First day on new diet

[Brian12388]

Hi all Ok so I was diagnosed type 2 Friday so yesterday I though I’m eating what I want and I don’t care so today I started my new lifestyle hope I’ve started correctly.

So I skipped breakfast like I always do

lunch was 2 bbq chicken legs 2 hours after my bloods where 6.8

for dinner I’m about to have cod fillet without batter cooked in olive oil Lemmon and cyanne pepper and a pinch of salt. With cauliflower topped with white cheese and broccoli

how does that sound ??

 

[rebrascora]

Sounds perfect.... perhaps a little too much so, if anything. Lowering your carb intake gently is better than an all or nothing approach as sudden dramatic change can put pressure on the fine blood vessels in your eyes. Maybe add in a couple of small new potatoes tonight.
A reading of 6.8 after lunch is excellent though!
Hope you enjoy your meal tonight.

 

[Brian12388]

Sounds perfect.... perhaps a little too much so, if anything. Lowering your carb intake gently is better than an all or nothing approach as sudden dramatic change can put pressure on the fine blood vessels in your eyes. Maybe add in a couple of small new potatoes tonight.
A reading of 6.8 after lunch is excellent though!
Hope you enjoy your meal tonight.

Thanks i will remember that for other meals I am gonna have a little brown rice and salad with beef for lunch tomorrow so carbs back in the menus. Is it normal for bloods to go up as you get hungry before my dinner it was 8.8 this was many house after lunch and to be fair it was 24 hours since my metformin the dr told me to take it with my dinner in the evening which I thought was a bit odd!!

 

[EmmaL76]

Hi all Ok so I was diagnosed type 2 Friday so yesterday I though I’m eating what I want and I don’t care so today I started my new lifestyle hope I’ve started correctly.

So I skipped breakfast like I always do

lunch was 2 bbq chicken legs 2 hours after my bloods where 6.8

for dinner I’m about to have cod fillet without batter cooked in olive oil Lemmon and cyanne pepper and a pinch of salt. With cauliflower topped with white cheese and broccoli

how does that sound ??

Sounds lovely!! What time shall i be there I made my own strawberry and pistachio greek yogurt ice cream. Was delish !

 

[Brian12388]

This was my evening meal and I must say it was delicious I done well @EmmaL76 that also sounds delicious yummy

 

[Leadinglights]

You do have to be a bit careful about reducing carbs too quickly even though it seems a good thing to do. I reduced my cars to 60g per day and had vision issues (near sight out of focus) for several months. I had not realised that it was something that could be an issue and indeed not everybody will get a problem.
If you are getting hungry than you could increase the fat and protein in your meal.
Metformin does not act directly on the food you eat but helps the insulin you are producing to work more efficiently.

 

[Brian12388]

You do have to be a bit careful about reducing carbs too quickly even though it seems a good thing to do. I reduced my cars to 60g per day and had vision issues (near sight out of focus) for several months. I had not realised that it was something that could be an issue and indeed not everybody will get a problem.
If you are getting hungry than you could increase the fat and protein in your meal.
Metformin does not act directly on the food you eat but helps the insulin you are producing to work more efficiently.

I’m not gonna cut carbs out tomorrow I’m gonna have brown rice at lunch and new potatoes and chicken breast for dinner thanks it’s a mine field I don’t know what to do for the best lol

 

[rebrascora]

Dinner looks delicious. Well done. You really have started to embrace this whole concept very well. I love gammon or high meat content sausages with my cauliflower and broccoli cheese. Cauliflower can also be boiled and mashed with cream cheese and a teaspoon of mustard if you like it to make a great low carb alternative to potato mash and used to top a fish pie or shepherd's/cottage pie.... with plenty of cheese topping of course.

BG levels rise and fall throughout the day and night in response to something like 42 different factors. Food and exercise are the two major players but many other things affect levels to a lesser extent and can both increase or decrease BG. Some you have control over, many you don't.
If you are getting hungry and you haven't eaten for a while your liver will output more glucose to give you energy. The liver both stores and generates glucose so it can top your levels up if you haven't had food for a while, which is another fail safe system so that if you are starving, you won't die but can live off your own body stores. This is most often seen on a morning as something called Dawn Phenomenon(DP) or Foot On The Floor (FOTF) syndrome. Ii is believed to date back to prehistoric times when we didn't have kitchens full of food and had to get up and hunt or forage for our first meal of the day and the liver supplied us with the energy(glucose) to do that. In a non diabetic person, they will release insulin to deal with this increase in glucose and it will be removed and stored in the cells and muscles where it can be used but with us diabetics it gets stuck in our blood stream. Often the problem with type 2 diabetics is a combination of the body being resistant to the insulin produced by the pancreas but also the pancreas and the liver not communicating well due to a build up of fat in and around those organs, so the liver outputs glucose but the pancreas doesn't get the message to produce insulin to deal with it and the liver doesn't get the feedback to say that there is plenty of glucose in the blood stream already, so stop producing more. Eating food, switches off this function in the liver and also triggers the pancreas to release insulin. The insulin released in relation to food is I believe referred to as "first phase" insulin release and the fact that your post meal reading was good suggests that your first phase insulin may be pretty good but the second phase of dealing with the slow trickle from the liver is compromised.

I remember pre diagnosis my torso had got very stiff around the lower rib cage and bending down to tie shoe laces etc was becoming increasingly difficult/uncomfortable. I am now pretty sure it was because my liver and pancreas were fused into a solid mass with fat and that was compromising their ability to work and my ability to bend. I didn't really realise this until I lost weight and found how much more supple my torso is in that forward bending motion now. I wasn't desperately overweight before but it feels so much better to be rid of that hard mass at the front of my body now and feel more flexible and healthy.

 

[Brian12388]

@rebrascora thanks so much that is great info and I appreciate your help very much as I do everyone’s help and comments very informative

 

[rebrascora]

Was just thinking perhaps I should apologize for info overload 😳 I get carried away sometimes wanting to explain things when maybe people don't necessarily need to know all the why's and wherefores. I have always found it really difficult to summarize things and sometimes explaining it to someone else helps me to understand it better, so it is a learning experience on my part too.

 

[Brian12388]

Was just thinking perhaps I should apologize for info overload 😳 I get carried away sometimes wanting to explain things when maybe people don't necessarily need to know all the why's and wherefores. I have always found it really difficult to summarize things and sometimes explaining it to someone else helps me to understand it better, so it is a learning experience on my part too.

No no no not at all I am all for learning I will learn everything and go at this full pelt so if it’s possible for me to reach remission then I will reach it so please don’t stop keep giving me info and encouragement all the time I thank you for it

 

[Brian12388]

Hi there Right so today I put carbs back on the menu I had beef brown rice lettuce and spring pinion for my lunch with piri piri Mayo and piri piri chicken breast with new potatoes and baby leaf salad for dinner again with piri piri Mayo does this sound like a good day without cutting carbs out completely ?? Pics bellow thanks !!

 

[EmmaL76]

Hi, Brian. Has your meter come? Have you been testing after your meals ? Dinners look lovely

 

[Brian12388]

@EmmaL76 hi Yes today’s reading are
breakfast 08:15 - 8.5 10:15 - 9.9
Lunch 12:15 - 8.6 14:15 - 7.5
Dinner. 18:00 - 7.0 20:00 - 8.0
Not sure if these are good all I know is I’m trying to keep it under 9.0

 

[EmmaL76]

I’m not exactly an expert but they are not too bad at all. When I was diagnosed my fasting was around 10-13 and after meals could be anywhere up to 15 and if I ate what wanted much higher.

 

[Brian12388]

I’m not exactly an expert but they are not too bad at all. When I was diagnosed my fasting was around 10-13 and after meals could be anywhere up to 15 and if I ate what wanted much higher.

Thanks that’s encouraging

 

[rebrascora]

Those numbers look great. They are a little higher than you would like overall but that is to be expected at this early stage, The important thing is that your 2hrs post meal readings are less than 2-3 mmols higher than the pre meal reading. That means that over time your premeal readings will come down nice and gently and you should start to get readings more in the normal range.
It takes time for diabetes to develop, so you have to be patient for it to get back to normal, but those post meal readings are great and show that your body coped well with those meals. Hopefully you enjoyed them too.

 

[Brian12388]

Those numbers look great. They are a little higher than you would like overall but that is to be expected at this early stage, The important thing is that your 2hrs post meal readings are less than 2-3 mmols higher than the pre meal reading. That means that over time your premeal readings will come down nice and gently and you should start to get readings more in the normal range.
It takes time for diabetes to develop, so you have to be patient for it to get back to normal, but those post meal readings are great and show that your body coped well with those meals. Hopefully you enjoyed them too.

I did indeed enjoy them thanks for the help in understanding all of this much appreciated

 

[Ammonite]

Dinner looks delicious. Well done. You really have started to embrace this whole concept very well. I love gammon or high meat content sausages with my cauliflower and broccoli cheese. Cauliflower can also be boiled and mashed with cream cheese and a teaspoon of mustard if you like it to make a great low carb alternative to potato mash and used to top a fish pie or shepherd's/cottage pie.... with plenty of cheese topping of course.

BG levels rise and fall throughout the day and night in response to something like 42 different factors. Food and exercise are the two major players but many other things affect levels to a lesser extent and can both increase or decrease BG. Some you have control over, many you don't.
If you are getting hungry and you haven't eaten for a while your liver will output more glucose to give you energy. The liver both stores and generates glucose so it can top your levels up if you haven't had food for a while, which is another fail safe system so that if you are starving, you won't die but can live off your own body stores. This is most often seen on a morning as something called Dawn Phenomenon(DP) or Foot On The Floor (FOTF) syndrome. Ii is believed to date back to prehistoric times when we didn't have kitchens full of food and had to get up and hunt or forage for our first meal of the day and the liver supplied us with the energy(glucose) to do that. In a non diabetic person, they will release insulin to deal with this increase in glucose and it will be removed and stored in the cells and muscles where it can be used but with us diabetics it gets stuck in our blood stream. Often the problem with type 2 diabetics is a combination of the body being resistant to the insulin produced by the pancreas but also the pancreas and the liver not communicating well due to a build up of fat in and around those organs, so the liver outputs glucose but the pancreas doesn't get the message to produce insulin to deal with it and the liver doesn't get the feedback to say that there is plenty of glucose in the blood stream already, so stop producing more. Eating food, switches off this function in the liver and also triggers the pancreas to release insulin. The insulin released in relation to food is I believe referred to as "first phase" insulin release and the fact that your post meal reading was good suggests that your first phase insulin may be pretty good but the second phase of dealing with the slow trickle from the liver is compromised.

I remember pre diagnosis my torso had got very stiff around the lower rib cage and bending down to tie shoe laces etc was becoming increasingly difficult/uncomfortable. I am now pretty sure it was because my liver and pancreas were fused into a solid mass with fat and that was compromising their ability to work and my ability to bend. I didn't really realise this until I lost weight and found how much more supple my torso is in that forward bending motion now. I wasn't desperately overweight before but it feels so much better to be rid of that hard mass at the front of my body now and feel more flexible and healthy.

I have been “lurking” around the forum since my T2 diagnosis in March, and just wanted to say what a helpful and informative post this is! You have explained it all so clearly - thank you @rebrascora.

 

[rebrascora]

I have been “lurking” around the forum since my T2 diagnosis in March, and just wanted to say what a helpful and informative post this is! You have explained it all so clearly - thank you @rebrascora.

Hi and welcome to the forum now you have de-lurked. 😉

Pleased you found my post helpful. I learned pretty much everything i know from the good people on this forum during the last couple of years, so I can't really take credit for the content of what I write, just the explanation of it. I really am indebted to the forum for the amazing support and education it has given me, so I am only too happy to pay that forward to other newbies. It is good to know that you were able to follow my ramblings without too much difficulty as I am afraid I really struggle to be concise! 🙄

How are you managing with your diabetes? Feel free to post an intro thread so others get to say hello and tell us a bit more about your diabetes, HbA1c, medication etc?
Also, if you are self testing and do a waking reading, why not join us on the "Group 7-day waking average" thread. We don't bother with averages anymore just use it as a virtual coffee morning "check in" with our waking readings and a bit of banter. Jump right in tomorrow if you fancy getting to know some of us regulars a bit better. That applies to you too Brian, now you are self testing. You will get quite an insight into the variation in readings and types of diabetes, with some people having really very stable BG levels on a morning and others of us playing chase the dragons tail! Obviously stable is best but not everyone can achieve that and you can only do your best, so don't feel put off if your levels are higher than you would like. Hopefully they will start trending lower as the days and weeks go on.

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/group-7-day-waking-average.20148/page-3827#post-1094262