as we at first thought it would be the sugar intake that we would have to watch not the carbs. ( british heart leaflet given due to high cholestrol)
 
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sugarless sue

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Have a read of this thread ,Michemell.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=5446

When you are looking at the info on the side of food packaging ,look at total carbs per 100mg.If it is more than 10 then it is probably not a good idea.
 
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docarhamilton

Member
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OK, you've got two contradictory bits of advice because they're talking about different conditions and different problems. If you've got type 2 diabetes AND a high cholesterol, just what do you eat?

See a Dietician, that's my advice. Your husband's GP should be able to refer you to one, or there'll be one attached to the local hospital diabetic clinic. Go with him when he gets his appointment, especially if it's you that does the cooking and food preparation, and have a list of questions with you so that anything you don't get the answers to you can ask about at the end. These people are the experts on this and you should have access to the best advice at a time like this, when you're trying to get things straight.

I'd also reiterate the "well done" with the diet. To lose 3 1/2 stones is fantastic, and I'd guess he still has a way to go to get his BMI down to a reasonable level.

Finally, have you let his GP know about the morning test results? He may feel some medication is warranted. Metformin would not only help the levels, but will slow the progression of the disease, and Type 2 Diabetes is a progressive condition for most patients. The high sugar levels are constantly forcing Insulin production, which is failing. The Metformin will help out and take the strain off, allowing the system to continue producing reasonable Insulin levels for longer.

Andrew.
 
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sugarless sue

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If you've got type 2 diabetes AND a high cholesterol, just what do you eat?
Click to expand...

Reducing carbohydrate intake not only helps type 2's to reduce their blood sugar levels but also helps reduce cholesterol,especially trigs.
 
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michemell

Newbie
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Need to say a big thanks to all who replied and need to say how fantastic this site is! I have spoken to the diabetic nurse and she wants Chris re tested next week and has basically said either cut down the carbs or burn them off. We have a little while to go before he is at an ideal weight and the blood sugar, cholestrol and the trigs are within an acceptable level but we are getting there. Thanks again
 
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Trinkwasser

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michemell said:
Need to say a big thanks to all who replied and need to say how fantastic this site is! I have spoken to the diabetic nurse and she wants Chris re tested next week and has basically said either cut down the carbs or burn them off. We have a little while to go before he is at an ideal weight and the blood sugar, cholestrol and the trigs are within an acceptable level but we are getting there. Thanks again
Click to expand...

Sensible nurse!

Too many dieticians push the high carb low fat diet and seem unaware that it causes damagingly high BG and especially with the insulin resistance common with most forms of Type 2 high levels of insulin which is responsible for high levels of trigs which causes the "diabetic dyslipidemia" whereas the opposite diet benefits all the markers for cardiovascular disease in most (but not all) diabetics - and a lot of normal people too.
 
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