Hello all,
48 year old male from near Glasgow, Scotland here. At about 3.45pm today my GP did a urine and blood test and told me I am diabetic. Almost certainly type 2. I have been placed straight onto Metaformin 500mp per day for the first week increasing to 3 a day in week 3.
I had the red flag symptoms but it was the blurred vision and a visit to the opticians that prompted me to go my GP.
After a few decades of a pretty **** lifestyle I can only blame myself for not taking care of my self sooner.
I recently re-married and have a 3 year old daughter, so I have everything to live for and I WILL find it in me to live with this.
i will not become another West of Scotland statistic!
But right now a little scared and confused and wondering where to start.
Hey Craig,
First off: You'll be okay. For one thing, you have two motivating factors: your new wife and your child. Motivation makes it easier to really get your back into it, so yay for them, they're lifesavers!
Secondly, you came here: Fount of information, and I wish I'd found it sooner in my journey, because it would've shaved months off of my search for the right balance in just about everything.
So, you're a Type 2, which means you can't process carbs out again. All carbs turn to sugar once ingested, including the savory ones, so it's not just actual refined sugar that's the baddy here. So... Cut carbs. The ones that spike the lot of us the most, besides the refined stuff, are potatoes, rice, cereal, corn, underground veggies, and pasta. Anything wheat based. (Yes, that means the "good" brown stuff too. There are no truly healthy carbs, not for us.) Fruit too, though berries in moderation seem to be fine. Especially with cream or full fat greek yoghurt. So what's left then? Bacon!
Yeah, okay, kidding, there's more, but I just really have come to love my bacon, and yes, my cholesterol is back to good, thank you for asking, I'm off the statins while eating more fat now than I've ever done in my life.
So, there's still meat and fish, eggs, cheese, cream and the aformented yoghurt, above-ground veggies and leafy greens, olines, nuts, seeds, what have you. For me, my meals look like this, usually: scrambled eggs with bacon and cheese, maybe mushrooms or cherry tomaties for variety. Salad with tuna or salmon, mayo, capers and olives. Cauliflower rice (versatile stuff, that!) with bacon and cheese, and meat or fish. At home it's easy, but when we're out I used to be stumped. Often I'd go for a salmon salad or eggs, but those aren't always available. Then it turned out I could still, in case of emergency, go to Burger King and McD's, if I just left the bun off the hamburger. They don't even bat an eye at that order, so you're not alone if you ask for a bunless burger. (I find it's easier to add extra greens and bacon to the burger at BK's... More filling meal.). Snacks, you say? Cubes of cheese, olives, walnuts, spicy sausages... Whatever works. Personally, I started on low carb high fat 2 years ago and my bloodsugars normalised. 4 Months or so ago I started on keto (a ketogenic diet, fatburning) and that's been making my average of 3 months bloodsugar, my HbA1c, absolutely beautiful. Really, it's a kissable result. One I never thought I would achieve when I first started. I know others have suggested it already, but the dietdoctor.com website really does have wonderful suggestions for a variety of foods.
So, besides a diet change, what else helps? Though you can't outrun a bad diet, and for us, carbs = bad, taking walks helps. If you've got the time of course. But dropping the carbs will also, in all likelyhood, mean you'll lose weight anyway. And other than that, as has also been suggested before: get thyself a meter! NHS doesn't like to pay for them so you'll have to self-fund, like most of us, but it's an invaluable tool without which you're flying blind. Check bloods before you et and 2 hours after the first bite. If it's up more than 2 mmol/l, the meal was too carby and shouldn't be revisited, or maybe reduced in portion size instead. It helps if you know what your body responds to and how. It's a lot of pricking in the beginning, but after a while you know what food won't spike you and what does, so though it's an expensive excersize at first, it is more than worth it.
When first diagnosed I felt like I was as good as dead already. I wish I'd had this place then to tell me I would be doing more living instead of less, after diagnosis. I enjoy the food I eat more, and I'm able to do the things I couldn't, for years, because my diabetes went undiagnosed for a long time... I was exhausted upon waking. Couldn't walk any distance, just existed and was miserable. This past summer vacation I did a whole lot of walking in a variety of cities, hauling my camera equipment with me... And I just kept going, day after day, without having to sit down every 5 minutes or having to take a week after being active for a day to recuperate, in spite of other physical, non-diabetes related problems trying to throw a wrench in. It gets better, once you know what your body needs. So much better.
Good luck!
Jo