Hi David, welcome to the forum
🙂 Sorry to hear about your wife's diagnosis, and what happened with her father
It is great that you want to become involved and support her, and the good news is that it may help you to become healthier too! A healthy diet for diabetes is a diet that is healthy for everyone, and regular exercise will help you both enormously as well so you have everything to gain
🙂
Has she been given any medication for her diabetes? How did she come to be diagnosed? I would recommend reading our
Useful links thread, in particular
Jennifer's Advice and
Maggie Davey's letter. Also the book
Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker is an excellent introduction highly recommended by many of our Type 2 members.
Regarding diet, bear in mind that carbohydrates (bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, pizza etc. - not just sugary food) are the most important things to be careful about, as these will all raise blood sugar levels to a lesser or greater degree. I would recommend starting a food diary and keeping a record of your carbohydrate intake each day (the amounts are printed on the packets or you can use a book such as
Collins Gem - Carb Counter to find out amounts of fresh, unpackaged foods. Don't forget the carbs in any drinks you consume also. Once you have this you can look for areas where things might be improved - replacing potatoes with more green veg, for example. A type of diet many people follow is a low GI/GL diet -
The GL Diet for Dummies is a good introduction, and shows you how to choose and combine food elements so that they release their energy slowly and steadily so they have least impact on blood glucose levels.
Please ask any and every question you have - nothing is considered 'silly', so ask away!
🙂
