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SweetDany

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Type 2
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Hi, I'm Daniel, and I'm 46 years old with Type 2 diabetes. I'm still learning about my condition, although I knew my mother also had it.
 
Welcome Daniel you have come to the right place
 
Hello Danny and welcome.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself - how you came to be diagnosed, your HbA1c on diagnosis, any other medical issues you may have? That way we can best advise you with any questions you may have.
I suggest you start by slowly working your way through the Learning Zone, one module a day, so you can take it in. I would start with food, then exercise. Please ask any questions - nothing is silly as we have all been where you are, and probably asked them too!! Best wishes
 
Welcome to the forum @SweetDany

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but ġlad you have found us 🙂

Did you have any symptoms that took you to the Dr, or made you suspect something was brewing?

Were you told the result of your HbA1c? Have you been offered any medication to get you started? Or will you be trying some menu changes first?
 
It started during the pandemic, specifically after getting the Covid vaccine. My sister noticed some symptoms in me and told me to get tested for blood sugar, which I did. My sister got a home testing kit for her husband who has diabetes. Now I also have my own testing kit. My wife also used to take care of her mother, who also had diabetes. I am taking Metformin twice a day and testing my blood glucose once or twice a day.
 
SweetDany said:
It started during the pandemic, specifically after getting the Covid vaccine. My sister noticed some symptoms in me and told me to get tested for blood sugar, which I did. My sister got a home testing kit for her husband who has diabetes. Now I also have my own testing kit. My wife also used to take care of her mother, who also had diabetes. I am taking Metformin twice a day and testing my blood glucose once or twice a day.
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Welcome to the forum. It is good you have some experience with having others in your family with Type 2 but if they have been diagnosed for some time then they may not be having the best dietary regime as ideas have changed as to what can be much more successful and can result in not needing an increasing amount of medication which can often happen when people thing they just have to take the pills and make no changes to their diet.
Many find that a low carbohydrate approach is a successful way and this link may help you with some ideas for that. https://www.freshwell.co.uk/
Having a monitor means you can test the effect of meals on your blood glucose which is a way that people use to make better decisions and avoid those foods which increase blood glucose but help find food which are tolerated well.
Testing before you eat and after 2 hours when an increase of no more than 2-3mmol/l would indicate the meal is OK more than that would suggest the meal is too high in carbs.
You would be aiming at 4-7mmol/l fasting/morning and before meals and no more than 8-8.5mmol/l 2 hours post meal.
 
I appreciate the information, @Leadinglights. I used to test my blood glucose more than 6 times a day to figure out what kind of food and how much I could eat. But now I have a very bland diet with a rare treat once a month.
 
SweetDany said:
I appreciate the information, @Leadinglights. I used to test my blood glucose more than 6 times a day to figure out what kind of food and how much I could eat. But now I have a very bland diet with a rare treat once a month.
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Unless you prefer a bland diet there is no reason that low carb meals need to be 'bland' as you can use herbs and spices to liven foods up without adding any appreciable carbs.
 
Why do you have bland diet?
 
As @harbottle says, why bland (unless through choice)? I eat the same meals as the rest of the family, with some swaps - mashed cauliflower or mashed celeriac instead of potatoes, celeriac chips instead of oven chips, non-grain pasta, riced cauliflower instead of rice. Everything else on my plate - meat, veg etc - is the same as what's on everyone else's.
 
Another post to say low carb certainly doesn't need to be bland. In fact probably the opposite. I eat tastier food now than I did before because I have had to experiment to find new foods and meals which are lower carb, plus as others have said, adapting existing meals. I now actively think about how I can give meals more flavour and include more and different veg and different ways of cooking things. I have started using Indian spices and trying to recreate dishes that I would have got from the takeaway. It has been a learning curve and I continue on it trying new things nearly every week. We have a member here who took up baking and he does a weekly bake on a Monday using low carb ingredients to make cakes and biscuits and muffins and loaves and posts photos of his produce each week with the carb content and will share the recipes or where he found them, if people are interested. Yes, it takes more effort and if you can't be bothered then yes your meals may be quite restricted, but it is definitely not the case that low carb has to be bland or boring.
 
Sorry for the late response, I was on holiday. I prefer plain food without many spices or sauces. I have experimented with some alternatives, but not too many. Thank you for showing me that there are many options to make food more enjoyable even with diabetes, and I will be exploring this through the help of this forum.
 
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