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Well, its confirmed

F

FootyMum16

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Other
Treatment type
Other
Morning All

Diagnosis of T2 was confirmed yesterday by my GP.

He wants me to go high protein and low carb, i have no issues with this other than what i can snack on as i'm a crisp lover!

I've been put on metformin (slow release at my request as i spend 8 hours a week in a field doing football coaching/matches often with no loo!!) and Atorvastatin for cholesterol

At the moment he does not want me to worry about a glucose monitor and said we will discuss them further at a 3 month review and to get my head round the dietary changes first.

I see the diabetic nurse/dietitian on Friday, but not quite sure what to expect from her, any ideas?
 
I agree with your GP about the change in lifestyle to low carb, but not about not having a meter. It’s the biggest thing in your armoury- how do you know what your BG are doing without testing? especially in the early days. It’s like driving a car without a petrol gauge or speedometer!

Most if not all us T2 have to self fund testing wise but there are some reasonable priced meters & strips in the market. I use a Tee2, I’ll tag one of our members @Rachox who has a bit more info on meters that are available.

The best way to test is just before the first bite of a meal and 2 hrs after. You are looking for a rise of no more than 2, more than that means you may need to adjust your carbs down further for that particular food or meal. Ideally you want to be below 7.8 at the 2hr test too, but it’s early days for you so that may not happen right away, concentrate on the 2hr readings at first, hopefully the lower BG will follow as you get further into your journey

As to the crisps, well I don’t have a sweet tooth but crisps even after 14 years of this are my nemesis! You need to find an alternative, for me it’s the salt so a few nuts, cubes of cheese, you can make a cheese “crisp” very easily. Get a pack of sliced edamame cheese, cut it into triangles, spread out on baking paper (not foil they stick) into a hot oven for 15 minutes but keep a close eye, they will begin to bubble and brown round the edges, once they are totally bubbly take out the oven let cool, you’ve got very moorish cheese crisps that are almost no carbs, great with a low carb dip or as “nachos” with a chilli or just on their own.

You can sprinkle them with chili powder or garlic powder before they go in the oven for extra oomph
 
lovinglife said:
I agree with your GP about the change in lifestyle to low carb, but not about not having a meter. It’s the biggest thing in your armoury- how do you know what your BG are doing without testing? especially in the early days. It’s like driving a car without a petrol gauge or speedometer!

Most if not all us T2 have to self fund testing wise but there are some reasonable priced meters & strips in the market. I use a Tee2, I’ll tag one of our members @Rachox who has a bit more info on meters that are available.

The best way to test is just before the first bite of a meal and 2 hrs after. You are looking for a rise of no more than 2, more than that means you may need to adjust your carbs down further for that particular food or meal. Ideally you want to be below 7.8 at the 2hr test too, but it’s early days for you so that may not happen right away, concentrate on the 2hr readings at first, hopefully the lower BG will follow as you get further into your journey

As to the crisps, well I don’t have a sweet tooth but crisps even after 14 years of this are my nemesis! You need to find an alternative, for me it’s the salt so a few nuts, cubes of cheese, you can make a cheese “crisp” very easily. Get a pack of sliced edamame cheese, cut it into triangles, spread out on baking paper (not foil they stick) into a hot oven for 15 minutes but keep a close eye, they will begin to bubble and brown round the edges, once they are totally bubbly take out the oven let cool, you’ve got very moorish cheese crisps that are almost no carbs, great with a low carb dip or as “nachos” with a chilli or just on their own.

You can sprinkle them with chili powder or garlic powder before they go in the oven for extra oomph
Click to expand...
Hi there

thank you for taking the time to reply.

to be honest i am a worry wort with high stress and from the discussion with the GP, he simply wants to see me not worry about testing etc for the first couple of months, over Christmas, and get used to dietary changes first. Plus, because of my lifestyle i cannot always test 2 hours after a meal as i am in the middle of a field coaching football by that time. I was going to talk to him about CGMs when i have my review though to avoid those kinds of issues.

I love the sound of the cheese 'crisps'. i will definitely be trying those!!
 
Hi and welcome. I've found pork scratchings go some way towards compensating for my Tayto obsession. Some of the things usually described as "pork puffs" have quite a bit of carb in them, so read the labels.

I'd endorse getting a meter. It is really the only way to see what foods are doing your blood glucose in the short term, and it will give you some sort of idea about overall progress. When you test, it's not to see "how high you go". That point will usually happen somewhere around 45 minutes after eating, and it only shows how quickly the carb is digested, nothing much more. Over the two hours glucose is arriving into your system from the food, and being cleared out into stores by your insulin response. The better your insulin system responds to the glucose load, the more likely that you'll handle it.

So what you're testing for is to see how well your system handles the carb in what you ate. By the two hour point you should be back reasonably close to where you started off (which is why you need that inital baseline check).
 
Thanks for the tag @lovinglife.

Hi @FootyMum16 and welcome to the forum. If you’re interested in getting your own blood sugar meter,
here’s some info with links for UK meters, and to be clear I have no commercial connections with any of the companies mentioned.

HOME HEALTH have the Gluco Navii, which is a fairly new model and seems to be getting good reviews.

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-produ...ose-meter-test-strips-choose-mmol-l-or-mg-dl/

Links to the strips for future orders:

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/glucose-navii-blood-glucose-test-strips-50-strip-pack/

Then they sell the older SD Code Free, details to be found here!

https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/



SPIRIT HEALTHCARE have a meter called the Tee2 + which is quite popular:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...e2-blood-glucose-meter?variant=19264017268793

The strips are to be found here:

https://shop.spirit-health.co.uk/co...py-of-tee2-test-strips?variant=19264017367097

If there is a choice of units of measurement then ‘mmol/L’ are the standard units in the UK, ‘mg/dl’ in the US, other countries may vary.

Don’t forget to check the box if you have diabetes so you can buy VAT free. (for all meters and strips)

If you’d like to try a free 15 day trial of the Freestyle LIBRE 2 plus follow this link:

Sampling | Diabetes Care | Abbott
 
I found my wanting crisps disappeared once I started adding more olive oil, butter and salt to my food. So for me it turned out that my craving wasn't for the potato bit. We are all different, but might be worth you trying in case that is what your body is actually asking for. I couldn't care less about crisps, chips or similar now. Liberating. If my experiences are anything to go by, the foods I thought I'd really miss are all in the past, and I don't give them a second thought.
 
FootyMum16 said:
than what i can snack on as i'm a crisp lover!
Click to expand...
"Snacks" were invented by food manufacturers and heavily marketed from the 1970s ish. They have no nutritional value and have been made purely to make us want more of them.
Watch or read about ultra processed foods by Chris Tulkinan and others ( might need to check the spelling and find a couple of links )
I found remembering that fact helps me not want to eat them as i don't what to line the pockets of people who want me to eat food that is bad for me but make them millions of money.

Also, as you adjust to high protein and low carb your tastes will change and you will feel full for much longer so you wont have the need to snack, in fact you'll even find yourself skipping meals! That makes it easier to kill the habit side of snacking. Always ask yourself "do I really need this or is it habit/pleasure/boredom etc"
 
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