Very hungry new Diabetic

Hi, I might not be much help but just have to say PLEASE don't buy 'diabetic' foods, they are more expensive and usually higher in fat!! For your sweet tooth try sugar free jelly which I love I'm sure there'll be loads of people better qualified than I along to give you other help and advice.

hello and welcome,

Confusing, isn't it!

Sadly if you want to control your blood sugars this is likely to mean a complete change in your diet. Cutting out sweets etc. is obvious, but you also need to reduce carbs and all those hidden sugars. Many low fat products have sugar added to compensate for the lack of taste after reducing the fat. You need to read the food labels and take note of the total carbs. The "of which sugars" is far less important as the added and natural sugars are contained within the total carbs amount. The main carb culprits as far as raising blood sugars is concerned are potatoes, rice, pasta and bread of whichever colour, also pastry and batter. We also need to be careful with fruit and milk as they also contain a lot of natural sugars. Natural sugar is still sugar. I'm afraid a cheese baguette isn't going to do you any favours!

One thing to remember is that carbs = sugar. They all turn to sugar once inside the system and will all affect your BS levels to one degree or another. However, the good news is dietary fats do not raise blood sugars, so feel free to eat real butter, real cheese, real yogurts (plain), real mayonnaise etc. without affecting your BS levels. You can also eat any meat, any fish, any oily fish. Most green veggies, salads, tomatoes, mushrooms are also good.

The best way to learn which foods your unique metabolism can deal with, or can't deal with, is by buying a blood glucose meter and testing strips. You can then test before you eat and again 2 hours later. If there is a rise of more than, say, 2mmol/l then that food or meal is not a good one for you in the portions you ate. You can then try the same meal again with reduced portions of the carb elements and keep doing this until your BS rise is more acceptable. You may find you have to avoid that food altogether, or maybe you can manage it in small quantities. Only by testing will you know as we are all different.

I miss my baked beans. I have tried the low sugar version. I can't cope with either, so no more baked beans for me. I have learnt my lesson.

Have a look at http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf - this is the way a lot of us eat.

GordonAsh said:

Hi, i was just diagnosed last tuesday with type 2 and am having real trouble working out what foods i can eat. This week i have mostly been living on bananas and peanuts. Ive lost half a stone in just one week :/

Finally got some money in bank today so i can do a online shop but everything i look at just seems to be packed with sugar and salt. One of my favourite meals is usually white pasta/dolmio sauce and a small amount of lean minced beef. First thing i did was look at using wholewheat pasta instead of the usual refined kind. To my amazement the wholemeal pasta has twice as many carbs and 4 times more sugar than the white pasta :O

Another fave is cheese baguette. I use cathedral city light ready sliced cheese and flora pro active light spread. Not sure if the spread is that healthy and tbh i could quite easily give it up, im more than happy to munch though my bread with just cheese in it. I have no idea what kind or brand of brown/wholemeal bread i should be buying. Would really like some recommendations there if possible, just seems to be too many types.

Would also like any diabetes equivalents of baked beans or tomato soup. Unfortunately i have a very limited diet and im a very fussy eater to boot. I know i should probably be moving away from bread/pasta anyway and will be experimenting with new healthier foods but for now i just kind of need to get some calories in me that are at least 'okay' diabetes wise.

Ive completely forgone sweets but have a huge sweet tooth so any recommendations for anything along those lines would also be appreciated.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

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GordonAsh said:

Hi, i was just diagnosed last tuesday with type 2 and am having real trouble working out what foods i can eat. This week i have mostly been living on bananas and peanuts. Ive lost half a stone in just one week :/

Finally got some money in bank today so i can do a online shop but everything i look at just seems to be packed with sugar and salt. One of my favourite meals is usually white pasta/dolmio sauce and a small amount of lean minced beef. First thing i did was look at using wholewheat pasta instead of the usual refined kind. To my amazement the wholemeal pasta has twice as many carbs and 4 times more sugar than the white pasta :O

Another fave is cheese baguette. I use cathedral city light ready sliced cheese and flora pro active light spread. Not sure if the spread is that healthy and tbh i could quite easily give it up, im more than happy to munch though my bread with just cheese in it. I have no idea what kind or brand of brown/wholemeal bread i should be buying. Would really like some recommendations there if possible, just seems to be too many types.

Would also like any diabetes equivalents of baked beans or tomato soup. Unfortunately i have a very limited diet and im a very fussy eater to boot. I know i should probably be moving away from bread/pasta anyway and will be experimenting with new healthier foods but for now i just kind of need to get some calories in me that are at least 'okay' diabetes wise.

Ive completely forgone sweets but have a huge sweet tooth so any recommendations for anything along those lines would also be appreciated.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

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I was informed by my GP that feeling very hungry all the time is a symptom of the diabetes and is caused by the cells in the body being blocked from receiving the sugar properly which is why it ends up in the bloodstream. The cells then send a signal to the brain to say you are hungry - even though you may have just had a perfectly adequate meal. The solution that worked for me was to try and eat foods that contain whole grain as these are released more slowly over time and seem to abate the hunger pangs I was suffering and make me feel full.
Suggestions would be for breakfast something like porridge with semi skimmed milk and berries to sweeten it up like raspberries, blackberries ( they have lower glycemic count than other fruits)
Lunch / dinner : filling soups made with lentils such as ham and lentil with carrots, celery onions etc there are a lot of recipes online. Also, proper whole grain breaks such as the 5 seeded branded ones. Be careful to read labels of tinned soups as most are full of sugar and salt - even the ones claiming to be healthy such as vegetable soup. I have only found 2 tinned soups I felt we're ok out of the 100s out there - potatoes and leek by baxters and chicken by crosse and Blackwell but home made is best because you know what's going into it !!
I know this does not sound that attractive but they really do take the hunger pangs away.
I did this, lost 2 and a half stone and my HbA1c dropped through the floor, got taken off the tablets and GP is considering taking me off the register altogether if I can keep the weight off for another few months.
Takes some will power but worth the effort - good luck

Many of us have found our cholesterol much improved on LCHF.

So dont be afraid of fat, it does nothing to blood sugar and it fills you up nicely!

My cholesterol has certainly improved since following my low carb/moderate fat diet, and I find normal proper cheese fills me up, as does a full fat Greek yogurt with a few berries thrown in for breakfast. Or you could have a nice 2-egg omelette with some bacon or cheese if you like that sort of thing. I haven't been hungry at all, and I'm not a natural snacker so I don't eat between meals. I have also lost 26% of my body weight since I started earlier this year.

GordonAsh said:

Disaster! Still stuck for things to put on my shopping list then.

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Top of the list - a blood glucose meter!

you can also look up the atkins induction diet, free on the web, there is a food list, meal plans and recipes and will get you started, the dietdoctor link is good

the first few days to a week is really hard, after that it's a breeze, fat is an important part..eat anything except carbs to get you through the first week
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbliving/a/Food-Cravings.htm

Good luck!

If the dr hasn't provided the meter unfortunately you will have to buy your own, lots of the inmates here buy the codefree meter and strips from either Amazon or homehealth-uk.com. they are reasonably priced on either site and it means you aren't limited to a certain amount of strips as you can be from the dr.

GordonAsh said:

Thanks very much for the replies. I believe i have a plan and i hope it gets the thumbs up...

Was literally starving to death this week from not knowing what to eat, was on around 600 calories a day :/ so because of this im going to continue on my usual diet but instantly remove takeaways and sweets in entirety (as i already have the past week), switch to wholemeal breads and pastas and basically eat my regular diet but in as healthy a way as possible. I really have little knowledge of food in general as ive been one hell of a fussy eater since a child.

This will be my diet for the coming week or two while i get myself a meter to start testing individual foods to see whats good for my sugar levels and start to experiment with new healthy stuff to see what i like. Id probably ultimately want to get on a low carb diet as these seems to be very popular for diabetics but its just so alien to me as someone who lives on about 80% carbs.

I also have umpteen appointments over the coming 2 weeks too for Diabetes related stuff like health trainer, Diabetes Specialist and the DESMOND Program and so on.

Thanks for reading

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I follow a low GI diet.
Everything is a trade off, you have to decide what suits you.
The important thing is to eat to your meter, and find a diet you like, and that fits in with your lifestyle, otherwise it'll be a fight to stay on it.
But once you make your choice, give it a chance to work. (or not)
Also, my doctor seems better than most, I get regular three month blood tests, as well as a meter and strips.
So if I want to make a change, I can do it for three months, monitor it, then decide where to go.

GordonAsh said:

As a quick side note i think ive been caught fairly early as my doctor says i dont need a meter. If i get one anyway can i get the disposable parts (sorry i dont know what their called) on prescription?

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A doctor saying you don't need a meter has little to do with how early you are caught - most of them say that to most Type 2's, irrespective of what their levels are. The majority of us are self funding. Do you know what your test results were? If not I suggest you ring up and ask, and ask which tests they were. This is important to know to help you understand. You can also ask for a computer print out. You will find this very useful in the future.

We don't scold, we don't judge, we offer advice and a helping hand.

GordonAsh said:

Good idea. I shall request the details and maybe post them up here so you can all scold me for my terrible diet

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If it wasn't greggs steak bakes, Morrisons jam donuts, family size quiche, and 15 inch pizzas, you'll have to go some to catch me up on my previous diet.

hi, welcome