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Newly Diagnosed

A

AMSWeird

Newbie
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3
About three weeks ago I have been diagnosed with diabetes. Had a blood sugar level of 17 from the finger test and 80 something from a blood test.

Started in 1x 500g of metformin and now on 2x500g. Will be going up to 3x 500g next week.

I am quite surprised by the amount of things that contain sugar (I'd never have thought bisto gravey contained sugar).

I have cut out crisps and chocolate with strawberries and grapes. Changed to either low or no sugar alternatives. Also cut down on portion sizes. Changed sugar in my coffee to a sweetener.

Have also cut out the ice cream and ice lollies that was having daily. The ice lollies was probably the hardest thing to stop, lol.

The doctor has said if I work on cutting out sugar and drop the weight I have a good chance of reversing this before it becomes to serious.

I'm struggling to find things I can actually eat. Especially with breakfast as all the ceral I like contains sugar (even Weatabix which is supposed to be good for you).

Drinks I only ever have sugar free squash or diet coke and one coffee first thing. Have never really been a big alcohol drinker. So nothing I need to really change there.
 
Hi and welcome,

Yes, almost everything we eat contains sugar, but in the form of carbohydrate. All carbs turn to sugar once eaten, so it isn't just sugar that we need to reduce, it is carbs. Are you looking at the total carb amounts in your foods or just the sugar content? You need to look at the total carbs per 100g and ignore the "of which sugars", and also ignore the traffic light symbols on packets - they are of no use to diabetics. The total carbs amount appears in the full nutrition label.

You are making a great start, and great to see you being proactive about this. The best thing you can do for yourself is to buy a blood glucose meter if you haven't already got one. With this you can test before you eat and again 2 hours after first bite - the rise in glucose levels from before to after will tell you if that food was a good choice or not. If you have a meter, or if you buy one, we can help you use it to your best advantage. They really are essential tools.

Have a good read round, and ask as many questions as you like.
 
Hello and welcome. Tagging @daisy1 for the info pack offered to all newcomers.

Aye, that sugar (as well as other carbohydrates) seem to be in all processed food and at such high levels.
 
Welcome @AMSWeird you have made a good start coming here and asking questions. As already mentioned you will be well served by buying a bg meter and keeping a good diary, at least for a few weeks. You asked about breakfast, many of us here have eggs in various forms - omelettes , scrambled etc. I have some home made yoghurt with a few berries. It seems contrary but we can eat dairy products; cheese, bacon, eggs but be careful with things that have grain flours in them, a lot of us find that they tend to raise our by level more than we like. Vegetables that grow above ground are usually a good choice too. Have a look at th diet doctor website, it gives foodservice and a clearer idea of which goods are lower in carbs than others. Good luck.
 
Welcome, it's great to see you have a doctor who believes in making food changes and getting your blood sugars under control that way. The 80 number is probably your HbA1c level, which is a handy indicator for what your blood sugars have been like during the couple of months before the test. I imagine you will be having this blood test every 3 months for a while then maybe every 6 months after that. It can't be done any more often than that but the fingerprick blood testing you can do at home will give you excellent info between HbA1c tests.

Often with a number over 80 we may have some symptoms like fatigue, a few more infections than before, and maybe some issues with needing to urinate more often, especially at night. I'm wondering if you have any symptoms that maybe we can give you some info about? Might make life a bit easier as you work on your eating patterns over time.

Good luck, you seem to be on the right track!
 
If you look up mendosa.com, you will see a range of foods with values for glycaemic index (GI) who is about the rapidity or otherwise that a particular food raises the blood sugar and Glucose Load (GL) which is a the density of amout of carbs per weight of the food.
In general the lower the GI value the better. As you say some breakfast cereals have lots of sugar and the various brands ( there are also NZ, Aussie and American as well as UK brands) tend to have highish GIs. If you look at something like rolled oats the values are lower and thus more acceptable for eating. Of course it is more cpmplicated than that because we tend not to eat one food in isolation to another. Fat on foods slows down absorption of carbs and you will notice that full-fat ice-cream has a lower GI than low fat ice-cream. So have porridge in moderation with some cooked eggs will tend to slow the sugar peak from the oats
There is much for you to absorb about the various diets available and this site has Q and A under keto diets etc.
 
Jenny15 said:
Welcome, it's great to see you have a doctor who believes in making food changes and getting your blood sugars under control that way. The 80 number is probably your HbA1c level, which is a handy indicator for what your blood sugars have been like during the couple of months before the test. I imagine you will be having this blood test every 3 months for a while then maybe every 6 months after that. It can't be done any more often than that but the fingerprick blood testing you can do at home will give you excellent info between HbA1c tests.

Often with a number over 80 we may have some symptoms like fatigue, a few more infections than before, and maybe some issues with needing to urinate more often, especially at night. I'm wondering if you have any symptoms that maybe we can give you some info about? Might make life a bit easier as you work on your eating patterns over time.

Good luck, you seem to be on the right track!
Click to expand...

Hi Jenny

Turns out my GP is a diabetic specialist so has been really helpful. Never knew he specialised in it before the diagnosis.

The main reason it got diagnosed was due to increasing urination. At the time there was a little pressure and thought I had uti. Was shock when I learnt it was in fact diabetes. Otherwise I have had no other symptoms.
 
kitedoc said:
If you look up mendosa.com, you will see a range of foods with values for glycaemic index (GI) who is about the rapidity or otherwise that a particular food raises the blood sugar and Glucose Load (GL) which is a the density of amout of carbs per weight of the food.
In general the lower the GI value the better. As you say some breakfast cereals have lots of sugar and the various brands ( there are also NZ, Aussie and American as well as UK brands) tend to have highish GIs. If you look at something like rolled oats the values are lower and thus more acceptable for eating. Of course it is more cpmplicated than that because we tend not to eat one food in isolation to another. Fat on foods slows down absorption of carbs and you will notice that full-fat ice-cream has a lower GI than low fat ice-cream. So have porridge in moderation with some cooked eggs will tend to slow the sugar peak from the oats
There is much for you to absorb about the various diets available and this site has Q and A under keto diets etc.
Click to expand...

Thanks will take a look at the site when I get home as I am in Kos atm until Tuesday.
 
AMSWeird said:
Hi Jenny

Turns out my GP is a diabetic specialist so has been really helpful. Never knew he specialised in it before the diagnosis.

The main reason it got diagnosed was due to increasing urination. At the time there was a little pressure and thought I had uti. Was shock when I learnt it was in fact diabetes. Otherwise I have had no other symptoms.
Click to expand...
That's great to hear that you had no other symptoms. In most cases urinary symptoms improve once blood glucose levels come down.

It will be interesting to hear what your day to day blood glucose levels are like over the next few weeks. As they are currently quite high, it will be important get them down as quickly as possible. Then in 3 months when you have your next HbA1c test done, hopefully it will be under 70, and maybe even under 60. Have a look at the blood test results that some members have in their signatures for an idea of what's possible.
 
My diagnostic symptoms were the blood glucose and Hba1c, nothing 'classic' - though I was feeling old,
After cutting right down on the carbs - I was almost two years into a 'cholesterol lowering' diet, which was high carb and totally ineffective, I feel a lot better, and I enjoy what I eat far more. I reached levels which were no longer diabetic in 80 days, so it is a fast and effective method of gaining control.
I started off by having a maximum of 50 gm of carbs per day. Now I am trying to keep to 40 in order to lose more body fat.
 
Resurgam said:
My diagnostic symptoms were the blood glucose and Hba1c, nothing 'classic' - though I was feeling old,
After cutting right down on the carbs - I was almost two years into a 'cholesterol lowering' diet, which was high carb and totally ineffective, I feel a lot better, and I enjoy what I eat far more. I reached levels which were no longer diabetic in 80 days, so it is a fast and effective method of gaining control.
I started off by having a maximum of 50 gm of carbs per day. Now I am trying to keep to 40 in order to lose more body fat.
Click to expand...
I was the same at diagnosis 9 years ago, no symptoms, was picked up in annual screening due to family history.

My A1c was in the 50s and after LCHF it was in the low 30s, for years. Then things changed 2 years ago. My A1c rose to 76 and I had a number of symptoms. I have read that these tend to kick in above the 55-65 mark if you stay up there for a while.
 
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