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Just been diagnosed with T2 so is the best way forward is not to eat any carbs... I eat a sandwich thin every day...do I need to stop that.. thanks
- Thread starter Bmbz
- Start date
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Kaylz
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Nobody can answer that as we don't know what you as the individual you are can tolerate, everyone tolerates different amounts and types of carbs
To see if it needs to be rethought you'd need to test before eating and then again 2 hours after looking for no more than a 2-3mmol rise in blood glucose xx
To see if it needs to be rethought you'd need to test before eating and then again 2 hours after looking for no more than a 2-3mmol rise in blood glucose xx
Thank you for your response
Docb
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi @Bmbz and welcome to the forum. There is a lot to get your head round with a new T2 diagnosis and one of the first things to understand is the idea of cutting out carbs altogether is not only unnecessary but is to all intents and purposes unachievable! Just about everything you eat contains some carbohydrate, some things not very much and some quite a lot and as Kaylz says, you are far better thinking about controlling the amount of carbohydrate you eat.
Having got that sorted, the second thing to understand is that there are no magic rules which, if followed, will make all things well again. The reality is that there are general principles but how you use those principles depends very much on you and how your body works. Read around the forum and you will find that the general principle of reducing carb intake is used by most, but there is a right old mixture of ways we have gone about it. Some go to very low carb with a wholesale change in diet. Others have done a bit of tweaking - removing a few things maybe and adjusting portion sizes on other things - simply to reduce carb intake to levels that their system can cope with. You need to find out what will suit you.
I think a good starting point is to understand how far up the diabetes ladder you are. You will have been diagnosed from the results of blood tests measuring your HbA1c level. Do you know what those results were? If you don't then ring up your GP surgery and ask for them for the numbers. If you are just over the diagnosis level then a few tweaks might do but if you are along way over than something a bit more drastic might be in order.
To come back to your question about the sandwich......
If you make them yourself, then think about the bread. Look on the packaging and see how much carbohydrate is in it. Look at other breads and you will see that there can be quite a variation in carb level. If your bread is in the higher carb bracket, then try something with less carbs. If you buy a sandwich then start looking at the packaging and seek out the lower carb options.
Above all, ask questions here on the forum and we will do our best to help you find a way through the maze. We all get it because we have all been where you are now. Most of us have found a way out and are more than happy to help you find your solution.
Having got that sorted, the second thing to understand is that there are no magic rules which, if followed, will make all things well again. The reality is that there are general principles but how you use those principles depends very much on you and how your body works. Read around the forum and you will find that the general principle of reducing carb intake is used by most, but there is a right old mixture of ways we have gone about it. Some go to very low carb with a wholesale change in diet. Others have done a bit of tweaking - removing a few things maybe and adjusting portion sizes on other things - simply to reduce carb intake to levels that their system can cope with. You need to find out what will suit you.
I think a good starting point is to understand how far up the diabetes ladder you are. You will have been diagnosed from the results of blood tests measuring your HbA1c level. Do you know what those results were? If you don't then ring up your GP surgery and ask for them for the numbers. If you are just over the diagnosis level then a few tweaks might do but if you are along way over than something a bit more drastic might be in order.
To come back to your question about the sandwich......
If you make them yourself, then think about the bread. Look on the packaging and see how much carbohydrate is in it. Look at other breads and you will see that there can be quite a variation in carb level. If your bread is in the higher carb bracket, then try something with less carbs. If you buy a sandwich then start looking at the packaging and seek out the lower carb options.
Above all, ask questions here on the forum and we will do our best to help you find a way through the maze. We all get it because we have all been where you are now. Most of us have found a way out and are more than happy to help you find your solution.
Thank you for your response
Yes 93
Inka
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Ok, so well into the diabetic range. That will probably mean you do need to make a few changes. A good starting place is to write a few diary for a few days of what you’d normally eat. Then go through and look at improvements you can make. You may well need to reduce carbs. You can replace them with green veg or salad, etc.
Think of it as making positive changes rather than depriving yourself.
Thank you
As others have said it's very individual what people can tolerate. However, I would say 4 or 5 times a week my other half has a wholemeal sandwich thin for lunch and he had just seen a significant drop in HbA1c result. You'll need to test yourself to see if you can also tolerate this amount of carbs but it is possible that you might.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Well - Warburtons sandwich thins are 18.6g carb apiece whether white or brown so that's more than one slice of large medium sliced 50/50 bread cos they are 17.5g each so there's no advantage whatsoever eating them instead of normal bread, as far as diabetes is concerned.
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I just had to google "sandwich thins" 🙄 Never heard of them!
Thank you for your resy
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
@Bmbz I was diagnosed with Hba1c of 91, but soon got things back to normal - I cut out all the high carb foods I'd been advised to eat and got my carbs from fresh plants, still do even after almost 5 years now.
Salads and low carb stir fry, curries with steamed cauliflower, roughly chopped instead of the rice, cauliflower cheese is good when made from just cauliflower and cheese, plus herbs or spices. I have berries for fruit - some mixes of frozen are well below 10 percent carbs. All the carb containing foods I choose to eat bring along with them vitamins and minerals.
Salads and low carb stir fry, curries with steamed cauliflower, roughly chopped instead of the rice, cauliflower cheese is good when made from just cauliflower and cheese, plus herbs or spices. I have berries for fruit - some mixes of frozen are well below 10 percent carbs. All the carb containing foods I choose to eat bring along with them vitamins and minerals.
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As has been said its individual me personally can have sandwithch thins no problem and pittas (just) but can't tolerate 'normal' breads not even the no added sugar 9g carb(per slice) Warburtons and definitely not rolls of any kind, strange but thats me. The best bet is to test then make changes if needed. Good luck and I hope you find something suitable for yourself.
Docb
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi @Bmbz. Are you getting anything from the replies to your question?
Your HbA1c result of 91 is up in the uncomfortable range and if it is not brought down you are increasing the risk of having problems in the long term that you could well do without. Getting back to normal is not impossible, lots of members have got down from initial readings well above that, but it does take a bit of determination and working out the best way for you to get there. My opinion is that it will take a bit more than worrying about what bread you use for your lunchtime sandwich.
There are four things you can think about:
1. Your weight. If you are overweight (and not all T2's are overweight) then the evidence that losing weight is a good thing is very good. No guarantees that it will work but it is a very good bet.
2. Diet. Much of the glucose in your system comes from the carbohydrate you eat. Eating less carbohydrate generally creates lower blood glucose levels and if done wisely it can also reduce calories and help with weight loss. It's another good bet.
3. Exercise. Plenty of anecdotal evidence that regular exercise can play a part in getting blood glucose levels down as well as improving other things.
4. Medication. At your level I would expect your GP to start you on medication. There are medications that have been shown to be very effective in treatment of T2 which, if suitable for you, that can be used to control your blood glucose whilst you get the other things sorted.
It needs a bit of thinking about because you are looking for things that you can work with in the long term but I am sure that there will be a way forward for you to get you blood glucose back down to "normal" levels.
By the way... I came to the forum knowing little and very confused and at times some comments and counter comments of members only added to the confusion. Nevertheless, I took it all in and extracted the general principles I have outlined above and worked out my own way. So, I lost a bit of weight (wasn't overweight in the first place), rejigged my diet to cut back on carbohydrate without doing anything special, made more time for exercise and take minimum dosage of standard medications having started on higher doses. It brought my HbA1c down from 80 odd to a solid 40 with no great disruption to my life. I'm content with that but appreciate that it might not suit everybody.
Your HbA1c result of 91 is up in the uncomfortable range and if it is not brought down you are increasing the risk of having problems in the long term that you could well do without. Getting back to normal is not impossible, lots of members have got down from initial readings well above that, but it does take a bit of determination and working out the best way for you to get there. My opinion is that it will take a bit more than worrying about what bread you use for your lunchtime sandwich.
There are four things you can think about:
1. Your weight. If you are overweight (and not all T2's are overweight) then the evidence that losing weight is a good thing is very good. No guarantees that it will work but it is a very good bet.
2. Diet. Much of the glucose in your system comes from the carbohydrate you eat. Eating less carbohydrate generally creates lower blood glucose levels and if done wisely it can also reduce calories and help with weight loss. It's another good bet.
3. Exercise. Plenty of anecdotal evidence that regular exercise can play a part in getting blood glucose levels down as well as improving other things.
4. Medication. At your level I would expect your GP to start you on medication. There are medications that have been shown to be very effective in treatment of T2 which, if suitable for you, that can be used to control your blood glucose whilst you get the other things sorted.
It needs a bit of thinking about because you are looking for things that you can work with in the long term but I am sure that there will be a way forward for you to get you blood glucose back down to "normal" levels.
By the way... I came to the forum knowing little and very confused and at times some comments and counter comments of members only added to the confusion. Nevertheless, I took it all in and extracted the general principles I have outlined above and worked out my own way. So, I lost a bit of weight (wasn't overweight in the first place), rejigged my diet to cut back on carbohydrate without doing anything special, made more time for exercise and take minimum dosage of standard medications having started on higher doses. It brought my HbA1c down from 80 odd to a solid 40 with no great disruption to my life. I'm content with that but appreciate that it might not suit everybody.
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Gwynn
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I'm with Docb on this. Good suggestions. Determination is very important once you know 'which way is up'.
It took me about a month of reading, listening, to find a good way forwards. Then set a few longer and shorter term goals. Then the determination was set to drive to those goals.
I wish there was a set of rules that people could apply but everyone is different so the individual rules are different but the overall principles outlined by Docb do seem to apply to many (?) T2s.
My own HbA1c of 140 at diagnosis is now a steady 34 but it took some consistent work to get there
It took me about a month of reading, listening, to find a good way forwards. Then set a few longer and shorter term goals. Then the determination was set to drive to those goals.
I wish there was a set of rules that people could apply but everyone is different so the individual rules are different but the overall principles outlined by Docb do seem to apply to many (?) T2s.
My own HbA1c of 140 at diagnosis is now a steady 34 but it took some consistent work to get there
I am with Docb too. Sensible, down to earth advice.
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