What to eat?

Hi Suffolkboi and welcome to the forum,

it's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid or reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such a bread, potatoes, pasta and rice also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating then two hours after eating you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

ANd Suffolkboi
don't worry too much about fats. They have no effect on blood sugar and don't raise cholesterol either.
the very things your nurse told you to eat are the ones that put your blood glucose up
that is the grains and their products.
I would advise you to eat those a teaspoonful at the most. then check your blood sugar an hour later.
Hana

don't worry too much about fats. They have no effect on blood sugar and don't raise cholesterol either.

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Hana, as you know nothing of this members medical history, the advice on fats may or may not be of worth. This is only your opinion and certainly not the opinion of many members on the forum.

Suffolkboi61

I agree with Sue, best to ignore that advice. Diabetes and raised cholesterol together is a dangerous and life-threatening combination. Please follow the advice of your doctor and your diabetes care team regarding cholesterol.

Regards

Nigel

hya suffolk and a warm welcome to the forum

Hi suffolkboi61,
Your story is the same as mine. Following a heart attack I too was diagnosed with diabetes.
Six years on and everything seems fine. You don't need to go down the high fat route to control your diabetes but test every food to see what is right for you. Portion control is another factor that must be taken into account and you may find, like me, that there are lots of foods that are beneficial in helping your control. There is no blueprint that we can all follow,
Good luck on your journey and ask as many questions as you like because it is all trial and error and individual response.

Catherine.

Hi Suffolkboi.
Welcome to the forum.

I am a major Heart Surgery survivor, back in Dec 2004. All the advice you have been given so far has been excellent, except for the "don't worry too much about fats" !

To people with heart problems fats DO matter. Apart from which if I eat too much fat I end up spending most of my time in the loo ! As Sue, Nigel and Catherine say, high fat is not the route I would recommend to follow to control YOUR diabetes. I control mine very well with 'drastically reduced' carbs and low fat - no problems at all.

At least by doing that I know that my Heart health is under my control, without putting myself at risk by eating more fat. So I advise you to ignore that advice. In my opinion no self respecting Cardiologist would issue you advice to 'eat more fat' and 'it has no effect on Cholesterol.' That may be a minority view in some quarters, but that's all it is. Your choice though.

.
To perform metabolism the body needs ingredients from three sources:

1. Protein
2. Fat
3. Sugar

If you limit sugar, then naturally you WILL rely more heavily on the other two sources. Fat is one of those sources.

Sugar molecules are basically fat molecules with oxygen added. Especially with insulin resistance, oxygen becomes a problem. It can stick to both sugar products and fat products.

Sugar is the ingredient which makes fat dangerous. Lower sugar intake, and fat becomes a desirable food source.

proteinpower.com/drmike/uncategorized/ill-have-mine-with-fat-please/
..

Veggie, for some of us fat is not an option. I follow a relatively low carb diet and a low fat one. I do not feel the need for more fat in my diet as I feel full with what I eat. This thread is about helping a new member with dietary advice and will not turn into a high fat low fat argument !!

Advising anyone to eat more fats when you know nothing of their personal preferences or medical history is not a wise thing to do. If someone on a fairly high carb diet eats more fat then they will end up putting on weight and become more insulin resistant. This member has a heart complaint which negates eating a lot of fat.

This is the original post,

Hi all,
just joined this site after searching for somewhere to get answers to questions after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
I was told by my nurse to eat such things as porridge, wheat grain cereals and so on, but after going round the supermarkets and checking the information on the boxes, i am at a loss.

On each box it says "saturates and in ( )'s of which are sugars".
Can someone please explain this, and can I eat these things containing sugars?

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Can we please stick to the original question.

Hi,
This is a link to a series of leaflets by the British Dietetic association.
Understanding the food label
and Fat Getting the Balance right and the ones on transfats may help answer your questions.

http://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/index.html