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Please can someone help with confused newly diagnosed type 2

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Brekky

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Messages
12
Hi All,

Please could someone help me , I am shopping for my groceries and trying to work out what I can and cannot eat, having been diagnosed with type 2 and then a week later with high cholesterol also.

I do not understand the labels on food, what is the maximum numbers to look out for in the following please?

Carbohydrates ....
of which sugars ....

fat ............
of which saturates .....

My typical daily diet is:
Breakfast at 07~45 Very small amount of Fruit & Fibre or Special K
Cup of tea (with sweetners)

Midmorning 11~00 2 slices Hovis Wholemeal bread with Benecol spread & Marmite
Cup of tea (with sweetners)

Afternoon 2pm Piece of fruit (orange , pear, banana)

Dinner 5pm Meat (pork fat trimmed off, Chicken, Beef, Fish.)
Lots of vege (Peas, Beans, Carrots, Sweetcorn, Cauliflower, Brocoli, Swede,
Boiled parsnips) Usually pick 3 from this list.
2 small potatoes ( I sometimes have an extra vege instead of the potatoes)

Desert 1 Benecol yogurt + cup of tea ( with sweetners)

Bedtime cup of tea ( with sweetners)

My sugar level at diagnosis 3 weeks ago was 22.5 it is now ranging between 5.5 before breakfast and 8 before my 5pm meal

I was given Metformin but I hate taking tablets and I see a lot of people on here are controling their levels with diet and exercise only. I did take the tablets for almost three weeks but then I ran out so have not taken them for the past 2 days. I did get another prescription for them and have put them away. Am I doing the right thing as my sugar level is pretty much the same every day without them. Also I have to take simverstatin for the high cholesterol and anti depressants that I have been on for the past 14 years.

I would really appreciate if someone could advise me especially on the food labels.
Thank you for taking the time to read my queery sorry it is so long.

Denise
 
Re: Please can someone help with confused newly diagnosed ty

Hi Brekky
You went from 22.5 to 5.5 in three weeks? Instead of you asking questions, you should be answering them 8) :)
A big Well Done 8) :)
Don't let things get you down. The newly diagnosed phase is terribly confusing - and that's not just the food labels!
I'd recommend a book by Gretchen Becker called Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year - An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed (ISBN 1841198048) which helped me a lot.
There is no hard and fast rule about the advice you're going to receive and a lot of it will be contradictory!
I'm a fan of a low carb approach, but that goes against the more orthadox approach that you'll get from your health professionals and others on this site. Have a look at the Low Carb section of the forum, there's a very good description there as to the science behind the approach. It makes sense to me, so I try to follow it. I to have problems with Cholesterol & Triglycerides. I'm hoping a more disciplined approach to my diet will help :wink:
The bottom line is the name of the game is controlling your levels - if it works for you then you're doing it right!
Well Done again
 
Re: Please can someone help with confused newly diagnosed ty

I can't really offer any advice, just wanted to say that he is obviously a lucky guy having you care so much! Antony Worrall-Thompson has brought out a diabetes cook book which looked quite good when I flicked through it.
 
Re: Please can someone help with confused newly diagnosed ty

Antony Worrall Thompson's so-called "diabetic cookbooks" are a bit suspect and ill-informed in my opinion - beware!
I think you can find much better eating advice on this forum.
 
Re: Please can someone help with confused newly diagnosed ty

As Phil says, with those results, you are doing the right thing for your condition.

That diet should also reduce your cholesterol, & your weight, if that is a problem. What is your cholesterol, & particularly, lipid profile? My wife takes simvastatin, probably without problems. It caused intense muscle pain when I took it, so be aware of significant side effects. I do take 3x500 metf, but my chol is controlled by diet only - 7.6 on diagnosis 10 years ago, 4.8 last test.
 
Re: Please can someone help with confused newly diagnosed ty

Hi Guys , Many thanks for the advice and encouragement , I feel quite good at the moment except for blurred vision & aching legs (probably not using them enough as sit at the coputer most of the day) but I am taking a 30 minute brisk walk with my two adorable cavaliers every morning, oh and of course my hubby. I have lost 7 lbs so far and I feel really good about that as I really could get rid of 4 stone to get to my proper weight.

I am fluctuating between 6.2 and 8.5 at the moment and test twice daily to try to keep on top of it. I don't know what my cholesterol is at but when dioagnosed it was 11 that scared me a bit. My GP said I was borderline diabetic in 2005 but I was never told this until my diagnosis 3 weeks ago.

I am suposed to be going on a research programme, I am waiting to hear it is to find out if a lay person can educate on diabetes as well as a professional health person. I will be monitered and everything will be checked again at the start of the programme and then again at the end. I am looking forward to this as hubby can come along too and he is going to learn as well as me and he will be more help to me once he knows what I can and cannot eat , he gave me a chocolate biscuit a few days ago without thinking and I without thinking ate half before I remembered I was not suposed to eat it LOL. Today he almost bought me an ice cream while we were out walking. I said thanks but no thanks .

Our son is ace at looking out for me , he sees me opening the fridge and says hey mom watch what you are eating, He is a good kid and watching me very closely, he is only 12 and has Aspergers so he is very clever and a really big help. I am very lucky to have a good family.
Thanks again guys for the input this is a great site I am really learning a lot. Cheers Phil for the pat on the back that felt really good. I am pretty pleased with myself for coping with this, I did freak out for the first day and then just thought I have to get on with a complete change of lifestyle and to be honest it is not that bad , I am enjoying the fact I can now taste my tea & coffee after years of shovveling 3 spoons of sugar in the cup , I am without sugar, only sweetners now and could not go back to taking sugar.

There is a funny thing happened to me a few days before I was diagnosed I went into a shop and spotted sugar for sale at 59p a kilo bag so I bought 10 then went in the following day and bought another 10 , because we went through so much sugar in a week. I have a cupboard full with 20 bags of sugar and none of us take it any more LOL

Thanks again guys .
Denise
 
Re: Please can someone help with confused newly diagnosed ty

Brekky
your Cavaliers will be your best doctors.
I have Italian Greyhounds who come and fetch me every evening at about 5:00pm to tell me it's walk time. We were late this evening, because my daughter was delayed in coming to collect my granddaughter.
I live in a hilly area and try for between 2 and 3 miles each evening. That's near enough an hour.I used to find it hard, but it's getting easier.
They love it and I'm getting fitter, even though my weight is static.
Hana
 
Re: Please can someone help with confused newly diagnosed ty

Hi Hanna, Lovely to hear from you , yes my dear little dogs are so happy to go out every day, the younger one Chokky has a ligament damage in his left back leg so the vet said rest him, Ok so I rested him and now he is so fat with all the rest and the steroids to stop his allergies making him scratch all the time. I have to walk him to try to get his weight down and mine of course, Poor little boy he needs an operation but the vet wants £800 for it, gees where do they think I am going to get money like that from when I am unable to work. Never mind the little guy is not in pain he just looks strange when he walks but he does love to go out bless him.

I had a great day today I woke to a 6.8 sugar reading and this afternoon it was 7.1 before afternoon meal so I think that is pretty good without the metformin, I have not taken it for several days. I went to visit family today so mum was doing her bit lashing everyone up with lots of food but I settled for scrambled eggs and brown bread with a little helping of tinned tomatoes as well , It was delicious, everyone else had sausage & bacon and potatoes with tomatoes. I didn't want to risk the fat in the sausages as much as I love them. I am trying so hard to keep my levels down and I think by all accounts it is working.

Take care
Denise
 
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