Hello, newly diagnosed Type 2

[janet singleton]

hi, I was diagnosed 2 days ago. I was told very little by the gp and told to make an appointment with the diabetes nurse to discuss medication, diet, etc however I can’t get an appointment with her until September. I’m feeling very worried, scared and alone. Hoping this is the right place for help and advice. X

 

[Sharron1]

Sorry to read that. I am in a similar position although I do have an appointment with the Dr. Rather like you I am worried and not at all sure what to eat or do, and keep imaging different pains etc which logically I know are in my head. I try to keep myself occupied with other stuff to take my mind off everything - sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Hope that helps a little.

 

[Katieb]

Hi and welcome to you both. Have a good browse through the posts and you should get loads of ideas (better in my humble opinion than most diabetic nurses give you!). Please don’t feel scared and alone Janet. You will get a warm welcome here🙂 Katie

 

[Deleted member 18634]

Hi @janet singleton and a warm welcome to the forum!

Hopefully the diabetes nurse will have loads of helpful information for you, just a shame that it's a few weeks away. In the meantime , as @Katieb suggested, it's worthwhile having a look through old threads on here and to ask if there's anything you need help with.

A good tip would be to jot down some questions ready to ask the nurse as it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes to remember everything on a first visit 🙂

 

[Sharron1]

Hi,

A big part of my current confusion is all the conflicting information re food to eat. I get the regular small portions etc but don't have much idea of what that consists. So I think whenever in-between meals I feel hungry it is best to bulk up with veg, brocolli, cauliflower and salad leaves etc. What can be harmful in that?

 

[Martin9]

Hi both, welcome, I'm a recently diagnosed Type 2 diabetic, I found this place around 3 months ago with an initial diagnosis of HbA1c of 77, which put me squarely in middle of diabetes but by following the advice here, have reduced that to 35 which is quite a good result...
Here's how I did it, doesn't mean it will definitely work for you as we are all different but it's a great starting point..
1. Reduce Carbohydrates in your diet, that's not only the simple sugars found in cakes, biscuits, sugar, sweets etc , but the more complex starches which our bodies easily convert to sugars like potato, rice, wheat, corn and any products made from them...
2. Increase your exercise even by a little bit , no one asking you to do London Marathon
3. If your a bit overweight , try get it down
4. It's useful to get yourself a BG Monitor to monitor your Blood glucose levels so you can monitor your body's response to certain foods etc..
5. It's useful to get a carbs/calorie counter either in printed form or electronic form which will give you an idea of each foods calorific value , so you know which food is high carb and therefore to be avoided..

 

[Martin9]

General advice on here, is follow a LCHF diet , that's Low Carb, healthy fat , so as said before lower any starch products , such as bread, rice, pasta but u can have fish especially oily fish, meats, eggs, cheese !Some nuts, and limited fruits..
You can have limited starches as above but try keep to a minimum

 

[Sharron1]

Hi,

Really new to the workings of this forum so hope you receive this. Thanks for the info, it has been helpful, my reading on the HbA1C was 74, which I have no idea what it means I am seeing the Dr next week for a 15 minute chat! The food advice you give is almost along the lines I have been reading about low carb and healthy fat..Have drawn up a menu that gives me all the LCHF for an evening meal. Not sure about Jacket Pot with either cottage cheese or baked beans?

 

[Martin9]

Hi,

Really new to the workings of this forum so hope you receive this. Thanks for the info, it has been helpful, my reading on the HbA1C was 74, which I have no idea what it means I am seeing the Dr next week for a 15 minute chat! The food advice you give is almost along the lines I have been reading about low carb and healthy fat..Have drawn up a menu that gives me all the LCHF for an evening meal. Not sure about Jacket Pot with either cottage cheese or baked beans?

Well the baked potato is highish carbs, and the baked beans are high carbs, cottage cheese probably ok

 

[Martin9]

Hi,

Really new to the workings of this forum so hope you receive this. Thanks for the info, it has been helpful, my reading on the HbA1C was 74, which I have no idea what it means I am seeing the Dr next week for a 15 minute chat! The food advice you give is almost along the lines I have been reading about low carb and healthy fat..Have drawn up a menu that gives me all the LCHF for an evening meal. Not sure about Jacket Pot with either cottage cheese or baked beans?

Your reading of 74 puts you in the middle of diabetes, mine was 77, HBA1c. Means glycated haemoglobin, excess sugar running around our blood attaches to our haemoglobin in blood, and as red blood cells die off every 3 months or so they can test your average blood sugars from that., over last 3 months

 

[CathyB]

Hi to you both, welcome to the forum where you will find all you need to help you manage things 😉 as @Martin9 has already said, it’s the carbohydrates that cause our problems and push the blood glucose levels up 😱 we are both evidence of the benefit of following the LCHF approach as my starting HBA1c was 113 and is now down to 48. I spent about a week sulking and feeling sorry for mysel as there would be nothing worth eating so my life was clearly over then I started reading up on here and can now honestly say I am loving my new diet, I enjoy cooking again, I sleep better, have more energy and have lost weight Take your time and read as much as you can, then ask any questions you have. Something that really helped me was keeping a food diary alongside my testing, it made it easier to see what foods I reacted to and what was ok. Now I only test a couple of times a week just to check or if I don’t feel so good 🙂

 

[Sharron1]

Hi,

Many thanks for the advice I think I was just having a wobble - which I expect will happen many more times. I looked at the web and also spoke to someone at the helpline and I feel much better about the whole food thing then earlier. As for cooking never really enjoyed it but it is time to start liking it - much easier. Once I have seen the doctor I will keep a food diary. So am off to supper - fish, lentils, broc. Just enough to feed me but not large portions... might snack on a few extra lentils - not sure if that is allowed!

 

[trophywench]

Frankly I'd suggest having shedloads more veg with a meal if you still need to snack after it.

Lentils and other leguminous veg (eg peas, kidney beans) do have carbs so you have to watch the portion size - but at least it's usually fairly slow absorbing carb we get from that so it never hits our bloodstream as quickly as 'starchy' carb (anything made of flour, spuds or parsnips) The actual haricot beans in baked beans aren't all that awful on their own but if you pair them with carbs (jacket potato) and to add insult to injury - pour carby tomato sauce on those beans - it's just about the worst meal choice you might have suggested!

(When you go in a supermarket, just read the labels on a can of haricots and then the size of BB that matches that amount of beans plus the sauce - and see what difference that sauce makes to the carb count.)