please help if you can

I think you are experiencing what so many of us experience...shock and trying to drastically change what our bodies have been used to for a long time.

To me it makes sense that our bodies are going to kick back at us, and to try and get us to reject the new lifestyle...as it has had a long time doing differently.

None of us mentally like change in our lives, and the same is going to go for us physically as well.

I can't and won't actually offer any advice but, just look at 'normal' people that try all these different diets and give up...why..becuase they have mental and physical kick back to the changes they are trying to make, when their bodies have had a long time doing something totally different. Sugar can be just as addicitive as alochol and drugs and cigarettes.....it's not easy to give up.

I think that you need to give yourself a pat on the back for losing the 10lbs so far on diet only. You are showing great determination, well done for that. You body will start to change it's way of thinking, just as you have done so mentally, your body needs time physically to cope with the changes too.

When I was diagnosed type 1 26 years ago, and put on a hugely different restricted diet, I must confess I cried myself to sleep every night for 6 weeks. It was a huge shock mentally and physically. I know that my body found it just as hard as my brain did coping with it all in those first weeks.

With levels going up to around 12, that may also have an impact on the way that you are feeling as well. People vary with how they feel when their levels are outside the limits that we are expected to achieve and to try and keep to. I don't actually feel any diffeent at 12, but know that others may well do, but I can't speak from experience on that one....

When do you go back to see anybody-HCP? Would you be able to tell them the way that you are feeling.

Many places also have diabetic meetings in their areas, it may be that you could actually get to chat and meet others that also have diabetes. Some meetings have some good talks as well from health care professionals.

I think the most scary thing for me was being told 'You WILL get complications'----not that I MAY get complications....in those days people got recognition when they got to 25 years with diabetes-so I marked this off in my head that I wouldn't live to 50....I am coming up to 48 now-and last year got the very first of complications which was mild background retinopathy in one eye. I still don't believe I will get to 50, as being told that I WILL get complications has really stayed with me since being told that. IF however I do get past my 50th, I am going to have the rest of my life after that celebrating.......I do that now though, just incase I don't get to 50 and miss out on celebrating!!

Complications are a huge worry, but the only thing any of us can do, is to try and avoid them the best we can by trying to manage our d' the best we can really.

You sound as if you are normally quite a positive person, which is probably why you are showing so much determination, but then you have also got realisation as well-it's trying to get a balance with the new eating regime that you are happy with, and can live happily with.

Instead of food treats, I get garden treats...I treat myself to plants instead of rubbish food. They give me just as much pleaasure. I've always had things that I treat myself to, and lets face it with your current weight loss-look at the new wardrobe you could soon be having!!!!!! Look at how many bags of sugar that is-10lbs-lay them out on a table and think-good god I used to carry that excess around-put them in a rucksack and carry on your back the bags of sugar for an hour, then you will realise that you are better off!!!!!

If concerned about feeling so awful, do try to talk to a HCP about it.

i was and still am scared of the comlplications of diabetes, that i cut all that out!! only good foods with a little dark choc as a tiny treat...just cant cope with this feeling of rubbishness

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Roxy, I am still having trouble coming to terms with it all. The quack thought I was type 2 10 years ago, then the nurse said that I wasn't - that I had just overloaded my body with sugar. I never went to the docs again until January of this year. I don't believe I'm type 2. I know many will shout at me for it, but I'm still overweight and need to shed at least 3 stone to be the ideal weight. I love all the things you love, and it's really hard. I haven't touched a drop of booze since January. What can I say? I like to go to the pub and mix; have a chat the other people, see what the world is up to. But since they put me on Sitagliptin, I haven't gone anywhere. I follow a low GI diet, which is OK, but I really miss all the nice stuff.

A few years ago, I bought a book called Recipes For Health - Diabetes by Azmina Govindji and Jill Myers. I always use it. If I feel the need for a bit of comfort food, I bake the fruit cakes that are in there. They are made with very little sugar, but with wholemeal flour and dried fruit such as sultanas or raisins. I love them!!

Anyway, you can have your cake and eat it, and you will get use to dark chocolate. I think you can get 90% dark chocolate bar and that is lovely! If you quit everything at once, you will go crazy, I know.

You're no on your own, so just keep trying. Good luck .

Hi Roxy,
10 years ago, I quit smoking, but substituted fags with food. I was already overweight, but ballooned up to 17 stone. It was the health visitor who suggested that I go for a blood test, to see if my thyroid was ok. I went, but then I got a call from the surgery telling me to make an appointment because I was diabetic. Well, I stopped eating all the nice stuff, lost a bit of weight, and within a couple of months, the nurse said that she was reluctant to call me diabetic. You couldn't see me for dust! :lol:

I didn't go back until this year because they were nagging me to come in for a blood test. In January, my HBA1C was 11%, in April it was 9%. They wanted me to go on cholesterol medication, but I refused!
I tried metformin to reduce my blood glucose, but that didn't agree with me, so now I'm on Sitagliptin, which also reduces your blood glucose levels, but, since I've been taking it, I have become increasingly depressed. I've had enough, and just want to do this without the need of medication, hence the empathy of your anguish! I am now 12 stone, and I've lost a stone in the past month by walking and following a low GI diet. I do my best to follow it, but I have my dark moments......and they are usually 75% dark chocolate :mrgreen:

As for the cakes, here goes....

4 oz low fat spread
4 oz self raising wholemeal flour
2 oz caster sugar or equivalent of granulated splenda (4 tbs)
4 oz sultanas or raisins
2 eggs
1 tbs hot water if needed.

Cream spread and sugar together, add one egg and half of the flour to the mixture and beat. Add the other egg and flour and do the same. Finally add the sultanas to the mixture. If a little too thick, add a tablespoon of boiling water and mix. Divide this into 18 to 20 fairy cake cases and cook for 15 minutes, 180 c.

I'm writing this out from memory, if you have a gas cooker, you'll have to work it out!
Also, this is double the quantity to what is in the book. I've tried using Splenda when I was out of caster sugar. My family didn't even notice the difference!

Please try and buy the book. It's full of some really good recipes. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised! My favourite meal from the book is the BBQ pork chops, served with a jacket spud and salad. (just not a huge spud, but lots of salad)

I'm testing all the time...in the morning before breakfast, 2 hours after breakfast, before lunch, 2 hours after lunch, before dinner, 2 hours after dinner, before bedtime and if I wake up in the middle of the night, I'll do it then!!! It's driving me nuts, but the diabetic dragon, oops, I mean nurse, wants me to do it all the time.

I will eat a couple of squares a night, and as for the cakes, I'll have a couple because they don't do much to my levels. I think that we all have to nurse the cravings, otherwise we'll go do-lally!!

Hiya
I'm not so sure what my average is, but in the morning it's around 13 mmol, before lunch it's about 9 mmol, and before dinner, anything between 7 and 9 mmol. I know it's high, which is why I'm stressing about it so much. I think I just want it all to go away!!

Roxy, you are not yet 3 weeks into this and you have already lost some weight, Rome wasnt built in a day, stick with it and you will see results soon enough

joeynomates said:

As for the cakes, here goes....

4 oz low fat spread
4 oz self raising wholemeal flour
2 oz caster sugar or equivalent of granulated splenda (4 tbs)
4 oz sultanas or raisins
2 eggs
1 tbs hot water if needed.

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Hi joeynomates, whoever told you that the above recipe was conducive to losing weight and controlling your bg levels is/was at best sadly mistaken. I would maybe chance a very small piece of this cake but my bg levels are pretty good at the moment, while I was getting here I would not have gone near such a high carb treat with a very long barge pole.


4oz of wholemeal flour............ carbs = 72.5g
4oz sultanas or Raisins.............. carbs = 78.5g

150g of carbs baked into a cake will not help either your bg control or your weight I'm afraid, have a look at the low carb and diet forums for some kinder snacks

There is a fairly good (though I think American) website that works out the nutrition counts for recipes. I just used it to work out your cakes, I assumed 20 cakes.You have to check that you are talking the same language. It didn't like low fat spread ( I changed it to a well known make from the list in the database) It thought that sultanas were grapes, so I had to use raisins. This is the result for 1 cake
to find site google: recipe calorie counter

I'm most definitely not a person who advocates a low carb diet. I would warn caution over the cakes.They aren't that high in carbs, as cakes go and using splenda would reduce the overall effect of the carbs and number of calories (though not the 'official carb count ...a bit complicated to explain why ).....if we assume that Splenda has 0g of carbs then each cake would have 8g carbs They really don't contain much of nutritional value and as a snack they could still cause a quite signifiicant rise in levels.
I have type 1 and use insulin, If I wasn't low or about to do some exercise I would probably take a unit of insulin for each cake.
It might be fine if you're about to go for a walk or as a dessert but otherwise I agree with Sid.

Hi joeynomates,

Whilst I agree with the principle of low G.I. I don't think the cookbook you have is doing you any favours.
I looked up the Author's profile and came across an article about carbs that she had written.

She recommends that we follow the DUK idea that carbs should make up 50% of our daily intake.
Carbs are not the enemy. http://www.govindjinutrition.com/docume ... _enemy.pdf There is no date on this article but we are aware that DUK is changing it's stance on how many carbohydrates are acceptable to individuals.

I agree with her sentiments that carbs are not the enemy but I do not feel that she is taking into account that diabetics can tolerate various amounts of carbs, some more and some less than others. It is a very individual thing.
She has collaborated in a publication of diabetic friendly recipes with Anthony Worral Thompson and a few here have tried his recipes but they were too high in carbs. Here is a thread about it.

viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13184

Low G.I. can work very successfully if you limit the portion of carbs to suit you. This can only be worked out by testing. Do not assume that because it is low G.I. it will be alright. Your meter will tell you the answer for you. It is the same for all classifications of foods that are low G.I. Grapes is an example, I cannot eat them without a spike in my Blood sugars even as part of a meal.

You have to find foods that work for you, not other people and you will eventually come up with a plan that is tailored for you and you alone. You may not be able to tolerate what I eat and I may not be able to tolerate what you eat. This is not an overnight solution but something that you gradually learn. And the secret to all this is.....................test, test, test.

You will also find that there will be days when your readings differ from the last time you ate the same meal or snack that agreed with your meter. This will puzzle you, "Why was it alright last time and not this time?" It might be that you are more stressed, have not been so active or even an infection or virus or the common cold is heading your way.

This is a chronic, complex disease and it has many twists and turns. It takes a while to work everything out that is relevant and we all have days when nothing seems to make sense. Don't stress over it as this will raise your blood sugars but remember that tomorrow is another day.

I do hope that this will help you to understand that you are heading in the right direction and please ask any questions if there is something you do not understand.

Hiya all,

At the end of the day, I am struggling with this. The book in question is a diabetic cookbook. I need sopmething to work from. I am sorry if I have caused offence to you all, but I really am finding this difficult. All I did was tell someone that if I had one or two of these little cakes, it would nurse my carb craving without altering my levels too much, if at all.

I don't really understsand the whole carb thing. I asked my GP to put me in touch with a dietition, and basically he said B****CKS. saying that whateve they told me, I was to take with a pinch of salt. I really do feel that it's all about the money and not the patient with my GP practice.

Once again, sorry if I have caused offence. :?

You are seeing here on of the issues around life as a diabetic and this is why you need your meter - despite what the HCP's say. I could not eat these cakes but you can - and the only way to tell who can and who can't, is to use the meter......

Also some of us are more sensetive to some types of carbs than to others, for example my body is very sensitive to wheat and dried fruit, which means that your cake recipe is a disaster for me. But I can eat more potato than many here can....

Many of us here have also found that the advice from dieticians has not helped us, our bodies treat all carbs as sugar and yet the dietician my doctor sent me to, told met to eat 40% of my meal as carbs. I tried eating like, this failed to keep my BG under control and was blamed for it,.... Others have been helped by the dietician..

So in essence If something works for you then don't worry go for it, and keep testing what works for you and what doesn't..

joeynomates said:

Hiya all,

At the end of the day, I am struggling with this. The book in question is a diabetic cookbook. I need sopmething to work from. I am sorry if I have caused offence to you all, but I really am finding this difficult. All I did was tell someone that if I had one or two of these little cakes, it would nurse my carb craving without altering my levels too much, if at all.

I don't really understsand the whole carb thing. I asked my GP to put me in touch with a dietition, and basically he said B****CKS. saying that whateve they told me, I was to take with a pinch of salt. I really do feel that it's all about the money and not the patient with my GP practice.

Once again, sorry if I have caused offence. :?

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I don't think anyone has been offended! That's the trouble with the internet , the written word isn't always the best way of explaining things As longer term members will realise the last think I want is to be associated with the low carb diabetes police
:lol:
I hope that you're not upset . I think that Catherine gave some excellent advice on adopting and adapting a low GI diet and how to gradually find out what works for you.

joeynomates said:

Hiya all,

At the end of the day, I am struggling with this. The book in question is a diabetic cookbook. I need sopmething to work from. I am sorry if I have caused offence to you all, but I really am finding this difficult. All I did was tell someone that if I had one or two of these little cakes, it would nurse my carb craving without altering my levels too much, if at all.

I don't really understsand the whole carb thing. I asked my GP to put me in touch with a dietition, and basically he said B****CKS. saying that whateve they told me, I was to take with a pinch of salt. I really do feel that it's all about the money and not the patient with my GP practice.

Once again, sorry if I have caused offence. :?

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Hi joeynomates,

You certainly did not offend me. I was hoping that my post would help you. It was not meant to make you feel uncomfortable, I genuinely thought it might explain low G.I. better for you.