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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Hello everyone
- Thread starter Helios
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Welcome to the forum @Helios
We have a wide variety of members all navigating their own way through the diabetes maze, and finding the things that help them to keep their diabetes in line.
There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach that works for everyone. Diabetes can be fiercely individual, and different people’s metabolisms, gut biomes, genetic makeup, tastes, aspirations, and a host of other aspects mean that each of us need to find our own path, and tailor a package of strategies and tactics that appeals to you and works for your individual diabetes.
If you would like a good overview of T2 diabetes, to add to the knowledge you’ve already picked up, members here frequently recommend Maggie Davey’s Letter and Gretchen Becker’s book T2 Diabetes, the first year, which you can work through gradually and will give you a solid starting point. The Learning Zone (orange tab above) is a mine of information too 🙂
Fire away with any questions you have - nothing will be considered too obvious or ‘silly’. 🙂
We have a wide variety of members all navigating their own way through the diabetes maze, and finding the things that help them to keep their diabetes in line.
There’s no ‘one size fits all’ approach that works for everyone. Diabetes can be fiercely individual, and different people’s metabolisms, gut biomes, genetic makeup, tastes, aspirations, and a host of other aspects mean that each of us need to find our own path, and tailor a package of strategies and tactics that appeals to you and works for your individual diabetes.
If you would like a good overview of T2 diabetes, to add to the knowledge you’ve already picked up, members here frequently recommend Maggie Davey’s Letter and Gretchen Becker’s book T2 Diabetes, the first year, which you can work through gradually and will give you a solid starting point. The Learning Zone (orange tab above) is a mine of information too 🙂
Fire away with any questions you have - nothing will be considered too obvious or ‘silly’. 🙂
Thank you Vonny, and apologies for responding this late. My HbA1c last month is at 53 and coming down. I do not check this as I should (other personal issues interfering). I will now as my vision is now blurred .. onset was sudden, since last month, so very worried! Also on Rusovastatin for 4.9 cholesterol. My difficulty is what to eat - I use wholegrain - rice, pasta, bread for example, sweet potatoes, fish, salads, peanuts, fruits but not certain on eating these as my doctor says to be careful of their natural sugar content, and what to do (exercise) - I walk most evenings after dinner and now cycling about once a week. I know there's no one-size fits all, but any general ideas about food and exercise in addition to what I am doing? Thank you.
Leadinglights
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Problem with your eyes can be either high blood glucose or as a result of the changes in your eyes when your blood glucose reduces quite quickly as a result of dietary changes and/or medication.
You sound to be still having quite a lot of high carb foods with the rice, pasta and bread, the brown versions have just as much carb as the white and sweet potatoes are only slightly better than normal potatoes. Tropical fruits are the highest carb but berries are OK.
Have a look at this link, it may give you some ideas for suitable foods and meals that will reduce your carb intake. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
If people are following a low carb approach, they would be aiming at no more than 130g per day Total carbs in everything they eat and drink
You may also find the book or app Carbs and Cals useful as it gives carb values and portion sizes with illustrations for a whole range of foods.
You sound to be still having quite a lot of high carb foods with the rice, pasta and bread, the brown versions have just as much carb as the white and sweet potatoes are only slightly better than normal potatoes. Tropical fruits are the highest carb but berries are OK.
Have a look at this link, it may give you some ideas for suitable foods and meals that will reduce your carb intake. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
If people are following a low carb approach, they would be aiming at no more than 130g per day Total carbs in everything they eat and drink
You may also find the book or app Carbs and Cals useful as it gives carb values and portion sizes with illustrations for a whole range of foods.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Unfortunately rice, pasta and bread, and sweet potato are all just as much carbohydrate as all the sugars - I don't eat peanuts as I can extract more carbs than their listed value and it is the same for any legume I eat. I can see that when I check after eating. It might be wise to check that you can cope with the high carb foods on your menu. Some can cope with them, others, like me, spike every time.
Your vision should improve as your blood glucose levels stabilise at lower levels, but the statin might not be helping - and your cholesterol is low already.
Leadinglights
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Interesting that you have the same reaction with peanuts because they are actually legumes yet people who are allergic to peanuts are not with other legumes. It always puzzled me.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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Just for clarity, 4.9 isn’t considered low for a person with diabetes. It may be marginally lower than the UK average total cholesterol of approx 5.7mmol/L, but the recommendations for people with diabetes are a bit more stringent at 4.0 total and ideally LDL calculated at 2.0 or less (from memory)
Thank you Drummer for this. My doctor recently doubled my statin dosage. She said it needs to come down . Do you think I have to check blood sugar levels daily .. before and after meals - dinner or breakfast and dinner?
Thank you very much Leadinglights. Obviously the "eat wholegrain brown stuff" seems somewhat misleading!
Leadinglights
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Certainly checking your blood glucose before and 2 hours after some of your meals would give you a better idea if you are tolerating the amount of carbs in that meal. You can then make adjustment if needed. An increase of no more than 2-3mmol/l would indicate it is OK and as your level start to come down then aiming at a post meal of no more than 8-8.5mmol/l would be good.
Thank you.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I started off checking before and after meals, but once I was seeing below about 10, I think it was, I just checked after, then when I had consistent results for breakfast I stopped testing that (I found I was more insulin resistant then so very low carb) and just checked after dinner as I had a more varied menu.
I found I did not need to eat lunch. When I was seeing under 8mmol/l I stopped regular checking unless I tried something different, but my numbers drifted down over a few months.
I did not want to worry you about statins, but I had a very bad reaction to them and Metformin too. My memory was in tatters and I was an emotional wreck in only a few weeks. I binned them.
Sad about your experience. I hope you're getting better everyday.
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