• 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.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

A New Newbie here :-)

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
B

Busybeth

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi. I was diagnosed a couple of days ago with type 2. I am trying to lower my blood sugar by diet after a discussion with the doctor. Carbs are a minefield. What is good, what is bad (other than the usual potato, rice bread etc) Is cous cous good or bad? Are Sweet Potatoes good or bad? so many questions going around in my head. I love food, and love cooking, it's just getting it right. My husband is fantastically supportive with my diet, and is helping me find alternatives to the mashed potato, pasta (which I absolutely love). Anyway, that's me...a carb lover who has to cut down on carbs!
 
It isn't so much a case of good or bad but low or high carb.
Grains and potatoes are usually avoided simply because they are so high in carbs, but there are lots of low carb vegetables, and you could, for instance, make yourself some low carb baked things which are low enough to eat every day - crackers to go with cheese, even bread.
 
Busybeth said:
Hi. I was diagnosed a couple of days ago with type 2. I am trying to lower my blood sugar by diet after a discussion with the doctor. Carbs are a minefield. What is good, what is bad (other than the usual potato, rice bread etc) Is cous cous good or bad? Are Sweet Potatoes good or bad? so many questions going around in my head. I love food, and love cooking, it's just getting it right. My husband is fantastically supportive with my diet, and is helping me find alternatives to the mashed potato, pasta (which I absolutely love). Anyway, that's me...a carb lover who has to cut down on carbs!
Click to expand...
Welcome Bushbaby. It’ll be a case of finding out what works for you individually really. Generally the more processed the carb the more likely it is to have an effect on blood sugar. I don’t know how high your blood sugar is so it’s tricky to know. There are good alternatives. Mashed swede with celeriac is a good alternative or courgette slices in lasagne. For me I can tolerate sweet potato chips as my blood sugar levels have returned to normal now after a few years of paying attention to diet & exercise. Carbs & Cals is a good book to start with. For me cooking, cooling & reheating a small amount of potatoes & pasta is tolerable. You could try a monitor to test which foods affect you as we’re all different.
All a bit daunting at first. Best of luck
 
Hi @Busybeth and welcome to the forum. Did you get an HbA1c result on diagnosis? If that question does not make sense to you then don't worry its just one of the new things to think about. The HbA1c value is obtained from a blood sample sent to the lab. It reflects how good your blood glucose control has been over the last couple of months and the higher it is, the worse the control and the harder you have to work to get things back to normal. Anything over 48 gets you a T2 diagnosis. Worth ringing your surgery to get the value because it helps you to work out a plan of what to do.

I also like food cooking and looked on having to alter my menus to reduce carb intake as an interesting exercise rather than a disaster. If you read around the forum you will find plenty of to get inspiration from.
 
Hello @Busybeth and welcome to the forum,

Working out what carbs to eat can take a while. There is no 'one size fits all' and it takes time and trial and error to find out what works for you.

A glucose monitor is a way to find this out, by testing before and 2 hours after eating. Also if you can keep a tally of the total number of carbs eaten in a day, your morning reading will guide you on working out how much you need to adjust.

One of the most affordable meters is the SD Gluco Navii which has test strips
Like @SallyW I also find the Carbs and Cals book a very useful guide to carb values and portion size.
Carbs & Cals - a guide for counting -Diabetes UK shop - Diabetes UK Shop
 
Thank you for your advice, it's all really helpful. The doctor explained to me that my blood results came back at 90, if that makes sense. They have given me a machine to count my blood sugar 4 times a day at different times, and to record it, to see whether diet is working (which it appears to be lowering, although I am only on day 4). I work nights too, so trying to find healthy snacks for the middle of night (I chose celery and humous last night)
My husband made courgetti.with my bolognaise, which was tasty, so I guess like you said, its hit and miss and trying new things, and seeing what works for me.
 
Busybeth said:
Thank you for your advice, it's all really helpful. The doctor explained to me that my blood results came back at 90, if that makes sense. They have given me a machine to count my blood sugar 4 times a day at different times, and to record it, to see whether diet is working (which it appears to be lowering, although I am only on day 4). I work nights too, so trying to find healthy snacks for the middle of night (I chose celery and humous last night)
My husband made courgetti.with my bolognaise, which was tasty, so I guess like you said, its hit and miss and trying new things, and seeing what works for me.
Click to expand...

Great that you have been given a BG meter @Busybeth

In terms of getting best value our of your 4x a day, I think forum history would suggest using those as ‘before and after‘ checks around different meals on different days to build up a picture of choices and options that work for you using a ‘test review adjust’ type approach. That way every pair of tests give you focussed information about that meal and the type and portion of carbs in it.

This post is a useful overview of the technique

Test, Review, Adjust

Managing blood glucose levels for type 2 diabetes. Learning how to achieve long term control by testing and diet.
loraldiabetes.blogspot.co.uk loraldiabetes.blogspot.co.uk

In the beginning the numbers themselves arguably matter less than the before-after rise. Ideally you are looking for a rise of no more than 2-3mmol/l - the more times you can hit that target, the more you will find that your overall levels gradually reduce over time.

90mmol/L is likely to be your HbA1c, which is a way of understanding your general glucose levels over the past 120 days.

48 is the cut-off point for diabetes, with 42-47 being a sign that someone is at risk of diabetes.

Several members on the forum have started their diabetes journey with an A1c in three figures, so while your 90 does suggest you will be really benefitting from your carb reduction, you aren’t breaking any forum records 🙂
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top