Welcome to the forum
@Wannie
Sorry you were subjected to what sounds like a pretty frightening and doom-laden introduction to diabetes!
😱
Why do some HCPs think that’s a good way to motivate people?! Diabetes
IS a serious condition, but it’s also one that can usually be managed well with a few changes and adaptations - it’s something that you can learn to live well with, and it shouldn’t stop you doing things you enjoy.
Often people don’t realise how weary, worn down and lethargic they have been feeling. Erratic and elevated blood glucose levels can be exhausting and are linked with low mood, but this may have come on quite gradually. Making a few positive changes can give you more energy, a clearer mind, and a brighter outlook. Plus the regular checks you get after a diagnosis with diabetes mean that any potential problems could be spotted earlier, and can be sorted out sooner.
One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with your diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and as your nurse has pointed out - many fruits (berries are usually the gentlest on the BGs, with more tropical and ‘warm climate’ fruits like bananas, grapes, mangoes, pineapple being trickier)
Many new members find it can be really helpful to keep a brutally honest food diary for a week or two. Note down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content in your meals and snacks - it doesn’t have to be gram-perfect, the nearest 5-10g is fine. It might sound like a bit of a faff, and will involve weighing portions, squinting at the fine print on packaging, and possibly looking up things on the internet, but it will give you a really good idea of which foods are the main sources of carbs in your menu. Once you can see which meals or snacks are your ‘big hitters’, and where carbs might be unexpectedly lurking, the process might also suggest some likely candidates for swaps, portion reductions, or using lower carb alternatives (eg celeriac or swede mash, or cauli ‘rice’).
If you’d like to monitor your progress more directly than waiting every 6 months to see if your guesses were right, you might cholse to self-fund a BG meter. The most affordable meters members here have found are the
SD Gluco Navii or the
Spirit Tee2 - which both have test strips at around £8 for 50.
That way you can check immediately before, and again 2hrs after eating a meal or snack (or piece of fruit!) and see how your metabolism has coped. Ideally you’d want to keep the rises down to 2-3mmol/L or less between the before and after readings.
Good luck, and let us know how things go!
