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High blood glucose

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Fifi240

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I can’t get my BG below 12 and once I’ve eaten it goes up to 16 I have only just started out on the diabetes journey and struggling to find motivation to change my diet any suggestions
 
Fifi240 said:
I can’t get my BG below 12 and once I’ve eaten it goes up to 16 I have only just started out on the diabetes journey and struggling to find motivation to change my diet any suggestions
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Well you have answered your own question really haven't you? You need to change your diet and if you can do some more exercise. Bottom line is only you can make changes and it's you that benefits at the end of the day 🙂
 
Hi @Fifi240,
It can be really hard to change habits into newer healthier ones, but you've made the right first move by reaching out on the forum! I would recommend small baby steps - can you look at one section of your day (morning/evening meal/lunchtime) and make one change to improve things? Then build on it bit by bit - it will soon add up! Keep us all posted about how you get on.
 
Hi @Fifi240 - Can you tell us more about how you came to be diagnosed and a bit more about you? That way we can perhaps be the support you need to empower yourself to make the changes you need to make.
 
I
Fifi240 said:
I can’t get my BG below 12 and once I’ve eaten it goes up to 16 I have only just started out on the diabetes journey and struggling to find motivation to change my diet any suggestions
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When i was diagnosed initially, it frightened me so much that i straight away tried to find out as much as i could about diabetes and what i could do. The diagnosis itself was my motivation. We all have days where we find it harder than others but there is loads of support on here. All i can say is take one day at a time, experiment with food to see what might cause spikes in your levels. There are loads of recipes around that are low carb and tasty.
 
Only you can motivate yourself @Fifi240 Do you know what’s stopping you? Are you feeling down about things?
 
Well generally I feel more miserable and less able to cope with anything much if my blood glucose is too high for a while, so generally that motivates me cos I want to feel better about everything and more able to cope with everyday life - and taking myself in hand to reduce my BG always helps me do that.

I hate being miserable!
 
Fifi240 said:
I’m not motivated at all and think things can carry on as normal
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But things have changed and if its not controlled there are lots of complications. As others have said, only you can motivate yourself. Is there anyone you can talk to about how you're feeling? We all feel down and unmotivated at times when dealing with this so just take it a day at a time
 
Fifi240 said:
I’m not motivated at all and think things can carry on as normal
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I hope you have a good funeral plan then :(
It's a case of your life is in your hands, and only you can improve things. The outcome for uncontrolled diabetes is a slow painful death. Which includes kidney failure, eyesight loss, amputations and the list goes on. Oh and if you get the virus then you don't stand a chance in hell of recovering from it with high blood sugars.

So all that makes it a very good plan to be motivated 🙂
As I've always said Rome wasn't built in a day so small steps at a time are a good start 🙂
 
Fifi240 said:
I’m not motivated at all and think things can carry on as normal
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Well I think if that statement were entirely true then you wouldn't be here. But if you are looking for someone to give you a magic fix to make it all better without you having to put any effort in, then I'm afraid there isn’t one. Only you can motivate yourself, only you can put the effort in and only you will suffer if you don’t. So first you really need to decide how badly you want to fix it, and since the complications from high blood sugar are pretty nasty then I’d give it some serious thought. Then start to look at what you can do. There are some good suggestions here already. Diet wise - you need to reduce the amount of carbohydrates you eat, that includes not just all the obvious sugary foods but also bread, pasta, cereals, rice, potatoes and even fruit. All of those will increase your blood sugar levels and all need to be treated with extreme caution. It's worth experimenting though, Diabetes is very individual and the only way you can find out what works for you is by trying things and seeing what happens. Some people find they can get away with a slice of bread or a small portion of potatoes, others can’t touch them with a barge pole. Good foods to eat which won't raise your sugars much include unprocessed meat, fish, eggs, cheese, green veg and salad, you can include lots of these to fill you up.

Also look at whether you can increase your exercise levels. That doesn't mean you need to do 5 nights a week at the gym, just something as simple as going for a walk, getting off the bus one stop early etc can make a lot of difference.

It's also unrealistic to expect you to change everything all at once, that is just not sustainable, maybe you could start by looking at breakfast first, and then when you’ve got the hang of that move on to lunch or something.

These are just suggestions as we don’t know anything about your individual circumstances, but if you have any more specific questions please do ask 🙂
 
I’m type 1 and I work with someone that is type 2 . He is just waiting for someone to tell him what to do . It isn’t that easy as we are all different , he did say it was ok for me as I have insulin to take my sugar levels down . O yes lucky me ... my consultants best advice was you control it , it doesn’t control me . I hope you manage to find your motivation you are one of the lucky ones you could go into remission... type 1s can’t x
 
I've just seen your other thread about not taking your Metformin. Well if the doctor prescribes you a medication and you don’t take it, you can’t expect to get better, can you? If you could persevere with it it would help get your blood sugars down. It's true though not everybody get on with Metformin, if it really isn’t suitable for you then there are other medications available, keep on at your GP.

I wonder too, as you are so recently diagnosed, if you are struggling to accept the situation? Diabetes is a life changing diagnosis and can be a hell of a shock, would counselling help?

My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 at age 6. My hubby is needle phobic but he injected her before I did. We hated having to stick needles in her every day and there were lots of tears, but if we hadn’t forced her to have them she would have been dead within days. When you are faced with a choice like that you just have to get to grips with it PDQ no matter how awful it feels. Nowadays it's just part of life for us and daughter just gets on with it. As a type 2 you don’t have quite the urgency that we did, but you still need to get to grips with it as quickly as you can if you want to continue to have a happy and healthy life. Complications are not inevitable if you make the effort to look after yourself. Good luck 🙂
 
Given the news of the death of Ian Holm (who played Bilbo Baggins) today, I am reminded of this Lord of the Rings quote:

Frodo: I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
 
Is there any cereal that is low in carbs as I’ve tried weetabix and I spike and can’t eat bread either so was wondering what I could have for breakfast
 
No not really. I believe porridge is quite slow burn so might be worth a try. Or you could have eggs - omelette with cheese or mushrooms, or bacon and eggs, or maybe natural yogurt with berries (berries do have some carbs but less than most other fruit)
 
I can sometimes have porridge with a small spike, other days it doesn't make hardly any difference. Its all individual so you have to experiment to see what suits you. Eggs, cooked any way, bacon, mushrooms...what a way to start the day . I've recently discovered Skyr yoghurt, low in carbs, high in protien and fat free. Lovely with a handful if walnuts or berries
 
Fifi240 said:
Is there any cereal that is low in carbs as I’ve tried weetabix and I spike and can’t eat bread either so was wondering what I could have for breakfast
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The Eat Natural ones are the lowest carb I’ve found, eg

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/305430928

They do a variety including a buckwheat one so check the carbs of each. The one I linked to above has only 16.5g carbs per 50g serving. So you could try that with a dollop of Greek yoghurt, for example, to keep the carbs low.
 
Fifi240 said:
Is there any cereal that is low in carbs as I’ve tried weetabix and I spike and can’t eat bread either so was wondering what I could have for breakfast
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I ate ‘high fibre’ cereal for hears having been told it would be a good choice, it was only once I started systematically checking after meals that I saw how massive an impact supposedly ‘low sugar‘ cereals had.

I have found I can get away with one slice of seedy toast, but that’s with the benefit of a dose of rapid insulin and waiting between dosing the insulin and eating.

Breakfast is often one of the trickeist times to eat carbs, because the liver is often ‘firing up the burners’ for the day and dumping stored glucose.
 
Fifi240 said:
Is there any cereal that is low in carbs as I’ve tried weetabix and I spike and can’t eat bread either so was wondering what I could have for breakfast
Click to expand...
Have you tried the Burgen bread? Many people with diabetes find that works very well for them.
 
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