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ChrisPriest

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Type 2
Hi All, I'm Chris, 50 year old male.

Recently diagnosed with Type 2, started Metformin yesterday, trying to wrap my head around it all hehe.

6'4" lanky streak of nothing, diabetes doesn't really run in the family, think my Uncle had it, but diabetes nurse said not everyone follows the defined standards, I do like to be unique lol

Haven't had any info as yet on diet, trying to cut out sugar where I can, would be good to chat to others who might be able to provide more info on how to handle this going forward!
 
Hi Chris, I've recently been diagnosed with type 2 and also looking for help understanding diet, especially carbohydrates.
I am waiting for my first nurse app but trying to do my own research and trying to cut out sugar, i've been very surprised with 'hidden' sugars and milk! I didnt realise how much sugar is in semi skimmed milk!
 
Hi LilyS - Wow, I didn't know that either and I drink that often. Good to know!

I think the carb issue is the main one for me, I love my pasta, bread, cheese, I think I am going to find it hard to cut these out, I'm hoping I don't have to stop eating them completely. I am waiting for some sessions with the local Diabetes team and the opportunity to speak to a Dietician.
 
Hi Both, Welcome to the forum.
Most dietary regimes are aimed at people who need to lose weight which doesn't sound as if that is like you Chris but people can be thin but still have fat around the organs so losing that will help.
In order to reduce blood glucose it is all carbohydrates that need to be considered not just sugar. Those foods which are the big hitters are potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, breakfast cereals, pastry, tropical fruits as well as the more obvious cakes, biscuits, sugary drinks including fruit juice.
Many find a low carbohydrate approach is successful and you may find this link helpful for finding a way forward.https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
Other people find a low calorie or shakes-based regime suits them to give a kick start and there are some meal plans on the main DUK site for that approach.
The book or app Carbs and Cals is a useful resource as it gives carb values of a whole range of foods and meals with portion sizes. There are other apps people use and of course the nutritional information on packet, tins, etc and on the internet by searching for food X and carbs.
I hope your follow up appointments go well, it is a good idea to go armed with a list of questions.
 
ChrisPriest said:
I think the carb issue is the main one for me, I love my pasta, bread, cheese,
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You'll be pleased to hear that there's nothing wrong with cheese, Chris - very low or even zero carb.
 
Hi @ChrisPriest and @LilyS and welcome to the forum. It takes a bit of getting your head round things especially foodstuffs. Two things not to lose sight of.

The first is that sugar can be thought of as just another carbohydrate and looking at total carbohydrate which includes sugars is a simpler place to start.

The second is the T2 diabetes label covers a lot of ground and because of that there are lots of approaches to getting things under control. The sometimes tricky bit is to sort out what will work for you. A 6'4" lanky streak of nothing is out on the boundaries of the T2 envelope but there will be a route although wading through the good but inappropriate thoughts might be a bit of a challenge.
 
Hi Chris and welcome from me too.

Can you tell us a bit about how you came to be diagnosed? ie. Was it just through a routine blood test or were you symptomatic and if so, what were those symptoms and did they come on suddenly or had they perhaps been slowly developing over time until you couldn't ignore them anymore?

Do you know the result of your HbA1c result? This is the blood test used to diagnose diabetes and will usually be a number in excess of 47 but can be significantly higher and perhaps even into 3 figures if things have gone seriously amiss. I am guessing your result was perhaps on the higher side, since they have started you on Metformin straight away. If you don't know the actual result, do ask for it when you have your next appointment as this is the means by which your diabetes and your progress with it, is monitored and self management is a very important part of diabetes treatment, so knowing your results is really important.

If your HbA1c result is very high and you are slim and reasonably active, then it may be that you could be misdiagnosed and actually be Type 1 or possibly Type 3c. Sometimes medical professionals simply assume you are Type 2 because you are middle aged and many still believe that Type 1 only develops in children, so if you are a mature adult then they assume you must be Type 2, but there are many of us here on the forum who developed Type 1 later in life. I myself was 55.

If you are Type 2 there is a possibility that you may be able to push it into remission and we have many inspirational members here who have been able to achieve that, however not all Type 2s seem to be able to achieve that for some reason. The human body is a very complex system and nothing is straightforward. If you are Type 1 which often has a slow onset in more mature adults, then you will need insulin sooner or later and usually best sooner. The advantage of insulin is that you can follow a normal diet and use the insulin to balance the carbs you eat. The difficulty is in learning to balance things which is a bit of a dark art as there are something like 42 factors which impact Blood Glucose (BG) levels and you only have control over some of them and certainly can't see or measure most of them so there is a bit of calculating and a certain amount of guessing goes on with insulin dosing on a day by day basis. It is all part of the game. The good news is that we have amazing tech available to us now to help us so that we are working much less in the dark.

Anyway, just wanted to query your situation a bit and just plant a seed of awareness that diagnosing diabetes Type is largely guess work and not always based on good knowledge of the subject. Knowing more about how you came to be diagnosed might shed a little more light on it.... hence the question above about that and your HbA1c result.
 
Welcome to the forum @ChrisPriest

Glad you have found us!

While you wait for the appointment with your nurse to talk about the confusing and sometimes contradictory topic of food, you might find this overview booklet from Diabetes UK gives you a helpful start.


It’s worth bearing in mind though, that the same food can affect different people in surprisingly different ways, so it’s hard to completely rely on any predefined lists of ‘safe’ foods. It’s more a question of experimentation to see what works for you. 🙂
 
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