Am I worrying too much?

[Reg]

Hi and welcome from me too.

Please make your wife aware (if she is the one that does most of the cooking) that cauliflower can be cooked and mashed with a good dollop of cream cheese to replace potato with high meat content bangers or to top a cottage pie or a fish pie. I love cauliflower cheese (as described by @Drummer with cream cheese and red Leicester and no flour) with ham or gammon and broccoli or green beans. Leeks are delicious sweated in butter as is cabbage. I can happily eat a plate of bacon and cabbage tossed in the bacon fat. I also love stir fried veg and ratatouille cooked in loads of lovely olive oil and then topped with Gruyere and baked. These are all ways of increasing your fat intake and making vegetables so much more enjoyable.
At diagnosis I too worried about all the things I could no longer eat but by introducing more fat into my diet I feel fuller and enjoy my food as much, if not more than I did before and I can feel quite spoiled (decadent even) about having cream in my coffee every morning instead of sugar and a nice chunk of cheese whenever I feel peckish and like @Freddie1966 I have developed new tastes to replace the things I now need to avoid. I buy nuts now instead of crisps or biscuits and olives and blue cheese, which I used to hate pre diagnosis. I tried celeriac the other day for the first time and found that quite pleasant, both mashed with cream cheese (like I have my cauliflower) and roasted.
They initially assumed I was Type 2 and I learned to eat very low carb but eventually it was established that I was Type 1 and insulin was essential and whilst I could now, more or less, eat normally and inject insulin for whatever I eat, I continue to prefer to eat low carb and use minimal insulin as I feel this is a sustainable and enjoyable way of life for me now. It just takes a few months to get your head around low carb eating and what to buy and how to cook it and increasing fat intake to stabilise weight (if you don't have any to lose) and make you feel sated is a big part of it.

Thanks Barbara ! Reading your message and others on this thread I have learnt much. I am really surprised how filling this new way of eating is. My blood sugars have been really good now for the past 4 days which coincides with my eating half the carbs I was eating. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

 

[rebrascora]

Good to hear you are making progress and are finding the forum helpful. I know I wouldn't be where I am now with my diabetes without this fantastic community and resource.
It took me a couple of months to get to grips with what to buy and how to cook it. After all we have spent a lifetime filling our plates with carbs at every meal, be it bread, potatoes or pasta, rice pies etc without even considering cakes and biscuits and we have also been bombarded with advice to eat low fat for the past 50+years, so it is not surprising that it takes time to get your head around such dramatic changes in way of eating, but it very rapidly becomes your new and enjoyable way of life.

 

[Brando77]

I see you have 'Carbs n Cals' book......mine is dog eared from use. It is my Bible, got it on my first week of diagnosis.
Cut the carbs and you'll be good 🙂

 

[Reg]

I see you have 'Carbs n Cals' book......mine is dog eared from use. It is my Bible, got it on my first week of diagnosis.
Cut the carbs and you'll be good 🙂

I agree, it’s a great book, my wife uses it everyday when planning meals.

 

[Deb RR]

I have read so many posts on all these forums and realise a lot of people have got much worse diabetes than me. However as I really don't want to have to start taking pills (I react to so many tablets) I have thrown myself into taking on board all advice given.
I have bought the book Carbs and Cals (brilliant book!) also the one recommended called "The first year as a Diabetic Type 2".

I have bought a glucose monitor and that is where I need your help please! I am not sure how to interpret the results. I am testing before breakfast, before and after our evening meal. I know the result ideally should be between 4 - 7 and preferably a rise after the evening meal of no more than 2-3. My wife has been brilliant preparing most meals with low cabs and recording everything I am eating.

So my fasting BG range from 5.1 to 6.2 which is brilliant.
My pre evening meal is between 4.6 to 7.8 which is not too bad!
BUT then my post evening meal BG is 8.5 to 13.1.

I know some are high because I have had a little potato, chips or rice or even extras like an apple or a banana. My total carbs for the day vary from 128 to 179g.

Is it OK to have an occasional spike in the evening as overnight it comes down to a respectable level? Do I really need to watch what I eat morning, noon and night?

Sorry this is a bit long but must say this forum is brilliant!

Welcome to the forum Reg.
I agree this forum is brilliant.
Like you I don’t want to start taking medication and I’ve been given the opportunity to reduce my levels from 83 to 50 in the next two months I purely dieting. At diagnosis this figure seemed on achievable but I believe with strength and determination I can do this. You can do this to Reg we have to believe in ourselves.
Thank you for the names of the books I have a looking into which books to buy and as I am going shopping today will hopefully come home with one.
I have not been given a monitor which I find a little annoying but have been told I have to wait for the two month HR1ac test. I struggle understanding scout carbs but with time I hope that changes.
Good luck for the future.

 

[Drummer]

Welcome to the forum Reg.
I agree this forum is brilliant.
Like you I don’t want to start taking medication and I’ve been given the opportunity to reduce my levels from 83 to 50 in the next two months I purely dieting. At diagnosis this figure seemed on achievable but I believe with strength and determination I can do this. You can do this to Reg we have to believe in ourselves.
Thank you for the names of the books I have a looking into which books to buy and as I am going shopping today will hopefully come home with one.
I have not been given a monitor which I find a little annoying but have been told I have to wait for the two month HR1ac test. I struggle understanding scout carbs but with time I hope that changes.
Good luck for the future.

As a type two it will not be seen as necessary for you to know how you are getting on - but there are fairly cheap options.
I signed up with Spirit Healthcare - once you have an account set up they send you an email, you confirm that you are diabetic and then you can order free of VAT. The meter seems to accurately reflect the number I expect these days, so I can recommend it - but there are other cheap options to be found on the internet.