Hi Pauline and welcome from me too.
Have they started you on 3x Metformin a day straight away or are they gradually increasing it up to 3x a day which would be the usual approach as they can be hard on the digestive tract until your body gets used to them. Do make sure to take them with food to limit the risk of upset. I found that taking them mid meal was best, so half way through the food, take the tablet and then finish the meal.
Do you know your HbA1c reading. This is the blood test result which is used to diagnose you and will be a number or 48 or more but can be into 3 figures if things are particularly bad. Normal readings are below 42 and 42-47 indicates that people are at risk of developing diabetes.
You will no doubt be aware that high Blood Glucose levels cause diabetes and the food we eat affects that. Most people think it is just about cutting down on sugar and sweet stuff but unfortunately our bodies break down all carbohydrates into Glucose which is then absorbed into the blood stream to create problems. That means starchy foods containing grains and grain products like bread, pasta, couscous, breakfast cereals, rice, barley, oats and root vegetables like potato, parsnips, sweet potato, cassava etc. You may also be surprised to know that fruit is high in sugar too (fructose) and there is even sugar in milk (lactose) so you need to be careful and restrict the amount of fruit you eat and milk you drink as well as cut back on the other foods mentioned above and avoid the naughty sweet stuff containing added sugar as much as possible.
That may sound like there is not much left to eat, but eggs, meat and fish are all good for us and nuts and mushrooms and cheese, cream, butter and yoghurt... full fat natural Greek yoghurt is your best choice. Leafy green veg are particularly good and I always cook my cabbage with a knob of butter to give it flavour and add increase my fat intake.... because we are cutting out a lot of carbs from our diet, we need another source of fuel and fat, contrary to most NHS advice is the sensible choice. The thing with fat is that if you eat it as well as carbs you will put on weight and may well become unhealthy, but if you eat it on a very low carb diet, you don't put on weight and many of us find our cholesterol levels have even decreased whilst eating more fat.... but cutting right down on the carbs is important both for Blood Glucose (BG) reduction and weight loss.
That may all be a bit much to take in but say for example you normally have cereal for breakfast. Breakfast cereals are usually very high both in sugars and starches so a very poor choice for diabetics, whereas eggs are very low carb, so a mushroom or cheese and ham omelette would be a good choice.... just be careful about having bread/toast with it. I usually have a salad with my omelettes. Or if you fancy a lighter breakfast, some creamy Greek Natural yoghurt with a dessert spoon of mixed seeds and chopped nuts and half a dozen or so berries like rasps or strawberries. Berries tend to be lower in carbs than other fruit and tropical fruits like bananas, mangos, pineapple and oranges tend to be higher carb so best kept for an occasional treat. Apples and pears and plums are somewhere in the middle.
Anyway, I hope that gives you a bit of an idea of how to get started. There are low carb breads available in the larger supermarkets, or seeded loaves tend to be lower carb than wholemeal, but it is still best to restrict yourself to less than your usual ration of them... so one slice instead of two or two instead of 4. There are some really inspirational bakers on the forum who adapt recipes to become low carb and have fantastic recipes for low carb bread and cakes if you are interested in baking your own.... I am sure it makes adapting to low carb eating much easier when you can eat as much low carb bread and cakes as you like without adversely affecting your BG levels!
If you want more info on anything in particular, just ask.
