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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Newly Diagnosed
- Thread starter Kess1956
- Start date
- Status
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Welcome to the forum. This is a good place to be as you will find lots of useful information to support you in making some lifestyle changes which will help bring down your blood glucose and lose weight, how much work you will need to do will depend on what your HbA1C is so hopefully you were told that.
Many find a low carbohydrate approach successful and you may therefore find this link helpful in giving you lots of information and some menu plans or you can just follow the principals and do your own thing. It is regime based on the suggested no more than 130g per day carbohydrates not just sugar.
Freshwell Low Carb Project - Home
lowcarbfreshwell.com
Docb
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi @Kess1956 and welcome to the forum. There is a lot of lived experience of diabetes in all its forms on the forum and so ask any questions you might have and members will be along to give you ideas. As @Leadinglights says, it is good to know where you are starting from and the result of the HbA1c test that led to the diagnosis will tell you that so do you know what that was?
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Welcome to the forum @Kess1956
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but well done on your determination to spring into action 🙂
One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with your diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. That's not to say that you have to try to avoid all those things entirely, but choosing the right sources of carbs, and getting portion sizes right can be an extremely effective tactic.
Many new members find it can be really helpful to keep a brutally honest food diary for a week or two. Note down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content in your meals and snacks - it doesn’t have to be gram-perfect, the nearest 5-10g is fine. It might sound like a bit of a faff, and will involve weighing portions, squinting at the fine print on packaging, and possibly looking up things on the internet, but it will give you a really good idea of which foods are the main sources of carbs in your menu.
Once you can see which meals or snacks are your ‘big hitters’, and where carbs might be unexpectedly lurking, your diary might highlight some likely candidates for swaps, portion reductions, or using lower carb alternatives (eg celeriac or swede mash, or cauli ‘rice’).
For a good grounding in the basics of T2, you might want to register for an account with the Learning Zone (the orange tab in the main menu) which is packed full of informative bite-sized modules.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but well done on your determination to spring into action 🙂
One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with your diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. That's not to say that you have to try to avoid all those things entirely, but choosing the right sources of carbs, and getting portion sizes right can be an extremely effective tactic.
Many new members find it can be really helpful to keep a brutally honest food diary for a week or two. Note down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content in your meals and snacks - it doesn’t have to be gram-perfect, the nearest 5-10g is fine. It might sound like a bit of a faff, and will involve weighing portions, squinting at the fine print on packaging, and possibly looking up things on the internet, but it will give you a really good idea of which foods are the main sources of carbs in your menu.
Once you can see which meals or snacks are your ‘big hitters’, and where carbs might be unexpectedly lurking, your diary might highlight some likely candidates for swaps, portion reductions, or using lower carb alternatives (eg celeriac or swede mash, or cauli ‘rice’).
For a good grounding in the basics of T2, you might want to register for an account with the Learning Zone (the orange tab in the main menu) which is packed full of informative bite-sized modules.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂
Alan44
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hi @Kess1956 and welcome to the group.
I, like you was diagnosed with T2 by text on my phone and directed to this site and basicity told "go cure yourself" and come back in 3 months for another blood test.
My HbA1c was 51 so as others have said it would be good to knows yours to give a starting point.
Having read a lot on here, I set myself 3 targets to start with.
1) Weight
2) Diet
3) Exercise
All 3 will depend on your personal circumstances ie, how much weight can you lose, what diet suits you and how much exercise you can safely do.
Alan 😉
I, like you was diagnosed with T2 by text on my phone and directed to this site and basicity told "go cure yourself" and come back in 3 months for another blood test.
My HbA1c was 51 so as others have said it would be good to knows yours to give a starting point.
Having read a lot on here, I set myself 3 targets to start with.
1) Weight
2) Diet
3) Exercise
All 3 will depend on your personal circumstances ie, how much weight can you lose, what diet suits you and how much exercise you can safely do.
Alan 😉
Hi good luck I'm in the same process,I've just bought a blood sugar monitor online and testing my level every morning atm I'm 6.6 I think it's supposed to be below 5 to get a normal level so I'm going to stop eating at 6 in the evening,I'd be grateful for some advice on how to lower these levels,thank you
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The morning readings are the last to come down as the liver will release glucose to give you energy to start the day and for your organs to function and the longer it it since food the more likely that is to be the case. The way of getting readings down is to make sure the increase from meals in no more than 2-3mmol/l and be 4-7 before eating and no more than 8mmol/l 2 hours after eating which is why people check that in order to make sure they are tolerating the amount of carbs in their meals.
Some good ideas for meals in the Freshwell linkhttps://lowcarbfreshwell.com/ which many find successful.
Alan44
Moderator
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- He/Him
@sunnydays
From what I know
+7 and above = Diabetic
5.6 to 6.9 = Pre diabetic
below 5.6 = normal
I you wish to lower your 6.6 it has to be a combination of diet, exercise and weight loss, I doubt just not eating after 6pm will achieve what you want.
Alan 😉
From what I know
+7 and above = Diabetic
5.6 to 6.9 = Pre diabetic
below 5.6 = normal
I you wish to lower your 6.6 it has to be a combination of diet, exercise and weight loss, I doubt just not eating after 6pm will achieve what you want.
Alan 😉
stephenS50
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I found that controlling blood glucose was all that was required. My weight did reduce quite a lot, but that was - I believe - because I reduced my intake of sugar and starch until my after meal levels were under 8mmol/l and that allowed normality to return to my metabolism.
At diagnosis I was very overweight as I had followed high carb diet advice, and although I did not realise just how low and unwell my normality was, I have felt several decades younger than my actual age ever since getting back to a normal HbA1c at 6 months from diagnosis.
Martin.A
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- In remission from Type 2
I'd read that 7.8 and above is diabetes, and 7.0 to 7.7 is pre-diabetes? However, as someone once said, recollections may vary.
NewDawn
Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- At risk of diabetes
- Pronouns
- He/Him
First, welcome. You have come to the right place and you are among the most fantastic and knowledgeable friends. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic a few weeks ago and I cannot speak highly enough of the members of this site. @everydayupsanddowns, in particular, is a mine of valuable advice and I see that he has already weighed in.
The following thoughts are very personal to me and my sort-it-immediately personality.
A wise man once said "If you don't measure it, you can't manage it". At the very least you need to be doing the Fingerprick tests. Once you have got the hang of those, you can get one Constant Glucose Monitor for free here: https://www.freestyle.abbott/uk-en/getting-started/sampling.html. This will give you all the data you need to see what food causes what Blood Glucose reaction.
It will even provide you with a very detailed report including average BG and estimated HbA1c. But you only get one free, it lasts for 15 days (in theory, mine started to die after 10) and they are £50 a pop after that. So the key question is when you use it. And this depends partly on how you plan to attack your diagnosis. I threw everything I had at it. My BMI was 21.6 and I already exercised a lot so it had to be diet.
Within 24 hours, I had yanked out all the carb I could with the exception of porridge. Breakfast cereal, golden syrup, toast, rice and pasta plus a mountain of energy bars were replaced by fruit, yogurt, cauliflower rice plus trail mix. Three days later, my 2-hour after food FP test was below pre-diabetic levels. Six days later, my average BG was down to 5.2 and I had lost 2 kg without ever feeling hungry.
The monitor allowed me to see what food did what to my BG and gave me confidence that my HbA1c was heading back to where it needed to be. As something of a nerd, I really got into watching the BG ups and downs (sad I know) and diving into the detailed reports. It also gave me the confidence to add complex carbohydrate back into my diet because the weight loss was becoming a concern.
I am not for a minute suggesting that your path to where you want to be will be as simple as mine or even possible. I was just pre-diabetic, you have been diagnosed as diabetic (as @Docb says, it would be handy to know what your HbA1c is to see how much work you have to do). But you have weapons I didn't if you could comfortably lose weight and do more exercise.
All the best.
The following thoughts are very personal to me and my sort-it-immediately personality.
A wise man once said "If you don't measure it, you can't manage it". At the very least you need to be doing the Fingerprick tests. Once you have got the hang of those, you can get one Constant Glucose Monitor for free here: https://www.freestyle.abbott/uk-en/getting-started/sampling.html. This will give you all the data you need to see what food causes what Blood Glucose reaction.
It will even provide you with a very detailed report including average BG and estimated HbA1c. But you only get one free, it lasts for 15 days (in theory, mine started to die after 10) and they are £50 a pop after that. So the key question is when you use it. And this depends partly on how you plan to attack your diagnosis. I threw everything I had at it. My BMI was 21.6 and I already exercised a lot so it had to be diet.
Within 24 hours, I had yanked out all the carb I could with the exception of porridge. Breakfast cereal, golden syrup, toast, rice and pasta plus a mountain of energy bars were replaced by fruit, yogurt, cauliflower rice plus trail mix. Three days later, my 2-hour after food FP test was below pre-diabetic levels. Six days later, my average BG was down to 5.2 and I had lost 2 kg without ever feeling hungry.
The monitor allowed me to see what food did what to my BG and gave me confidence that my HbA1c was heading back to where it needed to be. As something of a nerd, I really got into watching the BG ups and downs (sad I know) and diving into the detailed reports. It also gave me the confidence to add complex carbohydrate back into my diet because the weight loss was becoming a concern.
I am not for a minute suggesting that your path to where you want to be will be as simple as mine or even possible. I was just pre-diabetic, you have been diagnosed as diabetic (as @Docb says, it would be handy to know what your HbA1c is to see how much work you have to do). But you have weapons I didn't if you could comfortably lose weight and do more exercise.
All the best.
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