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[freelance52]

Hi.
I have just joined this community. I was browsing the net, looking for something to keep me going for a while and found you. I am T2, diagnosed 9 years ago, can't take metformin (it makes me really ill), so currently taking pioglitazone and glicamide. My BS is always highest in the mornings (if that is in single figures things are going well!) but generally my control is nil. If I leave my BS alone, stop all medication and eat what I like, my wieght comes down (currently around 18st); if I concentrate on reducing my BS, try to eat more carefully and take medication, my weight goes up!! I am so depressed it is hard to find any reason for carrying on! Then I found this site! The info about low carbs sounds really good. I will give it a try. I have got the Collins book people here talk about, along with LOADS of other diet books (have been dieting and trying to control my weight for 42 YEARS!!!) so will do some reading up and try to get organised to start in earnest over the next couple of days. This could be my salvation. Thanks.

 

[sugarless sue]

Looking at your post, both the drugs you mention can make you put on weight so that may be a reason why you lose weight if you do not take them. However it is not advisable to stop and start your medication as it is there to try and control your blood sugar.

Low carb may well help you lose weight, it will also help you control your blood sugars.
I will post the advice we give to new diabetics below, some of it may help.

It is best to approach a low carb diet slowly. Change one meal at time so that you get used to the lower carb intake. If you have the Collins carb book then calculate what you normally would eat in carbs in a day. Aim to reduce this amount, bit by bit, until you are below 100gm of carb a day or lower if you can.

Pick foods you like and are comfortable eating. This is not a diet, this is a change of lifestyle and you need to be able to stick to it for as long as it takes to help you lose weight and get control of your blood sugar. Good Luck.

Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try!!
If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l. ( Type 2)

2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l (Type 1)

If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.

Sue/Ken.