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Newly Diagnosed and need advise

S

SimonRoss

Newbie
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4
Was diagnosed with type 2 about 5/6 weeks ago. The problem I have is with food.

I used to just eat ready meals and bread, with fizzy juice and at times some cream cakes and biscuits. Always had at least 2 chocolate biscuits (kitkat etc) a day. From time to time I would enjoy a can or 2 of redbull (yup worst thing possible).

Since being diagnosed I have went back to the martial arts I do, I walk down and up the stairs in my flat (14th floor). Not every day but maybe 5 times a week I get good exercise. I have actually lost possibly over half a stone and I am fastening my belt with the 4th hole!

However, I am not a cook, the one thing I have no clue about is my food, except for how to eat it. I bought 2 cook books, one is the diabetic cookbook for dummies, I looked at the recipies and I am like WHAT!?

I really do not know what I can or cant eat. Especially for someone that really cant do much in the kitchen. The canteen in work isnt the greatest either, so I am unsure if I am eating all the right stuff. Because I am new to this I have still got alot to learn, I just worry all my hard work is being ruined due to not eating the right things.

The best thing I can get to eat right now is baked potatoes in the micro with tuna, but I believe anything in the micro isnt great. I am always eating veg and fruit when I can and have not touched any cakes or sweets or kitkats.

I really would like an easy cook book or some advice. I live alone so really need help. Thanks.
 
Hi Simon and welcome to the forum. Daisy will be along with information for beginners soon. If you haven't cooked before and live alone, it must seem very daunting. But you don''t have to cook anything complicated. The low carbohydrate diet can be very easy, mostly meat, eggs, dairy and veg. So for example, you could scramble eggs for breakfast, have cheese and salad for lunch, and a steak or chop with cooked veg for dinner.
This Swedish website gives a good overview of the way to lower your carbs through diet.
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
There are loads of recipes for low carbohydrate meals on the net, including on this forum.
 
Hi Simon. Bit of a shock isn't it? But don't despair you can pick up lots of hints from the website and loads of support. Nothing wrong with the microwave either, I usually cook all my veg in it as it uses so little water so won't get rid of all the vitamins etc in the water you throw down the sink when boiling. Keep it simple to start with, eggs cooked any way you like with some bacon for breakfast, salad with ham, cheese or tuna for lunch, and some sort of meat or fish with veg for dinner. Try and keep the carbs low - Collins do a very useful pocket guide carb counter. Personally I would give the jacket potato a miss but depends how big it is. If you want bread, Bergen soya and linseed is about the lowest carb bread. I do eat chocolate (shock horror!!!!) but have 85% cocoa stuff and strange as it sounds, sprinkle a tine bit of salt on it and I find it takes the bitterness out. Good luck :)
 
I'm pretty hopeless in the kitchen too, but you can find "how to" videos for the simplest foods like scrambled eggs, omelettes, etc. on Youtube.

What works really well for me is buying pre-cut stir fry type meats, I then freeze in 120g (or however much you want) freezer bags. After defrosting, I marinate in the bag with olive/macadamia oil, balsamic (or other) vinegar, wholegrain/Dijon mustard for a few hours - then I stir fry them in the marinade - easy peasy even for a non-cook like me :lol:

For an easy cookbook written by a male, 'eat to your meter' type cook rather than an 'official diabetes cookbook', I'd recommend Alan Shanley's book "What On Earth Can I Eat?" (there's info on it at his blog - scroll down, right hand side) or at Amazon:

http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com.au/20 ... djust.html
http://www.amazon.com/What-Earth-Can-Ea ... 954&sr=1-2
 
Just buy a book on the glycemic loads of foods. That's all you need to get started. Low glycemic load foods are meats, dairy, eggs, cheese, leafy green vegetables, nuts, seeds, most all fruits, etc. The bad high glycemic load foods are #1 dried fruits #2 All grain products especially those made with wheat #3 Root vegetables especially any cooked potato product, foods found with high sugar (read the box), foods with added sugar like juices, ketchup, etc.

Best to eat real whole organic foods rather than highly processed.

Learning to cook? Necessity is the mother of invention - cooking meats, eggs, and vegetables is pretty simple....
 
Hi Simon and welcome to the forum :)

Since you were diagnosed recently, I think that this information for new members (which Etty mentioned) will be helpful to you in addition to the useful answers you have already received here. Ask any more questions you like as you can see there is always someone who will help.


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 30,000 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

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

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

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.
 
Thank you for your replies, some good advice. I think it may just take a bit of getting used to.

Watching youtube videos would probably help alot. I bought chicken breasts and a tomato based sauce with herbs, but scared to cook it in case I undercook it lol. got some cooking bags and veg too. I think after a couple of months I should be fine. Really do miss those cream cakes though :(.

Anyway, thanks alot everyone, and I will keep working on it.
 
Simon you can have the cream just put it on some berries .My recipe for suprise pudding may suit you
Put a square of very dark choc in a small bowl and pour some raspberries or straw berries or black currents that you have heated up either in a pan or micro and pour over the choc then top with double cream
CAROL
 
Thanks for that Carty, that sounds very nice indeed! I do need to find out what pots and pans and other stuff I need for cooking (any pans I had have been under a leak which I am still waiting for the council to fix lol).

Just thought i would post an update. I know before I started I was almost 16 and a half stone, give or take a pound or 2. Weighed myself there and I am 14st 9lbs. Still too heavy for my size but I am going in the right direction.

Last week I cooked chicken breast fillets from scratch, with herbs and spices. Was really worried about undercooking, but did manage to slightly overcook them . :oops:

I am still having problems and stressing about cooking foods though and I am not cooking enough. I am STILL unsure what is best and how to balance my foods. I also suffer from sleep apnea, so maybe that isnt helping as i am always tired with that too.

I was quite bad over the christmas period but felt it should be ok being bad once a year. I think it is still stressing me out a bit. I am pleased at the weight I have lost though and that wasnt with much exercise. I have been exercising but not alot, so it just shows me that eating better helps you lose weight just as much as exercise (if not more).

Hopefully I can lose more over the next couple of months and start to find more confidence in the kitchen.
 
hiya

thats a fantastic weight loss. As to the cooking, why not post the sort of things you want/need to learn to cook and we can all help out with recipes and step by steps (or find the right youtube version lol).

Ive just taught my 8yr old how to do an omelette from scratch, as she is already a dab hand at veggie preparation, chopping and whisking I thought it was time to move to the hob! She did fantastically! - so if she can do it so can you.... oh and your not alone with overcooking - I actually managed to burn a steak last week as I was faffing giving my insulin and left it too long.
 
i think i just lack major confidence in the kitchen. I also dont know what i am doing. I mean I placed chicken out to defrost on the Sunday early afternoon/morning, but ended up leaving them out until the monday night. thought i would check the net to see if that was too long, glad i did!

I think i may stick with beek or fish, chicken for me is just too tricky. I also dont think i have all the gear needed in the kitchen. got a frying pan and a pot. not even got a proper oven tray!

One good thing is I got my doctor to check my blood (not sure why I am not getting one from the NHS that is supposed to be free), but ends up after just 3 mths my sugar levels are now too low, so have been told to reduce my medication!

In saying that the past 3 or 4 nights I have been sweating in bed again :(. it isnt warm outside and my bedroom hasnt got a heater, so is this a sign of the diabetes again!!? I never feel that great, but I am puting that down to the metformin (doc says since I have lowered the sugar so much the metformin might be making me feel a bit dodgy).

All this stuff really does confuse me! I am much better than I was before being diagnosed mind you. The weight seems to be steady now at 14st 4lbs (at least 2 stone lighter), that must be a good thing. Thanks again for all the advice.
 
Hi Simon, that's great that you can reduce your medication, maybe you will be able to come off it sometime. I found this microwave chicken breast recipe which looks fairly easy, the cut up chicken needs 5 minutes on high.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlK1FpetbEM Of course, you don't have to use all those veg, just which ones you like. Also, on low carb, you don't have to avoid fat, so tastier cuts of chicken are the thighs or drumsticks.
 
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