Newly diagnosed

You are correct it is confusing. Since the body is capable of turning carbs into glucose the advice to avoid sugar and yet to eat carbs is nonsense in my view.

This forum suggests eating fewer carbs of all kinds which is an approach with which I agree.

Recently the "other place" (Diabetes UK) voted not to recommend carbs with every meal to diabetics so someone has got the message. Eventually, maybe, the NHS will also.

Hi Paul and welcome to the forum

Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask lots of questions and someone 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 over 100,000 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

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.

Hi there, I am in exactly the same situation as you and still trying to work out what's the best thing to follow. I just wanted to say that there are so many knowledgeable people here that you will get some great advice. I am personally cutting carbs right down and eating more protein but I do have loads of weight to lose as well. I was also left to 'get on with it' by my doctor but I'm not going to take it lying down and so I'm going to be pro-active by getting in touch with the surgery and asking to see the diabetic nurse. I've also bought a meter and test my blood as recommended on here. Good luck with it all, I hope it will be less confusing for the both of us soon x

Hi and welcome. Food traffic-light labels are not useful for diabetics as carbs are the thing to watch and they don't get a mention; just sugar. Carbs are turned to glucose in the body and as diabetics can't handle glucose properly then they are best kept down (the carbs not the diabetics!). Despite what we have all been told, fat is not a big problem as it hardly affects blood sugar. Keeping the carbs down will also help with weight reduction as excess carbs are turned to fat in the body. So, do follow Daisy's advice.

Hello @TallPaul
I was a bit confused there because there is another Tall Paul on forum.
Welcome. Reducing carbs is helpful. Some people here replace carbs with fat. That seems to work for some. For me I prefer to reduce carbs and eat more vegetables and lean protein.
It can be hard to find the right way for each individual, but there is a lot of good advice here based on experience. Hope you find what is right for you.

TallPaul said:

Losing weight and eating carbs is clearly at odds with each other. Any advice greatly received.

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It's not just at odds with losing weight, it can be at odds with trying to get your blood sugar levels down too.

At first though, you have to learn about which foods suit you and which foods don't, because there are many different types of carb and people react to them differently. You'll see that with members comments on say, porridge. Some are fine with it whilst others avoid it like the plague.

Obviously avoid sugary drinks, chocolate bars, biscuits, sweets etc. However, many recently diganosed type 2s are surprised to find that a simple ham sandwich will raise their BG levels. White flour is as bad as spooning in sugar. So, to start, avoid all thee white carbs, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta etc and stick to wholegrain carbs, things like ryvita, pumpernickel, brown rice, pearl barley, beans, lentils etc. Test to see the effects. Later you will most likely start to introduce things ike wholewheat noodles or wholewheat pasta but you will have to learn first.

Increased activity too will help enormously. It affects how you digest certain types of food and improves your insulin sensitivity, to help you make better use of the insulin you still produce.

This sausage gumbo is a good example of a tasty meal, only 170 cals or so and only 18g of carbs. Eating things like this will help you lose weight without raising your BG levels.

TallPaul said:

Is it obvious which foods aren't working as i cant tell yet? I dont have a monitor yet to test myself for this!

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Not without a meter so, to be safe, stick to the complex carbohydrates that I mentioned, the ones with wholegrains, ryvita, pumpernickel, brown rice. pearl barley, beans lentils. If you look at a list of low GI foods, you will probably be OK with these until you get sorted out:

http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/

Your first job then must be to buy a meter and testing strips, unless you are very lucky to find your doctor will prescribe them, but I doubt that.

Once you have your meter, the aim is to use it to test out different foods and food combinations to see how your body copes with that food. By testing immediately before you eat, and then at 2 hours after your first bite (with no snacks in between) you will see how much your blood sugar levels have risen. If they rise too much, you can try the meal again with smaller portions of the carb elements, and keep going until you arrive at a portion size you can manage. You may find, for example, that you can manage 1 slice of bread with a meal, but not 2 slices, or 2 small potatoes but not 3. The way to do this is to keep a rigid food diary, record everything that passes your lips. Along side that, record your blood sugar levels. Then analyse your findings and learn from them. It all sounds like a big nuisance, but it does work, and once you are used to it, it will become second nature, and once you have all your regular foods sorted out, you won't need to be so rigid.

Good luck!

Buy a meter, as has been said
The codefree and strips from amazon uk are the cheapest
You can eat anything that doesn't raise your BG over your limit

Hi Paul, welcome to the Forum. A lot of people find that they are left to their own devices by the Doctor (not at all helpful). If you follow the advice on this Forum you won't go far wrong. You will soon get to know what foods you can and cannot tolerate, it is a bit of trial and error to start with, so a meter and strips is a 'must have' requirement regardless what your Doctor or DN says. Have a good look round the site and if you have any questions just ask.

Good luck!

Marilyn

Hi @TallPaul I was diagnosed July 2nd with type 2 and also left a bit high and dry with no info whatsoever from my GP and limited info from the nurse hence i've been getting help best i can from other people including here of course.
This link should help give a good idea of do's and dont's with food.
http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/diabetic-food-list-best-worst-foods

Barry05 said:

Hi @TallPaul I was diagnosed July 2nd with type 2 and also left a bit high and dry with no info whatsoever from my GP and limited info from the nurse hence i've been getting help best i can from other people including here of course.
This link should help give a good idea of do's and dont's with food.
http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/diabetic-food-list-best-worst-foods

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Hello Barry.

Have you been following the advice on that link you gave? I would be very interested to know what your levels are, at diagnosis and current ones. Are they improving?

I've used the link and found it and others as a fair to good guideline. As aforesaid i was officially diagnosed July 2nd, My HbA 1c was 11.7% on that day, i was put on metformin and went careful about my intake then went back to the surgery 7 days later for another blood test via the finger prick method so then i was down to less than 6%. I've not done anything to heighten the sugar level so i reckon it'll be much the same although i'll not fully know until i go back in September to give another blood test

Barry05 said:

I've used the link and found it and others as a fair to good guideline. As aforesaid i was officially diagnosed July 2nd, My HbA 1c was 11.7% on that day, i was put on metformin and went careful about my intake then went back to the surgery 7 days later for another blood test via the finger prick method so then i was down to less than 6%. I've not done anything to heighten the sugar level so i reckon it'll be much the same although i'll not fully know until i go back in September to give another blood test

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Have you considered buying your own home testing kit? It is a long time to wait until September to see if the diet you have chosen is actually working. Your random finger prick test at the beginning of July is no indication of how you are doing generally. I would strongly advise you to get one. The diet on your link sounds delicious, but personally I couldn't control my BS with many of the recommended foods. I do appreciate we are all different.

Hi Barry, I agree wholeheartedly with Bluetit that you need to get yourself a meter and test your blood glucose before your meal and 2 hours after the first bite, especially if you are eating the recommended foods from your link. Personally a lot of the food on there I could not eat without a steep rise in my bg. If you have a good look round this site, you will see that although we are all different, most Type 2 diabetics cannot tolerate carbohydrates to a greater or lesser degree, you will only be able to see what happens to your blood glucose by testing. You can't guarantee that your bg will stay the same from July until September from having a one off finger prick reading of less than 6.

Good luck with whatever diet you choose, but do test to make sure it is the right one for you.

Marilyn