Hello. Just a question regarding my carbs vs sugar intake.

[GeordieDave]

Right…I’m a newly diagnosed (a month ago) type 2 diabetic. I‘ve had, read and ingested the paraphernalia from my nurse practitioner but find it was limited compared to speaking with others who actually have the condition. All it really states in the food section is, ‘look at the ‘traffic light’ rating system and go from there. Now, I’ve found since I’ve stopped eating sugar heavy food (cakes, biscuits, sweeties, chocolate etc) I’m eating more bread. I have eaten wholemeal bread for years anyway but need to know if I should cut down or even stop altogether. I used to eat maybe 1 or 2 slices a day and now I currently eat around 3-5 slices daily, depending on what I have for meals. The nutritional values are: Sugars (0.7g per slice) and fat is 0.6g but carbs are quite high at 13g. I also found constipation a problem as I cut out cereal too, so wanted to up my fibre, which is 2.5g per slice, which has helped.
I would Google it but I trust advice from that about as much as I would trust a man called Mad Mick McMental who’s holding a fireman’s axe.
Any advice appreciated and will be acted upon.

Bruce Out!

 

[Gwynn]

Hmm mad mick, scary.

I am a type 2 (apparently) so all my words below relate to that.

Yes its ALL carbohydrates (not just sugars) have to be watched and reduced. You will need to find your own personal tolerance level.

I too had constipation when I first changed my diet. And I had it bad.

Two things helped me. 1. I took some constipation stuff from the pharmacy for a short whike and 2 the biggest positive change came from increasing my fibre, and fats in my diet.

I found it best to keep a food diary and ensure that carbs were as low as I could make them and that, for me, fats were increased to around 40g to 50g a day. Any calorie shortfall being covered by increasing fats and protein.

I have read on here that the traffic light system on food packaging is a bit of a disaster for diabetics. I never used it myself and prefered to add up the different nutrient stuff myself.

There are some very good Apps out there to help in this too.

 

[Ljc]

Hi. TBTH I have always ignored the traffic light system on foods as it does not give me the info I need.
Which is carbohydrates.

Sugar is just a simple carbohydrate that in the uk is already
included in the carbohydrate content, I also ignor the , of which is sugars , which is underneath the carb content.

Speaking as an insulin user I inject for carbohydrates I am going to eat.

Bread , potatoes, rice and pasta, even the wholemeal versions are starch carbohydrates.but some folks find they do tolerate wholemeal versions ok , some don’t, I don’t.

The best way to find out what carbohydrates you can and can’t tolerate, as we are all different in this respect, is to self test, it’s a glucoses meter.
You test just before eating then two hours after the first bite, (so long as you are not on meds that can cause hypo’s, Metformin doesn’t) so long as you are no more than 3.0 mmol/l higher after, then that meal is fine. Gradually your pre meal readings will come down

Many T2 who have to self find their own meter and test strips use this meter as it’s test strips are around £8 for 50

You searched for Gluco navii | Home Health UK

homehealth-uk.com

You will need to buy more pots if testing stips, I suggest two o start with and a box of lancets as theyonly provide 10 in the starter pack.
Their is another meter with similarly priced strips , it’s called the Tee 2 ( I believe) both meters are also available on Amazon.

 

[Leadinglights]

Welcome to the forum, you will find plenty of good advice here, sadly the standard NHS information does no favours for Type 2 diabetics as the foods you need to be cutting down on are ALL carbohydrates as they convert into glucose. The traffic light system may be fine for non diabetics just wanting a more healthy diet but for blood glucose management is totally misleading. There are many foods which may be low sugar but still high carbohydrate which would push up blood glucose levels.
Foods you need to be cutting out are cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks which it sounds as if you have done but you also need to be reducing portions of other high carb foods like potatoes, bread, cereals, pasta, rice, some fruits like bananas and grapes.
Basing your meals on meat, fish, eggs, cheese, dairy and vegetables and salad, some fruits like berries with small portions of those high carb foods I mentioned. Full fat products are better as they generally have less carbs.
Increasing fat and protein will help to stop you feeling hungry. People still allow themselves things like dark chocolate as a treat.
Carbs and Cals is a good resource either book or app for carb values of different foods.

Have a look at the learning zone and the thread What did you eat yesterday for ideas of what Type 2 folk have for meals.
Do come back and ask any questions.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome from another north easterner.

Unfortunately the info you have been given is "old hat". The traffic light system really isn't helpful to us diabetics because our bodies break down all carbohydrates into glucose which then gets absorbed into our blood stream. Because of our diabetes, our bodies have difficulty efficiently metabolising it from there, so we end up with higher levels of blood glucose than is healthy. The most effective option of treatment with Type 2 diabetes is to put less carbohydrates into your body in the first place so that there is less glucose going into your blood stream, so yes, that means also cutting down on bread, pasta, rice, couscous (even the wholemeal/wholegrain/brown/wild varieties) and being careful with fruit as well. The lowest carb fruits are berries, so most of us opt for those over the carb rich exotic fruits like bananas and mangoes and pineapple etc. Grapes have to be rationed as they are both high in sugars and moreish and don't come in a handy size portion so it is easy to end up eating a whole punnet without thinking.
Yes, constipation is often a problem when you change your diet and particularly if you were eating a lot of wholemeal bread. I find that using fibre supplements (psyllium husk and chia seeds) has made an enormous difference to my digestive system and it is probably the best it has been in my life now on a low carb diet with these supplements. I also try to eat plenty of cabbage/cauliflower/broccoli and salad to increase my dietary fibre and kimchi and sauerkraut, kefir and Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) feature quite regularly in my diet to keep gut bacteria well balanced.

It takes time to figure out what works best for you though and the thing that most people find invaluable is a BG test meter, so that they can see how their body responds to the food they eat and adjust their diet accordingly. It will help you to keep an honest food diary of everything you eat and drink and note down a rough carb count in grams for each meal or snack, so that you can start to see where unnecessary carbs can be shaved off or portion size needs reducing. If/when you get a test meter, noting your before food and 2 hours after, readings in the food diary will help you to identify which foods caused you the most BG upheaval and therefore look at reducing the carbs in those meals. It sounds a real palaver but once you get into it, it becomes second nature and once you get through the forst few months of testing and adjusting your diet, it is just a question of spot monitoring after that to maintain good levels.

The SD Gluco Navii and the Spirit Healthcare Tee2 are both recommended by forum members to people who self fund as being economical and reliable. These meters are approx £15 for the testing kit and then about £8 for additional pots of test strips. You would be well advised to get at least 2 extra pots of test strips with your kit and an additional box of lancets as you do a lot of testing in the first few weeks. Being able to see what your BG levels do after eating "naughty foods" can be a real motivator for changing dietary behaviour as much as getting good results and seeing steady improvement in levels as you adjust your diet.

Good luck with your diabetes journey and feel free to ask if there is anything you don't understand or get stuck with.

 

[Barfly]

Right…I’m a newly diagnosed (a month ago) type 2 diabetic. I‘ve had, read and ingested the paraphernalia from my nurse practitioner but find it was limited compared to speaking with others who actually have the condition. All it really states in the food section is, ‘look at the ‘traffic light’ rating system and go from there. Now, I’ve found since I’ve stopped eating sugar heavy food (cakes, biscuits, sweeties, chocolate etc) I’m eating more bread. I have eaten wholemeal bread for years anyway but need to know if I should cut down or even stop altogether. I used to eat maybe 1 or 2 slices a day and now I currently eat around 3-5 slices daily, depending on what I have for meals. The nutritional values are: Sugars (0.7g per slice) and fat is 0.6g but carbs are quite high at 13g. I also found constipation a problem as I cut out cereal too, so wanted to up my fibre, which is 2.5g per slice, which has helped.
I would Google it but I trust advice from that about as much as I would trust a man called Mad Mick McMental who’s holding a fireman’s axe.
Any advice appreciated and will be acted upon.

Bruce Out!

Bruce- see this post here: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/new-to-me.95118/post-1094766

The screenshot is taken from the app on my smartphone. The app is the one used by the Tee2+ and tracks my BG levels. It automatically sends the results to the app via btooth. From the graph at the top I can see at a glance how badly I've been doing the last few days....sigh.
The word document is a transpose of my food diary spreadsheet for August so far. I can see at a glance what foods are giving me grief.

Best of luck, Tony.

 

[Burylancs]

Right…I’m a newly diagnosed (a month ago) type 2 diabetic. I‘ve had, read and ingested the paraphernalia from my nurse practitioner but find it was limited compared to speaking with others who actually have the condition. All it really states in the food section is, ‘look at the ‘traffic light’ rating system and go from there. Now, I’ve found since I’ve stopped eating sugar heavy food (cakes, biscuits, sweeties, chocolate etc) I’m eating more bread. I have eaten wholemeal bread for years anyway but need to know if I should cut down or even stop altogether. I used to eat maybe 1 or 2 slices a day and now I currently eat around 3-5 slices daily, depending on what I have for meals. The nutritional values are: Sugars (0.7g per slice) and fat is 0.6g but carbs are quite high at 13g. I also found constipation a problem as I cut out cereal too, so wanted to up my fibre, which is 2.5g per slice, which has helped.
I would Google it but I trust advice from that about as much as I would trust a man called Mad Mick McMental who’s holding a fireman’s axe.
Any advice appreciated and will be acted upon.

Bruce Out!

Hi. Yes bread is very tempting and many T2s are 'recovering breadoholics'. The X-Pert Diabetes course on T2 defines Carbohydrate Portions as 15g of carbs. That's enough to raise the average T2s bg by one point at least. The X-Pert course is reckoned to be one of the better introductions to Type 2 Diabetes. Enquire about it locally. The X-Pert course suggests between 8 and 15 Carb Portions per day for T2s depending on work done and level of physical activity.
I still eat a slice of bread on most days but save it for bedtime to keep my bgs up during the night ( I'm on insulin ).

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @GeordieDave

Glad you have found us!

Well done on cutting back on the sweet and sugary foods - that will certainly be helping a lot.

How your body will cope with bread is a very individual thing. You might find it reassuring to be able to check your BG levels if you are increasing your intake of bread - just so that you can see how your metabolism is able to handle it.

If you are looking for ways of increasing your fibre intake, aside from wholemeal bread and cereal, you might find nuts and seeds helpful. Additionally fresh veg, particularly leafy veg and broccoli are useful additions to meals which shouldn’t affect your BG levels.

 

[leonS]

Here is the heavy stuff.
glucose has the chemical formula C 6H12O6 and all sugars consist of glucose units joined up. Stomach acid breaks this chain into glucose very quickly and the glucose is absorbed quickly onto the blood.

Starch has the chemical formula C6H10O5 do tjat the addition of two H (hydrogen atoms) and an O (oxygen atom) will turn it into glucose.

This takes place further down the gut and the resulting glucose arrives in the blood more slowly.

All carbs are turned to glucose and should be limited.

Ni the easy bit. Type 2s have a limited ability to remove glucose from the blood and store it in the liver. The unstored glucose will cause the blood glucose to rise and cause damage to the body.

The trick is not to take too much in in the first place, use slower starches rather than sugars and spread the intake over the whole day to allow the reduced storage ability to work.

Do not attempt to reduce fat intake even if you need to lose weight.