Can anyone give me some advice please

[Donna67]

Hi I’ve just been told I have diabetes type 2.
I’ve been switching to healthier foods but I can’t eat breakfast or anything during the day,I’ve always been like this since I was a child,I have one meal around about 6 and been making diabetic smoothies once a day which I can drink,but lots of people say I have to eat breakfast and small things during the day and I’m at a loss what to do can anyone hear give me some advice please

 

[stackingcups]

There will be lots of advice here for you, and I'm sure the advice you have received is well meaning but it might not be the best if it doesn't fit into you life.

The usual questions would be do you know what your hba1c is, the number your diabetes diagnosis came with?

Also, what are you eating for that main meal at the end of the day, and what pray tell is in a diabetic smoothie, because often smoothie ingredients aren't always type 2 friendly in actual reality.

 

[JITR]

Welcome @Donna67. Others advise one or two meals a day will do.

If you need to lose some weight one meal a day would be good.

Do you have any/many snacks during the day?

 

[JimmyBlue]

Hi @Donna67 firstly welcome, not a community any of us want to join but you can be sure of a warm welcome from all.

If you are happy to provide a bit more detail then it helps to provide you with advice that will be more helpful than the general type.

Snacking for Type 2 is actually frowned on by my local doctor's practice but, if you are feeling hungry having a healthy snack can be beneficial by reducing or removing the hunger pangs. If you are not feeling hungry then there is no specific requirement to snack. Personally I have days when I snack and others when I don't.

The key questions really are what are you eating in your main meal and what goes into your smoothies? I am sure you are not adding sugar to the latter, but are you using things like tropical fruit, fruit juices to create them. You do need to think about your diet as a whole as carbs are a key measure for diabetes type 2, since these will convert to glucose at a faster or slower rate dependent on their complexity thus impacting the rate and level of increase in your blood glucose levels.

Body weight is another factor as mentioned by JITR but addressing your diet first may be the quickest step and will also help with any weight issues that are impacting things.

 

[Leadinglights]

One additional question I have is do you have a problem swallowing whole foods or that you just don't feel hungry or the need to eat.
What may be suitable will definitely depend on how far into the diabetic zone you are i.e. what your Hba1C is.
Has there been any suggestion about the possible reason for you becoming diabetic as I find it hard to believe that in one meal you would be able to eat more carbs than your metabolism can tolerate.
Are you on any other medication like steroids which indeed can induce high blood glucose.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome
I am another who is a bit concerned (and curious) about your "diabetic smoothie" possibly doing you more harm than good. This is because making a smoothie breaks down the carbs and fibre into a more quickly digestible form meaning that any carbs from fruit in it will hit your blood glucose quicker than chewing and eating the fruit from whole, but generally many of us who use diet to help manage our diabetes limit fruit intake to a small portion of berries because they are the lowest carb fruits whereas smoothies often contain bananas or other exotic fruits which are higher in carbs.

If you are happy with one meal a day then that should not be a problem provided you are not gorging on a massive plate of carbs in one go when you have it. That said, your liver will trickle out glucose throughout the day when you are not eating and sometimes the pancreas doesn't recognise that levels are rising whereas eating something can trigger the pancreas to produce some insulin, so it might be that your levels are rising steadily throughout the day because your insulin signalling is not working effectively and then when you eat on an evening it goes even higher because you have one big meal. Getting an affordable BG finger prick testing kit and doing some testing when you wake up and at lunchtime and before and 2 hours after your evening meal might shed some light on what is happening and help us to suggest different strategies you could try to bring your levels down. Many of us liken managing diabetes without a BG meter and home testing, to driving without a speedometer. You really don't know how you are doing until you get a speeding ticket or a disappointing HbA1c result, whereas testing allows you to see your diabetes in numbers, once you understand what you are looking for and then adjust your meals to keep thinks more stable and in range. If you think testing might be something that you would like to try we can advise you on the most economical and reliable meters that people here who self fund have tried and tested.

 

[AleGna68]

Sign up to the Learning Zone, may be helpful.

 

[Donna67]

Hi @Donna67 firstly welcome, not a community any of us want to join but you can be sure of a warm welcome from all.

If you are happy to provide a bit more detail then it helps to provide you with advice that will be more helpful than the general type.

Snacking for Type 2 is actually frowned on by my local doctor's practice but, if you are feeling hungry having a healthy snack can be beneficial by reducing or removing the hunger pangs. If you are not feeling hungry then there is no specific requirement to snack. Personally I have days when I snack and others when I don't.

The key questions really are what are you eating in your main meal and what goes into your smoothies? I am sure you are not adding sugar to the latter, but are you using things like tropical fruit, fruit juices to create them. You do need to think about your diet as a whole as carbs are a key measure for diabetes type 2, since these will convert to glucose at a faster or slower rate dependent on their complexity thus impacting the rate and level of increase in your blood glucose levels.

Body weight is another factor as mentioned by JITR but addressing your diet first may be the quickest step and will also help with any weight issues that are impacting things.

Thank for letting me join, I have to say i definitely didn’t think I’d need to join,so rather heartfelt there is this group to talk and share each other advice and methods,I simply can’t eat in the morning same for afternoon until around 5,my smoothies which I can drink about midday are(please dnt laugh lol )
Avocado, small, half a banana, strawberries, raspberries, Brazil nuts 3 halves and cayenne pepper half spoon of cinnamon,teaspoon of organic cider vinegar..then I top that up with almond milk a whisk till smooth but I do change the fruits like apple and orange spinach or kale,small,but I alway do spoon full ..I can drink that we always check the packaging to see the carbohydrates and sugar,I don’t always use the almond milk sometimes just water,buy the time I’ve got though that I’m full and don’t want to eat but I do have very small pals of hand portions,have you suffered with diabetes for a long time?

 

[Drummer]

Thank for letting me join, I have to say i definitely didn’t think I’d need to join,so rather heartfelt there is this group to talk and share each other advice and methods,I simply can’t eat in the morning same for afternoon until around 5,my smoothies which I can drink about midday are(please dnt laugh lol )
Avocado, small, half a banana, strawberries, raspberries, Brazil nuts 3 halves and cayenne pepper half spoon of cinnamon,teaspoon of organic cider vinegar..then I top that up with almond milk a whisk till smooth but I do change the fruits like apple and orange spinach or kale,small,but I alway do spoon full ..I can drink that we always check the packaging to see the carbohydrates and sugar,I don’t always use the almond milk sometimes just water,buy the time I’ve got though that I’m full and don’t want to eat but I do have very small pals of hand portions,have you suffered with diabetes for a long time?

I found that almost any pulverised fruit or veges sent my blood glucose really high as the carbs are so easily absorbed.
Do you have any way of testing after meals to see how your blood glucose reacts to various meals?
I eat at around 12 hourly intervals, as that seems to suit me best, but I limit my fruit intake to berries in sugar free jelly, so dilute down the impact of the sugar they contain.

 

[AleGna68]

I found that almost any pulverised fruit or veges sent my blood glucose really high as the carbs are so easily absorbed.
Do you have any way of testing after meals to see how your blood glucose reacts to various meals?
I eat at around 12 hourly intervals, as that seems to suit me best, but I limit my fruit intake to berries in sugar free jelly, so dilute down the impact of the sugar they contain.

Yes, food preparation can change the glucose levels and how you cook the item.

 

[Drummer]

Yes, food preparation can change the glucose levels and how you cook the item.

I find that cooking has little impact, but the carbs are in the foods - their glucose levels do not alter, but the consequences of processing can change how our blood glucose levels rise after eating them. Pulverising breaks the cell walls and releases the contents, no digestive process required to access the starch and/or sugar.
My own digestion seems pretty efficient - I can extract more carbs than listed for peas and beans, which is - I suspect - something genetic as others have mentioned the anomaly. It seems to mean that some people get around 180% of the listed value, fairly consistently.

 

[JimmyBlue]

Hi @Donna67 I don't see any material issue with your smoothie in terms of the contents if eaten as solids would probably be OK but as others of have send blending them into a mixture impacts on the way they are being absorbed by your body. The finger prick testing that many forum members follow, including me, helps to understand what the impact of particular foods and meals have on our BG allowing us to then adjust and make changes that can help to reduce any spikes. The testing is carried out immediately prior to eating and then two hours after starting eating. This might help you to understand whether the current smoothie is working in your favour or if it is part of the cause of high BG.
It may be that you might have to modify the smoothie if it is creating BG problems, but that may be as simple as moving to a more "soup" like drink. Alternatively I think the NHS uses dietary drinks on their Path to Remission programme. Checking out what they are using may help you, although if you have no requirement to lose weight, you might want to think about adding more calories (but not necessarily more carbs).
I was diagnosed last October and launched myself into a low carb diet, probably not the best idea without thinking through what that meant and as evidenced by the fact I lost about a stone in weight. I did however, start using a finger prick testing kit which highlighted that there are certain foods which I needed to eat in smaller quantities and others that I need to avoid totally. I also benefited from a CGM for a fortnight that my diabetes nurse had hanging around. All of this enabled me to bring my diet under control and with the added exercise I have managed to get into remission (no medication and HbA1c below 48).