Confusedtype2

[Confusedtype2]

Hi I've lived with diabetes 2 and been in denial for years, until one day recently I was extremely poorly and found out that my days of denial were ended. I am now insulin dependent, I'm confused I'm desperately trying to reduce weight and was told to cut down on carbs, checking on some recipes I noted that lower carb doesn't necessarily mean low fat, so what do I do still watch and go for lower carb or go for the lower fat

 

[Leadinglights]

Fat does not convert to glucose but carbohydrates do but as you are taking insulin then how much carb you can have will depend on your insulin regime, however people do find a fatty meal will affect how quickly carbs are metabolised.
I expect some folk who take insulin will be better be able to answer you but it would be useful if you said what insulin regime you are on and what your dietary regime currently is.

 

[Confusedtype2]

Hi thanks for the reply, at the moment I have only just been put on insulin I take novomix30 and have 2 shots of 10 one at breakfast and one with my evening meal. So far I've just been told to cut down on carbs. I stupidly tried a carb free diet and the nurse told me no this is bad for you. So now I am just trying to eat balanced meals using portion control and watch how many carbs I consume in a day. I'm a large lady of 21stone and I have an eating disorder so eventually when my blood stabilises I believe I will be given additional meds to help with the weight loss.

 

[Drummer]

Hi thanks for the reply, at the moment I have only just been put on insulin I take novomix30 and have 2 shots of 10 one at breakfast and one with my evening meal. So far I've just been told to cut down on carbs. I stupidly tried a carb free diet and the nurse told me no this is bad for you. So now I am just trying to eat balanced meals using portion control and watch how many carbs I consume in a day. I'm a large lady of 21stone and I have an eating disorder so eventually when my blood stabilises I believe I will be given additional meds to help with the weight loss.

Watch out for what that nurse tells you - we do not need carbs at all, though a few are good for interest, colour and texture/flavour - but now that you are using insulin you need to eat to cope with that - being on a fixed amount you must eat the sort of foods and the amounts of carbs which match the insulin, as you could have problems - with high fat foods, for instance, as that alters the rate of digestion.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I find calories are calories.
I lost weight by reducing calories, and fat is twice as calorific than protein or carbohydrates.
I actually lost most of my weight on a low fat diet, and reversed my diabetes on the 800 calorie Newcastle Diet.
But you need to find a diet you can keep to, and match your insulin to.

 

[Confusedtype2]

Hi thanks for the reply, at the moment I have only just been put on insulin I take novomix30 and have 2 shots of 10 one at breakfast and one with my evening meal. So far I've just been told to cut down on carbs. I stupidly tried a carb free diet and the nurse told me no this is bad for you. So now I am just trying to eat balanced meals using portion control and watch how many carbs I consume in a day. I'm a large lady of 21stone and I have an eating disorder so eventually when my blood stabilises I believe I will be given additional meds to help with the weight loss.

Watch out for what that nurse tells you - we do not need carbs at all, though a few are good for interest, colour and texture/flavour - but now that you are using insulin you need to eat to cope with that - being on a fixed amount you must eat the sort of foods and the amounts of carbs which match the insulin, as you could have problems - with high fat foods, for instance, as that alters the rate of digestion.

Thank you so much for the information, it's a bit of a minefield at the moment, but I do seem to be going in the right direction, my blood glucose is coming down and I'm feeling so much better now. Also the scales tell me I'm beginning to loose weight. I'm sure it will all become easier to deal with as I gain more education on the subject. Thankyou for your support.

 

[Confusedtype2]

I find calories are calories.
I lost weight by reducing calories, and fat is twice as calorific than protein or carbohydrates.
I actually lost most of my weight on a low fat diet, and reversed my diabetes on the 800 calorie Newcastle Diet.
But you need to find a diet you can keep to, and match your insulin to.

Thankyou so much your advice is valued.

 

[Mrs Mimoo]

Watch out for what that nurse tells you - we do not need carbs at all, though a few are good for interest, colour and texture/flavour - but now that you are using insulin you need to eat to cope with that - being on a fixed amount you must eat the sort of foods and the amounts of carbs which match the insulin, as you could have problems - with high fat foods, for instance, as that alters the rate of digestion.

I just spent the last 100 days eating firstly the newcastle diet which was exante shakes and green leafy veg, and now, on maintenance, nothing but lean and not so lean protein, shedloads of green leafy fibrous veg, and full fat dairy. I'm now thinner and technically not very diabetic any more. I have resigned myself to not eat potatoes, chips, pasta, rice, pastry, cakes or sugar again as I can't be trusted round carbs. I can see now that I don't need beige food to be healthy or satisfied as other foods are better for me. I don't seem to have much tolerance for carbs at all. I try to keep to 50g of carbs a day max. I'm not on insulin though, just Metformin MR 1000 a day.

Best of luck.

I swear by, Myfitnesspal, exante shakes for meal replacement, steamed salmon, and eating lots of fresh cooked broccoli. And babybel lite for a snack.

 

[Drummer]

I just spent the last 100 days eating firstly the newcastle diet which was exante shakes and green leafy veg, and now, on maintenance, nothing but lean and not so lean protein, shedloads of green leafy fibrous veg, and full fat dairy. I'm now thinner and technically not very diabetic any more. I have resigned myself to not eat potatoes, chips, pasta, rice, pastry, cakes or sugar again as I can't be trusted round carbs. I can see now that I don't need beige food to be healthy or satisfied as other foods are better for me. I don't seem to have much tolerance for carbs at all. I try to keep to 50g of carbs a day max. I'm not on insulin though, just Metformin MR 1000 a day.

Best of luck.

I swear by, Myfitnesspal, exante shakes for meal replacement, steamed salmon, and eating lots of fresh cooked broccoli. And babybel lite for a snack.

I find it amazing and amusing that so many people, no matter how they get to it, find that 50 gm of carbs puts them right.
I did Atkins whenever I could get away from my GPs surveillance, and it always put things right. It was only a concerted effort by several people at the surgery which kept me eating a 'healthy' diet for so long that I ended up so enormously fat and a Hba1c of 91. As soon as I went back to 50 gm of carbs and Atkins and everything just slid back into place - except my clothes which started to slide off.
I never did any low calorie, no extra exercise - just the low carb foods and I settled on two meals a day at 12 hour intervals as I was 65 years old and everything needs to be considered and the increased age factored in.. though I was a bit peeved that when I decided to drop down to no more than 40 gm of carbs a day to reduce my Hba1c from 42, that after a year and 3650 fewer grams of carb - my Hba1c was still 42.

 

[Confusedtype2]

All I can say is excellent work and well done. I've been overweight since I was a child and was diagnosed a few years ago with a binge eating disorder. I have always found it difficuilt to loose weight. After much counselling sessions I am managing atleast to control the bingeing, but after following every diet that was ever invented and speaking to endless food experts I found that the only thing that has helped me since was the words that diets don't work but education and lifestyle changes in healthy eating will work. I still have a long long way to go and unfortunately when my HBA1C levels reached 130 I felt really ill. The insulin does seem to help but my levels seem to change like today I was ok until my evening meal and my glucose went up from 12.8 to 15.2 I'm very conscious of everything I eat and just trying to balance a healthy plate. It's a nightmare but I'm hoping as time goes by I will improve, all I can say is my weight is beginning to decrease, early days yet.
Thankyou for your very helpful advice

 

[Drummer]

All I can say is excellent work and well done. I've been overweight since I was a child and was diagnosed a few years ago with a binge eating disorder. I have always found it difficuilt to loose weight. After much counselling sessions I am managing atleast to control the bingeing, but after following every diet that was ever invented and speaking to endless food experts I found that the only thing that has helped me since was the words that diets don't work but education and lifestyle changes in healthy eating will work. I still have a long long way to go and unfortunately when my HBA1C levels reached 130 I felt really ill. The insulin does seem to help but my levels seem to change like today I was ok until my evening meal and my glucose went up from 12.8 to 15.2 I'm very conscious of everything I eat and just trying to balance a healthy plate. It's a nightmare but I'm hoping as time goes by I will improve, all I can say is my weight is beginning to decrease, early days yet.
Thankyou for your very helpful advice

Ah yes - carbs in - glucose up - that is how it works.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Confusedtype2

Sorry to hear of your struggles with eating over the years, and how ill you felt recently.

Hopefully once you have settled into your new regime and found the right menu to balance with your insulin doses (specifically the right portions of carbs and at what time of day), things will gradually improve for you.

It’s often best to allow things to get better over a few weeks of months rather than trying to rush to fix them all at once - it’s much gentler on the eyes and nerve endings to move towards more in-range BG levels fairly gradually.

Let us know how things go, and feel free to just vent and offload if you are finding things tough.