Newly diagnosed and trying low carbs

HI,

You sound like your doing great.

Personally I test, I manage to get 50 strips per 3 months from my DSN but in between I buy some myself. I found the SD Codefree to be the cheapest at around £6-7 per 50 strips. I managed to bring my levels down fairly rapidly.

I too worried about my cholestrol levels, but recently I had my yearly review, which also included cholestrol and it has come down slightly. I don't eat masses of fat but I do have cheese every day, cream and butter used occassionally but it took a while not to feel guilty using them. After 20 years of having low fat drummed into me it still feels naughty(and im only 34!!)

Hi Rich and welcome to the forum

Here is the basic information we give to new members and I hope you will find this helpful. Carry on asking questions and there will always be someone to answer.


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.

Hi Richhol,

Well if you look at my signature I went from 8.9% in May to 6.3% in sept and I only started low carbing at the beginning of July!

I'd say thats pretty quick! :lol:

Richhol said:

Firstly how slow a process is it to reduce blood sugar ?

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I started a similar diet to yours when I was dignosed, cutting out the obvious sugary stuff, then cutting out the white flour, white rice etc and, keeping one eye on fats, started to limit the amount of butter, cutting the excess fat off bacon, eating lower fat cheeses. I also lost weight with a big drop similar to yours. That rate does slow down however as you lose weight.

I did however buy a meter and monitor things every day several times. Mainly this is to see the effects of certain foods. I started with readings 9s and 10s, quickly dropped into the 7s and 8s, then after a couple of months was getting 5s and 6s but still with some 7s and the occasional 8 and now, after 4 months I am often in the 4s, mostly 5s and in the low 6s. To date I have lost 25kg and lose it at the rate of 2 Kg every 3 weeks. But, I do eat wholegrain breads, brown rice and wholegrain pasta so I am not low carbing anymore. But, it took me a long time to find out the brands and types that would work for me. Testing is more or less essential for this.

Most importantly, I exercise 2 or 3 times per day. It's not vigourous exercise to burn calorires or strengthen heart and lungs, just some gentle rowing on a machine or some stationary cycling. I aim to do 10 mins one hour after every meal, including breakfast, if I can. This apparantly helps to stimulate the production of certain hormones and ezymes which improve insulin sensitivity. I call it my 'walking off a meal'. It is not unlike walking up a steepish hill for 10 mins.

If you manage to get into a routine which works for you, you can expect good results or at least a good improvement within weeks. It's not one of those things which requires years worth of work. But, you should do something you can comfortably do and keep up with, rather than occasional grand attempts. Little and often does work. The benefit of the exercise I do for example is cumulative but the effects of an individual session don't last. 12 hours is the peak production of the relevant hormones and enzymes and the amounts drop off after 24 hours. So, it has to be 2 times per day minimum and preferably 3. More than that apparantly doesn't help with the insulin sensitivity. However, more exercise does have other beneficial effects but you have to work very hard to lose weight by exercise. It's best done in combination with diet and, if you choose the rigt foods, that helps lower your BG levels too.

Hi. I agree completely with IanD. There are some interesting videos on Youtube about cholesterol measures and the fact that the whole basis for the blood cholesterol link to heart disease and fat intake is based on invalid data and just a few pharmaceutical company interests. So, don't worry too much about fat intake, but keep it unsaturated where you can for good measure. Do get hold of a meter so you can check your sugar improvement yourself. I'm sure both your typical sugar reading 2 hours after a meal will be going down and you will continue to move towards a good BMI.

Richhol said:

I was not told whether my cholesterol was a problem but i havent been prescribed statins so hopefully ok

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More than likely it isn't Rich unless they are going to discuss it at your next review.

As you now have diabetes you should have your cholesterol checked as part of your annual review, when you next book to have your bloods taken tell the receptionist you want a fasting check so that you can get a full lipid breakdown of your cholesterol, when you go for your results with your gp or nurse can ask for a print off and check them yourself.

Here are the recommended target figures for people with diabetes:

Your total cholesterol level should be below 4.0mmol/l.

LDL levels should be less than 2.0mmol/l.

HDL levels should be 1.0mmol/l or above in men and 1.2mmol/l or above in women.

Triglyceride levels should be 1.7mmol/l or less.



btw Rich, a fasting check requires you not to eat 10-12 hours before the bloods are taken, you can drink water but that's about it, I find booking the appointment for first thing in the morning is best as your less likely to be hungry if you eat your evening meal late the night before.