Oh Well.....

Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
DaveNN said:
What diet are you following YM?
What do you avoid and what do you eat with gay abandon?... If you don't mind me asking.

I started off thinking that I could just cut out sweets, chocolate bars, biscuits etc and was probably partially correct in that assumption, but everything would have taken a lot longer. I knew that I had to watch how much I ate so having cut out the sweet stuff, I ate more simply, so just a beef sandwich for example with nothing fancy. It came as a great shock to me that the white bread was just as bad a shovelling in sugar. So, I moved onto all the unrefined carbs, brown rice, wholegrain bread, in particular rye bread, wholegrain pasta etc. I just adapted recipe's like the Hairy Dieters' Southern Style Chicken and Prawn Jambalaya to use brown rice rather than white rice and I had a satisfying meal which didn't spike me. I make a lot of meals using skirt steak or flank steak if they don't have the skirt. Skirt is very lean and cheap. You get a big chunk for a fiver. I use half for a ragu ala bolognese and half for a chilli. Each is a big meal for two. Sliced across the grain thinly, you let the meaty saucy simmer for 3 or 4 hours and it all falls apart. Skirt also makes great gravy so you really have meaty sauces. I then use wholegrain pasta for the bolognese sauce and brown rice for the chili. I also eat a lot of king prawns. Egg foo yung with king prawns or a thai style king prawn and noodle soup. Most lunchtimes I have a rollmop or bismarck herring with three slices of dark rye bread with sliced cheeses or salamis and hams, plus pickles, olives and chillis. I often have side salads, lettuce, cucumber or tomato and onion, each with an oil and vinegar dressing. Occasionally I will have a meal with potatoes but always three or four smallish new potatos. I find I can cope with that. I'd have those with a barnsley chop, though I avoid the temptation to eat all the fat. I'll have some but have to reluctantly forgo the rest.

Chicken is always handy. 1st meal gives nice lean meat. 2nd meal gives nice chunks which can be used in a biryani (brown rice) and then the carcase makes a great stock for a chicken noodle soup. Twice a week I have a chickpea or lentil curry, maybe a spinach curry. I am still trying to learn about different chappatis and nan breads. Some spike some don't. I know I can't trust what it says on the packet. I make all the curries from scratch.

But I suspect you are asking how I deal with snacks?

I still get the pangs but having had a decent meal, rather than just rabbit food, I am less inclined. However, dark rye ryvita or lidl's sesame crispbreads with sardine paste is one low cal, low carb remedy. Another is a very large glass of ice cold cheap supermarket lemonade, the zero cal zero carb type but with the freshly squeezed juice of a whole lemon in. That will chase away any hunger pangs for a couple of hours. I do eat fresh fruit, small clementines without restriction, large ornages maybe two a day but usually one. Apples and pears, for some reason, are more a meal if you sit down at a table and cut them up with a knife. I also keep large bags of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries in the freezer. They tend to get made into smoothies with low fat yoghurt.

Then there are things like boiled eggs, tins of salmon, tins of tuna and big mixed salads which fill you up for a short time.

But, most surprising is that by thinking about food, what to buy, where to buy it, what to make with it etc. stops you being hungry a lot of the time. I went down to the fish wholesaler yesterday because they had a special offer on packs of 20 duck breasts. I now have to think of ten different meals for me and my wife. I'll also have to find out how to cook each of those meals and then I have to do it all. But, I am lucky because I work from home and that frees up more than two hours per day from travelling time. I am as sure as sure can be that many dietary problems that exist are due to this mixed up rush rush world that we live in which results in bad food and bad habits. Last book i bought was Prashad Indian Vegetarian Cooking and the next one will be Hairy Bikers' Book of Curry.

I still go for a pizza at a proper pizzeria. I still eat out at a chinese or indian, I just avoid the sticky sweet sauces or those with lots of ghee. It will be one of those once per week though. before it would be two or even three times per week on the way back from work plus lunchtime would have been in a pub, pie with chips plus pudding and a pint. And that was after having a bacon and egg around ten am in the office. I have no idea what they put in all that stuff but I know it was not good for me. I make it mostly myself now and I know what's in it.
 

DaveNN

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Messages
327
Many thanks for the detailed reply, YM.
I'll have a look at a few curries.
I've got a bit lazy of late and that is 'fatal'.... I will have to up my game a little.

Can't wait for this **** weather to change for the better...and get on my bike.


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DaveNN

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327
DaveNN said:
Hi YM...

Well... I am literally just back from the Drs..armed with a couple of boxes of metformin.
Whilst my fasting levels are normal, my hba1c levels are definitely not...69 down from the high 70's in a matter of weeks.
Not off the scale by any means though!
I have fallen off the wagon a few times recently (chocolate) and whilst my figs didn't go above 12, they took an age ( days) to get back down to the mid 6's.
My GP had to refer to the Internet again and has come to the conclusion that metformin would be helpful in my case.
He said that if I had see him 6 months back with the same figs, he would have just gone down the diet and lifestyle route.
Now, they are more proactive.
We had a long chat on this, including me showing him my iPad diabetes app, with all my figures ( including carbs, BP, weight loss etc)
He'd never seen it and it became quite clear to him that I'm no mug and am taking this very seriously.
We had a dispute about getting strips on prescription.
He said that that the practice would not do this, so we discussed what NICE say.
He's referring me to the DN.
She'll be giving me a free meter anyway...so this appears to be a bit of a contradiction.
The doc was much more open and professional this time, which is good.
We've fired off statins etc for the moment and he wanted to out me on BP meds.
I suggested that metformin would help in both these aspects...what didn't help was me presenting a 143/93 and then a 128/84 in a matter of a few minutes.
He did state that in his opinion type 2 is more serious than 1....in respect to the fact that it doesn't present much in the way of real symptoms ( thrush and jock itch in my case!)... But it can create real and lasting damage.
I went for an eye test yesterday and all is fine.
There is zero problems with the retinas, nor any noticeable swelling with the lens'.
He won't out me on SR metformin immediately though.
I explained that my job meant hours of travelling, meetings etc.
What I didn't want to have to do was bring a commode ( or a plastic bag) into a board room, in case I suddenly had to evacuate myself.
Anyway, I've agreed to stick with them for a week and see what happens.
I'm on 500mg a day, with an increase in 2 weeks...assuming that my car or a meeting room does not end up resembling a scene from the Somme in the meantime.
However, I'm going to see how 500mg goes first- and if my figures stay in the 5 mark- I will stick at that.

So..there're we have it...I am now ( according to my doc) officially type 2.

I may just tell H.R and our fleet management people, in time.
As for life insurance, it's part of my 'package' so there is zero problems there.

Lets now see what difference metformin makes to my life and underpants drawer!



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Hurrah....
So I've just had my first meeting with the DN.
She knows this forum and appears to be a keen supporter of what is said and done on here.
The good news... HBA1C is now at 57, which isn't too bad and the cholesterol is now at 5.8.
Considering the amount of bad stuff that I have had as of late, even my cholesterol is dropping at a decent rate.
Crunchie choc ice lollies are to die for, as are the Mars bar ones!
The next 3 months goals are 50 and 5 respectively.
I'm 7 kg lighter than I was in 2010 BUT 1/2" shorter in height!
We discuss diabetes and what it is, the Expert programme, longer term prognosis, BS levels, statins, aspirin ( not recommended apparently) and wot not.
The medium term plan is to get me off Metformin BUT its not a problem to me, so I'm happy to take it.
PLUS as I no long have to pay for my prescriptions due to using it, it's saving me a few quid....
The DN is most definitely new school, though is an advocate of moderate amounts of lower GI foodstuffs and not low carb per se.
We then got onto the thorny issue of meters, scrips and testing.
I introduced her to the IBGstar, which she hadn't seen before and ( of course) I could not have the strips on prescription.
With the data stored in graph form she was able to look at the range and quickly spotted the most magnificent 13mmoll that I banged in ( deliberately spiking myself) and a worrying 3. whatever ....where I think it was a reading error.
She was great though and has given me an iSens and a script for some strips will be ready on Friday.. ( not too many mind you).
The iSens looks ok..but uses batteries.. and watch ones a that!
BATTERIES... Ask you!
Anyway, the lancet gun look like a decent set of kit and the lancets HUGE.
However, it seems as if the iBGSTAR ones will do the job as they are ultra fine.

So, all in all a good meeting and a follow up for bloods in 3 months!







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Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
DaveNN said:
Crunchie choc ice lollies are to die for, as are the Mars bar ones!

LOL, well you're making progress despite your own best efforts at sabbotaging it.

Actually, it can be quite encouraging to make progress knowing that you still have leeway and could still make even more determined efforts if you had to.

Just keep it up, the effort that is, not the sugar binges :)
 

DaveNN

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Messages
327
Yorksman said:
DaveNN said:
Crunchie choc ice lollies are to die for, as are the Mars bar ones!

LOL, well you're making progress despite your own best efforts at sabbotaging it.

Actually, it can be quite encouraging to make progress knowing that you still have leeway and could still make even more determined efforts if you had to.

Just keep it up, the effort that is, not the sugar binges :)


Cheers!

If you are of an age to remember "space dust" and enjoy crunchies then you are in for a treat with those choc ice lollies.
They are gorgeous.

I've also imbibed in copious amounts of cider and fully intend to try out the Somersby cider which is on the adverts at the moment.

As I have put on here, DB is a condition not a prison - though I am fully confident that I could present near normal ( if not fully normal figures) if I cut out the naughty stuff.



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Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
DaveNN said:
I've also imbibed in copious amounts of cider and fully intend to try out the Somersby cider which is on the adverts at the moment.

Ice cold supermarket diet lemonade, zero cal, zero carbs, probably zero lemon plus, juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon plus one or two shots of vodka. Wouldn't even spike a diabetic mouse but what a summer drink. Still ice cold gin, diet tonic and fresh lime juice is hard to beat too.
 

DaveNN

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Messages
327
Yorksman said:
DaveNN said:
I've also imbibed in copious amounts of cider and fully intend to try out the Somersby cider which is on the adverts at the moment.

Ice cold supermarket diet lemonade, zero cal, zero carbs, probably zero lemon plus, juice of 1 freshly squeezed lemon plus one or two shots of vodka. Wouldn't even spike a diabetic mouse but what a summer drink. Still ice cold gin, diet tonic and fresh lime juice is hard to beat too.
I have some flavoured vodka but it does spike me a bit.
Come the summer I will have a try at that...but I tend to get a bit giddy with the BBQ fluid when ice had a skinful.

What I didn't mention is that she also checked my feet and all is well, with a strong pulse and good circulation.
AND...wait for it... My toes have a bit of hair on them ( just the knuckles and not underneath) and this is a sure sign of healthy blood vessels as each hair is supported by a capillary.
Now..that is something thatI did learn today.


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DaveNN

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327
Oh well.... The best laid plans and all that...

I'm sure that I'm not the only type2er who falls off the wagon to such an extent that the meds were ignored, the weight piled on and the exercise stopped...anyway that was yesterday and for some strange reason everything has turned full circle.

That said, I've had a really rough ride....with severe stomach aches, hospital admissions, awful nightmares.
All which stopped or ( in the event of the hospital admission) were not repeated when I came off the Metformin.
The paramedics and the hospital recommended that I came off the meds...and I have never felt better...but also know full well that UNLESS I get this bloody annoying condition sorted, it will sort me....in time.

I've a new prescription for Metformin waiting for me..and I will pick up tomorrow..but I will walk the 4 miles round trip, even if it's chucking it down.
ALL the chocolate in the house has gone ( I'm a slave to Crunchies), replaced with my own stash of little apples and grapes.

Oh...and even though I've been a very naughty boy ( no meds and all manner of nasties consumed) my morning BS was 'only' 8 and has been steady at 7.4 on the random tests.

Anyway..hello everyone again and forgive my tale of woe!




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Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
DaveNN said:
Oh...and even though I've been a very naughty boy ( no meds and all manner of nasties consumed) my morning BS was 'only' 8 and has been steady at 7.4 on the random tests.

Hi Dave, I was wonderng how you were getting on. Sounds like a rough ride on the meds. To be honest, your BGs are at a level where you probably could control them by diet and exercise alone. There's many on this forum who are in the high teens.

Grapes by the way can be very sugary. Apples, pears, berries, grapes, plums etc, stuff that grows in the north is best. I 'make a meal' of these things, ie sit down with a plate and knife and cut off the bits I eat. It takes longer and you appreciate it more. When you etc these things on the move, you hardly notice. Just a little trick to persuade myself I don't want a chocolate bar. Sugar, I'm sure, did it for me.

I also find a cup of tea is a good diversion. I have lots of teas like earl grey, green tea and lemon etc, bought a proper infusion teapot and again, I sit down and 'make tea'. There is something about ritual which helps prevent over indulgence.

My wife has started to call me 'grasshopper'.
 

DaveNN

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Messages
327
Hi and likewise.
I suppose that I've avoided the forum- even though it's in my lifestyle folder on my ipad- as I have been in a kind of denial.
I don't go on Ford websites, as I don't have one...if you get my drift.

I fully agree on the grapes... But a few is still much better for me than a load of chocolate hobnobs..and the diet and exercise.
We've stocked up on healthy nibbles and a few blocks of cheese.
I only started on the metformin ( again) this morning and have just done another test ( 2 hours post meal) and banged in a nice 6.2.

To be brutally honest the cider whilst watching middle lad playing cricket, the "teas" that go with it and a celebratory curry after a win..or not...have not helped.

But me and him now have a "pact".
He's shot up to 6ft ( 16 yo) this year and has also lost around half a stone in doing so....he's also a goal keeper and a physical one at that.
We've agreed that for every pound of muscle ( he's only 12 stone) he puts on, I'll shed 2lb of pretend muscle....so diet and exercise it is!

I'm delighted that you are still here and still fighting ...beating...this insidious poxy condition.

Sure, it isn't MS..or cancer...it hasn't put me in a wheelchair or an asylum and I feel such a fraud when I rock up with a single digit BS figure...with ZERO effort or meds.
However, I am a diabetic and accepting it is the hardest bit!

I Wish you and all well!



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Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
DaveNN said:
To be brutally honest the cider whilst watching middle lad playing cricket, the "teas" that go with it and a celebratory curry after a win..or not...have not helped.

Eating out at events like this is the hardest thing to do because you have so little control. It's easy in your own kitchen but last week we had the curry festival in Bradford, the food festival in Halifax and even the village where I live had a BBQ on the sunday. Portion control is the only thing but you feel a bit glum that you can't fully join in. Mind, it is still better than avoiding these things altogether. But, as you say, if going off the rails still only results in single figures, that's not bad going. It's easily recovered.
 

DaveNN

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Messages
327
Oh god yes.... I eat out ( business mainly) a hell of a lot..and always go over the top......sod it work is paying.
I'm in Bradford on business next week and may well try out a curry at lunch.... But only a small salad for dinner.

Whilst I'm sure that advertising is not allowed, I recently visited a small cafe in Weobley in Herefordshire that would surely test even the most hardy low carber.

Drink..lemonade with a touch of ginger....Gorgeous!
main course... Steak and pickled walnut pie with the usual..Devine
Desert... A Bakewell tart with honeywecomb ice cream and hot caramel sauce.

ALL homemade on the premises.

The latter was possibly the most delicious desert that I have ever eaten....and probably worth the trip from oop north in the 1st place.

I do practice portion control...basically I get the biggest portion that I can..and try not to drop it all over the floor..if when at a self service carvery etc.

Today has been a bit stressful ( son rocked in 9 hours late after his school prom...what is THAT all about??) so I ain't surprised when I banged in a 10 this morning.
I've now just spotted that the usual no sugar fizzy apple drink has been replaced with the full fat version....I thought that it was very sweet ;-)
So I'll do another in a bit.

My eyes seem a bit clearer already...which is nice.






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DaveNN

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327
Whooah...
Day 2 or 3 and I'm banging in 6's and now a 5.5
Admittedly it's after a carbish free day...but I was at the cricket and refused to imbibe, nearly.
My 'tea' consists of 3 packs of nuts and a few cans of diet coke...and bottle of Holsten Pils...

The next thing is to get out on my bike and the weights next week....

The best thing is that I'm sticking to one Metformin a day and it's probably not even kicked in yet.

The worst thing is that if I bang in a high baller tomorrow, I'll be a little bit cheesed off.




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Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
You already know you can do it Dave. You've just got to want it enough.

Tomorrow I head off to the land of temptation, beer, apfelstrudel, nudeln and tiroler germködel:

gasthof-melkalm-kitzbuhel.jpg


Crushed poppyseed and vanilla sugar with a vanilla sauce poured over a semolina dumpling filled with plum puree.
 

DaveNN

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Messages
327
Yorksman said:
You already know you can do it Dave. You've just got to want it enough.

Tomorrow I head off to the land of temptation, beer, apfelstrudel, nudeln and tiroler germködel:

gasthof-melkalm-kitzbuhel.jpg


Crushed poppyseed and vanilla sugar with a vanilla sauce poured over a semolina dumpling filled with plum puree.

Yeh...it's bloody weird though.
I'm going through my figures and, even when I was behaving, I NEVER banged in so consistently low figures.

5.3 ( with a squeezed finger..which always skews the results upwards) after a huge chicken kebab ( minus the pitta bread) and salad and now a 5.8 before breakfast ( squeezed finger) and nowhere near a 12 hour fast.
A bit of liver dumping here??

That desert looks lovely...though I haven't touched semolina since I was about 11.

You have a most joyous time, sir!

Tell me, what part of Belgium are you off too?


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Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Salzburg in Austria, where they make Mozart Kugeln:

mozartkugeln-originale-salzburger-mo.jpg


Argghhh, how will I manage!

There's temptation everywhere. It shouldn't be allowed. Where are Cromwell's Puritans when you need them to cleanse us of the devil's work?
 

DaveNN

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Messages
327
Firstly, I do so hope that everyone is well and hope that no one has been too upset with my prolonged absence ;-0
Having fallen off the wagon again ( cider, cricket, cider, curries and dining out on business) and not having any meds for a few months, I was concerned that my latest HBA1c would be truly shocking!
Looking back I rocked in with a 78mmol.... Yesterday I presented a 63!
Sure, it's still far too high but its a decent drop....and must be done to me doing plenty of walking and losing weight.
My target for the next test will be 55.....


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Yorksman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
DaveNN said:
Looking back I rocked in with a 78mmol.... Yesterday I presented a 63!
Sure, it's still far too high but its a decent drop....and must be done to me doing plenty of walking and losing weight.
My target for the next test will be 55.....

Well done Dave. Yes, it is a decent improvement. Amazing given the number of times you relapse :lol:

Imagine what could be achieved with an iron will and steely discipline. Well, OK, life would be a bit boring I grant you. Just make sure the relapses become less frequent and not more frequent.

Will the end of the cricket season help you? I will somehow have to get around the parkin, pie and peas and treacle toffee that comes with bonfire night. I was thinking of asking the doc for a fortnight's worth of sleeping pills. :D
 

DaveNN

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Messages
327
Chortle.... Now the weather is getting colder,cider will take a back seat...and the cricket went off like a damp squid...as my other half says... You'll see the link to bonfire night!
I have the self control of a Touretter on some form of narcotic that may make one speak a lot..( should get me past a moderator).
I take the metformin every day now...except when I forget.
Parkin ....lovely... Mushy peas, bleuugh!
Hope you and all a good!




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