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Question on behalf of my wife.

L

leepey

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hey everyone.

My wife contracted type 2 diabetes after the birth of our son 4 years ago. She needed insulin injections while pregnant and the doctors seemed to believe she would be ok after his birth.

This wasn't the case unfortunately and she has struggled to come to terms with it ever since.

She cannot lose the baby weight which I know gets her down. And she's tried loads of diets which haven't worked.

But I have two questions, that I know she won't ask due to being embarrassed about it.

She has a small bruise a bit like a blood pinch on the bottom of her foot, just underneath the toes on the balls of the feet. It's not massive maybe a cm long. She always suffers from hot feet and gets quite a bit of aching pain in the foot with this bruise.

I regularly cleans, cream and massage her feet so it me who's noticed this bruise.

So any ideas on what it could be. Should we get it checked? Keep an eye on it?

Second question is about diet. She's tried slimming world and weight watchers. Neither have worked and there don't seem to be any help available for diabetics trying lose weight.

Any info would be great.

Sorry for the big vague post.

Thanks again

Lee
 
Welcome to the forums Leepey, I am tagging @daisy1 who will be along with lots of info for our new members. Lots of us here are finding success with the Low Carb High Fat way of eating .. I have lost 5st in 18 months eating the LCHF way.
Its wise to get her foot looked at by her diabetic team.
Edit to add,

What are your wife bs like, as the LCHF way of eating will help keep her sugars down
 
Last edited by a moderator:
please go and have her foot checked -- and @Enclave has made a good suggestion as regards a low carbohydrate high fat diet -- i have seen first hand many people ( type 2 ) come off meds altogether using this diet

all the best !
 
Hi. I agree with what's been said above....cut the carbs....tell your wife to avoid anything which is more than 10mg carbohydrate per 100g (check labels)..and stay away from bread, cereal, spuds and pasta in particular. If she is self-testing with a meter at home, she will soon see the difference to blood sugars..and quite probably to her weight. And..if she can't quite manage it so strictly...fair enough...it's a task...but cut down as much as possible..it all helps.
 
@leepey

Hello and welcome to the forum :) Your wife should definitely get her feet checked as they are a very vulnerable part of the body when you have diabetes. Keeping her levels low is especially important for her. Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you and your wife will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you want 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 over 150,000 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

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

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

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


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 bloodglucose 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.
 
Galja said:
To "leepey",

Encourage your wife to join this forum after she has been seen for her foot injuries

Yo, forum folks,

Diabetic WIFE is not requesting here. Husband may or may not be helpful (since some spouses turn into the diabetic police), and it is especially important to have people get seen for potentially harmful and potentially lifelong physical problems so unless husband is doing the majority of the cooking and is willing to go on the same diet as his wife, I suggest leaving off the diet advice until the person who needs it appears online.
Click to expand...
The original poster request advice
"Second question is about diet. She's tried slimming world and weight watchers. Neither have worked and there don't seem to be any help available for diabetics trying lose weight."
 
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