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Hello one and all

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Martin Corner

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I have been diagnosed type 2 for the past 8 months. I am still struggling to "get my head around it" as the saying goes.

I am not sure of what food etc I can and can't eat.

My highest reading has been 22.7, and my lowest has been about 9.

I also have depression, which is made worse by the not knowing part.
I am taking 4 tablets of Metformin a day.

Anyone got any help or ideas please.

Thanks in advance
 
Hi Martin - Welcome! This is a supportive & very well-informed place - great that you've found your way here. Everybody I think remembers the same kind of confusion about how to get handle on things after diagnosis. It takes some work but it's very doable.

There's a bunch of useful info in here, if you haven't checked it out already: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/useful-links-for-people-new-to-diabetes.10406/

Food, at least for me, has been one of the most confusing things, partly because there's a lot of conflicting recommendations & partly because everybody is different so there's no one-size-fits-all-solution.

I think most people here find it pretty much essential to self-test sugar levels before and after eating to work out which foods/meals work for them & which don't. See the info in the thread linked above. Another great thing about self-testing is that it can quickly give you confidence that you can get more control over things, so maybe good for the depression?

Anyway, look to make small steps to start with - you don't need to pressure yrself into thinking you need to get everything sorted right away. Browse the info on the forum, and feel free to ask any questions - you'll find people very willing to help out.
 
Good Morning Eddy. Many many thanks for the insightful and extremely helpful reply. I will look at the link after my dinner. LOL.
 
Hello Martin and welcome. Some great advice from Eddy there. Everyone here is very supportive and patient, so take your time to ask questions and browse some of the information here.

The difficulty with what you can and can't eat, is that it is unique to you and your body. Some members here find they can eat things that have limited impact on their BG levels and others will see a huge spike with the same foods, so testing after food to see what has what affect can be really helpful. It is not all totally unique though, and there are general guides of what can help to reduce your bg levels. Carbohydrates is where you should focus your attention, rather than just sugar. All carbohydrates break down into sugar so managing these will help. So, things like bread, pasta, rice, potatoes. Switching to wholemeal options (which are broken down slower in the body) or reducing your carbs, and replacing for proteins (eggs, meat, pulses. beans) and good fats (Oily fish, nuts) can help to keep your BG levels down but keep you full.

I'm sure some folk will be along with ideas of meals and what they find helpful, and there's plenty of inspiration in the 'Food & Carbs' board.

High BG levels will also be affecting how you feel, so taking time here to learn peoples approaches, will hopefully aid you in reducing your BG levels and in turn, help improve your mental well-being.
Great to have you here!
 
Thanks also Hannah.Can you also tell me when the best time to do a blood sugar test? I think it is summat like 2 hours after eating?
 
I do feel that more could be done to help people get back to normal - those readings are not what you want to see.
The glucose in your blood is what comes from eating carbohydrate. Your body can't deal with it by the usual means, so you are in trouble.
By not eating sugars and starches you just cut out the problem, by checking with a metre two hours after starting to eat is the usual timing, you can see if your blood glucose spikes - usually over 8 mmol/l is a signal to reduce the carbs.
It is not normally necessary to reduce carbs completely - I reduced down to normal numbers eating 50 gm of carbs a day. I've gone lower now to see if I can lose more weight.
 
Drummer, is there a list on here that tells you what carbs are? This is where I start to get lost a bit
 
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