Hi. I’d like to introduce myself as I’m new to the group. My name is Joanne (Jo) and I’m 47 years old. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a few years ago which I’ve been up and down with my numbers. Recently I’m finding it extremely hard to bring my fasting numbers down and also control my diet. I’ve recently been put back under the hospital directions to help me and I’m hoping a low carb diet is going to be the thing to help me. Thank you for taking the time to read my message and hello!
-
Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
-
Learn more about joining the Diabetes UK Support Forum team here: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/volunteering-opportunities-why-dont-you-join-us.112862/
Hello
- Thread starter Jom
- Start date
- Status
Hello back! I'm another newbie, but a few weeks earlier than you. I'm 'at risk' at the moment, hoping revised diet and lifestyle might put me into reverse direction!
I went low carb the moment I got my (routine bloods check up) borderline T2 HB1Ac test back, and I am hoping it has helped. Ironically, because I didn't get a glucose monitor immediately, I don't know what my BG levels were at the time of the test itself (or the months previously), so I can only go on what I am finding now. I do think low-carb is helping, because when I 'lapse' (!), the numbers go up.
If you've not done low-carb before, I can say hand on heart that my big fear was 'feeling hungry' without those cosy, filling starch carbs (bread/ pasta/ potatoes etc), but having a high meat and veg fibre diet it does keep hunger pangs at bay, and I do feel 'full' after a meal.
That said, I have quite stubborn fasting numbers, and feel I have more to do in reversing (I hope!) what appears to be refractory insulin resistence - I don't go up that much, but I never come down enough I feel overnight. However, this site has told me about the Dawn Phenomenon, which is reassuring!
All the best to you ,and you will find expertise here from the experts, and huge amounts of support and encouragement, and some very helpful practical recommendations in respect of eating plans!
Good luck!
I went low carb the moment I got my (routine bloods check up) borderline T2 HB1Ac test back, and I am hoping it has helped. Ironically, because I didn't get a glucose monitor immediately, I don't know what my BG levels were at the time of the test itself (or the months previously), so I can only go on what I am finding now. I do think low-carb is helping, because when I 'lapse' (!), the numbers go up.
If you've not done low-carb before, I can say hand on heart that my big fear was 'feeling hungry' without those cosy, filling starch carbs (bread/ pasta/ potatoes etc), but having a high meat and veg fibre diet it does keep hunger pangs at bay, and I do feel 'full' after a meal.
That said, I have quite stubborn fasting numbers, and feel I have more to do in reversing (I hope!) what appears to be refractory insulin resistence - I don't go up that much, but I never come down enough I feel overnight. However, this site has told me about the Dawn Phenomenon, which is reassuring!
All the best to you ,and you will find expertise here from the experts, and huge amounts of support and encouragement, and some very helpful practical recommendations in respect of eating plans!
Good luck!
Thank you for your response! It’s good to hear that the low carb diet is working and that fingers crossed it will also work for me. I’ve found a cook book we already had and browsing for meals now. I’m a big carb fan so I’m worried this is going to be hard, however, I look at my 4 year old and know I need to do this!! I’m going to look at the dawn phenomenon as this is something I’ve never heard of.
Deb_l
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Welcome to the forum, it’s a very friendly place so definitely keep logging in, you will learn so much.
I’m relatively new to diabetes and was diagnosed Type 2 in January of this year. I’ve been following a low carb approach ever since and also limiting calories because I do have weight to lose. As has already been said, once I got my head round it, I’ve not been hungry at all. I’ve felt as well and have more energy than I think I’ve ever had, even pre-diabetic so I’m now thinking carbs have probably never suited me, even when I was slim!!
One thing to remember when supermarket shopping and looking at packaged foods is all nutrient information in the UK is listed as per 100g. This is so you can compare one food against the other. Low carb is considered less than 10g per 100g. So for example the walnuts I’ve got from Tesco this morning are 3.3g per 100g so excellent. Cashew nuts on the other hand are 88g per 100g so a total nightmare!! Bread sits upwards of 38g so classed as high carb.
Good luck, low carb does get easier and it will become second nature………..eventually.
I’m relatively new to diabetes and was diagnosed Type 2 in January of this year. I’ve been following a low carb approach ever since and also limiting calories because I do have weight to lose. As has already been said, once I got my head round it, I’ve not been hungry at all. I’ve felt as well and have more energy than I think I’ve ever had, even pre-diabetic so I’m now thinking carbs have probably never suited me, even when I was slim!!
One thing to remember when supermarket shopping and looking at packaged foods is all nutrient information in the UK is listed as per 100g. This is so you can compare one food against the other. Low carb is considered less than 10g per 100g. So for example the walnuts I’ve got from Tesco this morning are 3.3g per 100g so excellent. Cashew nuts on the other hand are 88g per 100g so a total nightmare!! Bread sits upwards of 38g so classed as high carb.
Good luck, low carb does get easier and it will become second nature………..eventually.
silentsquirrel
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I think you have misread the info for cashews - 18.8g carb per 100g, not 88. Still much higher than walnuts, but not the nightmare 88 would suggest!!
You need to look at the portion size, not just the amount per 100g. Things like ketchup, salad cream, mustard are high carb, but for the amount you are likely to eat can still be possible
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hi and welcome from me too.
I was a sugar addict and carb monster at diagnosis. I am now 4 years down the line with low carb and don't crave them at all and in fact I usually feel disappointment these days when I have some bread or chips because they just seem boring or mediocre to me now. I like tasty food now not bland beige food. I know that if I start eating those things on a regular basis it would be a slippery slop back to where I was, because the more I eat of them, the more I want, but I really enjoy my diet without them and I am not generally tempted even if people are eating them in front of me. It is really just occasional social events when I have no choice where I end up eating them, or a once a month fish and ship supper shared with my partner, where we share a single fish and chips between us and I usually have half the fish and about 10 chips. It amazes me that I no longer want to eat massive platefuls of food and half a fish and chips is enough, even if I didn't have much or anything for lunch.
For me, eating more fat rather than protein was the turning point for making it enjoyable. So full fat creamy natural Greek yoghurt and lots of lovely cheeses.... real cheese, not processed plastic stuff, and real double cream in my morning coffee is my daily luxury and nuts but have o be careful with portion sizes as they are moreish and some nuts have more carbs than others. I have massive plates of salad leaves with a big dollop of creamy cheese coleslaw and balsamic vinegar to give it bite and I might have that with a bit of ham or chicken or boiled eggs/tuna with mayonnaise (full fat) or an omelette with a variety of fillings (cooked in butter). Veggies like cabbage kale and leeks are cooked with a knob of butter or tossed in hot bacon fat if they are accompanying bacon/gammon. I really love broccoli with sour cream and chive dip either hot or cold, quite often just on it's own. Cauliflower cheese but instead of a cheese sauce made with flour and milk, it's just coated in full fat cream cheese and then grates cheeses sprinkled over the top and browned off in the oven. Almost no carbs in that but lots of flavour. You can also mix mustard into the cream cheese or paprika and works really well with gammon or home cooked ham or high meat content sausages (cheap sausages contain rusk which is carbs). Coming into the summer I make big pans of ratatouille and I can happily just eat a bowl of that on its own, made with lots of lovely olive oil and a dash/glug of balsamic vinegar and sometimes a good glug of red wine or port. Aubergines and mushrooms in ratatouille are great for soaking up oils and fats. That goes well with lamb or beef steaks or quality beef burger or chicken, maybe accompanied by some celeriac chips (lower carb than ordinary or sweet potatoes). Or sometimes I just top the ratatouille with slices of halloumi and brown it off in the oven... Yum!
It may seem odd to think about ways of incorporating fat into your diet when we have spent the past 50 years trying to reduce it, but since I increased my fat intake and increased my veggies and fibre and decreased my carbs, my cholesterol has gone steadily downwards, many other health conditions have improved or vanished and I feel fitter and healthier than I have for many years.
Exercise is also important and a good brisk daily walk where you get a bit out of breath and your heart rate increases a bit should help to bring your morning fasting levels down a bit.... it does mine anyway.... but we all have to find what works for our individual body and diabetes and tastes in food, so it is very much a question of trying different things to see what works for you and ideally using a BG meter to help you see what your body can cope with and what needs to be avoided or the portion significantly reduced and/or relegated to a rare treat. I have cut a lot of things out of my diet which I thought I would really miss, but I have also added new things to my diet which I really enjoy, so that I don't actually miss those other things at all.
I was a sugar addict and carb monster at diagnosis. I am now 4 years down the line with low carb and don't crave them at all and in fact I usually feel disappointment these days when I have some bread or chips because they just seem boring or mediocre to me now. I like tasty food now not bland beige food. I know that if I start eating those things on a regular basis it would be a slippery slop back to where I was, because the more I eat of them, the more I want, but I really enjoy my diet without them and I am not generally tempted even if people are eating them in front of me. It is really just occasional social events when I have no choice where I end up eating them, or a once a month fish and ship supper shared with my partner, where we share a single fish and chips between us and I usually have half the fish and about 10 chips. It amazes me that I no longer want to eat massive platefuls of food and half a fish and chips is enough, even if I didn't have much or anything for lunch.
For me, eating more fat rather than protein was the turning point for making it enjoyable. So full fat creamy natural Greek yoghurt and lots of lovely cheeses.... real cheese, not processed plastic stuff, and real double cream in my morning coffee is my daily luxury and nuts but have o be careful with portion sizes as they are moreish and some nuts have more carbs than others. I have massive plates of salad leaves with a big dollop of creamy cheese coleslaw and balsamic vinegar to give it bite and I might have that with a bit of ham or chicken or boiled eggs/tuna with mayonnaise (full fat) or an omelette with a variety of fillings (cooked in butter). Veggies like cabbage kale and leeks are cooked with a knob of butter or tossed in hot bacon fat if they are accompanying bacon/gammon. I really love broccoli with sour cream and chive dip either hot or cold, quite often just on it's own. Cauliflower cheese but instead of a cheese sauce made with flour and milk, it's just coated in full fat cream cheese and then grates cheeses sprinkled over the top and browned off in the oven. Almost no carbs in that but lots of flavour. You can also mix mustard into the cream cheese or paprika and works really well with gammon or home cooked ham or high meat content sausages (cheap sausages contain rusk which is carbs). Coming into the summer I make big pans of ratatouille and I can happily just eat a bowl of that on its own, made with lots of lovely olive oil and a dash/glug of balsamic vinegar and sometimes a good glug of red wine or port. Aubergines and mushrooms in ratatouille are great for soaking up oils and fats. That goes well with lamb or beef steaks or quality beef burger or chicken, maybe accompanied by some celeriac chips (lower carb than ordinary or sweet potatoes). Or sometimes I just top the ratatouille with slices of halloumi and brown it off in the oven... Yum!
It may seem odd to think about ways of incorporating fat into your diet when we have spent the past 50 years trying to reduce it, but since I increased my fat intake and increased my veggies and fibre and decreased my carbs, my cholesterol has gone steadily downwards, many other health conditions have improved or vanished and I feel fitter and healthier than I have for many years.
Exercise is also important and a good brisk daily walk where you get a bit out of breath and your heart rate increases a bit should help to bring your morning fasting levels down a bit.... it does mine anyway.... but we all have to find what works for our individual body and diabetes and tastes in food, so it is very much a question of trying different things to see what works for you and ideally using a BG meter to help you see what your body can cope with and what needs to be avoided or the portion significantly reduced and/or relegated to a rare treat. I have cut a lot of things out of my diet which I thought I would really miss, but I have also added new things to my diet which I really enjoy, so that I don't actually miss those other things at all.
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
If you are interested in giving low carb a go then you might find this link helpful with some meal ideas and some do's and don'ts. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
Low carb is suggested as being no more that 130g total carbs per day, though some find they need to be lower than that to keep blood glucose level where it need to be but that is a good starting point.
There are many more tasty alternatives to the sugary high carb foods and the bland starchy foods like potatoes, rice and pasta.
A lot may depend whether you have the dreaded sweet tooth (I do, sigh). That may mean that you will want (crave?!) to use up some/all of your carb allowance on sweet stuff (eg, chocolate, ice cream etc) or worse, sweet starch, ( ie, cake, traditional puddings!) (double carb whammy).
If not, then you can allocate more of your carb allowance to savoury carbs, which really just means savoury starch (pasta/pots/rice) (Bread can go either way - sweet or savoury, depending on what you put on it!)
Breakfast is often a challenge, as we are so used to breaking our overnight fasts on starch, whether its in cereal or marmalade on toast. Eggs are usually advocated here. (The old Full English - minus fried bread/hash browns - is OK) (no baked beans??)
Some folk adopt cheese as their new pudding....!
Unless you're needing to lose weight overall (I still am), then, ironically, once you are in the D-zone (!), fat actually becomes 'harmless' in that respect. Goes against the grain (pun intended) I know, but you can pour cream and butter over everything and it 'doesn't count'. Just can't add sugar.... (or pour it over trad puddings)
If not, then you can allocate more of your carb allowance to savoury carbs, which really just means savoury starch (pasta/pots/rice) (Bread can go either way - sweet or savoury, depending on what you put on it!)
Breakfast is often a challenge, as we are so used to breaking our overnight fasts on starch, whether its in cereal or marmalade on toast. Eggs are usually advocated here. (The old Full English - minus fried bread/hash browns - is OK) (no baked beans??)
Some folk adopt cheese as their new pudding....!
Unless you're needing to lose weight overall (I still am), then, ironically, once you are in the D-zone (!), fat actually becomes 'harmless' in that respect. Goes against the grain (pun intended) I know, but you can pour cream and butter over everything and it 'doesn't count'. Just can't add sugar.... (or pour it over trad puddings)
About puds and sweet stuff - lots of folk here have good recipes or low-carb alternatives (eg, scones made with ingredients such as ground almonds.)
Oh, nuts largely go back on the menu too (with some exceptions, as I'm learning)
Oh, nuts largely go back on the menu too (with some exceptions, as I'm learning)
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
The sugarfreelondoner website is awash with things to bake.
You might need to buy some things mail order, but well worth it.
Some American recipes which use loads of things such as egg whites are too expensive in the UK, even if they are good, so using UK sites is a good idea.
You might need to buy some things mail order, but well worth it.
Some American recipes which use loads of things such as egg whites are too expensive in the UK, even if they are good, so using UK sites is a good idea.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
- Status