Hello I’m a newbie!

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Polar_Skye

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Hello everyone I am 58, and have just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I’m from the south west uk. I am still waiting for my diabetic nurse appointment and am new to all of this. I hope to learn how to manage my condition and hopefully reverse it. I am happily married ( 32 years ) we have a little dog and two cats.
 
Polar_Skye said:
Hello everyone I am 58, and have just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I’m from the south west uk. I am still waiting for my diabetic nurse appointment and am new to all of this. I hope to learn how to manage my condition and hopefully reverse it. I am happily married ( 32 years ) we have a little dog and two cats.
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Welcome to the forum.
Hopefully your HbA1C will not be so high that you will not be able to manage to reduce your level by making some dietary changes as that is the most powerful thing that you can do, some people will need medication to help but giving the dietary option a shot first, worth it as even with it, you need to make those changes to your diet anyway.
Many find a low carbohydrate approach successful as all carbs convert to glucose so reducing those in your diet is important. Have a look at this link for some ideas for menus.
https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/ Low carb is suggested as being no more than 130g carbs per day, it is not NO carbs, but don't be misled into thinking that brown/wholemeal versions are better than the white variety, they are the same amount of carbs.
It may also prompt you with some questions when you see your diabetic nurse, it is a good idea to make some notes as it is easy to forget what you were going to ask.
 
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Hello and welcome!
 
Hi @Polar_Skye, @Leadinglights has hit the nail on the head with the carb reduction. With the right frame of mind you don't need to change the way you eat, just reduce the amount of carbs that goes with a meal. Fill your plate up with other veggies, and don't be afraid of fats. If you are reducing your carbs you need to keep feeling full so fats will help. Basically for T2s, the standard NHS advice to low fat is actually contradictory (unless of course you have any other condition which requires low fat consumption).
All my meals are the same as I cook for the rest of the family, I'm just sparing with the taters, rice, bread and pasta.
Lovely to have you on board 🙂 xx
 
Hi @Leadinglights, Thanks for the welcome. It’s so encouraging to see how well you have done I am very impressed and would be thrilled if I had similar results!

My HbA1c is 51
Weight 105 kgs
High BP
Other conditions too.
Still waiting to see the diabetic nurse. In meantime I’m reading what I can and wondering if I ought to get a blood glucose monitor…
 
@Polar_Skye As your HbA1c is not really that high you should - with any luck - be able to make a few swaps and reverse it.
As a very ordinary type 2 myself I was rather surprised at how easy I found it to eat a low carb diet and get normal numbers.
I used a Tee 2+ meter from Spirit Healthcare to check that I was eating right to get my blood glucose under 8mmol/l after eating, and after that it was just keeping on eating the same food. My blood glucose kept on going down eating the same meals as - presumably - my metabolism recovered as best it could after many years of being pushed to deal with too many carbs.
I find it no hardship to eat bubble and squeak made with swede rather than potato, or sugar free jelly with berries. cream or yoghurt.
 
Polar_Skye said:
Hi @Leadinglights, Thanks for the welcome. It’s so encouraging to see how well you have done I am very impressed and would be thrilled if I had similar results!

My HbA1c is 51
Weight 105 kgs
High BP
Other conditions too.
Still waiting to see the diabetic nurse. In meantime I’m reading what I can and wondering if I ought to get a blood glucose monitor…
Click to expand...
Your HbA1C is not too bad just 1mmol/mol over where I started from, I adopted the low carb approach which I found very doable and it is now just my new normal way of eating. It took me 3 months to get to 42 and then down lower where I am 3 years on despite a problem with walking too far as I had an accident needing knee surgery.
It is a good idea to get a monitor as it both allows you to ditch foods which increase blood glucose too much and find food which you can safely have which you may have rejected. Everybody is different in what carbs they can tolerate.
Monitors with the cheaper strips are the GlucoNavii, TEE2 and Contour Blue, cheaper on line than at a pharmacy.
 
Polar_Skye said:
My HbA1c is 51
Weight 105 kgs
High BP
Other conditions too.
Still waiting to see the diabetic nurse. In meantime I’m reading what I can and wondering if I ought to get a blood glucose monitor…
Click to expand...
51 is only just across the line. Many of us were diagnosed with an HbA1c in 3 figures and have still been able to turn things around. Being able to self-test, especially after meals, helped me sort out my diet. I still test every day but these days it's more about monitoring.
 
Drummer said:
@Polar_Skye As your HbA1c is not really that high you should - with any luck - be able to make a few swaps and reverse it.
As a very ordinary type 2 myself I was rather surprised at how easy I found it to eat a low carb diet and get normal numbers.
I used a Tee 2+ meter from Spirit Healthcare to check that I was eating right to get my blood glucose under 8mmol/l after eating, and after that it was just keeping on eating the same food. My blood glucose kept on going down eating the same meals as - presumably - my metabolism recovered as best it could after many years of being pushed to deal with too many carbs.
I find it no hardship to eat bubble and squeak made with swede rather than potato, or sugar free jelly with berries. cream or yoghurt.
Click to expand...
Good to hear you have done well. I will be researching which foods I can swap. Bubble and squeak with swede sounds delicious! Wow! A camper van! That sounds fantastic.
 
Polar_Skye said:
Good to hear you have done well. I will be researching which foods I can swap. Bubble and squeak with swede sounds delicious! Wow! A camper van! That sounds fantastic.
Click to expand...
I find a pressure cooker is really useful. I used to use one mainly in the van, but bought one to use at home as well. It is useful these days to keep the use of gas to a minimum - hard times are come again.
 
Welcome to the forum @Polar_Skye

Glad you have found us, and best of luck with trying to put your diabetes in remission. There seem to be 2 main approaches to aim for that:
  1. Weight loss. Especially weight carried around your middle, which can indicate visceral fat around the organs in your pancreas. Clearing that fat reboots the metabolism and improves BG numbers
  2. Carb reduction. Aiming to reduce overall carb intake to a level at which the body can manage to keep BG levels within the recommended ranges (4-7 before meals and no higher than 8.5 at 2hrs after meals). Members often find their weight goes down as their BG levels improve.
Good luck with whatever approach you decide to try. Let us know how you get on. 🙂
 
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