My husband has just be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, actually yesterday by text message from the doctors ..it’s left us in a bit of a quandary as we haven’t got a clue if the dos and don’ts of what he can/cannot eat/drink …any advise would be greatly appreciate..oh, the test did say they were going to organise for him to go on a course but haven’t got a clue when that would be..my name is Kath by the way and my husband is called Dave.
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Hello
- Thread starter Cuffy81
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Windy
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi Kath and Dave, welcome to the forum. It's unfortunate that you got to find out via text message, so didn't get the opportunity to ask any questions. Can you see if you can make an appointment with the diabetes nurse at your practice if there's one, and take any questions you may have to them?
I can also recommend signing up for the Learning Zone and going through some of the courses on there to find out a bit more about type 2, or perhaps buying one of the recommended books mentioned there.
People manage their diabetes in different ways, but I read all that I could about type 2 and decided that dieting and cutting back on the unhealthy food that I used to eat was the way forward for me. I was (and am) carrying more weight than I should, but losing weight managed to get my blood glucose down to non-diabetic levels at the last review.
Some people also do low carb, so no sweet foods, and limited bread, potatoes, pasta etc.
There's no one "right" answer, but try and get him to cut down on the obvious foods which will put his blood glucose up; so stuff like sugary drinks, fruit juice, cakes, sweets, biscuits etc, and think about portion size about the rest of the carbs in your diets, so if you're having a plate of sausages, potatoes and cabbage, try and have more cabbage, and less potatoes. You don't have to make drastic changes immediately, take stock of where you are now, and make a plan. If weight is an issue, then maybe swap one meal for soup, or have a smaller breakfast than normal each day.
Also, ask at you doctors if they do the low carb diet programme for type 2 diabetics as this was what inspired me to start dieting.
Best wishes with whatever you decide to do, we're all here to answer any questions that you may have,
Sarah
I can also recommend signing up for the Learning Zone and going through some of the courses on there to find out a bit more about type 2, or perhaps buying one of the recommended books mentioned there.
People manage their diabetes in different ways, but I read all that I could about type 2 and decided that dieting and cutting back on the unhealthy food that I used to eat was the way forward for me. I was (and am) carrying more weight than I should, but losing weight managed to get my blood glucose down to non-diabetic levels at the last review.
Some people also do low carb, so no sweet foods, and limited bread, potatoes, pasta etc.
There's no one "right" answer, but try and get him to cut down on the obvious foods which will put his blood glucose up; so stuff like sugary drinks, fruit juice, cakes, sweets, biscuits etc, and think about portion size about the rest of the carbs in your diets, so if you're having a plate of sausages, potatoes and cabbage, try and have more cabbage, and less potatoes. You don't have to make drastic changes immediately, take stock of where you are now, and make a plan. If weight is an issue, then maybe swap one meal for soup, or have a smaller breakfast than normal each day.
Also, ask at you doctors if they do the low carb diet programme for type 2 diabetics as this was what inspired me to start dieting.
Best wishes with whatever you decide to do, we're all here to answer any questions that you may have,
Sarah
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I was very lucky in that my other half got on board with the low carb approach that I choose to adopt, the main thing cutting out some of the big hitters and reducing portions of other. This link encompasses the principal of what I followed https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
Everybody has to find their own way of what needs to become a new way of eating rather than A DIET.
Everybody has to find their own way of what needs to become a new way of eating rather than A DIET.
Thanks Sarah for your reply..today we actually received another text from our surgery offering Dave a face to face appointment with the diabetes nurse..so hopefully we will learn more.. he actually doesn’t have a weight issue, he’s 5ft 10in and weighs 13st 5lb..he’s quite active for his age as well..we have a little border terrier which he walks twice daily, so it came quite a shock to learn he now has diabetes..he does like his biscuits, although it’s only a couple a day, we do have potatoes most day, if not potatoes it’s rice so as we’ve learnt carbohydrates are not that good for you..it seems like a minefield out there regarding food and quite overwhelming , but hopefully with the help from the lovely people on this forum we will get there
Windy
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I'm glad to hear that they're seeing him in person. Can you get him to ask what his HbA1c is? This is a measure of how much glucose is attached to his red blood cells over the last few months, and it's the figure that's used to diagnose diabetes. If it's 48 mmol/mol or over, you get a diagnosis of diabetes. It'll give you an idea of where he is now. Mine was 83 at it's highest, and some people on the forum have had a fair bit higher than that. Also I can recommend making a list of questions to take with him, as my mind goes blank when I'm in the doctors and I forget what I wanted to ask.
You should be able to ask for diet advice from the diabetes nurse, or ask if there's a diabetes course Dave can attend. I did two half days on a DESMOND course and learnt a bit from that. Also expect for him to be invited for eye screening at the hospital, and for the diabetes nurse to do a foot assessment (sometimes referred to as "the foot tickler" on the forum!)
As for weight, you can get slim type 2s, if you google Dr Michael Mosley, he was slim and diabetic and managed to reverse his diabetes by losing a bit of weight and eating a different diet. He published a book - the Blood sugar diet book which covered it, but you can probably find a youtube video which covers the main points.
Hopefully it gets a bit easier for you both after the visit to the nurse and you can get some of your questions answered.
Belly rubs to the border terrier, and best wishes to you both, Sarah
Windy
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
That's good then, if he's only just snuck over into diabetes territory, hopefully, a modest bit of weight loss or diet modification will help. See what the nurse says and hopefully you can push the diabetes back.
Sarah
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Really he is just in the diabetic zone so some modest changes may be all that is needed.
So reducing the potatoes to 2 not 3, half the amount of rice, watch the amount of bread and breakfast cereals, weigh things so you know the portion size rather than guess. Make some substitutions, butternut squash instead of potato or cauliflower rice, berries rather than bananas or tropical fruits. There are some lower carb breads which are OK.
The Book or app Carbs and Cals is good as it gives the carb value for portion sizes of a whole range of foods.
the website sugarfreelondoner has lots of recipes for low carb cakes and biscuits which one of the people on here makes so if you are prepared to do a bit of baking then there are some options there if he likes his biscuits.
The high protein bars like Nature Valley, KIND or shop own are low carb for a handy snack.
Thank you so much
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Welcome to the forum @Cuffy81
Glad you were able to get some more ‘human’ contact, after the initial text messages. I can see the usefulness of text messages for routine reminders etc, but it doesn’t feel appropriate to advise of a diagnosis - with all the questions that will inevitably raise.
Sounds like you are making a good start on your diabetes journey - and hopefully a few small tweaks will help your husband’s BG levels back into a low risk space.
If you’d like to fill in some of the blanks of your learning so far, you might like to sign up for the Learning Zone (orange tab in the main menu above).
Good luck and keep firing away with any questions as they arise 🙂
Glad you were able to get some more ‘human’ contact, after the initial text messages. I can see the usefulness of text messages for routine reminders etc, but it doesn’t feel appropriate to advise of a diagnosis - with all the questions that will inevitably raise.
Sounds like you are making a good start on your diabetes journey - and hopefully a few small tweaks will help your husband’s BG levels back into a low risk space.
If you’d like to fill in some of the blanks of your learning so far, you might like to sign up for the Learning Zone (orange tab in the main menu above).
Good luck and keep firing away with any questions as they arise 🙂
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