Total Newbie Not just to diet but to diabetes

[CherryAA]

I'll apologise in advance for long and rambling post. I was diagnosed barely two weeks past and that was only after going to new docs regarding wanting new meds for migraines. She wanted bloods done and I got a rather urgent sounding phone call the very next evening asking me to go to surgery the next day as some results were in and it showed I was diabetic. On seeing the doc she put me on metaformin, and also statins as cholestoral is high too and gave me the speech bout eating wholemeal bread, baked potatoes etc and as I'm overweight saying to lose weight. Well, in the past whenever I've lost weight I've only ever been able to do that by cutting carbs so I was in despair and then while chatting to a friend online who had gestational diabetes and is in US she said no, carbs are bad and went on to try and explain about glucose etc and tell me I had to test etc. I've signed up for the Type 2 Testing thingie and now waiting on that to arrive. I asked at docs to see the nurse - they didn't offer me this - and when I saw her well, what can I say, she had me in and out in less than five mins, giving me a couple of leaflets and telling me that she'd check my sugars - wait for it - twice a year, in Dec and June! How am I supposed to know if I'm doing things right and keeping things under control? To say I'm anxious about all of this is putting it mildly especially when I'm getting diff information, although to be honest, the info here seems to be the only one making any kind of sense! I have other health issues, including Fibro, joint issues etc, so I can't exactly go run a marathon and exercise is limited to days when I can walk the dogs, or on good days I use the exercise bike, but the main thing is trying to get to grips with understanding diabetes, getting it under control, or as much as I can, what's the best diet for me to use to help with weight loss etc? Any advice and help is very greatly appreciated and again, sorry for the long post.

Based on my experience I would say buy a ketone meter as well as the blood glucose meter - ON Call do a dual one. for ketones and glucose. I don't use the glucose part because the code free is much cheaper. You then should try a very low calorie and low carb diet for as long as it takes to start getting some readings on the ketone meter. Once you do you should find a couple of things happen- firstly your blood sugars should be lower and easier to see what is happening after meals and also you will stop feeling very hungry . It might take a while depending on where you are starting from - but probably a couple of weeks to a month.

The level you are aiming for is 0.5 + and above about 0.8 you should find that having food (though still limit carbs) doesn't spike your blood glucose meter much. The optimal range for dieting is up to 3.

If you then make sure that you do not get out of ketosis (so if the level starts to go down a lot you need to eat less - until it rises again) you should find you lose weight, you don't feel hungry and your blood sugars improve. You only need to test for ketones once per day when you get up.

good luck

 

[Resurgam]

You might try Atkins. I am fairly certain that it stopped me developing full blown diabetes for decades, I should never have stopped it to try to lower cholesterol by eating carbs.
A meter to test BG is a good idea - I decided to see just what effect eating carbs would have and my BG readings are over ten - in other words back to what they were 5 days ago. That was not just after the meal last night but today as well. I had seen 7.2 on the screen, at the lowest, so I am now really certain that I have to stay low carb above anything else if I am to stay healthy.
I have not been restricting calories at all, just the carbs. Nothing I usually eat is over 10 percent carb - just one baked potato and some peas was enough to elevate BG levels.

 

[AvaK]

Based on my experience I would say buy a ketone meter as well as the blood glucose meter - ON Call do a dual one. for ketones and glucose. I don't use the glucose part because the code free is much cheaper. You then should try a very low calorie and low carb diet for as long as it takes to start getting some readings on the ketone meter. Once you do you should find a couple of things happen- firstly your blood sugars should be lower and easier to see what is happening after meals and also you will stop feeling very hungry . It might take a while depending on where you are starting from - but probably a couple of weeks to a month.

The level you are aiming for is 0.5 + and above about 0.8 you should find that having food (though still limit carbs) doesn't spike your blood glucose meter much. The optimal range for dieting is up to 3.

If you then make sure that you do not get out of ketosis (so if the level starts to go down a lot you need to eat less - until it rises again) you should find you lose weight, you don't feel hungry and your blood sugars improve. You only need to test for ketones once per day when you get up.

good luck

Thank you will look into that! I started low carb diet and on day three so new to it all and just learning

 

[AvaK]

You might try Atkins. I am fairly certain that it stopped me developing full blown diabetes for decades, I should never have stopped it to try to lower cholesterol by eating carbs.
A meter to test BG is a good idea - I decided to see just what effect eating carbs would have and my BG readings are over ten - in other words back to what they were 5 days ago. That was not just after the meal last night but today as well. I had seen 7.2 on the screen, at the lowest, so I am now really certain that I have to stay low carb above anything else if I am to stay healthy.
I have not been restricting calories at all, just the carbs. Nothing I usually eat is over 10 percent carb - just one baked potato and some peas was enough to elevate BG levels.

gosh just goes to show what doc and nurse told me was def not right, and def shouldn't be eating lots of wholemeal bread and baked potatoes! thank you