newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes

Hi @jaym

First of all welcome to the forum.

Yes, it is hard to take in, but you have come to the best place to gain the knowledge required to get control for your future health.

I've tagged @daisy1 to give you the newcomers welcome information.
What you need to do is read the information as it contains some great info that may surprise you.
Then have a look at the low carb forum, there are great ideas and recipes on there.
Also look at the success stories thread.

What sort of diet have you been on?
Have you tried to lose weight and struggling to do so?
The reason I ask because your diabetes can be brought under control and your insulin resistance can be reduced by simple dietary changes and your long time health problems may go away.

If you have any questions, please ask, there are some great knowledgeable posters on here and they have diabetes.

That sounds great, your fasting blood is in the normal range.
It's probably when you you eat too much, that it goes too high and in diabetic range.
I have advised many 'newbies' what the best things to do and one of them is, reduce your carbs and sugars, reduce your plate size and increase your exercise.
Doing that will help you in so many ways.
You will need to keep a food diary.
In it you can record all your meals and take readings before meals and two hours after. If there is a reading over 2mmols over your pre meal reading something in that meal is not good for you.
After a period, you will find out what you shouldn't eat and also how you cope with some low GI carbs. You do really want to stay away from spuds, rice, pasta, bread, pastries, cakes, cereals.

Hi jaym and welcome to the forum you have reached the best place to be here. Lots of support and good advice from everyone here, ask what you like and someone will always answer you. We all have been in the same position you are in at the moment, it is a lot to take in but you will get beyond the overwhelming of it. Well done you with your weight and the BG reading of 5.5 that is really good.

jaym said:

Should I be checking my blood sugar levels everyday then!

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I'm a data hog - so my advice would be yes. I like to know exactly how my body is responding so I can try to change whatever is generating a response I don't like.

I test several times a day - depending on how many new things I am eating. I always test first thing in the morning. Beyond that, I test before my first bite of a new food, at 1 hour, at 2 hours and (if hour 2 is higher than our 1) at 3 hours. Early on, that meant up to 10 times a day. Now it is more likely 4 times every other day or so.

My new mission is to get the dawn phenomenon under control (BG that rises at dawn and, for me, continues rising until noon or so). So most of my current testing is checking to see if I can eat anything that will consistently drop it (or at least keep it from rising) when I wake up.

Others find testing so frequently distasteful - or not worth it. You'll have to figure out what works for you.

jaym said:

Thanks everyone for making me feel very welcome!

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Your very welcome, the support on here is fantastic, Don't know what I would have done about controlling my diabetes if it were not for this site. I know for sure others will say this too.

Welcome to the forums @jaym , sounds like you've made a good start with the diet and that 5.5 blood sugar figure is excellent. Keep up the good work.

Hi Jason
Welcome to the forum. As no-one has yet tagged @daisy1 I will so she can give you a very helpful intro to the way a lot of us lower and control our blood sugar readings. I would definitely advise getting a meter and testing often. Have a read around there are lots of threads with very useful information. If you have any questions just ask.. We're all pretty friendly.
Regards
Mark

@jaym

Hello Jason and welcome to the forum Here is the information we give to new members to add to the excellent advice already given by members. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to 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 over 150,000 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-and-whole-grains.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

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


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 bloodglucose 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.

Hello and Welcome to the forum

Hi and welcome!

There is so much info on the forum that you may feel swamped - but it is really worth reading and absorbing and asking any questions that puzzle you.

5 is good ... now eat breakfast and test @ 2 hours after the first bite. .... and welcome

Welcome you are doing really well getting levels in the 5's congratulations on the weight loss and just carry on with what your are doing

Welcome, congrats on those levels.

I have little to add except on your testing keep the figures and your food diary together. It seems like a bore and a hassle now, but trust me when you look back to see what is problematic seeing it all together will make all the difference. You know now what each figure means but in even a couple of months without the record keeping being strictly kept those figures begin to blur and you forget which belongs where.

Just to reassure you, when you get your diet under control, and it would seem that you already have, you should have no long term health problems. If you want inspiration about how tight control can be so effective, Dr Richard Bernstein is the man! Just to read his amazing story on his website may be enough to reassure you about your long term future.

http://www.diabetes-book.com