Progress. Of a sort. I suppose.

[jay hay-char]

My bs came down very quickly but I follow a different diet to you. There is a diet out there called low carb high fat. Basically ditch sugar, rice, bread, pasta and potatoes and eat meat, fish, eggs, cheese, cream, loads of veggies. The rationale is that your body converts starchy carbs into simple sugars which then are released into your blood. Your body produces more insulin because of the increased sugar. The insulin takes the sugar to your major organs where it is then changed into fat and stored around your major organs.
See http://www.dietdoctor.com
If you see your porridge oats as sugar, although slow release and starchy carbs as sugar would you still eat them?

Although I'm not going ultra low carb, I have cut down on carbs a lot, and hardly ever have bread (apart from an occasional slice of Burgen), rice potatoes or pasta and when I do, it's in small quantities. The porridge was by way of an experiment because a (T2) GP friend of my wife said that she has it because it's a filling breakfast that doesn't cause her too much of a spike. Clearly the experiment didn't work for me though I might try a lesser amount. Breakfast is the meal that I really struggle with as I can't have cereals or toast and, by & large, much though I love cooked breakfasts, I can't wallop one down every day.

We're all different.....

 

[Scandichic]

Although I'm not going ultra low carb, I have cut down on carbs a lot, and hardly ever have bread (apart from an occasional slice of Burgen), rice potatoes or pasta and when I do, it's in small quantities. The porridge was by way of an experiment because a (T2) GP friend of my wife said that she has it because it's a filling breakfast that doesn't cause her too much of a spike. Clearly the experiment didn't work for me though I might try a lesser amount. Breakfast is the meal that I really struggle with as I can't have cereals or toast and, by & large, much though I love cooked breakfasts, I can't wallop one down every day.

We're all different.....

If you had asked me before 28th of jan this year I'd have said no way either and I haven't got the time. I've got used to it. My hubbie cooks it whilst I get the kids ready. We have a variation on scrambled egg made with double cream or poached egg and bacon or 97% meat sausages. Sometimes he fries mushroom and tomatoes. Keeps me going till lunchtime. Fat is more filling so although he cooked loads initially we now have one sausage and a big serving spoon of the scrambled egg. Alternatively full fat plain yoghurt mixed with strawbs or raspberries or blueberries.
It's weird eating sandwiches without the bread initially and if I'm honest I do miss bread sometimes. However, tried rice and pasta after not eating them for a month and didn't see why I'd liked them so much in the first place. Never cared for potatoes unless they were crisps!

 

[jay hay-char]

The Saga Continues....

I won't keep this post up for ever; it's just a note of a few landmark events over the early days post-diagnosis.

I have my first Diabetic Review tomorrow, following my discussion on the phone with my GP (see posts passim above). I've had a quick look at the "Questions to ask at your review" article on here, which is helpful, but would be interested to know if there are things that people on here have found particularly useful to ask (or, indeed, that they didn't ask but wish they had, with hindsight).

Apparently all the Practice nurses at our surgery are trained to carry out diabetic reviews, which is handy, but I'm seeing the senior nurse (probably because our GP has been a friend for many years and has warned them that I'm an awkward ******* )

I'll report back after the event.

 

[AnnieC]

I was initially tested in a similar situation to you; I was unwell anyway and hadn't eaten since the day before, so when my GP did a fingerprick test and it measured 7.9 I was sent to have bloods done. First ones came back borderline so had to have second FBG done (awaiting result).

I could be wrong on this as I don't take Metformin (yet anyway), but I think it takes some time to get maximum effect. Can anyone confirm that?

I have heard on here that Metformin is good to take as it helps protect the heart

 

[Loobles]

I have heard on here that Metformin is good to take as it helps protect the heart

I know, but my GP won't give it to me. Have an appt for the diabetic centre in October, so hoping they might prescribe it. We'll see.

 

[angelicbaby]

Hi there. I have also been recently diagnosed but was lucky enough to be provided with a blood glucose meter from my surgery so I could start monitoring my sugar levels. I found that when I started testing my sugar levels were spiking after every meal no matter how "good" I tried to be food wise. I persevered and within a few weeks I was getting less and less spikes. In fact after some meals (cheese and ham omelet with Burgen soya and linseed bread) I actually lowered my sugar levels after the two hour period. Having said that, I thought the two hour period was from when I finished eating not when I started - so that will have to change.

I have been prescribed with 1 500mg metformin per day at present and have seen my morning sugar levels go from an average of 9.7 to about 8.0.

Please persevere. Take the advice of people here. They are correct in that for the majority of diabetics Carbs cannot be tolerated so you may need to find an alternative food source.

Oh, just an idea about the porridge. You will need to make sure that it is not an instant porridge. The best one is the large oat variety that take about 5 minutes to make and use fresh fruit or frozen if you freeze it yourself.

Take care

 

[forge]

G'day all, unlike the posts I have read I have a specialist prescribed diet and advice that I pay for.

Carbs cause the highs but it is not proportional if you cut out all the majors it should be the best you can do and NOT replace them with Protein but other veg. The warning is a small amount of major carbs will send you quite high. BS has nothing to do with fats or high fats or low fats, The fats are used by some dieters for other things like hunger control.

In other words halving carbs will do nothing. You have to get rid of all carbs except incidental carbs.to make a difference.

The modus operendi is to get rid of all the carbs except incidental carbs then let that settle down. Then when it is settled you can try some carbs to test what is actually your carb tolerance limit. When you have found your tolerance limit you have to stay below it. If you lose weight your tolerance limit will rise.so you should add some more carbs to your diet because we all need some carbs long term.

It is NICE to say we are all different but we are not that different, carbs send us high and we all have a carbs tolerance limit. The different foods with carbs make no difference it is just all about the carbs.

I went from 130 units of insulin down to Zero and 4 Metformin tabs in one week. Everything my specialist has told me has come true. I have lost 15 KG without high fats and portion control and my carbs tolerance has risen.

I told my brother about it and he got similar results.we did it at the same time.

The hit and miss approach has to get very lucky to be be optimal.

I am lucky even if I have to pay for it, I have a structured and medically supervised program set up by professionals backed up by cutting edge research.

Questions you could ask yourself are
a) Have you taken all major carbs out of your diet = anything grain related including bread rice cereal pasta,.high starch like potato and all types of sugar and dried fruit and limit fruit especially no grapes.
b) have you introduced some carbs to find what your carb limit is.

If you have not done a and b above then then you are just piddling around.

Sorry if that is a bit harsh but some things cannot be said "softly softly".

 

[jay hay-char]

Well, that was (mostly) a bit of an anti-climax.

The DN repeated what my GP had already told me about my recent blood test, and explained what an HbA1c reading was (no sh!t, Sherlock....). She was about to put me on a diabetic education course when I gently broke the news that my GP had already arranged it. She kindly worked out my BMI, (which I already knew) and gave me a booklet about diabetes. On the more positive side, she has put an eye examination in place and asked me to come back in a fortnight's time, when (a) the podiatrist will be in Town and (b) she can give me feedback on my wee sample to confirm - I hope - the "good" rating that my blood test flagged up for kidney function.

Then she started asking me about diet. I'm not going to get into the low carb/not low carb debate because I'm not convinced that either side has yet won the argument, but once I'd described the kinds of thing I'm eating, she told me that she had a concern that I wasn't getting enough carbohydrate and that I should discuss this further with the dietician when I do the education course, and in the mean time consider eating more. All said in a rather schoolmarmish stylee. I have only been following the suggestions made by my GP when he originally confirmed the diagnosis, so I was a bit miffed about this, but as I am sitting on the fence about it myself, I'm going to hold my peace for now. On the plus side, she acknowledged that, generally, I am being sensible about avoiding sugars and refined carbs, so it wasn't all negative.

Biggest bummer of the day is that my blood pressure was up quite a bit. I've absolutely no idea what is causing this - I don't think it's "white coat syndrome" - but I've been referred back to the quack, which will, I'm sure, result in him prescribing medication of some kind. My friends (yes, I have a few ) will tell you that one of my favourite rants concerns the fact that once you get into the clutches of the medical profession, you are on a Pharmaceutical Industry roller-coaster, with each test result producing the need for more meds to treat an ever wider circle of ailments, or the side effects of one of the tablets you are already taking. Notwithstanding all this, I'm still here, I suppose, and must grudgingly accept that this is probably because, on several occasions in my life, a drug and/or vaccination has prevented me shuffling off this mortal coil. That doesn't mean I have to like it, however.

More anon........