Type 2 Diabetic - new to forum

Marvel_champ said:

I still don't understand why bread, potato, pasta and anything with grains are off limits. I come from a family (1/4 italian) where these foods are considered as everyday food.

I'm sorry guys but I don't think I have what it takes to low carb and eat high fat. I've just binged on a lot of junk foods after being repeatedly told that I have been unsuccessful in getting 12 interviews for jobs and I'm not feeling too good about it all.

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That's what I've struggled with too. Partly because although I consider myself a not un-bright person, I never really learned human biology. The point I've got to after lots of reading on here and in other books is that:
1)Type 2 is a functional disorder of glucose, including the liver and pancreas.
2)Therefore anything that turns to glucose can mess with our blood sugars if said liver / pancreas don't work well.
3) Simple carbs (white bred, pasta, chocolate, some fruit, cakes etc) turn to glucose very quickly and because our systems are mis-functioning that causes blood sugar to spike - leading to problems our future (blindness, kidney disease to name a couple)
4) Complex carbs (brown wholemeal food, some veg and some fruit) cause sugar spikes, but at a lower rate and in smaller quantities than non-diabetics can manage.
5) But, we will always have this propensity to glucose blood spikes so it's better to eat only complex carbs and only those we learn won't spike our blood sugars too much.

I completely and totally understand about fast food binging. It's my go to remedy for stress too. I'm trying to be kind to myself but am really mourning the loss in my diet. I feel like I'm giving up smoking - one day, or even one meal at a time.

If it's any help, what I'm finding useful is sticking to Mediterranean style food as it's really tasty. Also, my dad, as I've mentioned in another post has such poorly managed Type 2 I feel like I've got a chance to not get that way.

Seems like we're in the same boat! I don't know what I'd do if I got bad news like that right now - I couldn't promise myself at all that I wouldn't binge on fast food.

Marvel_champ said:

I still don't understand why bread, potato, pasta and anything with grains are off limits. I come from a family (1/4 italian) where these foods are considered as everyday food.

I'm sorry guys but I don't think I have what it takes to low carb and eat high fat. I've just binged on a lot of junk foods after being repeatedly told that I have been unsuccessful in getting 12 interviews for jobs and I'm not feeling too good about it all.

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From a two year old site I found on line - "The prevalence of diabetes has doubled in Italy over the past decade and now affects about 3 million people. In Italy, the prevalence of diabetes is 6.6% among people over 20 years old". I wonder why that might be? I am also sure, that many mamas and papas would disagree...however...I think I shall pass on the pasta and take my chances with low carb foods instead. I would add that while I totally get that if your family is Italian and you have been raised on the stuff (which is lovely) , it's hard to stop...BUT..I am Scots-Irish and have stopped chips and potatoes - so anything is possible!

My favourite meal was chips in days gone by....now I may have a few once in a while one has to do what one has to do to try stay healthy

If the evidence is there, which it is, it doesn't make a difference what the background is - we adapt. My family background is also Anglo/Italian so I grew up with pasta, good bread, gnocchi as well as luvverly minestrone. These things turn to sugar in the blood, that's why they need to be monitored and avoided if necessary. There's lots of good ideas on the forum, you just need to get your head around it all - sure you will though.

Marvel_champ said:

I still don't understand why bread, potato, pasta and anything with grains are off limits. I come from a family (1/4 italian) where these foods are considered as everyday food.

I'm sorry guys but I don't think I have what it takes to low carb and eat high fat. I've just binged on a lot of junk foods after being repeatedly told that I have been unsuccessful in getting 12 interviews for jobs and I'm not feeling too good about it all.

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What's OK for the majority of people (Italians, for example) just may not be appropriate for people with specific medical conditions - such as T2 diabetes. I have a friend who has to have a gluten-free diet because she has diverticulitis. I have another friend who has a specific food allergy for seafoods. I now just see myself as like them - the conventional diet most people are eating just isn't good for me because of a medical condition I have. Eating some high carbohydrate foods may not immediately give me the dramatic symptoms they can get, but I now understand it all enough to know it's quietly working away damaging my long-term health.

But I can understand that now's maybe not the right time for you to try and make big diet changes!

I started my diet changes after reading David Cavan's Reverse your Diabetes soon after my T2 diagnosis. He talks a lot of sense about motivation and being able to take on the big changes it can mean. I've re-read the book a year after first reading it, and understand better why I've been able to make some change but nothing like the mega-changes some people on these forum threads report.

What I now understand is that just making one small change at a time is way, way better than doing nothing about it at all. When I eat chocolate now, for example, at least it's dark chocolate! http://www.diabetes.co.uk/news/2011/Mar/dark-chocolate-could-help-prevent-diabetes-96516003.html

Hi Marvel_champ, I was diagnosed with diabetes recently ( yet to see my nurse so don't know exactly which flavour I have), I have for the last couple of weeks been measuring my BG levels before and after food. For years, not being a big meat eater I relied upon veg and carbs for my main foods. These last weeks have proved PROVED without any doubt that carbs are my absolute enemy. I have readings on my BG machine of an average of 14, after a small bowl of crisps and a tiny portion of rice this went up to 24.4. This has been a trend for a couple of weeks. I now know for sure what by trigger foods are, you need to get a meter and find out for yourself.
Good luck and I hope it all starts to get sorted.

Marvel_champ said:

Is Greek yogurt alright to have for breakfast as I've got a pot in and a few strawberry's to go along with it.

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Provided it's full fat (low fat is garbage) but I would not do the strawbs ... too many sugars