Hello

[Carole64]

Hi everyone, my name is Carole and I live in Cumbria, I've had diabetes for over 10 years, I take 850 metformin and glicazide, I'm on furlough at the moment and work in office administration

 

[ianf0ster]

Welcome from another Type 2 - although I have got my Blood Glucose back down into the 'pre-diabetes' range and am still aiming for 'the 'normal' range.
I don't take any diabetes meds and know of other T2's who have even managed their remission to reduce and then stop quite high doses of insulin.

If you have questions, please ask since their are so many health care professionals still out there with out-dated views and treatments for both T2 and T1.

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome from me too..... a nearish neighbour in County Durham.
We have one of two active members in the Cumbria area, but always nice to have another. Beautiful part of the world!

Is there anything which brings you to the forum at this particular time? How is the lockdown affecting your control? Some people are doing a lot better as they have more time to focus on a healthy diet and exercise whilst others are struggling with comfort eating due to stress.
As @ianf0ster mentions, there is relatively new thinking on managing Type 2 diabetes since you were diagnosed, through a low carb way of eating (which can be quite enjoyable once you get the hang of it), if you are interested in possibly reducing your reliance on medication for your diabetes.

 

[Deleted member 27171]

Hi @Carole64 welcome to the forum. There are lots of very supportive people here and always good to see new perspectives too if you have any words of wisdom to share 🙂

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @Carole64. Glad that you have found us.

As you have seen already there is plenty of advice available on here, and it will be good to tap into your experience. I look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[Carole64]

Thank you for the welcome, I never realised there was a new way of managing carbs, when I was first diagnosed I lost 6 stone, but its creeping back on, when the lockdown first started I wasn't eating as I was very anxious but now I'm struggling with the comfort eating but reading through some of the posts my inspiration has come back, thank you

 

[rebrascora]

NHS dietary advice for Type 2 diabetics has traditionally been low fat and healthy eating plate which is a third wholemeal carbs but many Type 2 diabetics cannot cope with this much carbohydrate, even wholemeal/brown versions. The stumbling block to eating very low carb was that you needed to get fuel from some other food group (protein or fat) and eating a lot of protein has other potential problems, but the NHS are still committed to encouraging us to follow a low fat diet, so it just doesn't work because otherwise you have tiny portions on your plate or great piles of veg which most people can't face and you feel hungry which is not sustainable.
There is now a school of thought including quite eminent scientist who believe that the low fat dietary advice was based on rather suspect data gathered 70 years ago when medical testing and records were not as accurate as they are these days. It is in fact possible that our low fat diet may in part be responsible for the diabetes and obesity epidemic we are now part of. Fat is a natural part of our food. Removing it and replacing it with carbohydrates has done us no favours. Fat takes longer to digest so it keeps us feeling full for longer and it has the effect of slowing down the digestion of carbs that we eat. Without that fat, the carbs hit our digestive tract and are usually digested and into our blood stream after an hour or so, sending our BG levels up but then dropping shortly afterwards and leaving us feeling hungry, so we are looking for a snack 2-3 hours after each meal, which is usually carbs and sends our BG back up, so we get used to having a series of peaks and troughs in our BG levels and eating to feed the troughs, so the more carbs we eat, the more we want and we end up eating far more food than we actually need to.

I used to eat huge amounts of carbs pre diagnosis and I was always hungry and thinking about what I would eat next. Now that I eat more fat and hardly any carbs, I eat much less food in general and I very rarely feel hungry even though I only have one or two meals a day! The difference is really amazing and I would not have believed it if I wasn't experiencing it.

There are quite a few of us here on the forum who follow a Low Carb, Higher (natural) Fat (LCHF) way of eating and find that our weight and BG levels are more stable, we don't feel hungry, we eat less food and have plenty of energy and many of us find that our cholesterol levels are reducing.... so all the bad things we were told about fat is not coming true and in fact quite the opposite.... if I need to lose a little weight I eat a bit less fat but I still eat cheese and have double cream (not Elmlea) in my coffee on a morning instead of milk and creamy natural yoghurt and fatty meat and fish and lots of olive oil to make my ratatouille and creamy cheese coleslaw on my salad, my cabbage/kale/leeks cooked in a little butter etc. These things all taste good, are natural and provide me with slow release energy and are quite difficult to overeat because they are rich and filling and keep me feeling full for many hours.

Hope some of what I have said makes a bit of sense. We have been told that fat is bad for all of our lives so the idea of eating it now against NHS advice is hard to accept which is why I take the trouble to try to explain it as well as I can, from my own experience.
Obviously if you have a particular ailment which makes fat a problem for you then that is another matter and you should follow the guidance of your doctor.

 

[trophywench]

The diabetes I know is truly truly not colour biased. It couldn't care what flipping hue it is, it treats em all the same and turns em all to glucose - and can't cope!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Carole64

Hope comparing notes with members here can offer you support, encouragement and some practical tips 🙂

Ask away with any questions - nothung will be thought of as too obvious or ‘silly’.

 

[Carole64]

NHS dietary advice for Type 2 diabetics has traditionally been low fat and healthy eating plate which is a third wholemeal carbs but many Type 2 diabetics cannot cope with this much carbohydrate, even wholemeal/brown versions. The stumbling block to eating very low carb was that you needed to get fuel from some other food group (protein or fat) and eating a lot of protein has other potential problems, but the NHS are still committed to encouraging us to follow a low fat diet, so it just doesn't work because otherwise you have tiny portions on your plate or great piles of veg which most people can't face and you feel hungry which is not sustainable.
There is now a school of thought including quite eminent scientist who believe that the low fat dietary advice was based on rather suspect data gathered 70 years ago when medical testing and records were not as accurate as they are these days. It is in fact possible that our low fat diet may in part be responsible for the diabetes and obesity epidemic we are now part of. Fat is a natural part of our food. Removing it and replacing it with carbohydrates has done us no favours. Fat takes longer to digest so it keeps us feeling full for longer and it has the effect of slowing down the digestion of carbs that we eat. Without that fat, the carbs hit our digestive tract and are usually digested and into our blood stream after an hour or so, sending our BG levels up but then dropping shortly afterwards and leaving us feeling hungry, so we are looking for a snack 2-3 hours after each meal, which is usually carbs and sends our BG back up, so we get used to having a series of peaks and troughs in our BG levels and eating to feed the troughs, so the more carbs we eat, the more we want and we end up eating far more food than we actually need to.

I used to eat huge amounts of carbs pre diagnosis and I was always hungry and thinking about what I would eat next. Now that I eat more fat and hardly any carbs, I eat much less food in general and I very rarely feel hungry even though I only have one or two meals a day! The difference is really amazing and I would not have believed it if I wasn't experiencing it.

There are quite a few of us here on the forum who follow a Low Carb, Higher (natural) Fat (LCHF) way of eating and find that our weight and BG levels are more stable, we don't feel hungry, we eat less food and have plenty of energy and many of us find that our cholesterol levels are reducing.... so all the bad things we were told about fat is not coming true and in fact quite the opposite.... if I need to lose a little weight I eat a bit less fat but I still eat cheese and have double cream (not Elmlea) in my coffee on a morning instead of milk and creamy natural yoghurt and fatty meat and fish and lots of olive oil to make my ratatouille and creamy cheese coleslaw on my salad, my cabbage/kale/leeks cooked in a little butter etc. These things all taste good, are natural and provide me with slow release energy and are quite difficult to overeat because they are rich and filling and keep me feeling full for many hours.

Hope some of what I have said makes a bit of sense. We have been told that fat is bad for all of our lives so the idea of eating it now against NHS advice is hard to accept which is why I take the trouble to try to explain it as well as I can, from my own experience.
Obviously if you have a particular ailment which makes fat a problem for you then that is another matter and you should follow the guidance of your doctor.

Thank you for your very interesting reply, many things I did not know, my doctors are still on the low fat route but after reading this I'm going to try low carbs, the only thing I'll really miss is white bread

 

[rebrascora]

I too loved bread although mostly a good granary but if I felt really naughty, I could easily demolish a Tiger loaf with half a pound of butter, pre diagnosis. After a while though, you don't miss it anymore, if that is any help and you find other nice things that you enjoy just as much.....
Cheese is my new chocolate and I have discovered a love of blue cheese which I always hated before.... your tastes change!
It is possible to make low carb bread involving things like almond and coconut flour and chia seeds and psyllium husk and there are various recipes knocking about.
White bread is so not good for us diabetics though.... might as well just eat sugar!

 

[HenryBennett]

I’m just asking the question. My understanding is that there’s little difference between all the various breads for carbohydrate content. White, brown, wholemeal, seeded, sourdough, flatbread, pita bread. Unprocessed flours are better health-wise but from reading a lot of labels I concluded that there are only three options: stop eating bread; cut down to no more than one slice a day; or bake your own low carb. I love bread, especially toast at breakfast, so have a limit of one slice of seeded wholemeal three or four mornings at most. I also on Saturday afternoons bake some low carb so I can have a bacon sarnie on Sunday morning.

I often substitute a small gammon steak for my toast and have a couple of eggs on top, poached, scrambled or (occasionally) fried. Grated mature cheddar sprinkled on top of a pair of poached eggs with runny yokes (whether on a slice of toast or small gammon) is absolutely delicious.

 

[grovesy]

I personally find different types of bread have different effects on my levels.

 

[rebrascora]

I’m just asking the question. My understanding is that there’s little difference between all the various breads for carbohydrate content. White, brown, wholemeal, seeded, sourdough, flatbread, pita bread. Unprocessed flours are better health-wise but from reading a lot of labels I concluded that there are only three options: stop eating bread; cut down to no more than one slice a day; or bake your own low carb. I love bread, especially toast at breakfast, so have a limit of one slice of seeded wholemeal three or four mornings at most. I also on Saturday afternoons bake some low carb so I can have a bacon sarnie on Sunday morning.

I often substitute a small gammon steak for my toast and have a couple of eggs on top, poached, scrambled or (occasionally) fried. Grated mature cheddar sprinkled on top of a pair of poached eggs with runny yokes (whether on a slice of toast or small gammon) is absolutely delicious.

I like your style!

 

[HenryBennett]

I like your style!

Thanks. As everyone says on here we’re all different, and that is so right.

I’ve learnt that although it’s tedious and hard on your fingertips extensive testing with a meter really pays off in the early days.

I keep breakfast interesting by perming from:-
Seeded wholemeal
Sourdough
Home baked low carb
One small or half a large gammon steak
Small minute steak
Reduced salt bacon, 2 rashers
Avocados (smashed & well seasoned)
Two medium eggs - poached, scrambled, fried, omelette
Scrambled eggs with smoked salmon
Scrambled eggs with a sliced frankfurter
Grated mature cheddar (especially on poached eggs)
Butcher’s pork sausages (on toast & melt some cheese on top)
Quick welsh rarebit

The last thing my wife says to me at night is, “What’s for breakfast?” And we’re both losing weight.

 

[rebrascora]

Nice list!
Don't be frightened to experiment with the omelette fillings. I have a combination of mushrooms, onion, courgette, peppers, aubergine, spinach, bacon/ham and cheese.... and sometimes all of them at once 😱, served with a salad and coleslaw (usually cheese coleslaw).... saves having to think about lunch if I set myself up with a good breakfast!

Totally agree about frequent testing too.

 

[HenryBennett]

How could I forget mushrooms! I love mushrooms. I could have them every day, but have three or four punnets a week. Some great ingredients in your list too, thanks.