“NEWBIE”

[Felinia]

Hi and welcome. I've read through all your replies and there's a lot of excellent advice, as usual. I have a few observations/suggestions to make.
If you are one of the unfortunate people whose bowels don't settle with standard Metformin, you can request slow release Metformin, which should be taken in the middle of a meal - a sort of pill buffer.
Reading your posts, your high carb foods are your bread and potato. 6 slices from a typical large loaf is around 120gm carbs. A 220gm jacket potato is almost 50gm carbs. Reducing these portion sizes will help you. I found a 400gm medium sliced Warburtons no added sugar loaf works out at just under 10gm carbs per slice, and I have adapted to the smaller portion. I have swapped potato mostly for cauliflower cheese, or roasted squash. Others roast celeriac. I also keep frozen fruit so I can measure out an 80gm portion. Berries are best.
I would suggest keeping a brutally honest food diary, recording the carb value of everything you consume. I use an app (I'm lazy), but pen and paper or spreadsheets work just as well. You will be surprised how quickly the carbs mount up, and it will help you decide where to cut back.
What is considered a healthy diet for non diabetics tends to be too carb heavy.

 

[Drummer]

I think ur right
As I don’t eat sugary snacks - it takes me a whole year to eat 1 packet of biscuits - just not my thing ‍♀️ but I can devour a jacket potato in the blink of an eye (skin included) I eat a lot of whole meal and rye bread about 6 slices per day and brown rice ( when I’ve got no potatoes) I don’t eat pasta ( it doesn’t fill me up for long enough) I don’t eat cakes at all so for my desserts I would have either had a bar of chocolate ( with nuts ) or pre cut mango and blueberries - a typical evening meal - which I have for lunch ( coz I don’t want a heavy tummy at night ) consists of courgettes, sweet red peppers, garlic ( loads ) meat ( chicken breast or 5% fat mince beef ) with a jacket potato or rice and lentils
So it has to be those hidden sugars which I never knew about - all this time I thought the humble potato ( especially being jacketed ) was the healthier choice ‍♀️

I said something really rude (sorry) when reading your menus - after the sharp intake of breath.
Potatoes, bread, rice, ordinary chocolate, mango and even blueberries and lentils will all add up to a very high intake of carbs, which are converted into sugars - there is no hidden sugar, starches are as much carbs as sugars, and have the same result.
Those 'healthy' choices were what I was pressured to eat for decades, and I felt unwell, but my protests were ignored.
To keep my blood glucose in normal numbers I do not eat grain, nor starchy vegetables, no sweet fruits.
I do eat a wide variety of salad stuff, low carb veges, low carb berries and other fruits, and my weight is a lot lower now.

 

[Martin.A]

I think ur right
As I don’t eat sugary snacks - it takes me a whole year to eat 1 packet of biscuits - just not my thing ‍♀️ but I can devour a jacket potato in the blink of an eye (skin included) I eat a lot of whole meal and rye bread about 6 slices per day and brown rice ( when I’ve got no potatoes) I don’t eat pasta ( it doesn’t fill me up for long enough) I don’t eat cakes at all so for my desserts I would have either had a bar of chocolate ( with nuts ) or pre cut mango and blueberries - a typical evening meal - which I have for lunch ( coz I don’t want a heavy tummy at night ) consists of courgettes, sweet red peppers, garlic ( loads ) meat ( chicken breast or 5% fat mince beef ) with a jacket potato or rice and lentils
So it has to be those hidden sugars which I never knew about - all this time I thought the humble potato ( especially being jacketed ) was the healthier choice ‍♀️

You could cut down on your carbs by making some simple swaps. I swapped potatoes for mashed cauliflower and mashed celeriac, and I make chips with celeriac. I swapped rice for riced cauliflower and wheat pasta for red lentil pasta. To give you just one example of the carb saving, if we have a rice dish my wife has a portion of long grain rice (58g carb) while I have a portion of riced cauliflower (8g carb).