Hello...

[Sharron1]

The basic foods are any meat or fish, shellfish, eggs or cheese - and a limit of 10 percent carbs on what I add to them - so foods which are less than that I can eat quite freely as it is difficult to over eat. I also only eat twice a day, early and late - that makes going out for the day very simple as I don't need to worry about packing foods or finding them when out. A fast breakfast is scrambled eggs with grated cheese added when almost cooked, then thinly sliced tomato on top, I put the plate over the top of the mini wok I cook it in, and the tomato is just lightly warmed up - I do mushroom omelettes too, sausages with a high meat content, a mushroom sweet pepper and courgette stirfry - sometimes cooked meat from the dinner the evening before, or maybe a tuna salad, or eggs and cheese in a salad.
For dinner there are so many choices - I do cauliflower quite a lot, but also aubergine, celeriac, courgette, some already prepared stirfry stuff is low enough, it is just a matter of going through all the veges you can think of and checking the carb content. For dessert I usually have frozen berries and cream, but I do need to be firm about using a small bowl.
I have just - almost 2 years after diagnosis, begun to experiment with making bread adding in low carb fillers as normal bread is just so high carb. I would advise getting normal blood glucose levels and Hba1c before trying anything high carb, particularly if you need to lose weight as well.
When checking the carb content do take into account that the US sites include the fibre in the carb count, so it has to be deducted, but the UK ones do not, they list the net carbs, the digestible ones. There are also sugar alcohols, which we can't digest but our gut flora and fauna can - I avoid those, as my insides took some time to recover from the party that went on in there - I thought I was going to become geography I was so inflated from the gas they produced.

 

[Sharron1]

Dear Drummer,

Thanks for this - it sounds doable for me, although I am seeing the doctor this week, have read so much about my new status I will have to keep my mouth shut. I am now off to make a lunch for myself - probably tuna salad. I am also learning how to cook stuff - but your ideas are really helpful. I wonder when I can stop being a newbie and just handle the entire gig. PC keeps on freezing so will post this before it all goes.

 

[Martin9]

@Sharron1 , it's all a bit annoying to have to change your diet, but was diagnosed about 3 months ago with an HbA1c of 77, doing the low carb, higher/healthy fat diet as suggested by this forum I'm now at HbA1c of 35, so it can work.
However as we're all different , what works for 1, might not work for another, so best of luck & take care xx

 

[Sharron1]

Hi,

Ta for all the advice and kind thoughts. And so the journey begins...LCHF here I am! Am intrigued to learn why green leaves are also a limited food. Who knew carbs in leaves. Am reading re all the tabs on offer - why isn't slow releasing Metformin offered - is it to do with cost?

 

[silentsquirrel]

Hi,

Ta for all the advice and kind thoughts. And so the journey begins...LCHF here I am! Am intrigued to learn why green leaves are also a limited food. Who knew carbs in leaves. Am reading re all the tabs on offer - why isn't slow releasing Metformin offered - is it to do with cost?

Green leaves are fine! Although they do contain carbs (so a carb-free diet is not really possible), the amounts are so small that you can safely eat unlimited green veg.

Yes, standard metformin is a bit cheaper than slow release, and not everyone has a bad reaction to the standard version.

 

[Sharron1]

Ta, that all makes a bit more sense to me. I thought the amounts in green leaves would be small which a few a day should suffice. I am beginning to realise that carb free is not that easy.

 

[Sharron1]

Hi (me again)

Just purchased Carbs & Calorie Counter (Diabetes UK). Having a skim read through it and it appears to be so helpful in food portions and carb numbers - should make life a lot easier than it currently is. Even has a chocolate eclair (and as I decided to ignore my birthday and make up for it whenl I felt better I now know that I can indulge... well small size and one only. Happy Birthday to me...) Good book. Does anyone else have a thought re this tome?

 

[Drummer]

You don't need to be eating no carbs, just the amount of carbs which you can cope with - for me that would amount to as many bags of leaves - or mixed salad stuff as I could eat, as 40 to 50 gm of carbs as salad is rather a lot, and I'd still have carb allowance left over for other foods, once I could face them.

 

[Sharron1]

Question ... saw the dr today and put on tabs as expected. She suggested that I ditch the slice of toast - wholemeal bread - because it contains sugar (0.6 gram per slice) and also ditch the shreaded wheat - bite size whole grain (0.3g sugar) per 50g which is what I eat (ie 10 of the things!). Am stumped what to do for breakfast, do I need to see a dietitian to find out or was the dr just reading the generic guidelines? Look forward to responses. Don't need to go back for 6 months.

 

[Martin9]

Question ... saw the dr today and put on tabs as expected. She suggested that I ditch the slice of toast - wholemeal bread - because it contains sugar (0.6 gram per slice) and also ditch the shreaded wheat - bite size whole grain (0.3g sugar) per 50g which is what I eat (ie 10 of the things!). Am stumped what to do for breakfast, do I need to see a dietitian to find out or was the dr just reading the generic guidelines? Look forward to responses. Don't need to go back for 6 months.

Hi @Sharron1 ..has any one spoken to you about the Burgen soya & linseed loaf it's one of the lowest carb loafs around and some find it doesn't spike their bloods too much, you're still talking about the amount of sugar in foods, you need to look at carbs in any food, the body readily changes them into sugars, so shredded wheat is not a good option as it's relatively high in carbs as made from wheat, as is pasta.
So for breakfast you could have a cheese & ham omelette,or bacon /egg, or Fage Yogurt with a few berries small peice of Burgen toast or Hovis Nimble with any of the above or cheese spread, peanut butter, but you need to watch carbs in foods not just sugars...

 

[Martin9]

as you can see shredded wheat portion is quite high in carbs, by the time you add milk it is going to be over 30g carbs...!

 

[Sharron1]

Hi @Sharron1 ..has any one spoken to you about the Burgen soya & linseed loaf it's one of the lowest carb loafs around and some find it doesn't spike their bloods too much, you're still talking about the amount of sugar in foods, you need to look at carbs in any food, the body readily changes them into sugars, so shredded wheat is not a good option as it's relatively high in carbs as made from wheat, as is pasta.
So for breakfast you could have a cheese & ham omelette,or bacon /egg, or Fage Yogurt with a few berries small peice of Burgen toast or Hovis Nimble with any of the above or cheese spread, peanut butter, but you need to watch carbs in foods not just sugars...

Hi,
Have Hovis nimble that should be ok. It was the GP who introduced sugar into the conversation, she didn't mention carbs. I have got my head around the carbs and low carbs. I am seeing the dietician (sp?)next week. Thank goodness lunch and supper are almost sorted. Rang the helpline and the woman I spoke to was great. I was told as a Type 2 I shouldn't carb count - but keep an eye on portion size. Think I will get an idea of carb numbers, I can do portion size.

 

[SB2015]

Hi Sharron

It is easy for people to think that it is the sugar that is the important issue in our diets. The newspapers feed this misconception with their headlines. However everyone’s body will convert any carbohydrates into glucose once it is in our stomachs. It doesn’t care whether it is from sugar, fruit, flour, bread, rice, ... they will all become glucose once our stomach has sorted it out. On the back of packets it gives info about carbs and then of which sugar. Ignore the last bit and just look at the amount of carbs.

There is already lots of ideas for you to try.

 

[Sharron1]

Many thanks - will try the Fage yogurt and nimble bread -which is already in the house. Have a good day.

 

[CathyB]

There is a great thread where people share meal ideas (sorry, I’m not techy enough to give a link) but to give you an idea, today I had:
Breakfast = Burgen bread toast
Lunch = scrambled egg
Dinner = stir fry pork with a little onion and green pepper with asparagus and. A little cauliflower/ broccoli cheese 😛
Snacks = an apple / handfuls of almonds

 

[Drummer]

The sugar is the least of the problems - and your doctor should know that. Starches are just sugar that is not yet digested, so your bread is going to raise your blood glucose because it is a thumping great amount of starch, and the breakfast cereal too - it will be at least 2/3rds carbohydrate by weight - far too high.
Suggesting that you avoid them because of the sugar content - what a numpty.

 

[Diabetes UK]

There is a great thread where people share meal ideas (sorry, I’m not techy enough to give a link) but to give you an idea, today I had:
Breakfast = Burgen bread toast
Lunch = scrambled egg
Dinner = stir fry pork with a little onion and green pepper with asparagus and. A little cauliflower/ broccoli cheese 😛
Snacks = an apple / handfuls of almonds

It is a great thread, full of meal inspiration. Here it is @Sharron1 - might give you some good breakfast ideas 🙂

What did you eat yesterday?
​

 

[Sharron1]

It is a great thread, full of meal inspiration. Here it is @Sharron1 - might give you some good breakfast ideas 🙂

What did you eat yesterday?
​

Hi,

Just looked at Forum. Big day yesterday - did my very first BG test. No advice from GP so looked at forum and decided that I needed to have some idea what works. Next appointment with GP in Feb 2019 for a blood test... The BG was high - 8, so am now starting to have a good look at diet. Burgen bread lovely - 1 slice with a scraping of peanut butter, black coffee and the 'evil' mini bites shreaded wheat... that could be the cause. So am looking at other stuff. Am a non- meat eater which slightly complicates stuff. The GP suggested Museli... will look carefully at that. Seeing as the egg allowance is now 4 a week - breakfast will use at least 50%. How on earth do you manage on a slice of toast only for breakfast???!!!

 

[HOBIE]

Welcome Sharron 2. You will get used to it Low Carbs are best 🙂

 

[Drummer]

Hi,

Just looked at Forum. Big day yesterday - did my very first BG test. No advice from GP so looked at forum and decided that I needed to have some idea what works. Next appointment with GP in Feb 2019 for a blood test... The BG was high - 8, so am now starting to have a good look at diet. Burgen bread lovely - 1 slice with a scraping of peanut butter, black coffee and the 'evil' mini bites shreaded wheat... that could be the cause. So am looking at other stuff. Am a non- meat eater which slightly complicates stuff. The GP suggested Museli... will look carefully at that. Seeing as the egg allowance is now 4 a week - breakfast will use at least 50%. How on earth do you manage on a slice of toast only for breakfast???!!!

bread - still rather high carb even if a reduced carb one - shredded wheat - high carb museli - high carb.
Egg allowance? Eggs are an excellent food, and there is no restriction on how many to eat - the idea that eating foods which contain cholesterol will somehow do you damage was just something someone made up without any evidence.