Hello all!

[Darrenbo]

Hello, newbie to the forum but not a newbie to diabetes. Been diagnosed type 2 now for about 6 years. I really struggle with diet and giving up the things I shouldn’t have.

when I was diagnosed the doctor put me onto emergency insulin because they weren’t sure if I was type 1 or 2. I’d started getting up 5/6 times a night for a wee and when they checked my bloody sugars was well over 30mmol. The insulin brought it down and with eating better, exercise etc the levels came down and I was put onto metformin.

Over the following years my weight fluctuated as did my diet, sometimes I was good, then bad and so on. Christmas last year I got my weight down to 98kg from around 125kg my sugar levels were good then I had a lapse, got sloppy put the weight back on and was around 118kg, mmol was creeping up so docs put me on 2x 1000mg slow release metformin, 1x empagloflozin a day and it worked. Weight didn’t really shift but blood sugars were constantly between 5-7mmol.

a few months ago seeing the results the doctor rung me and said my levels had gone pre-diabetic and that I was coming off the empagloflozin and going onto just 2x 500mg slow release metformin per day, 1 in morning and 1 in evening. Fast forward to now and I am a little more active trying to do around 10k steps a day but nothing really sweat breaking. The weight is coming down slowly and is about 106.2kg when last checked but my diet is shocking, back in the sweets and chocolate, Coke Zero all the time. I do drink loads more water but bloody sugar wise I’ve undone all the hard work.

the problem I now have is that my sugars are so high again. They’re around the 20mmol mark no matter what I do, I’ve gone to barely eating, especially sugary stuff but they’re still high.

diet: morning, without fail - a bowl of shredded wheat bitesize and semi skimmed milk.

lunch: usually some from of sandwich, cheese salad or chicken tandoori from greggs, a pot of fruit and bottle of water.

dinner: could be anything from chicken and veg, a stew, a takeaway, chicken and chips from the freezer.

sleep levels haven’t been great because of staying up late and waking up early.

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Darrenbo 🙂 Can you pinpoint any reason why your diet went bad again? Do you think you started to relax about it too much? Did an occasional treat start to become an everyday thing?

You did really well losing that weight, so you know you can do it. It’s just a case of motivating yourself again. You’re doing a good number of steps, so you’ve got that right. I don’t know about you, but I find that messed up sleep makes me crave rubbishy foods. Could that be part of it?

 

[ianf0ster]

Hello, newbie to the forum but not a newbie to diabetes. Been diagnosed type 2 now for about 6 years. I really struggle with diet and giving up the things I shouldn’t have.

when I was diagnosed the doctor put me onto emergency insulin because they weren’t sure if I was type 1 or 2. I’d started getting up 5/6 times a night for a wee and when they checked my bloody sugars was well over 30mmol. The insulin brought it down and with eating better, exercise etc the levels came down and I was put onto metformin.

Over the following years my weight fluctuated as did my diet, sometimes I was good, then bad and so on. Christmas last year I got my weight down to 98kg from around 125kg my sugar levels were good then I had a lapse, got sloppy put the weight back on and was around 118kg, mmol was creeping up so docs put me on 2x 1000mg slow release metformin, 1x empagloflozin a day and it worked. Weight didn’t really shift but blood sugars were constantly between 5-7mmol.

a few months ago seeing the results the doctor rung me and said my levels had gone pre-diabetic and that I was coming off the empagloflozin and going onto just 2x 500mg slow release metformin per day, 1 in morning and 1 in evening. Fast forward to now and I am a little more active trying to do around 10k steps a day but nothing really sweat breaking. The weight is coming down slowly and is about 106.2kg when last checked but my diet is shocking, back in the sweets and chocolate, Coke Zero all the time. I do drink loads more water but bloody sugar wise I’ve undone all the hard work.

the problem I now have is that my sugars are so high again. They’re around the 20mmol mark no matter what I do, I’ve gone to barely eating, especially sugary stuff but they’re still high.

diet: morning, without fail - a bowl of shredded wheat bitesize and semi skimmed milk.

lunch: usually some from of sandwich, cheese salad or chicken tandoori from greggs, a pot of fruit and bottle of water.

dinner: could be anything from chicken and veg, a stew, a takeaway, chicken and chips from the freezer.

sleep levels haven’t been great because of staying up late and waking up early.

Hi @Darrenbo and welcome to the forum.

Firstly do you actually know that it is carbohydrates (not just sugar) that cause high Blood Glucose in a Type 2 Diabetic?
This means that we need to be careful about eating starchy foods as well as sweet ones, because starches turn into glucose almost as soon as they meet the saliva in out mouths. Thus some starchy foods spike our Blood Glucose faster and higher than some sweet ones.

So the simplest diet for a Type 2 isn't a 'diet' at all, it is just to eat lots of protein and the natural fats that come with that and reduce the amount of things such as: Potato, flour, rice, pasta, whole grains, pastry, tropical fruit as we can.
Good foods for most Type 2's include: Fatty cuts of meat like lamb or bacon: Fatty fish like Salmon, Trout, Mackerel: Eggs; above ground veg like Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Celery, Celeriac: fruit used as veg such as Cucumber, Courgette, Avocado, Aubergine; most tree nuts including Brazil, Walnut, Hazelnut; full-fat dairy such as butter, double cream, plain full-fat greek style yogurt; and berries - strawberry, raspberry, blackberry are the best.

The less fat a processed food has in it the more carbs it tends to contain to replace the flavour lost by cutting the fat. Semi-skimmed milk is worse than full-fat milk which itself is worse than cream.

So your breakfast was carbs and more carbs - getting your body off to a terrible start. (eggs or even greek yogurt with a handful of berries and some nuts would be very much better).

In your lunch, a sandwich is lots of carbs, also probably the pot of fruit if either not a berry or if sweetened.

If there are potatoes in your stew or if you ate chips ten you just loaded up with carbs again! Some takeaways are OK, but most are high carb compare burger in a bun(high carb) with a burger without the bun (low carb unless it's an ultra-cheap burger with lots of filler rather than meat).

The majority of people who eat Low Carb, but eat until they are full not only get their Blood Glucose down a lot (into remission in approx 50%) but also lose weight without trying. Carbs increase insulin (unless a Type 1) and Insulin is the Fat Storage Hormone - so over-eat by just a little and you get fatter!

 

[Cherrelle DUK]

Hi Darrenbo, welcome to the forum.

Firstly, congratulations on the progress you've made. You've proven to yourself that you can do it so it's now a case of finding out a plan that works and you'll be happy to stick to.

Assuming that the diagnosis of which type you are is correct, one of the things that's tricky about diabetes is the foods we were told are healthy can actually still be harmful. For me, the menu you have now, the shredded wheat and sandwiches, would have a negative impact on my levels as it's not just sugar but carbs.

Do you use a blood glucose meter to test your levels at the beginning of the day and after meals? Might help to understand how your current menu is impacting you so you can adjust if necessary.

 

[Inka]

There are a number of diets that can help Type 2 @ianf0ster and the diet you describe is only one of them. There are plenty of other choices for the OP.

 

[ianf0ster]

There are a number of diets that can help Type 2 @ianf0ster and the diet you describe is only one of them. There are plenty of other choices for the OP.

The OP said they have problems with the 'diet'.
I was merely suggesting something that is a way of eating rather than a diet. If you know of another way of eating which has a 50% medication free remission rate for Type 2's please post it to add to their choices!

 

[Inka]

All diets are ‘ways of eating’. The LCHF diet that you suggest to every single person no matter their circumstances might be one choice but there are others - the liquid/shakes diet, weight loss, Joel Fuhrman, etc. Not everyone is happy to eat that much fat nor restrict carbohydrates so much - nor is it necessary.

“We are not against diets such as LCHF and Atkins (for example) by any means - they have proven extremely successful for a lot of people - but they are not the only solution, nor are they necessary for a lot of people. I appreciate that some people may have instantly turned to radical changes and found it worked very well for them, but until you know much more about your audience, you should not assume it will work for them - and may possibly be dangerous, since you can't possibly know what other issues a person may have.”


https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/a-broad-church-low-carb-is-not-the-only-way.91369/

.

 

[Drummer]

Hello, newbie to the forum but not a newbie to diabetes. Been diagnosed type 2 now for about 6 years. I really struggle with diet and giving up the things I shouldn’t have.

The weight is coming down slowly and is about 106.2kg when last checked but my diet is shocking, back in the sweets and chocolate, Coke Zero all the time. I do drink loads more water but bloody sugar wise I’ve undone all the hard work.

the problem I now have is that my sugars are so high again. They’re around the 20mmol mark no matter what I do, I’ve gone to barely eating, especially sugary stuff but they’re still high.

diet: morning, without fail - a bowl of shredded wheat bitesize and semi skimmed milk.

lunch: usually some from of sandwich, cheese salad or chicken tandoori from greggs, a pot of fruit and bottle of water.

dinner: could be anything from chicken and veg, a stew, a takeaway, chicken and chips from the freezer.

sleep levels haven’t been great because of staying up late and waking up early.

Oh wow - there is no wonder that you are seeing such high numbers with that diet - if you are serious in your wish to reduce your blood glucose levels then reducing the carbohydrate is the way to go - but do so in stages as a rapid reduction can lead to feeling pretty wobbly, and might even affect your eyesight.
Coke zero is nothing to worry about, not when your carb intake is so high.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Darrenbo

Sorry to hear that your BGs have risen. At that level they might be making you feel pretty grim - I get to feel lethargic, irritable, fuzzy headed and hungry when my levels run high for a while. Alongside feelings of indigestion, thirst and needing to wee more often.

Sounds like you have managed to find ways to lose weight in the past, but that maintaining and sustaining that loss has been difficult. That isn’t at all unusual - so don’t feel you are doing anything ’wrong’.

Some research shows that taste, sense of fullness, the kinds of foods you are drawn to, and also what your body does with the nutrients in them can all have quite a strong genetic determination. But also that many of these predispositions can be reduced or encouraged by environmental factors.

So don’t give yourself a hard time, but recognise that change is possible. Many forum members have been able to gradually discover a way of eating that suits their metabolism and their BG levels, and which provides them the flexibility and enjoyability for them to sustain it long-term. Many also find that their tastes change, and that they are able to find more BG-friendly alternatives for snacks, nibbles, and treats to replace things that they see their body struggles with.

Using pairs of BG checks, one immediately before eating, and another 2hrs after the first bite can be a very useful way of observing how your body is reacting to different foods. Including ‘healthy’ choices. Ideally you would aim for a rise in BG of 2-3mmol/L or less. Initially the numbers themselves are almost less important than the differences. Eventually you will want to be aiming for 4-7 before meals and no higher than 8.5 2hrs after, but initially, by concentrating on the ‘meal rise’ and keeping that down to 2-3 as often as you can, you will allow your overall BG to reduce gradually. Which is kinder on the fine blood vessels and gives your body time to adjust.

If you can see that a meal or snack is raising BG more than 2-3, try reducing the portion of total carbohydrate (not just sugary components). Or possibly swap to a different carbohydrate source.

If you’d like some ideas of swaps and alternatives, you will find examples of the things other forum members are eating here:

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/what-did-you-eat-yesterday.30349/page-478

Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂