Hello, I’m a newbie.....

[EmilyR]

Hi everyone. Thanks for letting me join your group. On Monday my doctor told me I had type 2 diabetes. On Tuesday I was in the surgery with the diabetes nurse giving me loads and loads of leaflets and a blood glucose monitor. On Wednesday I’m here and feeling slightly shocked. Did that sound a bit like Craig David?!?! Except I certainly won’t be doing what he did over the next few days.
I’m so confused. I eat healthily, have no diabetes in the family, am not overly overweight, I don’t drink, admittedly I don’t get much exercise (I got early onset arthritis and have got both my hips replaced age 44) but I do as much as I can. Anyway, I am looking forward to learning from this group as I’m pretty clueless at the moment. The main thing is, I need to do some shopping for my new lifestyle, and I don’t know what food I should buy. I can’t stand fish, and I don’t really like eggs. Also what do you all snack on? Hope this isn’t too forward, I’m just scared I’m going to reach for the crisps as soon as I start feeling peckish. Thank you all. Xxx

 

[Drummer]

Hello and welcome.
How severe a change you need to make will be made easier to see by your having a meter to check on your levels. Hopefully you have a good supply of the strips, so you can test before meals and then 2 hours later and see how you have responded to the carbohydrates on the menu.
Personally I do not snack, and I only eat twice a day, morning and evening at about 12 hourly intervals.
I find that I do not get hungry these days and do not need to snack.
A typical type two can eat any meat, seafood eggs or cheese, as they are low carb - which ought to give enough choice even if you don't like some things. Usually we can add in low carb veges, salad stuff, full fat yoghurt and berries - I keep to foods which are under 11 percent carbohydrate. The one exception is the high cocoa chocolate, but I only have one square of it a couple of times a week. I have a couple of mugs of coffee with cream each day, and I have fruit teas, or mint and liquorice, and sometimes diet drinks or low sugar squash but I drink several glasses of water a day.

 

[Leadinglights]

Like Drummer I don't feel the need to snack as my meals are satisfying. I follow a low carb, about 70g per day and have normal fat in that I don't have the low fat versions of products. So my diet is based around meat, fish, eggs, cheese and vegetables and salads. I avoid potatoes except occasionally, I use Edamame bean or blackbean pasta as it is much lower carb than normal but don't have rice. I do have a small amount of bread. I have berries usually with cream or quark or yoghurt as breakfast or desert. Nuts are good to have as snacks if needed.
If you are into cooking then look for Low carb or Keto recipes on the internet or on here for recipes.
It is important to enjoy what you are eating as you will be more likely to stick with it and it will become the new normal for you.
Have a look at the thread What did you eat yesterday for some ideas of what people have for their daily menu. Don't forget that if people are Type 1 or are Type 2 on insulin then their carb intake may be higher than is wise for others.

 

[Cherrelle DUK]

Hi Emily, welcome to the forum.

It's tricky at first but gets easier once you get your head round it. As you up your protein, snacking becomes less of an issue but to start with, I enjoyed high fibre crackers and Ryvitas with tuna that I cooked up. Small amounts of plain popcorn, low GI fruits like berries, they all helped to see off the cravings.

It's really important to plan ahead or have things handy so have a look at our main pages re eating with diabetes. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/eating-with-diabetes

I hope this helps so you can at least chill on Sunday 🙂