Recent diagnosis lots of info..

Welcome to the club. Unfortunately it's not just sugar that causes blood sugar levels to be elevated. Foods that are primarily carbohydrates do also and will actually raise your blood glucose more than sugar. Cereal is definitely to be avoided. Bacon and eggs will have minimal affect on your blood glucose. Definitely get a meter. You'll never eat cereal again after you see what it does to your blood glucose levels.

Hi and welcome aboard.

Yes, cereals, bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and anything made with or containing flour are the worst culprits in raising blood sugar levels. We also need to be careful with fruit, and some people with milk. A blood glucose meter will teach you what your body (which isn't the same as anyone else's body) can cope with. You may find you have to either seriously reduce the portion sizes of carbs or eliminate some completely. When you buy food you need to read the nutrition label. Look for the total carbs amount, ignore the "of which sugars" bit. Once you cut the carbs you should also find you lose weight as a nice bonus.

The food group that helps stop hunger is fat. With low carb you can increase your fat consumption and this will definitely help. You don't need to go overboard if you don't want to, but ditching any low fat or light products and moving back to the full fat real food will help.

comicbookguy75 said:

Hi all,
14 days ago I was told that I was T2. my HBA was 56. Chatted it through with the nurse to see what my main issues were with regards to my diet and exercise (I class myself as fat fit 6'2" 21stone but can cycle 60-70 miles a day and have done the coast to coast in 2 days Whitby to Blackpool) diet wise I have no added sugar in tea/coffee or cereals, I don't snack that much not too keen on sweets etc, no fizzy drinks fuelled by coffee or water and occasionally Gin. My biggest problem since I was about 14 or 15 has been appetite, I'm now 40 and never or rarely ever feel full straight after eating. Only way I can equate it is when people say they eat a Chinese and shortly afterwards are hungry again, I am like that with most meals no matter what size or content. I see this as my biggest hurdle. We decided that Metformin might help with it's appetite suppressant properties. And it seems to be working, on 500mg in the evening at the moment, although I am feeling hungry after lunch so don't know if I need to move to 2 x 500mg once in a morning and once at night, I'll have a chat to the nurse next week.
What are people eating for breakfast, I work for the worlds largest cereal manufacturer and I would guess most of our products are off limits with T2?
Loving the forum what I have seen of it so far, soo much information it gives me a headache but all useful stuff, so just wanted to say hi all and now need to look into testing strips and machines to see which one is the most cost effective to use!
Cheers,
Karl..

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Hi and welcome to the forum, go onto the forum "What Have You Eaten Today" lots of us put out daily meals on there you will get some good ideas of what to buy and what to eat try and then test 2hrs after meals good luck stay with us.

Bluetit was spot-on about reading the dietary info on food packaging! When you're eating potatoes/chips etc. make a guess at the weight [you'll soon get very good at that!] and add 1/3 to your total for that meal. Aim to have roughly the same total of carbs at each of your three meals and keep up the activities you mentioned. You'll be fine!

Some very good advice so far...as for "when you're eating potatoes..." - go back in time to before you put them on your plate..and don't. If you don't have time machine...just avoid spuds completely...and pasta..and cereal..and bread..and, and...it's that simple (not necessarily easy if you don't have a plan for alternatives, and...you love stodge...). I say simple...I find that now my levels are down, I'm having the odd bowl of bran flakes..even a croissant once in a while (they still cause a spike). The bottom line is that reducing carbs a bit obviously helps, but avoiding so called simple carbs altogether is what will make the real difference. If you can sustain a low carb diet (with things like avocados, certain fish and nuts helping add the right kind of fats and oils), you will have control over your diet and over your sugar level. Not everyone agrees..but..in my view..type 2 for many is effectively a carbohydrate intolerance; if carbs are kept to foods with 10g carbohydrate or less per 100g (see labels) and you avoid veggies which grow below ground...blood sugar levels should be well manageable. It's not cure...coz levels go right back up if/when you revert to a higher carb content, but it will put you firmly in control. Your meter (and the record you should keep of what foods you eat and your readings before and two hours or so after a meal) is absolutely vital..your greatest weapon. Check labels, cut carbs, test, record...experiment...get there. Good luck.

I just say eat to your meter. If your meter tells you that 2 or 3 small new potatoes (or even half a dozen chips) do very little damage, then that's fine. I can manage small portions of spuds quite easily, but anything containing flour is a definite no-no, and that includes the smallest dollop of gravy or normal bread. This is why we need meters. You need to find a diet you can sustain for the rest of your life, not just a few months.

comicbookguy75 said:

Below 10g per 100g of carbs, ouch, if I did that now looking through my cupboards I would need to make a meal out of pepper and baking powder....

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LOL. The 10g per 100g only applies if you intend to eat a lot of it at one go. It doesn't apply if it is something you will only have a spoonful of. Goodness knows how many carbs per 100g there are in HP sauce, but I have a small dollop when I eat a sausage (97% meat one). With or without the HP my bs levels are identical because the carb content will be minimal in my portion size. .

Hi and welcome. I agree with much of what has been said already. Just focus on the daily total of carbs and not the content of any one meal or the % of carbs in that food. Every gm of carb you eat above a small amount will probably be converted by the insulin you do have into body fat. Having proteins and fat instead of carbs will help keep you feeling full and avoid the common 'carb hit'. If you are prepared to run the carbs way down for a while you may be able to get your body into ketosis (fat burning) which helps get the weight off quickly.

Hi @comicbookguy75 and welcome
You asked about cheapest test strips. Many here use the SDcodefree as they have the cheapest strips.
Try here for the Codefree meter
http://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/blood-glucose-monitor/

and here for the extra strips
http://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/sd-codefree-test-strips-to-be-used-only-with-the-sd-monitor/

Pharmacies don't sell them. There are discount codes if you buy in bulk
5 packs 264086
10 packs 975833

I'll also tag @daisy1 who will post an information pack for newcomers.

comicbookguy75 said:

Below 10g per 100g of carbs, ouch, if I did that now looking through my cupboards I would need to make a meal out of pepper and baking powder....

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Ha! well...maybe time for a fresh look at shopping. It is a bit extreme, and I'm not saying I don't buy anything above that but it lets you know what a "low carb" food is.

@comicbookguy75

Hello Karl and welcome to the forum As mentioned above, here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful, especially with your diet choices. Basically you need to restrict the carbs you eat. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

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.

comicbookguy75 said:

Thank you so much to all of you for the info. There is a hell of a lot to take in. I now have the wife saying can you eat this? can you eat that? should we buy this? and she is getting frustrated as I don't know the answers.
I think I'll read through all of the info you fine people have given me here. get myself a testing machine and some strips, and see how good or bad I am doing at the moment, and then start making more changes. Going to lay off alcohol for the next month or so, I don't have much but want to see if it affects my weight in anyway shape or form. I'm back cycling, getting my miles back up again, and just yesterday moved up to 1000mg Metformin (under nurse supervision), getting a bit of nausea but not too much. Thanks again all.

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check out http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb its a great intro to low carb eating.