• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Type 2 Diabetic - Advice Please.

XxTinkerxx said:
I must be one of the few people in the UK who can't abide avocado !
Click to expand...

I'm another! Disgusting things.

As for tomatoes, I eat them daily. Either cherry toms (6 or 7) with a protein based salad and real mayo (Hellmans), and a normal tomato grilled with steak or bacon and eggs etc. They don't cause me any blood sugar problems - this is why testing is so important.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Have you checked the carb content? You may be better with a real mayo. Again, check the carb content. Hellmans is very low carb.
Click to expand...

If you like chicken Caesar salad, Waitrose fresh Caesar dressing - NOT the lite version (with the bags of lettuce) is very low carb and absolutely delicious.
 
What's this about tomatoes? I checked a couple of sources and they all say less then 3 grams carbs per 100 grams. What's more, I never noticed a spike after eating them without insulin, and I use the Libre. I wouldn't write off tomatoes right away.
I do agree with checking the carbs in your 'light' mayonnaise.
 
Last edited:
slinkimalinki said:
Hate to tell you but tomatoes and avocado are fruits, and both fairly high carb. A lot of people, me included, get a high BG spike from them both.

Also with your salads, what exactly are you putting into them, what dressing etc.
Click to expand...
A whole avocado is typically about 3 grams of carbs so combined with its high fat content is an ideal food for LCHF.
 

Yes, even dietdoctor says 3g carbs per 100g. This is less than a lot of vegetables, and if eaten with a virtual carb free meal such as a salad, or protein, or fry up, or similar, it is barely significant. And they are very good for us.
I am talking tomatoes, not avocados - which to me are poison.
 
Hi,
Being diagnosed with diabetes is a shock for any. We go through variety of feelings: fright, worry, anger, confusion, etc., etc... All this is normal and eventually once you accept it, at least psychologically you feel better.
Looking at your glucose values I would say that they are high but not disastrously high. Don't panic over them. Remember, our bodies are not exactly machines with fixed values.
Now about your diabetes. I'd it is T2, there are steps of management and treatment. Firstly, you are encouraged to eat less sugars and carbohydrates. You'd be surprised how many things have them. However, our bodies need some for energy, so I think excluding all may not be advisable. You will find in the forum a lot of talk about low carb diet, keto diet, etc. These diets are based on excluding the carbohydrates from the diet and in particular the so called Keto diet which essentially works by removing all carbs from diet and forcing the body to break down the formed fats for energy. This is a process which the body uses to survive in some situations like starving. One of the end products of this process is ketone, a substance that is not very good for the body. You may want to discuss it with your doctor. This is my opinion, and the opinion of most dieticians, diabetes specialist nurses and diabetic specialists. This is not what a lot of people think and you'll see many comments supporting it. As I said, discuss it with your gp.
Diet doesn't work on its own. It must be accompanied by exercise. Here may I suggest that you take up some form of exercise if you haven't done it already. It doesn't have to be strenuous. Brisk walk will most likely do.
The next step in the treatment process is medication. There are several different types of meds. Some make your body less resistant to insulin (the cause of raised BS). Others are lowering the BS itself. These work together with diet and exercise.
If it still doesn't work, the next step is insulin injections.
Now something personal, I have gone through all these and now am using insulin. For myself I wish I did it long ago, for all the good diets and meds did me. I was really afraid especially from the injections. Pleasantly surprised to find that they are practically painless.
Medics view diabetes T2 as a progressive illness. In some cases with weight loss, exercise, meds and diet some reversal may be seen, but in no way it is sustainable. My doctor told me after diagnosis when I asked about the prognosis that most people end up on insulin. It is worth noting that this is very individual. I have familial history of diabetes, so I'm one of these.
I was tested for T1 after for a long time my BS did not respond to treatment. At the time I was taking 3 meds at max doses. Well, it was T2, as the doctor thought. I think that most doctors are quite good at judging what type it is and when to test for other types. You can always discuss it with yours. If you are interested there is a wealth of information on the Diabetes.co.uk site.
Back to the sugars and carbohydrates. Almost any vegetable and fruit contains some carbohydrates. You can look them up if you Google them. For example, search for "carrot carbs". That way you can learn about the food you eat. In general, carbohydrates are in three forms: sugars, starches and soluble fibers.
Not only the quantity of carbs you eat matters, but the quality. You would've heard about glycerin index or GI. It is a number showing how quickly the carbs are digested and absorbed into the blood stream. For example, sugar is absorbed very quickly, causing a spike of the BS. The slowest is the soluble fiber. What it means is that it provides slow release over longer time and therefore more stable BS. Again, there is lots of information and you can Google it.
Meat and fats are carb negative.
You should try and eat from all food groups as each has components that the body needs: vitamins, minerals, aminoacids, natural hormones, etc. If you are on very restrictive diet you may suffer side effects due to lack of these. Maybe ask your doctor to refer you to dietician. They have better understanding about nutrition and the needs of the body.
All of the above is to try and give you an overall picture and make it less frightening. It is not a sentence. Just remember, we are not machines. Our bodies need some time to adjust to the changes we make. I would strongly advise you to check your BS once a week unless your doctor advised you otherwise. Certainly 6 times daily every day is too much. It becomes a focus, you become stressed and that causes the BS to rise further. Many things affect it -from bad diet to stress, to illness. This is normal, so everybody will be telling you not to stress and worry.
Don't expect instant results. For example I did not eat regularly before diagnosis. After I forced myself to have 3 meals a day. What happened? I was constantly hungry for about 6 months or thereabouts. When I started on Insulin, the same thing happened.
I'm sure that there are many more things that you'll wonder about, but hey, it takes time to learn. And we will be learning all the time. Aim to live a normal life and don't let the diabetes control you. You can have good quality of life if you are the one controlling it.

Wishing you plain sailing after getting out of the reefs.
 
would that 'light' mayonnaise be low fat? They are often made with carbs as a stabilizer, so far better to go for a full fat one or make your own.
 
Ah - ketones are absolutely fine - Sani Thomas is getting ketones and ketoacidosis muddled up. Also - carbs are not requires for energy, you can actually burn ketones, there are no essential carbs.
As long as you are controlling carbs and are not very sedentary you should be OK - an increase in exercise was not required to return me to normal blood sugars. You might find that your activity level increases as you feel better, but that is most likely a result, not the cause.
 
I do NOT mean ketoacidosis!!! I mean KETONES!
I don't know where you get your information but it is very wrong.
Ketones are byproduct when fat is metabolised. A byproduct which the body tries to excrete and that is why you ketones in your urine and after some time through your lungs. That is when it can be smelled.

It is the fat that in extremis is used for energy. Not the ketone.

Your free interpretation of how the process you are using worries me. What else you are interpreting so freely.

And yes, some form of exercise is required if one wants to achieve best effect of the combination of diet and/or medication.

Good luck

P.s. I have specifically studied pathophysiology in uni, and have 30 years of nursing behind me.
 
Most people go into ketosis during some part of each day - it is a perfectly normal state and has nothing to do with starvation or anything extreme.
Terms such as Keto diet usually mean that it is a low carb way of eating intended to keep the body in ketosis for longer, and so normalizing the metabolism and with the additional benefit of reducing the amount of body fat. Once the process starts it tends to continue as long as you don't overdo the carbs, and the excess is excreted - also a perfectly natural and normal process.
When starting out it is advisable to check regularly to see how you are doing with each meal, and you should see results quite quickly - if you are as lucky as I seem to be, next day - but I only ate a chop for dinner the day I was diagnosed and had another for the single meal I had the next day, then gradually eased back to two meals with salad or veges - but by the end of the week the Metformin had kicked in so I got into a bit of a state after that.
 
I eat a huge amount of tomatoes and don't spike, many types of fruit don't spike me but Sainsburys fish in bread crumb dressing send my blood glucose through the roof. Only way to find out what works and what dosen't for you is testing after meals. To might find it better to change your meter to one that uses cheaper strips, the SD Code Free is a plain little meter but is low cost to buy and run.
 
Tomatoes are not high carb they are 95% water 1.2% fibre and 3.8% carbohydrate the bad news is the 3.8% carbohydrate is high in sugars. Personally I find they don't spike me but every diabetic reacts differently to different foods.
 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply with such brilliant advice and support
 
In diabetes, exercise is one of the most important pillars of successful therapy. If only you knew which sport is the best for diabetes. Of course it's good to move at all. But which sport also leads to success in diabetes? Which sport helps to prevent diabetes? We present four sports that have proven to be particularly helpful and useful in diabetes.

The best sports in diabetes
When choosing the best sport in diabetes , first of all, of course, the personal constitution, the condition, the sportiness and your own preference. Because those who can not stand the cycling will certainly not have much success. And if you do not like devices, you will not be happy in the gym .
It is therefore more important than any scientific knowledge in the world that the chosen sport is really fun for you. This is the only way to stay on the ball and only then will the movement have a healing effect.
It is reassuring that the effect of exercise on the blood sugar level is measurable after just a few days and that just a few minutes of exercise per day are sufficient to positively influence the blood sugar level - provided that the training is strenuous enough, such as the HIT training:
1. HIT training
The so-called HIT training (High Intensity Training) is an intense interval training that seems to be perfect in diabetes, have as Swedish and Scottish researchers found.
They had their subjects do four to six sprints of 30 seconds each on an exercise bike - with four-minute recovery periods in between. Overall, such a training session lasted 17 to 25 minutes and was completed several times a week.
After this workout, 75g of sugar reduced insulin and sugar levels by up to 37%. The researchers believe that such a regular, short intensive training improves the glucose metabolism and increases the sensitivity of the cells to insulin.
If you prefer to lift weights, then you can also train with strength training your blood sugar levels.
2. Strength training
For a long time, moderate exercise training was the best way to prevent or reduce high blood sugar and blood pressure levels. New studies, however, show that strength training is a highly recommended sport in diabetes .
Researchers at the University of Michigan found that white muscle fibers, also called fast-twitch muscle fibers, are able to regulate blood sugar.
These muscle fibers are addressed primarily by strength training. Reason for the positive effect of weight training and Co. on blood sugar could be that fast-twitch muscle fibers consume glycogen very much and quickly, the researchers said.
3. Cycling
Cycling is also an ideal sport to reduce the risk of diabetes. It does not matter whether you cycle in your free time or cycle daily to work and back home. Of course, this matter has long been researched scientifically.
Dr. Martin Rasmussen from the University of Southern Denmark examined data from more than 24,000 men and nearly 28,000 women from Denmark. The subjects were between 50 and 65 years old.
It turned out that those who cycled regularly suffered less often from diabetes. Yes, the more time the subjects spent on their bikes weekly, the more their diabetes risk decreased.
Even those participants who had started cycling at the beginning of their studies - i.e. at an advanced age - had a diabetes risk of 20 percent lower after 5 years than non-cyclists. That means it's never too late to start doing sports. You will always be able to profit from it.
Other possible influencing factors were of course taken into account in the evaluation, such as alcohol and tobacco , diets, other sports, etc.
4. going for a walk
It may be reassuring to know that even a twenty-minute walk after meals helps reduce blood sugar levels. If the walk takes place before the meal, then it does not help with regard to the blood sugar increase after the meal.
It is ideal if the walk takes place at intervals, so you alternate a fast, intense gait with a slow, 3 minutes fast, then 3 minutes slow, 3 minutes fast, and so on.
In 2013, Danish researchers in Diabetes Care wrote on this subject that blood glucose levels improved markedly after daily interval walking for four months (1 hour daily), while normal walking did not produce such good results. In the control group, which did not walk at all, the diabetes had worsened.
Sports in diabetes is not everything
Of course, sports are very good at diabetes, but not everything. In addition, pay attention to the right diet, to the necessary vital substances and not least to your intestinal health. Because now we know that the composition of the intestinal flora is an important risk factor for diabetes.
 


Yes you’re right, the human body is designed to store excess energy and never use it

With respect, what a load of cobblers. And from another apparent healthcare professional come endocrinologist. Metabolically flexible humans are burning ketones every single night while they sleep. Using your rationale it’s a miracle they ever wake up. I have to wonder sometimes if people get paid by industry to spread this FUD across the internet wherever they see a risk to profits. Your rantings on ketones and ketosis are complete balderdash. Next time do some research before attempting to out-science people who are better informed than yourself
 

She is half correct, in that fatty acids can directly be metabolised for energy, and often are, preferentially by the heart and other organs/tissues, before ketone bodies are used. The liver can't use ketone bodies for energy, the brain can.

But this is a good start for those wishing to understand how ketone bodies work:
http://www.srmuniv.ac.in/sites/default/files/files/KETONEBODYMETABOLISM.pdf

Ketones are a generic description of a more wide-ranging body of chemicals.
 

While it is true that exercise really helps with diabetes type 2, it is not actually essential, it's more that if you cannot or do not exercise it is harder to control BG. I have been severely disabled all my life as a result of polio. Until recently I did swimming and archery once a week and that was the only exercise I could do, as I cannot walk and also suffer from fatigue which limits what I Can do. 4 months ago I broke my already paralysed left leg and badly damaged my right shoulder following a fall in the bathroom. I am now permanently in a wheelchair, using commode and bath lift, having help with everyday tasks, and not being able to exercise at all but at my annual review last week I was told my BG was now down to pre-diabetic level. So it is possible to control diabetes even if you cannot exercise, it is just harder.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…