Type 2 Completly confused, low card?, plant based?, limit fruit?, eat lots if fruit?

sunilg said:

Hi I was diagnosed a few weeks a go with Type 2, I am health weight and thought I was eating a reasonably health diet ( looking back maybe too many treats). I am trying to decide the best way to futher improve my diet but there seems to be so many different and complelly opposite views, Low Card ?, Plant based ? Eat fruit ? Do not eat Fruit? Eating the right type of cards?

The articles and explainations on the plant based approach seems to be more sensible and fits better with my natual diet but would like to know what others think. In particular I would be interested in peoples view on eating fruit as I love eating fruit.

Thanks
Sunil

Click to expand...

Hi,

What medication are you prescribed for your diabetes..?

There seems to be posts from exogenous insulin users like myself on this topic. I do dabble with vegetarian (even low carb.) but can bolus for what is consumed as a T1. Celeriac steaks come to mind. (For me.a big fave.) However. I have also had celeriac fries with a peppered classic steak & mushrooms.

Fruit; I know what certain fruits do to me. I’m not metabolically challenged. But I also know I will need to time my injection of insulin & dose accordingly to compliment the digestion of such food stuffs.?

What does your meter say.. let it be your guide… or at least a gauge on progression.

Going back to the OP, and the topic of fruit. As @HSSS has already referred to there is a new thread that discusses fruit consumption and its effect on the liver
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/the-effects-of-fruit-study.189931/#post-2526741
I will add here that the thread now includes a link to the actual report data itself and it makes interesting reading. The methodology used does seem to be valid and the results do make sense so I recommend it. It seems that one can have too much of a good thing. Bear in mind that many of us T2D here are probably suffering some degree of NAFLD, the report is still relevant even though ithe study was not diabetes specific.

I understand that both HCLF and LCHF can help towards T2 management. I have tried both.

As I love fruit and veggies I tried HCLF first. It did help reduce my BGs and I also lost weight. I think it worked mainly because I did a very low calorie version of HCLF. In my opinion if you follow HCLF it's best to also do plant based since animal produce tends to be highish in fat. HCHF or even HCModerateFat wouldn't work well for T2s.
The reason I stopped HCLF was that I went too low in fats (no fat at all some days) and I became ill and had bad pains in my bones and joints. That's the problem that I see with HCLF - just how much fat does an individual actually need, and how much is too much ( which would stop the regime giving the desired results)?

I lasted 7 weeks on HCLF. I ate whatever I wanted for a few weeks (though not heavily processed foods) and then went to the other extreme and tried LCHF which I found to be so much easier and more effective too. My BGs went lower than they had in my previous experiment and I lost a little more weight too. The great plus for me with LCHF was that you can't go too low with carbs as unlike fat, they aren't absolutely necessary for good health. Also there was no need to count calories and therefore no willpower involved as I never needed to be hungry on LCHF.

Welcome to the forum @sunlig, I had written something the other day but then it disappeared as there was a glitch in the system, so let me try again.

You are probably even more confused then when put in your question,
so let me try to shed some light.

First, don't panic. The answer to your question depends what your current HbA1c level is.
If it just above 48, (the threshold for being diagnosed with Diabetes T2)
you might only need small adjustments to your diet.
It will take more, if it is above 100 like when I was diagnosed
(and it took me five years, but that this not for here).

Most importantly, get a blood sugar (BS) metre.
While the HbA1c value measures average sugar levels over 3 months,
BS monitoring allows you to figure out what works for you.
Best to measure in the morning, before and 2 hours after meals
Unfortunately NHS usually does not provide meters,
people can link you to affordable strips and meters.
Don't fret over one measurement a bit high, table them
and you will be able to see a trend, hopefully going down.
If so your next HbA1c test will almost certainly be lower.

Diabetes T2 is often called a dietary disease. There is more to it,
of two people eating the same and having the same weight, ... only one might develop T2,
That said many people have brought their blood sugar levels down
with a change in diet, some even in remission.

Find out how your body treats food, there are many books,
one I like is the Diabetes Code by Jason Fung,
here is my summary https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/low-carb-high-fat.172165/page-4#post-2224940
but best to read up yourself.

While people here argue fervently about low carb versus plant based diets
they would probably agree on more than they would admit.
Sugary drinks like coke, ... are bad really bad for us.
They make us addicted. When I got diagnosed I went cold turkey on sugar drinks.
What people know less is that this also applies to fruit juice,
A glass of orange juice can contain up to seven oranges.
You wouldn't eat seven oranges in one meal, so this went as well.

You will need to convince yourself what is required for you
to control your diabetes, we are all different,
what works for me (intermittent fasting)
might not for you.

I hope this is useful. Feel free to ask further questions.
most people on this forum are very friendly

I wish you all the best on your journey

I am a low carb (healthier fat) user of over 7 years now. I dropped my HbA1c from 106 to mid 40's since I started the diet, and I have dropped from 17 stone to 10 stone and my girth from 38" to 32". I have stopped most of my medications My BMI remains at 21 and is pretty constant, I do not stress myself over what to eat or how much but obviously I am a careful reader of nutrition labels. I am an omnivore which I am happy with. I have tried vegan and vegetarian before , but without the same success. My experiment with a macrobiotic diet put me in hospital as I obviously got it wrong and malnourished myself in my zeal. But I am still diabetic after over 30+ years.

Our apologies for taking this thread from view for a while.
The thread had become unreadable and totally confusing because of the many replies to posts that were deleted by the author.
Adjusting the thread to make it make sense again was not a chore anyone in the mod team wanted to take up in the middle of the night so we took it from view to prevent it escalating further.

Apart from the thread having become unreadable due to deleted posts, this thread had been going round in circles with no new information useful to the thread starter or the other new member who posted for help.
We are particularly unhappy that a first post to the forums has been swamped by this bickering. Please think whether you are saying anything relevant to new diabetics and forumites before posting, and take it to PM if it's not.
As a moderator team, we much prefer not to moderate, but sometimes we see no other choice.

Some members may notice that a large number of posts have been deleted from the thread. While many were interesting, and even on topic, the thread as a whole was in major breach of rule A7 and some posts were deleted as collateral damage from the deletion of other posts. While the low carb versus high carb debate often (always?) results in lively debate, a thread on the Newly Diagnosed forum by a new member of the forum is not the place for this level of argument.

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/community-ethos-forum-rules.50278/

@sunilg and @Nicksellick , please don't let the debate in this thread put you off the forums, in case you've read it before it was moderated.
Like others said, the members on this forum are usually a very friendly and thoughtful bunch, but people can get carried away a bit sometimes.
I hope you'll both find a way to deal with your diabetes that works well and suits your preferences!