Freshley Diagnosed newbie

[alrobbo]

Hi all

I'm Al, 50 and today was diagnosed with type 2, reading was 94, and straight onto Metformin 500mg twice a day. Also have high cholesterol, so on Atorvastatin as well and to complete the "always come in three's" was also diagnosed with a DVT in my lower left leg, (long haul flight 10 days ago) so on blood thinners for that.... what a couple of days! Positive note, my blood pressure is in the normal range (under 120/80)!

I have made changes since 2020, overweight Middle aged men being more susceptible to covid factors, so took up running (couch to 5k, then to 10k), completing a 20 mile cross country in May. All this has led to losing around 3 stone (was over 18st, now ~15st) which I will loose more when i can get out running again, BMI is ~30/31 so on the over weight/obese border for my height 5'9"

Diet isn't too bad, although will look and make some changes, I will need to cut down on the alcohol, as I was drinking to much, not every day, but most days

It's a bit overwhelming to find out the diagnosis with not much info given, although will be catching up with the nurse to discuss next week and all the info I'm starting to pick up, this Web site and forum have been very helpful, so thanks to all who have posted.

Thanks for reading

Al

 

[Inka]

Welcome @alrobbo 🙂 Well done on your weight loss - that’s great! I hope the blood thinners sort your DVT easily.

You say your diet isn’t too bad, and that’s good. Making a food diary of your pre-diagnosis diet is a useful thing to do as then you can see where you can make changes. These changes will probably be reducing carbs and increasing green veg. It’s carbs - both sweet and savoury - that raise your blood sugar. If you’d like to post an average day’s food for you, you’ll get some suggestions of the kind of changes you can make.

 

[Leadinglights]

Welcome @alrobbo 🙂 Well done on your weight loss - that’s great! I hope the blood thinners sort your DVT easily.

You say your diet isn’t too bad, and that’s good. Making a food diary of your pre-diagnosis diet is a useful thing to do as then you can see where you can make changes. These changes will probably be reducing carbs and increasing green veg. It’s carbs - both sweet and savoury - that raise your blood sugar. If you’d like to post an average day’s food for you, you’ll get some suggestions of the kind of changes you can make.

Many people do think their diet is not too bad and it probably isn't if not diabetic and sadly some of the foods considered healthy are not so if diabetic. Cutting down on alcohol is a good move though some drinks are not too bad, dry wines and spirits with diet mixers for example, it is beer and cider and liqueurs which are high carb.
Losing weight is going to help and as you still want to lose more weight, then you may find this link helpful as it is a low carb approach which many find successful in both losing weight and managing blood glucose. It is based on real foods which may fit in better with family life. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/

 

[alrobbo]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated - its quite daunting to currently have the diagnoses but having to wait over a week to discuss with the practice.

With the alcohol, my beer consumption will not have helped, I do also enjoy a G&T as well, so will be nice to ha e one, but I'm aiming to abstain for a couple of months at least to help get things moving.
With the diet, I do think my love of bread is going to have to change, most evening meals are cooked from scratch with pasta/rice being main carb - I've read conflicting info on whether pasta is good or not, this is the area I need more learning on.
Exercise and weight control are certainly something I will continue with, once my leg is good enough to get back running, so that I'm confident will continue.

One thing the doctor mentioned was that actually loosing the weight I have, could also have impacted the higher glucose levels, anyone had experience of this? I did wonder whether the body is still working on a larger frame and hasn't caught up yet with the change in body mass?

Al

 

[Nige13]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated - its quite daunting to currently have the diagnoses but having to wait over a week to discuss with the practice.

With the alcohol, my beer consumption will not have helped, I do also enjoy a G&T as well, so will be nice to ha e one, but I'm aiming to abstain for a couple of months at least to help get things moving.
With the diet, I do think my love of bread is going to have to change, most evening meals are cooked from scratch with pasta/rice being main carb - I've read conflicting info on whether pasta is good or not, this is the area I need more learning on.
Exercise and weight control are certainly something I will continue with, once my leg is good enough to get back running, so that I'm confident will continue.

One thing the doctor mentioned was that actually loosing the weight I have, could also have impacted the higher glucose levels, anyone had experience of this? I did wonder whether the body is still working on a larger frame and hasn't caught up yet with the change in body mass?

Al

Hi Al

I now buy wholemeal nimble bread its lower in carbs than lots of the others and tastes really good - as for pasta and rice, I never touch it but do get the frozen cauliflower rice from asda and its really good if you dry fry it for a few minutes first with a little olive oil 🙂 even better if you make it into egg fried rice and add lots of veggies.
I've really found the low carb approach is really good and lowered my BS loads 🙂
Good luck and keep at it.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated - its quite daunting to currently have the diagnoses but having to wait over a week to discuss with the practice.

With the alcohol, my beer consumption will not have helped, I do also enjoy a G&T as well, so will be nice to ha e one, but I'm aiming to abstain for a couple of months at least to help get things moving.
With the diet, I do think my love of bread is going to have to change, most evening meals are cooked from scratch with pasta/rice being main carb - I've read conflicting info on whether pasta is good or not, this is the area I need more learning on.
Exercise and weight control are certainly something I will continue with, once my leg is good enough to get back running, so that I'm confident will continue.

One thing the doctor mentioned was that actually loosing the weight I have, could also have impacted the higher glucose levels, anyone had experience of this? I did wonder whether the body is still working on a larger frame and hasn't caught up yet with the change in body mass?

Al

Bread, breakfast cereals, rice and pasta are the big hitters when it comes to carbs as well as the obvious things like cakes, biscuits and sugary drinks.
Some people find they can tolerate a small amount of bread but not rice or pasta whatever the colour, brown has just as many carbs as white. Others will find the opposite. Everybody is individual when it comes to what suits them.
The book or app Carbs and Cals is a good resource for carb values of many foods which would help you make better choices.
If people go down the low carb route than that is suggested as being less than 130g per day. You need to make sure you then have enough protein and healthy fats otherwise you will feel hungry.

 

[Drummer]

I'm afraid that there is really no conflict, if you can't cope with carbs then anything made with grain is not your friend.
I started off with a Hba1c of 91, but I have always known that anything high carb made me feel unwell, so in 6 months I was down to the top end of normal and all seems to be going well and I am approaching 6 years from diagnosis now.

 

[Cherrelle DUK]

Hi alrobbo, welcome to the forum.

Whew, what a few weeks you've had! It's natural to feel overwhelmed with all that you have going on but you seem to have the right support in place hopefully you'll see improvements in a few months time.

I actually just saw an ad for pea based pasta... not idea how good it is but thought it's mention it as I know how hard it can be to give up your staples completely. As mentioned above, there are a lot of things that are labelled as healthy which can be problematic for diabetics so do have a look on the forum, test and let us know if we can help in any way.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi alrobbo, welcome to the forum.

Whew, what a few weeks you've had! It's natural to feel overwhelmed with all that you have going on but you seem to have the right support in place hopefully you'll see improvements in a few months time.

I actually just saw an ad for pea based pasta... not idea how good it is but thought it's mention it as I know how hard it can be to give up your staples completely. As mentioned above, there are a lot of things that are labelled as healthy which can be problematic for diabetics so do have a look on the forum, test and let us know if we can help in any way.

I think pea and lentil based pasta is lower than wheat pasta but not as low as the bean based ones.

 

[alrobbo]

Thanks again for your replies, encouraging messages and suggestions. As it's still early days, I'm looking at the food labels and the carb/sugar content with a nervous 'should I/ shouldn't I' !

I'm sure I'll get there with my diet and once I'm more confident, still enjoy some of my favourite foods, but in moderation

 

[Deleted member 21371]

Thanks for the replies, much appreciated - its quite daunting to currently have the diagnoses but having to wait over a week to discuss with the practice.

With the alcohol, my beer consumption will not have helped, I do also enjoy a G&T as well, so will be nice to ha e one, but I'm aiming to abstain for a couple of months at least to help get things moving.
With the diet, I do think my love of bread is going to have to change, most evening meals are cooked from scratch with pasta/rice being main carb - I've read conflicting info on whether pasta is good or not, this is the area I need more learning on.
Exercise and weight control are certainly something I will continue with, once my leg is good enough to get back running, so that I'm confident will continue.

One thing the doctor mentioned was that actually loosing the weight I have, could also have impacted the higher glucose levels, anyone had experience of this? I did wonder whether the body is still working on a larger frame and hasn't caught up yet with the change in body mass?

Al

Losing weight was definitely the key for reversing my diabetes.
Have a look for the Newcastle Diet.