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Struggling with type2

M

markGriff

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I’m 60 overweight 21st and Diagnosed 3 yrs ago with type2
My diet mainly consists of carb food mainly sandwich’s for lunch and I have a terrible sweet tooth.
I have never had any advice on what to eat was hoping to see a dietitian when first diagnosed but COVID put a stop to that.
Well had a blood test yesterday and my practice nurse wants to see me this Tuesday blood sugar reading high again she wouldn’t tell me what my level is have to wait till Tuesday. I don’t do myself any favours as I have an unhealthy relationship with food, I pick at food when board.
I have joined a gym and paid a personal trainer for 5 sessions to get me up and running.
I’ll have to see how this works out.
 
Hi @markGriff
Welcome to the forum.
I will tag @Rachox and @JoKalsbeek for the nutritional thingy advice for T2.
I take it from your post, that you are aware of how your diet and carbs have an effect on your T2 and weight.
It is possible to get your blood glucose levels down and your weight, from someone who did it. It wasn't easy, but doable. I was 18stone in 2012, now I'm averaging around 90 kilo, which is around thirteen (ish) stone, but I did make it below 12 stone.
Again, welcome to the forum.
 
Hi mark.

Welcome to the forum.
You have said it all in the first few lines, carbs and sweet stuff.

This sounds like me but what I write below is only appertaining to me and is not health advice for you.

Join the club. I'm the same as you especially Costa toasties and cakes. Why have 1 almond bake when you can have 2, a blueberry muffin, and a couple of Mince pies as well... Oh, with a couple of flat whites at 15g of carb each.

Easy enough to say but the carbs and cakes need to go. I do it easy and slowly, I try to do some exercise and see how it goes. I'm 62 so age is a thing along with a knackered back but I do it slowly and regularly.

I Listen to my nurse, I don't cheat, write down what I eat in a calorie app and drink plenty of water.
I also do it with a dose of good luck.

You will find a lot of info to help you on this forum so grab a coffee, and some bisqueets, sorry forget the bisqueets and read the forum posts.
The people on here are incredibly helpful and knowledgeable.


Hth.
Alan.
 
There is a saying: "You can't out run/cycle/swim a poor diet". What you eat (or don't eat) matters more than how much etxtra exercise you take - diet is more powerful even than most diabetes medicines.
As a Type 2 the main things that you have been told are healthy, tend to be the very things which make your T2 Diabetes worse. All carbohydrates digest into glucose which make your diabetes worse.
So grains (even whole grains) and flours, below ground veg, tropical fruits are problematic.
 
I totally agree with @Rachox about online results. I seem to recall that you can join “My Diabetes My Way” by yourself without the intervention of your nurse. I stand to be corrected.

NHS England — North West » NHS Launches New Online Support For People With Diabetes

NHS England — North West
www.england.nhs.uk

NOTE: There are different websites depending on in which part of the country you live. Mine is NHS Scotland.

I ALWAYS get my results from there long before my Health Centre contacts me to give them to me - I go to the appointment armed with this prior knowledge and prepared.
 
Hi @markGriff ,

You've already gotten the link to the Thingy, just wanted to add.... Carbs are addictive, and activate the same areas in the brain as drugs do. So it's not weird that you turn to them when in need for a dopamine fix, when you're bored.... If you know you're a grazer when bored though, try to switch to things that aren't carby? Cheese cubes, olives, pork scratchings, pecans, walnuts, that sort of thing? Comfort foods don't have to be carb-laden to feel decadent, so that might help, too. It's easy enough to tell someone not to snack or graze, but it's not always because there's a need for actual food.... If it's an emotional/bored itch to scratch, it may be tough not to eat. So eat what you can without being punished with high blood sugars afterwards.

You're ready to do something about your diabetes now, so... Even if it took you three years to get to this point, many never do. So you're already winning.
Good luck!
Jo
 
I wore the Abbott freestyle libre monitor for some time after diagnosis to see how particular foods were affecting me.
I make or buy low carb versions of my old foods so I don't feel deprived, for example I make or buy low carb bread and cakes. Usually replace wheat flour with almond flour in recipes and sugar with Stevia or erithrytol (sp??).
So there's no need to feel deprived eating keto or low carb.
I lost about 3 stones in weight and kept it off and have had blood sugar in non diabetic range since a short time after diagnosis - I take 1000mg Metformin a day but could probably reduce it.
I got an app to log my carbohydrate intake which also helped.
 
My husband looks on the NHS app the day after a test and the results are usually there already! If not the day after. He can compare year to year this way too.
 
I also struggle with this T2 stuff.
I am someone who lives to eat, not eat to live. I adore food in all it's forms and therefore not eating stuff is difficult!
I am 73 now and the thought of not being able to enjoy food as I have in the past is annoying (no, it is much more than that!), although I will admit I prefer the thought of the next 20 years to pass without the odd limb falling off ................, and to that end diet has been adopted. I am 6'2" and down from 17st.7lbs to 15st. (plus/minus 2lbs according to the day). I have been told that I look unwell because of weight loss (you just cannot win can you?). Initially kept diary of food eaten along with testing, but not continued with it at the mo'.
I decided that I would have as balanced a diet as possible, cutting out all additional sugar - tea/coffee - as well as eating little fruit, but not cut out carbs entirely. Have tried to consume no more than 50 carbs per day. Next bloods in 5-6 weeks time (6 months since last) which will dictate where I go from there (I was pre diabetic at last bloods, down from a 60 count).
This could get very .......................................
 
I found 50gm max a day a very effective way to eat - my HbA1c dropped down to 41 from 91 eating that way for six months, but I really prefer a low carb diet - steak with mushrooms and a few peas, chicken with stirfry, lots of eggs, cheese and full fat yoghurt desserts of sugar free jelly berries and cream - I can mix up things to bake which are low carb - I even did a Christmas cake mixture which was lower in carbs than the usual one last year, and got an extra cake out of the mix as a result - and it really was a bit better than the traditional ones, though it got a bit burnt as it cooked faster.
Hopefully you'll see a significant drop in your test results.
I've been in remission for some time now and I could eat more carbs and still keep my blood tests good - but I would put on weight so easily and I am determined not to, so these days I stick to no more than 40gm of carbs a day, as I like the way of eating.
 
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