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Not doing good

MacFee

Active Member
Messages
44
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
I am absolutely struggling with my food and what I can eat and what I can't

I have been really bad and had crisps and stuff o shouldn't quite a few times this week been scared to test as my sugars will be so high .

I was so positive to begin with now I feel like I can't do this and just want to eat rubbish I feel like a failure xx
 
I have only been diagnosed six weeks and the thought of a change in dietary habits, has come as a huge blow,

I used to live on chips, chocolate, sweets, and junk food. I have only fallen off the wagon once and had a bacon and egg sandwich on thick crusty bread followed by a huge chunk, or should I say slab of bread pudding. I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it, but it pushed my blood glucose up to nearly thirty.

It is only through falling over and grazing our knees a few times that we learn to walk. You are not alone in what you are going through, and I am sure in time it will become easier.........

I think I need to practice what I preach...............................

Good luck
 
Hi mac and mart too,

Don't be too hard on yourselves, it is a change to get used too, so be kind to yourselves .

If it helps at all, when I as diagnosed almost 12 months ago, I found the best way of eating well on my new lower carb way was planning nice meals ahead, so I didn't get bored with food, finding food I really liked and making sure I kept it handy.

I also couldn't face giving up toast completely, so use Livlife bread, 4 carbs a slice, so I don't have too.

All the very best

D
 
It's hardest at the beginning. As you eat less carbs, your body will get less insistent about craving them.

Also, there are plenty of really nice, "naughty" foods you can gorge on that are low-carb (although not healthy in other ways). I managed to lose 11 kg in 3 months whilst munching my way through quite a lot of pork scratchings. Or berries and cream. Even Chinese takeaway is fine if you pick carefully. Go to a buffet restaurant and stuff your face with satay chicken and dry spare ribs (not the ones with the sauce, obviously!)
 
Hello, i was diagnosed back in July and like you i loved crisps, chips, cakes and all those things. For me i made the decision to take control so i went through my food cupboards, fridge and freezer and took away all foods that i could no longer eat so there was no temptations around me to slip. i brought a good diabetic cook book and started cooking recipes from scratch, bulk cooking and freezing portions for quick meals. i did some research and found the best sugar substitute total sugar and used this for cereals. i swapped to brown bread, brown rice and brown pasta and made sure all meals were half a plate of vegetables, limited to 2 new potatoes and swapped to vegetarian alternatives such as sausages. i make sure i have 2 pieces of fruit a day and found sugar free jelly is a blessing, i have this with my fruit and gives me that sweet hit i need. i found an amazing sugar free biscuit range called Gullon who do the best digestive biscuits. i allow myself one treat day usually Sunday where i will have a small pudding, home made using the sugar substitute and wholemeal spelt flour. For occasional treats i will have a 23g portion of crisps corn oven baked varieties are best. i brought one of those small frying pans that dont need any oil to cook foods, can cook mushrooms, omelettes and if you cook up 2 new potatoes to nearly done you can dry fry them and they crisp up.
i had my first diabetic review this November and my HbA1c levels have dropped from 52 to 39 and have lost 26.5kg and feel great, it is hard and daunting when you are first diagnosed, for me it needed to be a complete lifestyle change and finding a new relationship with food. you can do it, research foods and find some good diabetic cook books will hopefully help.
 
I am finding it hard as I am a chocoholic I have a very sweet tooth but I have noticed since taking Metformin if I eat sweet stuff I get really bad reaction.even strawberries I had at tea time I was feeling terribly dizzy, I am also feeling very depressed.
 

You are not a failure. This isn't easy and at least you are trying. Tomorrow is another day. Test your sugars, accept what they are telling you and move on.
 
People...don't kick hell out of yourselves...we're only human, eh? it's easier for some than others, though never actually easy. I would add that I've found that cutting right down on carbs has left me feeling much healthier quite aside from dia-bloody-betes. My digestion is way better and its always been dodgy. There's other reason to commit to this change than blood sugar levels. look, we take control or it does...and it'll be a struggle for sure..but I'll be damned if I'll be driven by sugar and carb cravings created by food manufacturers and huge corporations just so they can make more money. Look at it this way...I smoked for years and years...despite the warning labels and the shifting culture, the smell, the **** that goes with it, the standing outside in the rain to have a puff. I tried stopping lots of times and failed. I've not smoked now for over two years and have no inclination to, and I bought a brand new car with the savings. What stooped it all? It wasn't will power. It wasn't warnings. It was the realisation that fags were a delivery system for a drug to get me addicted so companies could make money at my expense. So what's the difference with these huge corporations making all this processed **** full of enough sugar to keep us sweetened and hooked on stuff that's absolutely not good for us? None. So I apply that same non-smoker logic to this issue...I choose, not a substance. I take control because I choose to. Finding out about the foods I eat due to this condition has made me realise how much **** they sell us and how much **** I still put in my system. Yeah..it tastes good. I reckon junkies think smack feels good. So no..I don't need this rubbish any more...I'm going to get healthier because of my diabetes! I'm finding new things to eat, and I'm feeling empowered. Mostly.... anyway. this all takes effort but sometimes it pays to realise what we need to do rather than to try doing it with will power alone. Sorry if I upset anybody there..hope not. But...don't beat yourself up - will power is not really a great natural resource in most of us, and on its own..its a wee tiny puppy against a big brutal dog.,,but puppies grow up in time. OMG this so so corny... sorry.
 


I gave up smoking almost 2 years now and will never go back, I don't even crave it now. good on you for quitting!
 
lynn007 said:
I gave up smoking almost 2 years now and will never go back, I don't even crave it now. good on you for quitting!
Click to expand...

It's a good analogy: I found it impossible to give up smoking until two and a half years ago, when I suddenly 'felt' I was being stupid and I really had to stop. I went cold turkey, just said no to various crutches (such as e-cigarettes) and I'm still smoke-free (given the number of people I know who've restarted - even after years off it - it's foolish to ever say you've quit for good).

I think reforming your lifestyle to combat diabetes is the same. You have to want to do it and that's not something that you can necessarily will yourself to do. I remember cheating when I was previously trying to give up smoking, not appreciating then that I was only cheating myself.

I've lapsed in my lifestyle and diet since my diagnosis; I've also given up the extra exercise and eaten lots of things I shouldn't have, whilst telling myself I shouldn't (but carried on doing it all, like a naughty schoolboy) and I'll no doubt do all that again. But in the end, something has usually clicked inside which has made me feel that I had to do something. It's difficult to explain but it's as though my body was with me on those occasions, rather than fighting against me in what I was trying to do.

If I had to put it into a single sentence, I guess I'd say that you need to feel some enthusiasm for what you're doing. Nothing helps that more than seeing good results, be it in weight loss, lower blood sugar levels, reduction in symptoms or just simply feeling better.
 
2131tom said:
................ I guess I'd say that you need to feel some enthusiasm for what you're doing. Nothing helps that more than seeing good results, be it in weight loss, lower blood sugar levels, reduction in symptoms or just simply feeling better.
Click to expand...

I hadn't though of it like that, but you are absolutely right.....
 
In the 19th century, sweet stuff was a very occasional treat, maybe a once a week thing. Fast forward to the 21st century and sugar is everywhere - in canned soup, breakfast cereals, some stock cubes, tomato ketchup, some coleslaw - even toothpaste.

Food is more accessible but it's not cabbages that are sold in drive-thrus, it's burgers and shakes. Some places have fast food of every description, but no butcher, greengrocers, fishmonger or bakery.

When supermarkets put on special offers, most are for unhealthy food. They say eat 5 a day but most don't do much to offer healthy food like vegetables, on offers.

We all live in a world of permanent temptation, surrounded by the high carb nightmare. We can't blame ourselves for that, we can't blame ourselves for eating those things.

But once we do know, it's up to us not to eat the bad stuff.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 

Well said, Celeriac. they don't make it easy for us - the sugar-pushers, eh? :
 
Hi
I really liked your post
I think giving up smoking is far easier, in the fact that, we dont have to smoke, and do without nicotne
The bigggeee is that we all have to eat, it is not something we can do without, I think that this, is why I am finding it hard going at the moment .
I am just hoping that as time goes on I will begin to get used to this new way of eating
 
I am hungry all the time, I am missing my food lol I miss my chocolate my bread and my yogurts.
 
lynn007 said:
I am hungry all the time, I am missing my food lol I miss my chocolate my bread and my yogurts.
Click to expand...

No need to be hungry.
Well, I say that, but I eat LCHF. Can't say the same about low cal diets, and I don't know what you are eating.

But if you ARE LCHF then there really is no need to every feel hungry.
Good, filling meals, with snacks between, if you need them, but usually people find they snack less and less as time goes on.
 
What is LCHF? I been eating veg with most meals im so hungry
 
lynn007 said:
What is LCHF? I been eating veg with most meals im so hungry
Click to expand...

it is called Low Carb High Fat - but you only need to eat as much fat as you want to make sure you don't go hungry. It is probably better described as Low Carb and enough fat.

Have a look at www.dietdoctor.com
And the low carb section of this forum.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/low-carb-diet-forum.18/
I have never eaten better, and enjoyed my food more.

Also this thread gives some fantastic cakes, puds and treats that are both delicious and excellently low in carbs and sugar.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/

Most people eating this way find that they lose weight, so if you don't want to lose any, you may have to eat more than you expect.

I never go hungry.
 
Whenever I am feeling sad about the things I have given up eating I try and have a low carb snack that I would have considered really naughty in the old low fat days. So if I want crisps I have pork scratchings, if I want chocolate I melt. Couple of squares if 90% choc into some double cream add sweetener and leave to cool - voila pot au chocolat! If I want bread I have half a Lidl roll toasted with loads of butter. Yes it might slow my weight loss down a bit but my BG stays down and the craving passes and I feel so much happier I stayed in control.

LCHF is not a diet it is a way of eating for life.

After a while thinking like this becomes a habit.
 
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