I was diagnosed T2 about six weeks ago with a HBA1C of 55. I have had to watch my weight all my life and have yoyo’d between 10 stone - 14 stone (I’m 5 foot 1 so my BMI is high). For the last three years I have stayed stable at 12 stone and actually was happy with that, having upped my exercise and able to eat pretty much what I like. So when the nurse said you should lose weight, I did not want all those feelings of guilt, deprivation, depression which I get on a diet to come back. So I initially thought I won’t take any notice and then take medication if they prescribed it. HOWEVER my father, T2 for 30 years and injecting insulin for the last 10, sat me down and said he regrets not taking it more seriously in the early days and wishes he’d tried to manage it by diet to stay off medication for as long as possible. So I bought myself a glucose monitor. My very first reading, two hours after a bowl of savoury rice which I thought was healthy, was 22 mmol. Bit of a shock. I’ve been monitoring and trying to learn what I can and can’t eat for the last month. I was trying to keep the readings under 10. They were often higher in the morning eg 9.5, then be 6-9 during the day. A birthday custard tart gave me a 12! I paid for the premium version of myNetDiary with a BG tracker which seems to recommend a max of 6.7, so since then I’ve been trying to aim to keep under 7 on a low carb diet. I think I’ve managed to stop the morning spike by eating a slice of ham or chicken as soon as I wake up. The last few mornings my readings have been the same as the night before (though I still drink a lot of water at night). Last night I had some sweet potato and went from 6.3 to 8.4 two hours after but back to 6.4 this morning.
So this is all still very new and I have a lot to learn and experiment to see what I can/can’t eat. Question: am I doing the right things? What blood sugar levels should I be aiming for if I am not on medication and am trying to avoid it. Do people eat a small something just before bed to equalise sugar levels overnight? I haven’t been but wondered. How important is it that I lose weight as well as managing sugar levels? I have more questions, but that will do for now and I’m grateful for any advice. Thank you.
So this is all still very new and I have a lot to learn and experiment to see what I can/can’t eat. Question: am I doing the right things? What blood sugar levels should I be aiming for if I am not on medication and am trying to avoid it. Do people eat a small something just before bed to equalise sugar levels overnight? I haven’t been but wondered. How important is it that I lose weight as well as managing sugar levels? I have more questions, but that will do for now and I’m grateful for any advice. Thank you.