Hello!

[@jennie]

Hi my name is jennie
I was diagnosed with type 2 last week. I have been pre diabetic for a long time and have just had a very stressful year and have not be eating well so the diagnosis wasn’t exactly a surprise. I’m still waiting for my first appointment with the nurse I think I will be diet controlled and I have a general understanding of what I need to do. However putting in to practice is quite hard so I’m looking forward to learning lots .

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

Sorry to hear that you have had a stressful year and that your levels have tipped over the red line into a full diabetes diagnosis.
If you do not know your Hba1c result, it would be a good idea to ask the nurse when you see her as knowing that is really helpful to track your progress. Do be prepared to negotiate with the nurse for a period of dietary adjustment.... maybe 3 months followed by another HbA1c test to see if you are making good progress. Sometimes they just want to dispense medication and send you on your way, but you do have a say in the matter and if you are motivated to make changes to your lifestyle and your HbA1c is not too far over the diabetes threshold, then I think that is a reasonable option to ask for.

Yes we can help to support you with those dietary changes and even just documenting what you are doing here can help to keep you accountable, but we will I am sure be doing our best to lift your spirits when you are struggling and celebrating when you achieve each little target. I think that is one of the key things with any challenge.... breaking it down into small achievable goals and celebrating and acknowledging your success when you attain them. I think most of us are pretty good at beating ourselves up when we fail but that is just not helpful, so set easy targets and give yourself a big pat on the back when you hit them.... That way, you will find success encourages more success.

Which route have you decided to try with your dietary changes? The two main options are the very low calorie short term Newcastle/Fast 800 diet to try to lose 15kg (if you can spare that much) and reverse your diabetes) or a low carb approach to push it into remission and manage it. Both have good success rates and avid supporters but some people find a mixture of both work for them or other people use more conventional options like Slimming World.... although there are some concerns about the carb content on SW, it works for some people. Finding something that works for you and is sustainable is key and sometimes you have to be a bit more adventurous in how you approach food and throw some old ideas and values out of the window and embrace new ones. It has been an interesting journey for me and many others here and one which has led to us feeling fitter and healthier than we have in years. I can certainly say there have been several positives to come from my diagnosis and now that I have got my head around my dietary changes, it isn't hard to sustain and I don't really feel tempted by the stuff I used to eat before because there are other nice things that I eat and drink now. It is just that they are different.

Anyway, we look forward to hearing more from you and following your progress with interest and wishing you lots of success.

 

[@jennie]

Hi and welcome

Sorry to hear that you have had a stressful year and that your levels have tipped over the red line into a full diabetes diagnosis.
If you do not know your Hba1c result, it would be a good idea to ask the nurse when you see her as knowing that is really helpful to track your progress. Do be prepared to negotiate with the nurse for a period of dietary adjustment.... maybe 3 months followed by another HbA1c test to see if you are making good progress. Sometimes they just want to dispense medication and send you on your way, but you do have a say in the matter and if you are motivated to make changes to your lifestyle and your HbA1c is not too far over the diabetes threshold, then I think that is a reasonable option to ask for.

Yes we can help to support you with those dietary changes and even just documenting what you are doing here can help to keep you accountable, but we will I am sure be doing our best to lift your spirits when you are struggling and celebrating when you achieve each little target. I think that is one of the key things with any challenge.... breaking it down into small achievable goals and celebrating and acknowledging your success when you attain them. I think most of us are pretty good at beating ourselves up when we fail but that is just not helpful, so set easy targets and give yourself a big pat on the back when you hit them.... That way, you will find success encourages more success.

Which route have you decided to try with your dietary changes? The two main options are the very low calorie short term Newcastle/Fast 800 diet to try to lose 15kg (if you can spare that much) and reverse your diabetes) or a low carb approach to push it into remission and manage it. Both have good success rates and avid supporters but some people find a mixture of both work for them or other people use more conventional options like Slimming World.... although there are some concerns about the carb content on SW, it works for some people. Finding something that works for you and is sustainable is key and sometimes you have to be a bit more adventurous in how you approach food and throw some old ideas and values out of the window and embrace new ones. It has been an interesting journey for me and many others here and one which has led to us feeling fitter and healthier than we have in years. I can certainly say there have been several positives to come from my diagnosis and now that I have got my head around my dietary changes, it isn't hard to sustain and I don't really feel tempted by the stuff I used to eat before because there are other nice things that I eat and drink now. It is just that they are different.

Anyway, we look forward to hearing more from you and following your progress with interest and wishing you lots of success.

Hi Barbra thank you for your kind words. I think taking my time making small achievable changes would be right for me. I have Had to go cold turkey on things like biscuits and cake as there’s no middle ground for me
There’s a lot to learn but this site is absolutely rammed with brilliant information so is a very good start.

 

[zuludog]

Hello Jennie, and welcome!

There is a lot of information on this forum, these sections will probably be of most use for you for food & diet -

Living with Diabetes on the Home Page of Diabetes UK
Learning Zone - the red tab at the top of this page
Reading older threads, especially -
Newbies
Food & carbs
Weight loss, if you need to

And other sections for understanding the biology of diabetes, and other aspects that might affect you

You mention that you haven't been eating well - often people take the diagnosis as the motivation to change their diet, cut out stodge & junk food, eat more veg, do some exercise, and all the rest of the healthy stuff we hear about
In fact many people say they feel better with diabetes than they did before

Let us know how you go on

 

[rebrascora]

Had to go cold turkey on things like biscuits and cake as there’s no middle ground for me

I was like that with sweets and chocolate and then bread. Never been a big cake eater myself..... but cheese scones were another matter. There is however a way around it if you like cake and biscuits. We have a few members here who have embraced the challenge of baking with low carb ingredients and bake some amazing stuff on a weekly if not almost daily basis in the case of @NotWorriedAtAll. She has made an art form of baking and eating all the treat foods but making them Blood Glucose friendly. I think we should rename her Marie Anntoinette because her motto should be "Let them eat cake!"

I make the occasional low carb mug cake in the microwave if I need a sweet treat but I found changing my diet away from sweet food was the best route for me.... Just wanted to let you know that cake doesn't have to be off the menu.

@Martin62 Is another who I think took up baking after diagnosis in order to produce low carb treats and he does a weekly bake with photos of his fabulous creations... His Keto Rhubarb Cake in the "Food/Carb queries section" yesterday looked delicious and the recipe seemed reasonably easy.
Maybe this is one of the adjustments in thinking that I mentioned above. ie. That you don't necessarily need to abstain but just approach the situation from a different angle and learn to bake with different ingredients. It's another option anyway..... especially as this is often a dietary change for the rest of your life.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @jennie

Sorry to hear you’ve been having a stressful time of things, and that it has seen you tickle over into the diabetes zone.

Hope your appointment with your nurse isn’t too long in appearing, and that you find it helpful and informative.

In the meantime it’s great that you have found the forum, website and resources like the Learning Zone. Feel free to ask away with any questions you have, or vent and offload if you need a good old rant 🙂

 

[picitup]

I did the same as you - cold turkey on the snacks and I'm slowly losing weight. Also no carbs with my evening meal, just some meat etc. and no spuds, rice or pasta.

In our cupboard we have an 'unhealthy box' full of biscuits and chocs etc. My wife wants to cut down too, so she said she just won't buy it. To be honest, I've not missed snacking too much which is a bonus.

Also I've started exercising and am starting to feel the benefit of that.

I hope the stress is coming to an end for you now. Stress just makes everything worse.

Welcome and Cheers

Steve

 

[@jennie]

Thank you - it’s the moderation I’m going to struggle with. So I had a very healthy tea of chicken and broccoli and 1 small sweet potato. Then I got that umm I need something sweet urge. So I pulled a tub of cherries from the fridge thinking well these are good for me. Then next thing I knew I had eaten the whole tub. I think I need to start eat back at the table instead of in front of the tv!

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you - it’s the moderation I’m going to struggle with. So I had a very healthy tea of chicken and broccoli and 1 small sweet potato. Then I got that umm I need something sweet urge. So I pulled a tub of cherries from the fridge thinking well these are good for me. Then next thing I knew I had eaten the whole tub. I think I need to start eat back at the table instead of in front of the tv!

A good desert if you like something to finish off a meal is make a sugar free jelly and add some berries, you can have that with a dash of cream or Kvarg deserts are low carb, low fat but high protein or the high protein yoghurts Arla or Aldi, I find half of one enough.
I found one thing that helped was putting the food on the plates in the kitchen rather than taking to the table in serving bowls then the temptation to just have one more spoonful was not there. Except the salad which I do still put in a bowl.

 

[picitup]

I'm the same with snacks - moderation isn't an option as once I have 1 snack in the morning, I'm triggered for the whole day. Complete abstinence is going well for me - apart from the Wagon Wheel I demolished last night - oops! Start again.....

 

[Windy]

I think I need to start eat back at the table instead of in front of the tv!

I find I eat less, or am more mindful of what I'm eating if the TV is off and there are no distractions. I kind of absent mindedly shove the food in my mouth, and before I know it, I've eaten too much. Concentrating on the meal and not multi tasking is the way forward, for me at least.
For fruit, I try and have a small portion, so I have a little bowl, and I know if I fill it with blueberries or whatever, that's the portion I'm having. That way, I don't eat a whole punnet 😳
Sarah

 

[@jennie]

A good desert if you like something to finish off a meal is make a sugar free jelly and add some berries, you can have that with a dash of cream or Kvarg deserts are low carb, low fat but high protein or the high protein yoghurts Arla or Aldi, I find half of one enough.
I found one thing that helped was putting the food on the plates in the kitchen rather than taking to the table in serving bowls then the temptation to just have one more spoonful was not there. Except the salad which I do still put in a bowl.

Great idea thank you