struggling

Morning Ally.

I do feel for you, but I don't know what else to say. Many of us have given you all the advice we can as regards what to eat, what not to eat, even how to prepare some of the better choices. It is now down to you to follow the advice given to you. We can't do this for you unfortunately. I hope you are drinking water? You have said your portions are too big, so that is somewhere to start. Try serving up your meal on a much smaller plate. It can work as the old saying goes "our eyes are bigger than our bellies". Have you taken on board to make your own stews rather than buying tinned stuff? Bulk out your meals with fresh or frozen veggies and salads. Try omelettes for a change, leave the bread and spuds alone. You aren't doing your BS levels any favours. Go on Ally, you can do it, but it is YOU that has to do it. Take a deep breath and start today.

Dear Ally,

Try not to worry about managing this condition. within weeks. It is a complete shock when diagnosed and there is a lot to learn.
Good idea to drink rather than snack provided you are drinking something suitable and reducing portion sizes will help.
Your eating plan is something that has to be tailored to you and your blood sugars. We can all give you advice but the secret is testing. Now that you have a meter things should get easier for you.
Keep a diary of everything you eat and drink and test results and see if there are patterns emerging that will show you that the carbs included in your meal will have to be cut down or off the menu. Some people here eat 20 grms or lower per day whilst others can handle up to 150.
Try to eat fresh foods that you cook your self. There are plenty of recipes that you can adapt so that the carb content is lower. If you don't want to spend a long time in the kitchen try things that are for one person. If you enjoy them then you can use them again. Difficult for you to make a batch as you do not have a freezer. Slow cookers are not to dear and you could look for one on the internet that you could afford. I bought mine in a supermarket when they were on offer for less than £10. Plenty of recipes for one on the internet. Here is an example,

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/lamb-chops-baked-with-aubergines.html
If you add more veggies to this you would feel fuller. For me personally I could add a couple of new potatoes but others would find their blood sugars go high so you can see it is an individual response to what we eat.

Are you still struggling with your depression? This may not be helping and I wonder if the anti-depressants you are on are raising your blood sugarsI
and making you feel lethargic. Sometimes they lift the depression but make people feel like a zombie with very little motivation.

Keep on battling on Ally, you will eventually get there.

Hi ally, @bluetit1802 and @catherinecherub
Has given good advice. You can do it we believe in you!
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As others have said, it can only be done by you. I do think you need to go back and see your GP as you appear to be struggling emotionally to cope with the diagnosis on top of your other issues. It may be that you need a change of anti-depressant to help lift your mood further and give you the focus to tackle the diabetes head on. It is great that you are testing regularly but you have to make the changes necessary to alter those results otherwise you will just be recording the same dangerously high figures over and over. You really do have to get into the habit of preparing your own low carb meals- I can't say that I eat particularly small portions but what I do eat is all low carb. As Bluetit said, try using a smaller plate- I've taken to serving my meals in a variety of bowls so that they look full which does trick the appetite demon. Cut down on diet coke as that can affect your BS. I buy cheap bottles of sparkling water and add a slice of lime or lemon to them. Put a jug of tap water in fridge and drink that throughout day, or decaff green tea is also nice.
I do feel for you, but at the end of the day there is only so much advice that we can offer. The facts are that you can either go on as now and have rubbish BS with all the risks of complications, or you can make a start at following the advice given and hopefully see reductions in BS and weight.

Lots of good advice on here ally- and lots of support too from the above comments. I'm only 6 weeks now but in that short time have embraced lchf and have never felt like giving up. I know the emotional side is hard too, try and think of something positive in your day - I don't think you go out to work, so maybe that's harder for you boredom wise..... keep coming on here though, because you are not alone!

Believe in yourself Ally, you can do this.

It is a steep learning curve to start with and can seem hard. Try not to worry too much, stress doesn't help the sugar levels and if you are like me will lead you to eat more and then the vicious circle starts.

Treat it as a learning exercise to start with, monitor what you eat and what your readings are afterwards and you will start to see the trends. If you have something like open office on your computer, or a piece of graph paper, chart your meter readings that way it becomes more obvious when they start to go down.

Accept you are in this for the long haul, things are unlikely to change overnight, but they will change eventually. If I remember correctly you did have readings in the 30s, so if your highest is in the 20s that is an improvement, and if it is in the 20s now it can be in the teens in a month or two.

You're going the right way,hang in there it will get better.
We've spent a lifetime doing things as we were so don't worry, lifestyle changes take a bit of time. Step by step.
Look at each achievement as a victory and move on to your next goal.
Don't worry about not seeing instant results, it will come.
Best of luck to you


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OK it seems its just my take on it, I am type 2 I don't have a meter and I don't test, I worked with a lady for years who tested all the time. It becomes an obsession and what good does it do. If your readings are poor then surely you have eaten the wrong thing. If you try hard to keep to your diabetic diet it should be less problematic. You admit your self you are overeating. I hardly touched water before March when I took control, now iced water is my drink of choice. I know its old fashioned but warm water with either lemon or lime juice before a meal. Or a pint of water to give you a full feeling before you eat. I am so sorry you are struggling @ally1 but please don't let it get you down so much.
People do care, it shows by the posts and because we have all been there at one time or another.

For many people LCHF is self-reinforcing - the lower carbs reduce the hunger and cravings (because carbs are addictive) and the higher fats make you feel genuinely fuller on smaller portions, so you are less tempted to snack. You will also feel much better and your head will be clearer, which can't be bad for your depression either.

Good luck Ally - but you do have to make some of your own luck now.

Chin up @ally1. I believe you have it in you to crack this, if you can give yourself time, and make structured changes. When there is so much information being fired at you, it's hard to filter the really critical stuff and to prioritise it to maximise the benefits. T2 makes that even hard because critical steps for you may be different to the critical steps I needed to take.

I've only one thing to add to what I've said elsewhere, and others have said. If you can focus on reducing your portion sizes, or if you need to actually eat more to be satisfied, then fill up with vegetables like brocolli, cauliflower or salad, which hardly add any carbs. Also, when you eat, sit at the table, and concentrate on eating. You will feel full more quickly, if you are not giving it your full attention, with one eye on the TV, or whatever.

It's good you have some appointments coming up. You need to stay on your health team's radar, and if necessary, don't be afraid to go back to your diabetic nurse, with your readings and food diary to see if there's anything further they can offer.

Don't lose sight that you're 2 months into the next 20 or more years of your life. You do need some prompt changes, but you also need to be in some form of control.

hi ally, everyone deals with it in their own way, but i think we all go through the wringer, i had a day early on when i just cried all day i just wanted it to stop, i couldn't think of one thing to eat i felt over whelmed. I still have days when just as i think i have a handle on things, then feel i've got it wrong.
I try to count my lucky stars, things could be so much worse, the up side is i feel so much better and have so much more energy. I understand the portion problems do the same but getting good at changing that now. At least you have a lot of support here, you always get replied to, so thats an upside. take care

Hi Ally1,

Just take the time you need to adjust to all things that is sorting your diabetes to the control that you can achieve.
Stick with the forum as we all care for you, and do things your way.
Taking your BG test to many times is not helping as the confusion just makes things worse for your wee brain.
Best of luck and hope all goes well with your psychiatrist next week.

ally1 said:

i thought i had come to terms with being type2 but i,m not
i was dianosed about 12 weeks ago and my BS readings are all over the place
yesterday afternoon i started testing my blood every hour and they have been ranging from 15.9 to 26.1
i admit my portion sizes are big but have cut back a bit since being diagnosed
from yesterday, to stop me snacking, i,ve been drinking alot more to stop the hunger

Click to expand...

Every hour!!!!!
You'll be taking out a mortgage on strips at that rate Ally.
It's only been a few weeks so not a lot is going to have changed in such a short space of time.
Take a deep breath sit down put your feet up and ... talk to us lunatics on here who at the end of the day have been fighting the same battles your just starting out on.
Have you tried this low carb high fat mlarky yet?
I lost half a stone first week.
I put four pounds back on.
End of two weeks I've lost half a stone.
Energy levels are up though ... apart from having a rather nasty bladder infection just now.
High fat doesn't mean you have to eat loads of fat but it does mean the carbs have to be dropped big time.
Disgusting as it sounds see if you can start the day with a bullet proof coffee ... doesn't half cut the appetite down.

Ally1

If you are struggling with portion size go and buy yourself a smaller plate and ONLY use that plate for your dinner. Dinner plates today are much bigger than they were in the 60s - I know because I've got one that used to be in a set my mum had when I was a child! I now have some smaller ones and use the (I use them for hubby's dinner too, and so far he hasn't said a word) . I think the size of plates has also contributed to people being overweight, (not just diagnosed diabetics) combined with lifestyle changes, eg automatic washing machines etc. people do tend to fill their plates, the larger the plate the more they eat!