Type 2 To Snack Or Not To Snack

I would advise to stop the bread as bread can raise your blood sugar levels

@LyndaER
I'm only 3 months ahead of you, and I have (I'd like to think) 'sorted myself out' in that time. ALL of my statistics are now considered 'normal'. I am more 'carbohydrate conscious' than I was before, but I do still have and do enjoy Sandwiches sometimes - although now (following the advice) use only whole meal bread.
This site is dedicated to Low Carbohyrate High Fat diet where exponents drastically minimise or even eradicate (for some) the use of all 'dreaded Carbs' - including bread.
If you want to continue having the Sandwiches from time time and it works for - you do that - there are far worse things you could continue doing from time time! ...... Just be mindful of the advice and moderation.
Good luck with your journey.

LyndaER said:

Thanks Ally1, however I was told that wholewheat bread was ok. Is that wrong?

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The best way to find out is to test your reaction to bread with a blood glucose meter. If your meals and healthy and substantial, you may find you do not need to eat sandwiches for snacks.

@daisy1 has information for new members. Welcome to the forum.

welcome I would advise to lower your carb with snacks as having a sandwich is a lot of carb. What you could do to cut back the carb and still have a similar type of snack is get those rice cake thins which have about 5g of carb approx per cake (I'm talking the thin ones, not thick)... then you can put your ham or whatever on that. If you have 2 then it's about 10g of carb. I use a brand here that has quinoa which is high in protein... so I will have some very light cream cheese with a bit of turkey or something as a snack on it. That's just a suggestion.... there's plenty of other snacks you could try and that is just my idea of getting something simlar to what you're used to... just less carbs.

If you enjoy a ham sandwich why not have this for lunch rather than as an extra snack? If you really need a snack, try a bit of cheese or a few nuts.

Bread (wholemeal or whatever) is not a good choice for most of us not on medication. I suggest you buy a glucose meter if you don't have one, and use it to test your levels before and a couple of hours after first bite to see what that food has done to your blood sugar levels. This way you will know for sure whether your ham sandwiches are a wise choice.

All carbs convert to glucose once inside the system, and this includes wholemeal versions. Whilst wholemeal is better for us generally, it will still raise your levels.

ps. your 2 slices of bread for your sandwich is probably about 35g of carb approx (depending on bread type). So you can see you can cut the carb content of your snack by changing your options. I wish you the best.

@LyndaER

Hello Lynda and welcome to the forum Here is the information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. It will give you a lot of advice on low carb dieting and includes a link to the Low Carb Program which should help you. You have, and have already got, good advice from members who have experience in diet. Ask more questions 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 well over 147,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.

I support the idea to get a meter and test it out for yourself.

We all have individual reactions to different foods, so mapping yours out at the beginning may save you a bit of hassle in the long run.

For me, with my body, my blood glucose rises just as high and just as fast with wholemeal as white, whereas I do better with potato, although I stick to very small portions of even that.

Another thing worth bearing in mind is that when we adjust our diet and reduce the amount of carbs here and there, we often find that the food we are eating is more filling and more satisfying - which means that snacks are less appealing, especially when they are as large and filling as a ham sandwich.

My favourite way to have a Ham sandwich since being diagnosed, is a slice of good quality Ham between two ready sliced pieces of Cheese.

I love my sandwich fillings on a big piece of lettuce wrapped up. I have no desire for bread even if I could eat it. The lettuce wrap is so refreshing.

4 weeks in from being diagnosed type 2. I bought a bg monitor following advice from here and its been the best thing. I now know I cannot eat any bread of any description! And no porridge either which I'm thought I might be ok with and my diabetic nurse told me to eat! I have already learnt that a massive headache is my blood to high or to low!. Get a meter. X

If I eat bread I know my sugar levels will rocket so snacks for me these days are a boiled egg or something like peanut butter or cream cheese on celery and I`m two stone lighter than at the beginning of the year.

LyndaER said:

Having recently been told that I am type 2, my GP has told me to take 2 months to sort it out by diet alone. I am used to snacking on ham sandwiches from time to time and would like to know if I can still do this.

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I too love sandwiches and thought I would never be able to eat one again after being diagnosed type 2 last December. Thankfully I found Lidl high protein rolls (10 carbs per roll) and they work for me. I don't often have ham but have smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, avocado mashed with a little mayo and some paprika or boiled egg. I have one most days for lunch and my blood glucose levels hardly rise at all. I also find I don't need anything else to eat until dinner.
As others will tell you though, we are all individuals and just because this works for me doesn't mean it will for you. Use your meter to test. Good luck.

LyndaER said:

Having recently been told that I am type 2, my GP has told me to take 2 months to sort it out by diet alone. I am used to snacking on ham sandwiches from time to time and would like to know if I can still do this.

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If it's any help to you I was found to have T2 back in September last year. I was given three months to work in my duet and exercise. I found an amazing book on Amazon by Dr David Cavan. Reverse your Diabetes. The step by step plan to take control of T2 diabetes. It is absolutely inspirational. I bought myself a blood sugar meter (I hadn't been given one) and did everything Dr Cavan recommended.
I recorded my blood sugar before and two hours after every meal and wrote down everything I ate. I have spreadsheets listing everything I have eaten going back to when I started. By doing that I was able to pinpoint the things that spiked my blood sugar - for me it was basically anything involving grain - good grains or bad grains were both the same for me - bread, the healthy oat bran muffins I used to make for my breakfast, cakes, biscuits, jacket potatoes, mashed potato and a few other things.
I found that weight just fell off - that seemed strange because I wasn't on a diet as such, I just eliminated anything that increased my blood sugar.
Three months on my bs was lower than it had ever been. I will stick with my eating plan. I never snack between meals. I don't drink Diet Coke etc, I'm careful about what type of fruit I eat now, I eat mainly berries, I have a very small glass of red wine from time to time, I don't really drink but my bs used to be highest in the morning and I read that red wine can help with that, I'm not sure it does though but I have a couple of mouthfuls.
I certainly wouldn't eat ham sandwiches - much ad I would love to. I miss really good quality heavy wholemeal with butter and Bon Maman raspberry conserve and I miss the big fluffy fruit stones I used to eat at my local garden centre - but - I love not being T2 more than that.
Take a look at the DietDoctor.com website for ideas, they do a free online course that is good. I'm afraid I've gone on a bit but I'm quite evangelical about Dr Cavan and his Low Carb, High Fat diet. Very similar to The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet by Dr Michael Moseley.

Sandraconaghan said:

I too love sandwiches and thought I would never be able to eat one again after being diagnosed type 2 last December. Thankfully I found Lidl high protein rolls (10 carbs per roll) and they work for me. I don't often have ham but have smoked salmon, smoked mackerel, avocado mashed with a little mayo and some paprika or boiled egg. I have one most days for lunch and my blood glucose levels hardly rise at all. I also find I don't need anything else to eat until dinner.
As others will tell you though, we are all individuals and just because this works for me doesn't mean it will for you. Use your meter to test. Good luck.

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Whereabouts in Lidl do you find those high protein rolls, are they in the fresh bread section or where and what sort of packaging am I looking for? Are they gluten free? I have looked twice - once half heartedly because I wasn't sure if I was in the right store and once in earnest but I just couldn't see them. I'd really love to give them a try.