Husband diagnosed with diabetes

[Lindsey collins]

Hi there, my husband has just been diagnosed with diabetes with a high sugar reading. The doctor has asked him to try and control it through his diet initially. We are due to see the diabetic nurse in a couple of weeks but in the meantime, are gathering as much info from the site as possible. Our biggest challenge is that my husband is a truck driver and is away in the week living out of his truck. He is generally healthy but has to live on tinned food such as curry, stew, chilli, super noodles etc. we are aware that these are very high in salt and sugar so we are looking for alternative things for him to eat whilst in his truck. I'm going to do some baking this weekend with recipes from the diabetes site which will replace his cereal bars that we now know aren't good for him. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated thank you.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Good start. You've also to keep an eye on carbohydrates. I'm still sorting things out. Things like breakfast serial, potatoes, rice, pasta (?), bread. Fruit has sugar too, so keep on that too. It can be in other things.

 

[Ljc]

Hi Welcome Is your husband able to do some simple cooking whilst living in his truck and if he can keep food cool enough for a While then things like eggs , bacon , good quality (high meat content) sausages and burgers are not unhealthy for us diabetics.
It's carbs that our bodies can't handle too well, sugar is just another carb.
Some carbs like potatoes, rice, pasta and bread are turned into glucose by our bodies very quickly. We have to be careful with fruit and fruit juice though marketed as healthy is packed full of sugar.
Has your husband been told which type of diabetes he has yet.

 

[grovesy]

Welcome.

 

[HOBIE]

Hi there, my husband has just been diagnosed with diabetes with a high sugar reading. The doctor has asked him to try and control it through his diet initially. We are due to see the diabetic nurse in a couple of weeks but in the meantime, are gathering as much info from the site as possible. Our biggest challenge is that my husband is a truck driver and is away in the week living out of his truck. He is generally healthy but has to live on tinned food such as curry, stew, chilli, super noodles etc. we are aware that these are very high in salt and sugar so we are looking for alternative things for him to eat whilst in his truck. I'm going to do some baking this weekend with recipes from the diabetes site which will replace his cereal bars that we now know aren't good for him. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated thank you.

Welcome Lindsey. Tell him to be as active as he possible can. when he is on his break time go for little walks etc. Good luck 🙂

 

[Lindsey collins]

Hi Welcome Is your husband able to do some simple cooking whilst living in his truck and if he can keep food cool enough for a While then things like eggs , bacon , good quality (high meat content) sausages and burgers are not unhealthy for us diabetics.
It's carbs that our bodies can't handle too well, sugar is just another carb.
Some carbs like potatoes, rice, pasta and bread are turned into glucose by our bodies very quickly. We have to be careful with fruit and fruit juice though marketed as healthy is packed full of sugar.
Has your husband been told which type of diabetes he has yet.

Hi there, unfortunately he just has one pan and a single gas burner, just enough to heat things up really. This week I made him a couple of meals which I consider to be healthy for him to warm through (he also only has a tiny fridge to keep things fresh). I also bought him some tuna salad meals, tinned sardines etc. Instead of super noodles which he used to have a lot of, I made him some couscous to take to have with his meals which I thought would be healthier. He doesn't drink fruit juice as this affects his gout, he drinks either plain water or coconut water. For fruit he took apples, tangerines and bananas but am I correct in thinking apples are high in sugar? I also baked him some cereal bars and peanut butter cookies which I got the recipes from the website, these have replaced his cereal bars such as belvitas/trackers etc. He has porridge for breakfast. He is not a steriotypical trucker that you see in the greasy spoon cafes and munching on sweets all the time luckily!! The doctor hasn't told him what type he is - the first blood test he had done a month ago showed low sugar levels but the fasting test he had last week showed high sugar levels so we're still confused! Whilst he's away this week I'm trying to get as much information as possible to help him as we're not booked into the diabetic nurse until the 16th December.

 

[Lindsey collins]

Welcome Lindsey. Tell him to be as active as he possible can. when he is on his break time go for little walks etc. Good luck 🙂

Hi thank you. Yes we've read up on the benefits of exercise. Unfortunately the only time he's out of his truck is when he's dropping or picking up a load. He obviously takes that time to stretch his legs, sometimes but not often he has to help unload the truck. By the time he parks up on an evening its late and dark and often by the time hes made himself something to eat he has to get his head down for an early start and 9 times out of 10 he's parked in some layby on a main carriageway where there's nowhere to go apart from again just to stretch his legs. It's hard for him, he loves walking too and on a weekend we spend lots of time walking our dog 🙂

 

[trophywench]

Well Lindsay, if he's diabetic then it doesn't matter when you test your blood, it will always be high more often than not, until you get it under control. Your body uses insulin every sigle second whilst you are alive - so if there isn't enough of it (like Type 1 when there's not even enough to keep you alive in the first place) - or if there's still enough but your body doesn't deal with it properly (called Insulin Resistance) which is often but not always the case with T2 - then the glucose can't get into the cells so it builds up in the bloodstream (and eventually the organs start dying and the nerves - cos they're being starved, literally in the same way as supergluing your lips shut so your tum can't get any nutrition) I didn't understand it either until I had it explained to me - so don't think it's something you should have known - why would you unless you'd studied it as your specialist subject!

The ONLY way to know what different foods actually do to your own personal blood glucose - is to test before you eat and again afterwards to see what effect it had. He might be OK with an apple - but not a whole banana. Every single one of us is different as to what foods we can tolerate and which we can't. And it's the carbohydrates which the body tries to convert the bulk of to glucose before it starts on the protein and fat cos it's much less work for it to convert carb than the others, and they produce more glucose per gram than the other two - hence it's the carbs wherever they come from - that we all need to watch out for and try to cut down on, initially.

 

[Martin Canty]

Hi Lindsey
I have often wondered what it would be like if I were an OTR Trucker..... One of my friends is & spends pretty much 28 days of the month on the road and in the 3 years he has been doing this has.... Errr... Changed shape somewhat.... So life on the road is not easy from a diet point of view
My thoughts might be:

• for snacks packs of nuts, lots of small flavored packs available now or Biltong (as opposed to Jerky which tends to be higher in carbs)
• Omelets, lots of variety in the ingredients & easy to prepare in one pan
• Home made Stews, easy to reheat

As for the greasy spoons..... They are not all that bad if you avoid the bread & other high carb options like beans or chips

 

[Dave W]

To add to all the good advice already put forward:
Celery and peanut butter makes a nice easy snack as does multigrain ryvita and peanut butter with small pickled onions or pickled gherkin, though there is sugar in the pickles. Some pates are low in sugars - just read the labels. 'No sugar' jellies with a little bit of fruit in them and packed in individual plastic containers make nice sweet treats. Hard boiled eggs are easily stored. Bacon is ok as are good quality sausages (sausages could be cooked at home and reheated). Two or three baby tomatoes with a meal won't hurt. And as Martin has said above, omlettes are great as one can add a good variety of fillings - cheese, mushrooms, veg such as spinach and sweet peppers or if you want to go posh add some smoked salmon.
It will take a bit of time, trial and error, taste it and see, but you and hubby will work out a decent and healthy menu regime that fits your husband's work pattern.

 

[Lindsey collins]

We have our first appointment with the diabetic nurse tomorrow. Things have been quite hard, I think my husband is in denial as he thinks he doesn't have any symptoms and feels ok generally. He's eating as healthy as he can but when he's delving in the biscuit barrel for the chocolate bics it's causing arguments He's been in a lot of pain with his feel this week whilst off work and he's putting it down to his gout but I'm not too sure, hoping the nurse sheds some light on that tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

 

[HOBIE]

Hi Lindsey. Tell him to tell the Nurse or Dr about his feet troubles. Circulation is very important, I drink Diet Tonic Water which helps with circulation. Good luck at Drs 🙂

 

[Dave W]

Lindsey. I hope all goes well with the Doc tomorrow. The thing with diabetes is that one can feel just fine ( I do), but things are happening in one's body that will in due course result in quite serious complications unless the diabetes is tackled and treated by medication and/or diet. The occasional choc biscuit shouldn't do much harm provided it is just one or maybe two and is part of a controlled diet.
Fingers are crossed for you both!