Diabetes 2 and I haven't a clue

[Trace]

Hi to everyone, how are you doing?
My name is Trace, I was recently diagnosed with diabetes 2 in June, and I haven't a clue where to start.
I know all the luxurys go out the window now, boo hoo, but now I'm not sure what you can have.
Also, what is the insulin all about, is it your intake or is it the injection side.
Any help or advice anyone can give a newbie.
Thank you
Trace. 🙄

 

[Northerner]

Hi to everyone, how are you doing?
My name is Trace, I was recently diagnosed with diabetes 2 in June, and I haven't a clue where to start.
I know all the luxurys go out the window now, boo hoo, but now I'm not sure what you can have.
Any help or advice anyone can give a newbie.
Thank you
Trace. 🙄

Hi Trace, welcome to the forum 🙂 There is an awful lot of information - and misinformation! - about diabetes, it can be difficult to wade through at first. I would recommend reading the excellent Maggie Davey's letter for starters, it should help to put you in the picture 🙂 Also, I'd recommend getting a copy of Type 2 Diabetes: The First Year by Gretchen Becker, a book that really ought to be given to every newly-diagnosed person, and which many of our members have benefited from 🙂

Good diabetes management is all about learning how well your body can tolerate various types of carbohydrates, so not just sweet things (sugar is a form of carbohydrate) but things like rice, potatoes, bread, pasta and anything made with flour. The only accurate way of discovering your own particular tolerances is to test your blood sugar levels before and after eating, as described in Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S. People can vary considerably in their ability to tolerate things - it's thought that this may be due to the special bacteria in the gut, which is unique to each individual, and the reason why it is difficult to come up with a 'one-size-fits-all' diet. If your GP.nurse haven't given you a meter and test strips it's worth funding your own, if you can afford it, whilst you learn what works well for you and what you should reduce or remove from your diet. The cheapest option we have come across is the SD Codefree Meter which has test strips at around £8 for 50 (High St brands can charge up to £30 fir 50 strips 😱)

Please let us know if you have any questions and we will be happy to help! 🙂

 

[Hazel]

SD Codefree from.Amazon

 

[Copepod]

Welcome to the forum, Trace. Not all luxuries are out of the question now, although you may need to have smaller portions of high carbohydate (depending on what your blood glucose meter tells you) or high calorie foods (depending on your weight). Plus non food luxuries such as nice toiletries, walking in nice places, nice clothes, jewelry & cosmetics etc are fine, plus good for reducing stress and exercise is good for reducing blood glucose levels, too.

 

[Dave W]

hi Trace

Hi to everyone, how are you doing?
My name is Trace, I was recently diagnosed with diabetes 2 in June, and I haven't a clue where to start.
I know all the luxurys go out the window now, boo hoo, but now I'm not sure what you can have.
Any help or advice anyone can give a newbie.
Thank you
Trace. 🙄

Welcome to the club Trace! First of all, luxuries don't have to go out of the window, you just have to regulate them and regard them as occasional treats and they'll taste all the better for being occasional.
You've been diagnosed with a condition that you can manage, though it does indeed take a bit of time to get your head around how to manage it and also what the D. is doing or not doing to your body. It is a pretty steep learning curve at first, but there's no great rush to establish a perfect dietary regime. You just have to take things step by step and learn as you go along.
A good book to get hold of that will give you a very good insight into T2D is Reverse Your Diabetes by Dr David Cavan, (Amazon) it may not actually reverse your D but should help you understand it and manage it. Another source of help can be found on the Diabetes.co.uk forum it has 250,000 members and was the site my GP suggested I go to for info and I'm very pleased she did as it's been my main source of support and info.
You might also like to think about getting hold of Carbs and Cals either in book form or as an app as it gives some fairly detailed info about foods. And if you are techy savvy then downloading the Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset provides first class comprehensive data about around 3000 foods.

 

[Trace]

Thank you to you all for your support and advice in my diabetes issue, it seems I've a lot of homework to do and research,I'm not very good in taking it all in, but got to start somewhere.
Thanks again to you all 🙂

 

[Ljc]

Hi Welcome Trace. I agree with everyone above. Yes it can take a while to get your head around being diagnosed. However this condition is manageable with the right info and support ! You'll get lots of that here. Unfortunately their is an awful lot of misinformation out there, even some medics/nurses get it wrong .
We will tell you what has worked for us.

No not all luxuries go out of the window, we actually get to eat some good tasty things , their are some that you can have occasionally and some that you may believe you can't have that are actually fine for you.
To be honest the only way to find out how carbohydrates affect you is by regular self testing as described in previous posts.

Head on over to the forum *what did you eat yesterday* for some good tasty ideas
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/what-did-you-eat-yesterday.30349/
Also Some of our members are very adventurous in the kitchen and put up some gorgeous recipes in the recipe section of the food/carb queries and recipes forum
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/forums/recipes.21/

One important thing is to take things gradually, you don't want to set yourself up to fail, because you've cut out everything you consider luxuries/bad
This is a marathon not a sprint.

 

[Maz2]

Hello Trace. Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. As others say you can still have treats just not so often.

it is a very good idea to test. I was diagnosed pre-diabetic last year and have only just started testing as I learned on here that everyone is different. It is amazing what you find out. As an example, last weekend I had a couple of rashers of bacon, one sausage, one egg and one piece of Burgen Soya and Linseed bread (bread which some people here can tolerate). My readings two hours later had gone from 5.9 to 12.4 which was a disastrous jump. I have eaten bacon and the bread since with acceptable rises so have to think it was the sausage as it was a highly processed one with breadcrumbs, additives and emulsifiers etc. Others would probably find they can get away with it.

I know when I was diagnosed pre-diabetes last year I was devastated and that is not so serious as being full diabetic so I can imagine you do feel lost. I was sent on a diabetes prevention programme which has been helpful although I don't care for the eat well plate. I have found a lot of info on here which I have been really grateful for. In fact, I would say I have learned more on here than on the prevention programme.

If you find you cannot tolerate bread I recommend Mark Parrott's flaxseed bread in the "recipes" section. It is lovely and low carb. Tom Kerridge does one in his Dopamine Diet book but you would find it on the net I am sure. Michael Mosley's books are good as are David Cavan's.

 

[Dave W]

Hello Trace. Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. As others say you can still have treats just not so often.

it is a very good idea to test. I was diagnosed pre-diabetic last year and have only just started testing as I learned on here that everyone is different. It is amazing what you find out. As an example, last weekend I had a couple of rashers of bacon, one sausage, one egg and one piece of Burgen Soya and Linseed bread (bread which some people here can tolerate). My readings two hours later had gone from 5.9 to 12.4 which was a disastrous jump. I have eaten bacon and the bread since with acceptable rises so have to think it was the sausage as it was a highly processed one with breadcrumbs, additives and emulsifiers etc. Others would probably find they can get away with it.

I know when I was diagnosed pre-diabetes last year I was devastated and that is not so serious as being full diabetic so I can imagine you do feel lost. I was sent on a diabetes prevention programme which has been helpful although I don't care for the eat well plate. I have found a lot of info on here which I have been really grateful for. In fact, I would say I have learned more on here than on the prevention programme.

If you find you cannot tolerate bread I recommend Mark Parrott's flaxseed bread in the "recipes" section. It is lovely and low carb. Tom Kerridge does one in his Dopamine Diet book but you would find it on the net I am sure. Michael Mosley's books are good as are David Cavan's.

Odds on it was the sausages that did it. Processed meats tend to be pretty high carb. Some folk can get away with Burgen, I tried it but found it pushed up my BG so now just eat Lidl proten rolls and they don't seem to spike my BG. It's a case of horses for courses, one can't tell until one has tried and tested.

 

[Wirrallass]

Thank you to you all for your support and advice in my diabetes issue, it seems I've a lot of homework to do and research,I'm not very good in taking it all in, but got to start somewhere.
Thanks again to you all 🙂

I can recommend the book CARBS & CALS COUNTER @Dave W. It's very helpful in so much that it has over 1700 coloured illustrations and tells you how much carbs, protein, cals etc are in food. It's just a little over £10 from Amazon. Worth buying.