Very Very Recent Diagnosis...

BeccaJaneStClair · Mar 24, 2012

Hi Everyone,

I was at my GP this afternoon for the results of my second glucose test (the first having been done in 2010) to being told I am diabetic, with a level of 11.4, which I understand is on the low spectrum of things. (in 2010, my level was 9.something, apparently).

I haven't seen the nurse yet, so I have no idea what is going on but from what my regular GP was telling me, I might be able to control this through diet and by losing 2 stone (though I probably should lose 5 or 6, really).

This was discovered while trying to figure out why I haven't ovulated since the removal of Implanon in October. GP told me that I can't have any further testing for 6 months since I've just been diagnosed as diabetic, and I'm shattered right now as I was really hoping to be pregnant at some point this year (I'm 32. Husband is 41, so we'd like to have babies soon).

It's also worth mentioning that I am an American married to a British man and living here in the UK now, so all of my experience and all of my family member who have diabetes (which is several cousins and aunts, my mom hasn't been tested yet) are based in the US and I'm just clueless about everything. I don't even know what the 11.4 means!

I've been trying to lose weight for two years now, and I just can't seem to shift it no matter how healthy I eat or how much exercising I do....but I need to step it up.

So right now I'm saying hello, and checking out this forum...I tried looking for blogs to read and recipe sites and nothing really showed up. I'll try to not ask stupid questions!

daisy1 · Mar 24, 2012

Hi Becca and welcome to the forum Here is some information we give to newly diagnosed diabetics which should help you to get started on looking after your diabetes. Ask as many questions as you like as there is usually someone who can help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find well over 30,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

Reduce your carbohydrate intake

Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates
A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes ... rains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l

2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l

2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l

2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review

self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
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Please sign our e-petition for free testing for all type 2's; here's the link:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/petition/

Do get your friends and colleagues to sign as well.

Grazer · Mar 24, 2012

Hi Becca and welcome! Daisy's note is spot on, so do follow that. Below is a note I've sent to some people that they found useful, hope you do.
. In general terms you will need to reduce the total number of carbohydrates you eat per day. All carbohydrates turn to sugar when we eat them, and no type 2 diabetic on diet only, or on diet and metformin only, can control their blood sugars (BGs) without controlling their carb intake. Even those on strong medication normally choose to control their carb intake to keep the level of medication they take down. The total number of carbs per day you can eat depends on how advanced your diabetes is. It’s perhaps worth starting at about 50% of normal levels for a non-diabetic then adjusting up or down according to how you get on. That’s 150 grams of carbs per day for a man, 125 for a woman. You can read the total carb content of food under “nutritional info” on the packet or wrapping, or look it up on the internet for loose food. Just google “carb content..”
You also need to stop or reduce the bad carbs; that is the starchy ones that make your BG go up quickly.
So obviously no sugar or glucose! But also no white bread, white rice, pasta, flour products like pastry, cake and batter. You can eat a little basmati rice, wholewheat pasta or the tri-color pasta fusilli ones in small quantities. Boiled new potatos are OK but not old pots mashed, boiled or in their jackets. (Roast is not so bad, the fat slows their absorption and conversion to glucose in the blood) Amongst other veg, parsnips are about the worst for BG, and carrots not great but ok in smaller amounts.
Multi grain bread (not wholemeal) is not SO bad, but lots of us eat Burgen soya and linseed bread from tescos and sainsburys, although all bread should be in limited amounts.
All fruit has carbohydrates, and needs to be included in the amounts of carbs you eat in a day. For most people, bananas are about the worst for pushing our BG up and berries (like strawberries, raspberries etc) are the least bad.
No sweeties!
Exercise is important. I tend to exercise about an hour after eating when I know my BG will be peaking. This helps to bring it down quicker and further. I do ten minutes hard work on an exercise machine, but you could run up and down stairs for ten minutes or go for a brisk walk.
Returning to types of food and quantities of carbs - you can only find out how many you can eat by testing. Most type 2’s are not given access to testing equipment, so you should get your own – although try arguing with your Doc that you want to manage to NICE guideline blood sugar levels, and can’t do that without testing! If you have to buy a meter, they are cheap and most manufacturers will give them away for free. They make their money on the strips you have to use! So go for the meter with the cheapest testing strips. Some people test before and after eating, on waking (fasting test) and before bed. But if you have limited strips because of cost, the key to me is testing 2 hours after eating. If your BG is above, say, 7.8 at that stage, you need to cut down on the carb content the next time you have that meal. Test after various different meals and you soon get to see a pattern of what you can and can’t eat, and in what quantities. You can then reduce your testing. I said “below, say, 7.8” because NICE guidelines are below 8.5 but most of us think that’s a little high. 7.8 is the max. Level at 2 hours after eating that a non-diabetic normally gets to so is perhaps a better target. Some then set progressively lower targets.
Do ask lots of questions; there is normally an answer on here. There aren't any stupid questions! The more you get to learn about your diabetes, the better it will be.
Good luck!

BeccaJaneStClair · Mar 24, 2012

Thanks both of you for that information! I was a bit confused that the GP didn't give me anything - no literature, no medications, etc. and just said "make an appointment with the nurse"....because I just want to start dealing with this *now*.

I'm fortunate in that I'm not a big chocolate fan (I know) or even boiled sweeties, other than mint-y type ones (looks like it's time for some sugar free polo mints!). I do LOVE potatoes, pasta, and bread - my husband and I have always used the Kingsmeal 50/50, but we're willing to switch to full wholegrain if we have to. I also have a bread machine, so I can easily make my own bread with wholegrain flour (though I typically made those as 50/50....). Pasta I'm fine with swapping to whole grain/brown. I know it will be a little more expensive (no more cheap 50p bags of penne from Tesco!), but if it's what we have to do, well, it's not like the money isn't there for groceries, I just like spending as little as possible! Potatoes will be rough....my go-to "need a quick meal" is a jacket spud or bangers and mash! Oh well, changes must be met, right?

I've always looked at the low-carb diets and shook my head and said "I can't give up bread and pasta!" but well....looks like that's going to have to happen!

Question...what do you bakers do? I LOVE to bake (though I love more to give it away!). Dinner rolls, fresh pizza bases, assorted breads, cakes, muffins, and cupcakes....I love baking. My mum just spent £50 on a set of cake decorating tools for me because I had wanted to start playing with decorating!

Fruit....I'm so picky about fruit, the only ones I can manage to eat on a regular basis are oranges, berries (strawberries being a favourite), and grapes. An occasional apple or pear, but I don't like bananas.

I used to be a vegetarian until 2008 when I met my husband and he introduced me to British bacon (LOL). My husband and I still try to eat vegetarian once/week..usually though it's a pasta based dish, rice based, or squash (which I'm also guessing is bad!)

I've been staring at the Tesco screen for the past hour completely clueless over what to order this week....

Grazer · Mar 24, 2012

There are things you can do baking wise. Almond flour is used by lots, (Whitbyjet has loads of great recipes). I use carbalose flour, or carbquick mixed with 20% normal flour, for pies or fresh pizza bases in my breadmaker. Lots of people don't like the taste - I think it's fine, and is an eqasy low carb substiture for flour. Have to get it on line and a bit pricey, but it's for occasional "treats" so...... I get it from the "low carb megastore" (carbalose) or "avidlite" (carbquick). You can google them.
I'm not very good at baking, so I'm sure you'll soon be giving me tips on how to best use these products! Key is, they are about 80% less carbs than normal flour, and testing shows it doeasn't give me spikes. Example, normal flour pizza I got a BG of 11.4 two hours afyer eating. Using rye flour I got 9.6, but it was inedible! Using carbalose, or carbquick with 20% normal, I got 6.8. I use 20% normal ith carbquick 'cos otherwise the texture is too soft and it all falls to bits.
Warning - you do need to experiment with different temperatures and amounts of water etc.

Grazer · Mar 24, 2012

By the way, bananas are the worst fruit, so good you don't like them. ANY berries are good, I eat quite a lot, and apples are OK (for me - you need to see how you go with them) I also have satsumas.

sdgray22 · Mar 24, 2012

Hi BeccaJane, don't despair as rthey have said above me, if you are a baker there is no problem with low carb baking go to the low carb recipe bit of the forum loads of things basically a change of flour to brown and using almond flour instead is a good start. Use sweetener, there are American ones on the market over here even in Tesco's. instead of sugar in your recipes and invest in a good low carb cookbook to start you off. Tesco's have lots of things you can start with. Try a Burgen linseed and soya loaf to see how you like it - its the one most of us eat. I am sure there are recipes on the forum for bread. Have roast potatoes and boiled new potatoes (jersey royals are lovely and available now). Get some 70% dark chocolate and real cocoa powder for cooking flavour. Green and Blacks is a good make. Buy, meat, salad, cheese and eggs and lots of berries, double cream and bacon is fine. Brown rise and pasta is OK in small quantities. Everybody is different and can tolerate different amounts. You need to test, eat and test again to be able to tell how much you can manage.

sdgray22 · Mar 24, 2012

Just seen about the cake decorating google " low sugar icing recipe" there are loads.

sdgray22 · Mar 24, 2012

I'll be finished in a minute :lol: :lol: forgot the veg - lots and lots of veg, green mainly, not so much root veg.
bye now

Daibell · Mar 24, 2012

Sadly our current baking recipes and what you can buy from a bakery are based on the last century or so of the love affair with sugar and over-refined flour. Do take advice from the various areas on this website. My wife makes me Molly cake which has NO added sugar some almond flour, which sadly isn't cheap, and lots of dried fruit which does have natural sugar.

hanadr · Mar 24, 2012

Becca Jane
If you REALLY want to control diabetes by diet, You'll need to be strong. Much of what the NHS personnel tell you simply WON'T work for most people. And they'll try hard to get you on to medication.
I'd say;
1 Get yourself a blood glucose meter and learn how it is used
Learn what carbohydrates are [if you don't already know] and avoid them, except in the tiniest portions.
Dieticians and Diabetes Specialist Nurses will tell you not to do either of those things and will probably warn you off the internet.
I can tell you that the above approach works for me and loads of other people and their approach works for very few and none that I've met.
When their approach doesn't work, the medics usually tell you you are not doing it right, even if you know you've followed instructions to the letter.
Hana

Defren · Mar 24, 2012

Everyone has given excellent advice above. I have been diagnosed three weeks on Tuesday coming. I bought a meter and I test, test, test. I have also bought the little gem carb counter book. There are other low carb cook books out there, and also if you type in low carb recipe's into Google you can find more. I am on less than 30g a day of carbs, that is very low, and if you like bread, pasta, rice, potato's etc, your not going to like a very low carb diet much. Burgen bread is what most of us eat, who can tolerate bread. I can't at the moment, but could initially. I eat by my meter, and so far it's not been so bad. In the low carb diet section there are loads of low carb recipe's for nice things, deserts and treats etc. So it's not the end of the world, rather a new beginning. Good luck.

BeccaJaneStClair · Mar 24, 2012

Once again, thank you everyone!

I've done a "sugar free" victoria sponge that had splenda for a friend with diabetes before, so I think I might be able to figure some things out. When I do, I'll be sure to post them! If I can make wheat chocolate chip cookies, I'll be happy!

How do I get a meter? Will the GP "prescribe" one or is this something I have to find online? Links would be helpful!

I told my mom today, and she immediately hopped on Amazon and purchased the Betty Crocker Diabetes cookbook (our family has a long history of Betty) and a book that is specifically for diabetic desserts, so *crossing fingers*

I'm planning on spending a longer length of time on Monday doing our weekly shop IN Tesco instead of online so I can scrutinize labels.

I just have to keep telling myself that I can do this. I've cried twice now, but I think I'm allowed to cry. The important thing for me is that I'm NOT going to give up. I'm going to go forward and I WILL BE OKAY.

Today I managed three meals (a rarity for me!) PLUS a short walk around the village with my MIL. Tomorrow I'm spending the day with one of my close friends who also has diabetes and we are going to walk around a car boot sale and have a nice chat about things. I also picked up some lemons and sparkling water at the co-op so instead of drinking fizzy soda, I've been having sparkling water with a squeeze of lemon in it.

I appreciate ALL the advice and help! THanks so much.

BeccaJaneStClair · Mar 26, 2012

ATTN: Daisy...

You sent me a PM, but I don't have permission to do PMs yet! Can you email me instead?

daisy1 · Mar 26, 2012

Rebecca, my PM was to ask you to remove the links from your signature which I see you have done. Thank you. When you have posted one more time you will be able to use the PM facility.

BeccaJaneStClair · Mar 27, 2012

Oops! I hadn't realzed until I saw you had removed the links. Sorry about that!

BeccaJaneStClair · Mar 28, 2012

Grazer said:
The total number of carbs per day you can eat depends on how advanced your diabetes is. It’s perhaps worth starting at about 50% of normal levels for a non-diabetic then adjusting up or down according to how you get on. That’s 150 grams of carbs per day for a man, 125 for a woman.

Is that 125 the half or do I half that to 62.5? Also, what happens if you don't eat that amount? I'm guessing since plenty of people go no-carb it wouldn't be a bad thing...

You also need to stop or reduce the bad carbs; that is the starchy ones that make your BG go up quickly.
So obviously no sugar or glucose! But also no white bread, white rice, pasta, flour products like pastry, cake and batter. You can eat a little basmati rice, wholewheat pasta or the tri-color pasta fusilli ones in small quantities. Boiled new potatos are OK but not old pots mashed, boiled or in their jackets. (Roast is not so bad, the fat slows their absorption and conversion to glucose in the blood) Amongst other veg, parsnips are about the worst for BG, and carrots not great but ok in smaller amounts.
Multi grain bread (not wholemeal) is not SO bad, but lots of us eat Burgen soya and linseed bread from tescos and sainsburys, although all bread should be in limited amounts.

So far, I've just not eaten bread. I've had a few whole wheat tortillia wraps, and I'm perfectly happy to only have bread occasionally.

Returning to types of food and quantities of carbs - you can only find out how many you can eat by testing. Most type 2’s are not given access to testing equipment, so you should get your own – although try arguing with your Doc that you want to manage to NICE guideline blood sugar levels, and can’t do that without testing! If you have to buy a meter, they are cheap and most manufacturers will give them away for free. They make their money on the strips you have to use! So go for the meter with the cheapest testing strips.

I'm putting this on hold until Monday when I see the nurse. I'll ask her about it, and if she doesn't think the GP will give it to me, I will look into purchasing one on my own. The strips look expensive though!

Do ask lots of questions; there is normally an answer on here. There aren't any stupid questions! The more you get to learn about your diabetes, the better it will be.
Good luck!

I'm trying to absorb it all right now...as I said, it's a ton to take in and it's all going in one ear and about half falls out the other, though I'm trying! I also keep having random breakdowns over stupid things, but my husband is amazing and has told me it's okay to cry.

BeccaJaneStClair · Mar 28, 2012

Grazer said:
There are things you can do baking wise. Almond flour is used by lots, (Whitbyjet has loads of great recipes). I use carbalose flour, or carbquick mixed with 20% normal flour, for pies or fresh pizza bases in my breadmaker. Lots of people don't like the taste - I think it's fine, and is an eqasy low carb substiture for flour. Have to get it on line and a bit pricey, but it's for occasional "treats" so...... I get it from the "low carb megastore" (carbalose) or "avidlite" (carbquick). You can google them.
I'm not very good at baking, so I'm sure you'll soon be giving me tips on how to best use these products! Key is, they are about 80% less carbs than normal flour, and testing shows it doeasn't give me spikes. Example, normal flour pizza I got a BG of 11.4 two hours afyer eating. Using rye flour I got 9.6, but it was inedible! Using carbalose, or carbquick with 20% normal, I got 6.8. I use 20% normal ith carbquick 'cos otherwise the texture is too soft and it all falls to bits.
Warning - you do need to experiment with different temperatures and amounts of water etc.

I found Allinson do a Wholemeal self-rising flour I might experiment with, though I'm also going to look into the carbquick.

Defren said:
There are other low carb cook books out there, and also if you type in low carb recipe's into Google you can find more. I am on less than 30g a day of carbs, that is very low, and if you like bread, pasta, rice, potato's etc, your not going to like a very low carb diet much.

I love bread, but so far I haven't missed it! I need to really lose weight as well as control my sugars, so I'm wondering if I need to go that low in order to achieve my goals.

My mom purchased me two diabetic cookbooks, but all of the recipes have the carbs in the 25-40g/serving range so I'm not sure if I'll be using them much

hanadr said:
Becca Jane
If you REALLY want to control diabetes by diet, You'll need to be strong. Much of what the NHS personnel tell you simply WON'T work for most people. And they'll try hard to get you on to medication.
I'd say;
1 Get yourself a blood glucose meter and learn how it is used
Learn what carbohydrates are [if you don't already know] and avoid them, except in the tiniest portions.
Dieticians and Diabetes Specialist Nurses will tell you not to do either of those things and will probably warn you off the internet.
I can tell you that the above approach works for me and loads of other people and their approach works for very few and none that I've met.
When their approach doesn't work, the medics usually tell you you are not doing it right, even if you know you've followed instructions to the letter.
Hana

My regular GP thinks that I can control it with diet and even bring it back down below 11.1 by August, but he also said the nurse or the diabetes specialist GP might decide I need to be on medication. I'm going to ask about a meter and if they say no, try to source one with my own funds.

Frankly, I've already tried the pathetic NHS sanctioned diet given by the dietician at the GP and it FAILED MISERABLY. I think I lost about half a stone and I think that was just from what I did on my own after I started to ignore the diet plan and went based on common sense!

Daibell said:
My wife makes me Molly cake which has NO added sugar some almond flour, which sadly isn't cheap, and lots of dried fruit which does have natural sugar.

What's Molly cake?

sdgray22 said:
Hi BeccaJane, don't despair as rthey have said above me, if you are a baker there is no problem with low carb baking go to the low carb recipe bit of the forum loads of things basically a change of flour to brown and using almond flour instead is a good start. Use sweetener, there are American ones on the market over here even in Tesco's. instead of sugar in your recipes and invest in a good low carb cookbook to start you off. Tesco's have lots of things you can start with. Try a Burgen linseed and soya loaf to see how you like it - its the one most of us eat. I am sure there are recipes on the forum for bread. Have roast potatoes and boiled new potatoes (jersey royals are lovely and available now). Get some 70% dark chocolate and real cocoa powder for cooking flavour. Green and Blacks is a good make. Buy, meat, salad, cheese and eggs and lots of berries, double cream and bacon is fine. Brown rise and pasta is OK in small quantities. Everybody is different and can tolerate different amounts. You need to test, eat and test again to be able to tell how much you can manage.

I picked up some Allinson's wholegrain flour to play with and I've got plenty of Splenda. In the US, I used to be able to get Splenda brown, but I don't see it available here so I might have to find a source for it, assuming Splenda is still making it.

Thanks again, everyone. I think this time Iv'e actually taken IN some of what's been said, as opposed to just reading words on a screen if that makes sense.

Grazer · Mar 28, 2012

Not sure about splenda brown, but you can get canderel yellow which is designed for cooking with. Allisons whole grain flour won't beach better than any other - you still won't be able to eat much.

BeccaJaneStClair · Mar 29, 2012

Grazer said:
Not sure about splenda brown, but you can get canderel yellow which is designed for cooking with. Allisons whole grain flour won't beach better than any other - you still won't be able to eat much.

Do you know where I can find canderel Yellow? I looked on Tesco online but didn't see it available.

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