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Pathetic control !!!!!

J

jokeav

Member
Messages
12
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hi everyone, I have been type 2 for approx 15 years. Starting advice to control with diet - little or no control
8-9 years later started 1 metformin per day which has now risen to 2 metformin and 1 trajenta.
I am now becoming aware of the seriousness of my situation and need to get s grip.
My fasting readings before breakfast are anything between 7·5 and 9 and before bed 8-12.
Where do you find the motivation and constant vigilance of your diet.
I would love to have readings of 5-6, any advice out there???
 
The best advice for type 2 is to eat less carbohydrate: you can reduce carbohydrate and your readings will very probably go down.

Dr. Bernstein has a good list of food and drink to avoid: it's very comprehensive and may be a little too extreme for some, but at least you know what is best avoided for diabetes. I'll quote it from Wikipedia below.

AVOID-all foods with added sugar or honey such as desserts, candies, and pastries; all foods made from grains and grain flours such as breads, cereals, pasta, and rice; all starchy vegetables such as potatoes, corn, carrots, peas, tomatoes, and beans; all fresh or preserved fruits and fruit juices; all dairy products except for butter, cream, and fermented cheeses, as well as full fat yogurt(for dairy products the more the fat content the less carbohydrate content)

It looks like quite a lot, until you realise that almost everything not on the list is ok. Meat is fine, eggs, fish, leafy vegetables, cauliflower, broccoli, red wine, spirits.
 
For motivation I picture myself losing a foot or an eye....
But rarely need motivation as I find a lchf diet keeps me very full
 
When I first started eating low carb back in the 1970s I had different shopping lists written out on postcards so I knew that I would have enough for a week's meals. Even today I rarely buy tomatoes and mushrooms on the same shopping trip so I have variation which really can help with the way of eating.
I only eat twice a day now as that is all I need.
When I get up I have a meal - sometimes it is eggs, maybe with cheese and a tomato or green salad. It might be steak and stirfry if I am going out for the day. I drink coffee with cream, and a pinch of cinnamon and a tiny sprinkle of salt in this hot weather. I can then go all day and not eat so it makes going away from the house, as I did in more normal times, far easier.
When I saw a reading of 5.6 two days running after two Christmas dinners then I knew I had it beaten.
 

Hi,

Sometimes people find it very difficult to get through the first few days of low carb.
They have been eating high levels of carbs for years, and their body is used to them, and in fact craves them.
It is that Monday afternoon falling off the diet feeling.

My suggestion is to not think of it as a diet. Or a slimming way of eating. Or a depressing prison of control that will keep you in solitary for the rest of your existence - because all of those things will just mess with your head and make you miserable.

Instead, look on it as a new food adventure.
What do you like to eat? Really like? (and no, I am not talking about sweet stuff and stodge).
Do you enjoy steak? Baked mushrooms stuffed with garlic and cheese? Good cheese? Dark chocolate? Is your idea of a fantastic hotel breakfast a gorgous mound of scrambled egg with smoked salmon on top? Lobster? A blob of mozarella with sliced tomatoes and olives, drizzled with olive oil? Prawns in a garlic and cream sauce? Roast duck with the skin on? Roast beef with piles of lovely (cauliflower) mash?

You can eat all those things until you are full, and you forget all about carbs.

Also, do a google search for 'keto mug cakes' and then get the ingredients together. You can make a low carb, filling cake or pudding in 2 mins the microwave. That is quicker than running to a corner shop for a carby one.

Just change your mindset from the things you can't eat, to the things that you can.
Make a list of the low carb foods that you love, buy them, and eat them until satiated.
Don't try and go hungry, or keep to small portions, or feel like you are being deprived.

Hope that helps.
 

Hi

What medication are you on?
 

I'm drooling....
 
As T2s we tend to be "carbohydrate intolerant", so reducing consumption of higher carb foods is IMO the best way to both improve glucose levels and reduce medication. You've had some excellent suggestions for what you can eat, so take these on board, rather than perhaps being negative about what you may no longer be able to. And as an incentive to get those glucose levels down, use you meter as a guide, and maybe set yourself some suitable but easily achievable target levels, and when you're consistently maintaining them however long it takes, reduce them a little more, so try baby steps rather than attempting giant leaps! This is what I did (using target range settings on my meter) rather than looking at and possibly getting depressed by "better" results other people with different diabetic issues may be seeing.

My main motivation has been taking care of my eyesight and hands. I'd had a serious and long term eye issue which could have resulted in blindness which started well before I was diagnosed with T2 but still remains a constant reminder. Additionally I'm now no longer on any diabetic medication, having stopped taking metformin over three years ago, and have kept to low pre-diabetic levels for over six years now. Low carbing has resulted in better health including no more debilitating brain fog or chronic migraines, and an easy and slightly unexpected sudden reduction in weight, and I want to keep it all this way

Having spent my early life on a somewhat lower carb diet than that on diagnosis I was also relieved to finally be able to justify cutting down on too much high carb food, and to be able to eat normal full fat food again without being made to feel guilty. So for me - apart for some initial minor resentments about some foods that are now no longer suitable - changing to my current low carb normal fat style of eating has been an absolute no-brainer. And as a bonus now I can include some previously rare treats such as smoked salmon as a fairly regular addition to my current menu.

So maybe not as impressive as some, but I've managed both health and expectations long term, and this for me is what really matters.
 
Hi. You have to take a serious review of the foods you buy. Think about the fact that the food industry wants to sell you profitable addictive carby foods and the supermarkets want to place it at prime positions. Take control and decide what you need to eat and start to try different things and move away from the carbs. As you reduce them and replace with proteins and fats you will find your urge to have a sugary snack/meal will reduce.
 
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