Advice from dietician

[lordburnside]

Well so far after the usual breakfast but with toast I have spiked at least 4 points higher.
Had fish and chips(half portion) and managed 14.6!
So back to my low carb diet. I was going to put the Hovis in the freezer but will put it out for the birds.

My dietitian was worried about ketosis which is his reason for 100-200g of carbs. My readings have been high lately so the sooner I am back to readings 5,6 or 7 the better.

 

[lordburnside]

i asked my DN why she hadn’t sent me to an NHS class and she said its because all her patients were being given incorrect information and she had to re-educate them, so just a waste of time. She told me to eat around 60g of carbs. I couldn’t possibly eat the amount of carbs you’ve been advised, without taking huge amounts of insulin. I didn’t even eat 130 carbs a day before I was diagnosed. Just carry on with what works for you.

I think low carb and reasonable portion size is the answer. I can get away with a little pasta but bread is really bad. Since I have been without bread for a couple of months trying it again was disappointing. Its cotton wool! Little flavour and bad for the BG. I tried beans for a while which was a good substitute for potatoes but I usually eat the whole can which is 40g + carbs.
I would just like a bit more choice! Breakfast is either fruit yoghirt and nuts or bacon and scrambled egg. Lunch is salad, Dinner is chicken breast/steak with beans/veg. Its all healthy but slightly boring. Recipes are too much trouble and celeriac has no taste in chip form. I have a few low carbs recipe books but its a lot of fuss.

 

[louisew]

I think low carb and reasonable portion size is the answer. I can get away with a little pasta but bread is really bad. Since I have been without bread for a couple of months trying it again was disappointing. Its cotton wool! Little flavour and bad for the BG. I tried beans for a while which was a good substitute for potatoes but I usually eat the whole can which is 40g + carbs.
I would just like a bit more choice! Breakfast is either fruit yoghirt and nuts or bacon and scrambled egg. Lunch is salad, Dinner is chicken breast/steak with beans/veg. Its all healthy but slightly boring. Recipes are too much trouble and celeriac has no taste in chip form. I have a few low carbs recipe books but its a lot of fuss.

I never really ate bread anyway but I buy low carb rolls from heylo and keep a supply in freezer. Also cinnamon and raisin bread and bagels. Peanut butter including cocoa ones, any cheese. I buy carbzone wraps, for fajitas and takeaway kebabs, quesadillas and enchiladas. I roast peppers, onions, courgettes and squash which is a lovely substitute for potatoes, frozen cauliflower rice for normal curries, I like slim rice - sticky for thai green curries. I make a lovely paella with carbzone rice. https://www.ocado.com/products/picard-vegetable-gratins-352520011?from=favourites&tags=|20000¶m=browse&parentContainer=FAVS
These are a tasty substitute for potato also.
Ocado is my go to for low carb. Just put in low carb in search. You can get carbzone products there too. You can eat chinese, stir fried meat and veg, chop suey, egg dishes are all fine. Ooh and Tapas, olives cheese, meat etc is good for a change at lunch

 

[helli]

Since I have been without bread for a couple of months trying it again was disappointing. Its cotton wool! Little flavour and bad for the BG

Sadly, this tasteless cottonwool is what most supermarket bread is like.
I am sorry you found bread spike your BG because, since baking my own bread, I have realised bread can have a great flavour and texture with nothing more than flour yeast, water and a bit of time.

 

[lordburnside]

I never really ate bread anyway but I buy low carb rolls from heylo and keep a supply in freezer. Also cinnamon and raisin bread and bagels. Peanut butter including cocoa ones, any cheese. I buy carbzone wraps, for fajitas and takeaway kebabs, quesadillas and enchiladas. I roast peppers, onions, courgettes and squash which is a lovely substitute for potatoes, frozen cauliflower rice for normal curries, I like slim rice - sticky for thai green curries. I make a lovely paella with carbzone rice. https://www.ocado.com/products/picard-vegetable-gratins-352520011?from=favourites&tags=|20000¶m=browse&parentContainer=FAVS
These are a tasty substitute for potato also.
Ocado is my go to for low carb. Just put in low carb in search. You can get carbzone products there too. You can eat chinese, stir fried meat and veg, chop suey, egg dishes are all fine. Ooh and Tapas, olives cheese, meat etc is good for a change at lunch

Thanks for the info. I will look at Ocado. I am a fairly lazy cook. If it takes more than half an hour it has to be a Sunday!

 

[s'nic]

If you like the flavours / ingredients you can do a fast food hack with a can of Ratatouille (tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines and peppers)
Just add your choice of protein, and any other veg you want (either bung it in, or serve the extra veg alongside)

 

[lordburnside]

If you like the flavours / ingredients you can do a fast food hack with a can of Ratatouille (tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines and peppers)
Just add your choice of protein, and any other veg you want (either bung it in, or serve the extra veg alongside)

Thats a good idea. I buy some tomorrow and give it a go once I have squinted ove rthe label - as you do.

 

[s'nic]

Thats a good idea. I buy some tomorrow and give it a go once I have squinted ove rthe label - as you do.

Check other cans as well, like a lentil based bolognese, lentil ragu etc (in the vegetarian sections of cans generally). Again you can add a protein & veg or serve your additions alongside.
I like time saving food hacks

 

[Dragonheart]

My dietitian was worried about ketosis which is his reason for 100-200g of carbs. My readings have been high lately so the sooner I am back to readings 5,6 or 7 the better.

Unless you are on an sglt2 I can’t see why that would be a concern.

I strongly suspect he is mixing up diabetic ketoacidosis with nutritional ketosis (which is unlikely at anything above 50g a day anyway) 🙄 And I’d love to hear what he thinks is wrong with nutritional ketosis

 

[Leadinglights]

Thats a good idea. I buy some tomorrow and give it a go once I have squinted ove rthe label - as you do.

I absolutely love ratatouille, home made the tinned stuff is far to acidic, but my other half hates it with a passion even though he like all the ingredients just not all together. When he was in hospital I took advantage and made a big pot which kept me going for days.

 

[JITR]

Some say the best ratatouille depends on cooking the ingredients separately. Every one happy.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hopefully your experiments will reassure you that you can include a few things here and there for flexibility @lordburnside (eg a few more breakfast options) while retaining your excellent glucose management overall. 🙂

 

[Drummer]

Well so far after the usual breakfast but with toast I have spiked at least 4 points higher.
Had fish and chips(half portion) and managed 14.6!
So back to my low carb diet. I was going to put the Hovis in the freezer but will put it out for the birds.

My dietitian was worried about ketosis which is his reason for 100-200g of carbs. My readings have been high lately so the sooner I am back to readings 5,6 or 7 the better.

But ketosis is what you want - the dietician seems to be a bit of a numpty.
I stick to low carbing, because it seems to work really well - I could maybe do 200gm in a week and be happily in normal numbers.

 

[Martin.A]

But ketosis is what you want - the dietician seems to be a bit of a numpty.

Is the dietician confusing ketosis with ketoacidosis, I wonder?

 

[Clare153]

I'm very new to this lark, so could be very wrong in what I say. But, I'm already annoying my practise nurse team by dancing to my own tune!

I had a stupidly high hba1c on diagnosis, with many people on here telling me to go directly to hospital to seek help, do not pass go.

2 months later I have been 100% in range (4- 10) according to my dexcom (paid for by myself and very much not approved of by the less experienced of the practise nurses), for the last three days having adjusted my own tablets and worked out how my body reacts to the tablets and carbs by continuous monitoring and trial and error. They couldn't argue with my dose adjustments as the results spoke for themselves, I used NICE guidelines and followed BNF guidelines to do it. No hypos and an average bs of 6 - 7 - at its worse 8ish weeks ago it was 31.4 on a finger prick.

I lost all faith in the practise nurse when she said that without the dexcom I wouldn't have known the extent of it and that would have been better. I'm sure I would have agreed right up to the point where my legs fell off and I went blind.

This isn't something I would advise someone else to do, but my point is that the advice I've been given was rubbish, and I've done it my way. I shall go to my booked dietician appointment but not follow it verbatim, take what will help and politely ignore the rest. Being able to afford to get the dexcom was a game changed in terms of learning for me, but I appreciate that this is a luxury that not everyone can afford.

 

[s'nic]

@Clare153 for those who have confidence in both their research and self monitoring skills, then the best tune to dance to is your own. It seems that medical professionals often give advice that contradicts members experience with their own diabetes. It's good to hear that your research paid off 🙂

 

[PerSpinasAdAstra]

I'm very new to this lark, so could be very wrong in what I say. But, I'm already annoying my practise nurse team by dancing to my own tune!

I had a stupidly high hba1c on diagnosis, with many people on here telling me to go directly to hospital to seek help, do not pass go.

2 months later I have been 100% in range (4- 10) according to my dexcom (paid for by myself and very much not approved of by the less experienced of the practise nurses), for the last three days having adjusted my own tablets and worked out how my body reacts to the tablets and carbs by continuous monitoring and trial and error. They couldn't argue with my dose adjustments as the results spoke for themselves, I used NICE guidelines and followed BNF guidelines to do it. No hypos and an average bs of 6 - 7 - at its worse 8ish weeks ago it was 31.4 on a finger prick.

I lost all faith in the practise nurse when she said that without the dexcom I wouldn't have known the extent of it and that would have been better. I'm sure I would have agreed right up to the point where my legs fell off and I went blind.

This isn't something I would advise someone else to do, but my point is that the advice I've been given was rubbish, and I've done it my way. I shall go to my booked dietician appointment but not follow it verbatim, take what will help and politely ignore the rest. Being able to afford to get the dexcom was a game changed in terms of learning for me, but I appreciate that this is a luxury that not everyone can afford

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I know nothing (seriously! nothing!) This is not medical advice.

I'm extremely impressed if I'm honest. Going from a HbA1c of 116 in May to an average BG level of 6 to 7 mmol/L two months later is an epic achievement! Seriously, 'epic' is the word! You are entirely correct that this is not something that is advisable for someone else to attempt. To achieve what you have achieved, accurately, and safely, in such a short a space of time takes extraordinary capability, learning and commitment. I won't even ask what meds you're on as providing an answer might result in attempts at emulation by others, perhaps with very much less-favourable results.

My (amateur) advice would be first: stay safe. Learn as much as you can about the meds you're using and how that relates to meal-by-meal carb intake. Once checked, and double checked, once entirely confident that you know how to control your BG levels extremely well, and in the event that you might wish to adjust your diet for the purpose of weight loss, watch this video (if you're not already familiar): Link

That's a long interview with Prof Roy Taylor of Newcastle University, a professor of medicine, diabetologist, and a diabetes researcher. He has several theories on the subject of Type 2 diabetes. Some of them are very well proven, some not quite so much in my opinion. He's both a hero to me and a minor menace. I have an email from him which includes a sentence which begins with the words: 'As you no longer have Type 2 diabetes....' The email I sent was in relation to a query about cholesterol medications and their secondary effects, and I most definitely am still diabetic. I've watched maybe three or four interview videos from him and have read his book. The other videos and the book provide additional information in the form of anecdotes, small details and graphs/images from studies, but they add nothing critical to the video I linked other than context and confirmation of very many of his claims.

If you have weight to lose, if overweight or obese, I would recommend taking Taylor's advice seriously. His approach works wonders for many a Type 2. Not all - Type 2 is extremely complex with myriad genetic factors involved. If you're not especially overweight there is some indication his advice might still be useful your case - Link

The practise nurse spends her days dealing with people who just want to take some pills and go home. The typical advice is heavily influenced by what a typical person might be willing to do following a typical diagnosis. Don't judge her too harshly - in her experience, a person like you might be a once in a year, or maybe even a once in a decade experience.

Very best of luck!

 

[Nayshiftin]

I changed and went with their advice . Took their meds and now back to diet alone.
I have suffered not going low carb .
I am back on it and even yesterday it was coming down nicely.
yesterday it was 14.4 mmol in the morning highest was 16.1 and it was 9.8 at bedtime
today thats down to 10.9 on getting up and still high but lower than yesterday.
I am working on it .
Not having low carb did not work for me.