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What to eat !!

P

Patty999

Newbie
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1
Sorry if this seems idiotic, but I was diagnosed with T2 three weeks ago and put on 1 500gm metformin a day, had a visit to the diabetic nurse at my surgery who said eat a sensible healthy diet and loose weight. Ok so I did what everyone else has done and surfed the net. Now I really do not know what to eat. I have been 'eating sensibly' for the last three weeks - I have stopped all alcohol and tried to incease my exercise result - NO weight loss. I am experiencing terrible stomach pains and taste metal ALL the time, admittedly I have not been sick or had any of the 'bowel' problems. I have always eaten plenty of fruit an veg, along with mainly fish but when I do have red meat I usually trim the fat. I know my obesity is a result of my sedate lifestyle. My job keeps me at a desk for eight hours a day, my hobbies are sewing and knitting. My average daily step total is between 3000 and 5000. So whilst I will increase my activity I do not know where to start with the diet. I feel that I probably will do best on the Low carb diet that everyone keeps referring to but I cannot find which diet plan I would be able to do. So the question is which receipe book diet plan is written in a simple way for an 'idiot' like me to understand. Thanks in anticipation Patty
 
Hi Patty. I agree that it is all very confusing, the NHS tells you one thing but many diabetics tell you something very different. I'm a newbie too and am still struggling with the ideal diet approach to take. Have a look at my thread in this questions section called "the reverse diabetes diet" I posed a question and received some great replies. Weight loss is apparently the key to reducing blood sugar levels! It appears that low fat diets do not work for Many people, low carbs appears to be better for weight loss, that is the message that I have picked up. Along with exercise, of course. Please read the contents of that thread. You should also look at the topic on diet and nutrition as you will get some ideas about the low carb approach.


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
HI. One of the side effects with Metformin for some of us is the metallic taste. For me it lasted for 6 months but is now long gone away so be patient. I would suggest you don't need to follow any diet plan at all; just reduce your carbs and portion sizes. Set a target of, perhaps, 150gm/day or less. This website and many others show carb values for different foods and you should also go low-GI and again there are many websites which show which foods are low or high GI. If you reduce your carbs enough you will lose weight. Note that it isn't fat that makes you fat but rather the carbs despite endless mantra in the media and from the experts to avoid fat.
 
As someone with a lifetime of weight problems, my diagnosis with T2 a couple of months ago has forced me to focus on getting my weight under control.

I have been focusing on reducing calories and low-glycemic food. I have nothing to add to the debate about diets that always rages here, other than to say it is currently working for me (over 10% of my starting weight and counting!).

I have found it a very good discipline to keep a detailed food diary; it seems to keep me honest with my eating, something I have been lacking for 30 years or so. I have been using myfitnesspal dot com and it's associated app for this, and I would recommend this to anyone.


Sent from my brain.
 
Patty
I think most of the confusion comes in what actually is a sensible diet. THEY, tell us low fat is healthy, but fats are neutral in diabetes. To lower your blood glucose you need to lower your carbs. That is anything that started off as a grain [bread, cakes, breakfast cereals, pasta, biscuits etc and most underground vegetables, like potatoes, parsnips etc and anything sweet. fortunately reducing your carbs will reduce your weight too.
In addition, it's helpful to reduce your total food intake. Except green leaves which you can eat as much as you like.
That's the simple version. If it works for you[ and it WILL],you can learn more as you go on. You wil be amazed at what delicious stuff there is left to eat.
Hope that helps
Hana
 
I'm a year into type 2 and I found GI very confusing but GL less so. In fact I found GL very informative.
GL tells how large or small a portion should be.
Have a look around the net at Glycemic Load.
Here's an idea of what it's about.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods.htm
Sadly the diabetic nurse had never heard of it and scoffed the idea out of consideration because she had never heard of it!
It's been around a good few years and there are whole diets based on the info.
 
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