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Type 2 Overweight and just new to Type 2 diebetes

Antje77 said:
And cheese over your veggies and cheese on your meat and cheese on your bacon and eggs as well!
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Never met a cheese I didn't like .
 
I would have a different view on reducing chicken and steak, as I would increase these staples. Calories are secondary to carbs, as 400 grams of carbs are treated different by our bodies compared to 400 grams of protein / fat. Ask any questions you like, as there is a lot of misinformation about meat.
 
Larryr said:
What about calories? I’ve got to watch that to I presume
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Nope. It is the source of the calories that matter. We get calories from three sources (macros) carbohydrates, fats and protein. With T2 Diabetes we cannot metabolise carbs properly so we must try to switch from carbs to fats and protein (protein is best used for other purposes so we do not usually rely on that). I would guess that there are days when my calorie intake is super high but it matters little because I am powered by fats and use those fats efficiently as fuel.
 
Carbs are addictive. Everything you knew about dieting is now turned on its head.

Carbs make you hungry. Once you break the carb addiction you will find your appetite decreases. It took me around 4 weeks to get through it. Suddenly I had no need to snack. I comfortably skipped meals.

Eat nothing that is low fat. They add in loads of horrible stuff to make up for the missing fat.

Don't buy stuff like "diabetic ice cream".

Get used to reading the information on packets of food. Anything that ends in ...ose is sugar. Avoid.

Snacking. Pork scratching, mmmmmmm! Make sure there are no additives.

If you like KFC, you can make your own version using pork scratchings, gouund to crumbs. Mix with Helmand mayo, mustard and herbs.

If you like pizza, look up fat head dough. Took me a couple of goes to get it right. Yum.

If you like chocolate cake, look up keto chocolate mug cake. Serve with lashings of double cream.

Yes, we T2'S are truly deprived. Not.
 
When I started LCHF I fell off the wagon several times.

Twice I made an emergency dash to the corner shop for a packet of crumpets. I fell face down into a plateful with lashings of butter. Well the butter was ok, the crumpets, not so much.

Another time, after one too many glasses of red, I ate half a packet of ryvitas.

A couple of times ... I could go on but, I kept on taking my readings and they were enough to set me on the right track.
 
I too struggled to live on low carb because of old feelings of satiety on certain carbs. Mine was porridge. Being a type2 for decades porridge was always encouraged. It let's me eat less but give satiety but a spike which kept me from hypos on insulin.
I crave meat now.
I'm on the 800cals diet.
Its swings and roundabouts, whichever diet.
No cheese and no nuts gives me weight loss.
We are all different. All have different levels of IR.
 

A good start is to get a glucose meter to check our pre/post meal glucose level to see how much our favourite food affects us. I would focus on glucose control rather than weight loss...

You may be surprise how much good food we can still enjoy...and meat with fatty cuts (eg roast pork belly, rib eye) happens to be one of the best option
 
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Lucky you, you love meat! It's very low carb (and as others stated, forget about calories, they don't actually matter all that much). I stay under 20 grams of carbs a day, so hovering around 50 or less should be easy. For me, it's eggs, bacon, mushrooms, cheese in the morning (no toast or wraps!). Lunch a salad with a can of tuna, (in oil, not brine), olives, avocado, mayo, capers... Dinner meat or fish, and cauliflower rice or broccoli rice with cheese and even more bacon. Baaaacon! Want to snack? Square or two of extra dark chocolate, some cheese, olives, pork scratchings sound okay? Lost 25 kilo's in the last 2 years, while there's more messing with my metabolism than "just" T2, so it's entirely doable. Cholesterol is fine too, non-alcoholic liver disease is improving, so yeah.. It's not all as hopeless as you may think. Eggs. Meat. Above-ground veggies. Knock yourself out. (Skip potatoes, pasta, rice, cereal, corn, bread or anything made with flour, really. Starches aren't doing you any favours, as practically all carbs turn to glucose once ingested.)

There's hope for you yet. But do get a meter, as it's so very helpful in seeing what certain foods do to your bloodglucose. (Before a meal and 2 hours after first bite shouldn't see an increase higher than 2.0 mmol/l)
 
@Larryr
Hello Larry and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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 well over 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why

  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 
If you lower your carbs, the weight will come off. Luckily the same strategy that helps control blood glucose helps with weight loss.

I was diagnosed at the end of this past June. I started out heavier than you are (273 lbs at 5'4" - check my signature) and in addition to getting my blood glucose levels down to normal levels (my follow up hba1c is next month and it will be lower according to the numbers on my meter) , I've lost a significant amount of weight. I'm now the lowest weight I've been in over 30 years and still losing. I have been overweight since my early teens & obese since my 20s - I'm now 62.

I tried low fat diets for years and years and ate this way since the 1970s, yet my weight kept increasing. Like many who go on to develop Type 2, I was very insulin resistant. Don't worry about calories or fat, it's carbs that cause your body to release insulin which causes you to store fat. Too frequent insulin release also put a strain on the overworked cells in your pancreas. Eat whole fat products not low fat (ie. plain full fat Greek yogurt, cream or heavy whipping cream.) I know that this is contrary to what we've been told but fat is not bad for you. Fat in your diet will help you from getting hungry. Many people (including me) find after they eat low carb for a while, their appetite reduces. After a while on low carb. eliminate snacking (to reduce the number of times your body releases insulin and is in a fat storage state.)

Don't eat high carb foods or sweets even in "moderation", that will undermine your efforts for weight loss, raise your blood glucose and increase insulin release (which you are trying reduce). As well, if you crave either sweets or carbs (I crave both), eating even small amounts will cause the cravings to become stronger. I've avoided them both completely since I was diagnosed 5 months ago.

Please get a meter and once you're comfortable with it, test foods. Take a reading right before eating a small amount of specific food and then test 2 hours after. If there is a rise of 2.0 mmol/L or more, that a spike and you need to avoid that food. A blood glucose meter is the best tool a Type 2 can use (although most doctors don't mention them), otherwise you are in the dark as to how your body is doing and what foods it can't tolerate.

For counting carbs, I use the free version of the Android app, Carb Manager.

If you take insulin or insulin producing meds (not Metformin) you may need the doctor to reduce your meds after a while on low carb if you blood glucose goes too low (under 4.0) because eating low carb lowers your insulin requirements.

Initially I found the idea of low carb eating overwhelming. Soon after starting, I realized that it wasn't difficult at all but quite rewarding as I saw my blood glucose readings come and my weight start to decrease.
 
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What would you classify as high carbs?I’m guessing pizza and fries,things like that? Where you can’t read a label on something,like if you go out and eat
 
Pizza and fries can be dynamite .... pasta just as much
 
I strongly recommend you take a look at

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods

There’s obvious processed foods like pizza, pies, chips, crisps, cakes, biscuits that are very high in carbs (and generally have labels that show that) but the visual guides on the link are really helpful if you’re out and about on knowing what is relative to everything. And it doesn’t have to be salad!

I am one of the T2s who didn’t need to lose weight, but I will also reiterate what everyone above has said - you can eat low carb and lose weight without even noticing what you’re doing and without being hungry. I lost 7 lbs (it’s a huge amount for me as I didn’t want to lose anything) when I went low carb because even though I was eating a huge amount of food, I didn’t eat enough fats. Bacon, steak, slatherings of butter on everything - it’s all good for your blood sugar. And weirdly enough... it’s better for your blood sugars than a big fruit salad.

Quite a lot of what you thought you knew - calories, ‘healthy’ food - is going to get modified on your diabetes journey. But it’s good you like meat!
 
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