Hi
@wolfcub83, sorry to come a little late to your thread, welcome to the forum
🙂 As you may have noticed, I've removed some of the responses because I don't think they are appropriate in your situation and feel you may be becoming overwhelmed and overloaded by conflicting information when there is already a lot you are having to take in!
So, what I would suggest is a little pause so you can take time to absorb everything that you have learned so far. Diabetes is a serious condition, but it is manageable and you don't have to completely change things overnight. Think of it more as a marathon than a sprint - you need to discover what works for you at your own pace so that you fully understand why those changes are necessary, so you can see how they are helping you, and in order to make them sustainable. Radically altering everything may work for some people, but it may be 'too much, too soon' for many others.
It helps to understand what diabetes is all about, and there is an excellent book,
Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker, which will explain things and guide you through these early months. You may also like to read
Jennifer's Advice and
Maggie Davey's letter, which are both well-respected introductions to diabetes and how it can be managed well. Others have suggested testing your levels before and after eating, and it is probably the best method available for working out what foods you tolerate well and what you may need to reduce or replace in your diet. All carbohydrates will raise blood sugar levels, but how much they rise, and how quickly, can be a very individual thing, so it's helpful to know your own particular tolerances so you can retain maximum flexibility in your diet. A good example is porridge - some people find they are fine having this for breakfast, others find it raises their levels far too much, and too quickly! Using a meter helps determine what happens in your own case - the process is explained well in
Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S . If you don't currently have a meter then it is worth funding your own whilst you experiment with your diet - he cheapest option we have come across is the
SD Codefree Meter which has
test strips at around £8 for 50. A useful approach to finding foods that have a slow, steady impact on blood glucose levels is the GL (Glycaemic Load) diet -
The GL Diet for Dummies is a very good introduction which I found very helpful when I was diagnosed.
Please let us know if you have any questions and we will be happy to help. No question is 'silly' - it's a complicated business at times, so if something is confusing or worrying you, please ask
🙂
