Thank you for letting me join this forum. I have had type 2 diabetes for a year now, & following initial diagnosis have not had any contact with my GP until this week ,other than a brief conversation with a nurse & a vague leaflet about diet. Any advice welcome! Thanks
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rebrascora
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Hi and welcome. You have found the best place for advice and support here.
Can you tell us a bit more about your diagnosis... like how it came about (routine blood test or symptomatic etc)
Have you been given any medication? If so what?
Do you know your HbA1c which is the blood test result used to diagnose diabetes and gives us an idea of where on the diabetes scale you are. It is usually expressed as a number of 48 or more but can be into 3 digits if things have gone badly wrong.
It also helps to know if you have much or a lot of weight to lose and how active you are?
Can you tell us a bit more about your diagnosis... like how it came about (routine blood test or symptomatic etc)
Have you been given any medication? If so what?
Do you know your HbA1c which is the blood test result used to diagnose diabetes and gives us an idea of where on the diabetes scale you are. It is usually expressed as a number of 48 or more but can be into 3 digits if things have gone badly wrong.
It also helps to know if you have much or a lot of weight to lose and how active you are?
Barbara
Thanks for your reply. The points you make are why I am confused! Diagnosis was after routine Thyroid blood test. I have not been given medication, but told to control it with diet, but not really told what I should eat. The figure was 49 last October. A separate report from a bowel consultant said I am overweight, which surprised me, as I am 13st 5lb & 6ft 1 inch. As far as exercise is concerned, I realise I do not take enough, owing to a combination of COPD & depression. Thank you again for replying.
Chris
rebrascora
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Hi again Chris
A reading of 49 is only just over the Diabetes diagnosis threshold of 48 so it should not need too many dietary changes to push it back. That said, that was a year ago and a lot can happen during that time.... particularly in the current climate when many people are comfort eating more and perhaps exercising less.
Just to clarify, exercise doesn't mean anything overly exertive or formal. A brisk daily walk is pretty well ideal to help with diabetes management and as someone who also struggles with depression I can tell you that it also helps with mental health. I appreciate that COPD may limit you in how much you can do but it is important to do whatever you can and if you can push yourself to make an effort for a couple of weeks to make a habit of it, it will get easier.
Sounds like you may be a thin outside fat inside (TOFI) diabetic, where you are carrying a higher percentage of visceral fat around your organs rather than on your body in general. I am not sure if this might mean you need to be quite radical with your diet over a short period to force your body to metabolise it. Hopefully some TOFI diabetics will chip in. I believe @ianf0ster and @travellor are two such members who have taken different approaches to their diet for diabetes management.
As regards diet many people believe that it is just a question of cutting out sugar, but it is in fact all carbohydrates which cause us diabetics problems because our digestive system breaks them all down into glucose which is absorbed into the blood supply where it gets stuck because either we don't produce enough insulin (usually Type 1) or we are resistant to the insulin we produce (usually Type 2). Eating less carbs means that we have less glucose going into the blood stream in the first place and doing exercise like walking or cycling causes the muscles to suck the glucose out of the blood stream, but exercise alone is not enough to do it, even if you walked all day, so diet is the really key factor.
The options are:-
To go on a very strict very low calorie diet for 8 weeks to force your body to use that visceral fat as fuel. This is sometimes referred to as the Newcastle Diet or the Fast 800 where you limit yourself to 800 calories a day, often using shakes or meal replacement products. It had been on the news recently because the NHS are now supporting this approach for some people and getting it prescribed.
The option which most people here on the forum adopt is to significantly reduce their consumption of carbohydrates. This is a longer term approach essentially for the rest of your life and involves cutting back on bread, pasta, rice, breakfast cereals, potatoes and fruit as well as the obvious cakes, biscuits and sweets. It usually involves eating more fat which helps to keep you feeling full for longer so you don't feel the need to snack, provides slow release energy and makes it enjoyable and therefore sustainable. I appreciate that we have been advised for decades that fat is bad for us and makes us obese and causes Cardio Vascular Disease and gives us high cholesterol but there is a growing wave of scientific opinion that this advice was based on flawed data and our current obesity and diabetes epidemic is in part because we cut right back on our fat intake. Unfortunately there is a massive food industry invested in low fat products who are keen to maintain the status quo, so the low fat dietary advice is still being rolled out, but many of us here now choose to ignore it and have lost weight and lowered our cholesterol by eating more fat and less carbs.
So if you want examples of what might be a low carb menu
Creamy natural Greek yogurt (made with whole milk not low fat) with a few berries like rasps or strawberries or blackberries and a few mixed seeds and or chopped nuts for breakfast washed down with a cup of coffee made with real double cream.
An omelette or meat or fish with a salad for lunch
Gammon with cabbage and cauliflower cheese for dinner.
I often end the day with a small glass of red wine and a chunk of nice cheese. ... Dry wine and spirits are low carb so OK in moderation but beer and cider are higher carb so best limited or avoided.
A reading of 49 is only just over the Diabetes diagnosis threshold of 48 so it should not need too many dietary changes to push it back. That said, that was a year ago and a lot can happen during that time.... particularly in the current climate when many people are comfort eating more and perhaps exercising less.
Just to clarify, exercise doesn't mean anything overly exertive or formal. A brisk daily walk is pretty well ideal to help with diabetes management and as someone who also struggles with depression I can tell you that it also helps with mental health. I appreciate that COPD may limit you in how much you can do but it is important to do whatever you can and if you can push yourself to make an effort for a couple of weeks to make a habit of it, it will get easier.
Sounds like you may be a thin outside fat inside (TOFI) diabetic, where you are carrying a higher percentage of visceral fat around your organs rather than on your body in general. I am not sure if this might mean you need to be quite radical with your diet over a short period to force your body to metabolise it. Hopefully some TOFI diabetics will chip in. I believe @ianf0ster and @travellor are two such members who have taken different approaches to their diet for diabetes management.
As regards diet many people believe that it is just a question of cutting out sugar, but it is in fact all carbohydrates which cause us diabetics problems because our digestive system breaks them all down into glucose which is absorbed into the blood supply where it gets stuck because either we don't produce enough insulin (usually Type 1) or we are resistant to the insulin we produce (usually Type 2). Eating less carbs means that we have less glucose going into the blood stream in the first place and doing exercise like walking or cycling causes the muscles to suck the glucose out of the blood stream, but exercise alone is not enough to do it, even if you walked all day, so diet is the really key factor.
The options are:-
To go on a very strict very low calorie diet for 8 weeks to force your body to use that visceral fat as fuel. This is sometimes referred to as the Newcastle Diet or the Fast 800 where you limit yourself to 800 calories a day, often using shakes or meal replacement products. It had been on the news recently because the NHS are now supporting this approach for some people and getting it prescribed.
The option which most people here on the forum adopt is to significantly reduce their consumption of carbohydrates. This is a longer term approach essentially for the rest of your life and involves cutting back on bread, pasta, rice, breakfast cereals, potatoes and fruit as well as the obvious cakes, biscuits and sweets. It usually involves eating more fat which helps to keep you feeling full for longer so you don't feel the need to snack, provides slow release energy and makes it enjoyable and therefore sustainable. I appreciate that we have been advised for decades that fat is bad for us and makes us obese and causes Cardio Vascular Disease and gives us high cholesterol but there is a growing wave of scientific opinion that this advice was based on flawed data and our current obesity and diabetes epidemic is in part because we cut right back on our fat intake. Unfortunately there is a massive food industry invested in low fat products who are keen to maintain the status quo, so the low fat dietary advice is still being rolled out, but many of us here now choose to ignore it and have lost weight and lowered our cholesterol by eating more fat and less carbs.
So if you want examples of what might be a low carb menu
Creamy natural Greek yogurt (made with whole milk not low fat) with a few berries like rasps or strawberries or blackberries and a few mixed seeds and or chopped nuts for breakfast washed down with a cup of coffee made with real double cream.
An omelette or meat or fish with a salad for lunch
Gammon with cabbage and cauliflower cheese for dinner.
I often end the day with a small glass of red wine and a chunk of nice cheese. ... Dry wine and spirits are low carb so OK in moderation but beer and cider are higher carb so best limited or avoided.
Hi Chris,
When I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes I had slowly gained a few pounds on a so-called heart healthy low fat high whole grain way of eating which I had been doing for over 10yrs.
Strangely this low fat diet not only failed to prevent me needing a coronary artery bypass, but got me T2D as well.
So I decided to investigate the best 'diet' for T2 diabetics myself rather than continuing to take the GP's since it was clearly not working very well.
I discovered the 'red' forum' and lots of Type 2's who had both got their diabetes into remission and improved lots of other health problems by taking a Low Carb High(er) traditional Fat way of eating. They suggested that in order to do it properly I would need a Blood Glucose Meter and test before and after meals until I knew which foods were the ones I needed to avoid or to cut down on. - They were right, at least in my case and that of thousands of others who have done the same as me.
I don't claim that it is the best/easiest method for everybody, just that if you can afford a BG meter and can stand to do the finger prick tests, then you can see instantly if it is working (ignoring weight loss).
I had got as fat as being overweight with a BMI of 26.06 and HbA1C of 53 when diagnosed, now I'm back to a BMI of 22 (as I was fin my youth) and my most recent HbA1C was 44 (in May). All this with no drugs, no hunger (eat until feel satisfied, but don't snack and don't eat when bored etc.) and no additional exercise (same brisk 30min walk I was already doing).
When I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes I had slowly gained a few pounds on a so-called heart healthy low fat high whole grain way of eating which I had been doing for over 10yrs.
Strangely this low fat diet not only failed to prevent me needing a coronary artery bypass, but got me T2D as well.
So I decided to investigate the best 'diet' for T2 diabetics myself rather than continuing to take the GP's since it was clearly not working very well.
I discovered the 'red' forum' and lots of Type 2's who had both got their diabetes into remission and improved lots of other health problems by taking a Low Carb High(er) traditional Fat way of eating. They suggested that in order to do it properly I would need a Blood Glucose Meter and test before and after meals until I knew which foods were the ones I needed to avoid or to cut down on. - They were right, at least in my case and that of thousands of others who have done the same as me.
I don't claim that it is the best/easiest method for everybody, just that if you can afford a BG meter and can stand to do the finger prick tests, then you can see instantly if it is working (ignoring weight loss).
I had got as fat as being overweight with a BMI of 26.06 and HbA1C of 53 when diagnosed, now I'm back to a BMI of 22 (as I was fin my youth) and my most recent HbA1C was 44 (in May). All this with no drugs, no hunger (eat until feel satisfied, but don't snack and don't eat when bored etc.) and no additional exercise (same brisk 30min walk I was already doing).
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Welcome to the forum @cadwr
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, and the lack of information you have been given - I suspect you would have had more follow-up if it weren’t for the whole Covid19 palaver.
Take a look at the Learning Zone (there’s a tab at the top of the page) and Diabetes UK‘s ’Enjoy Food’ section for some ideas to get you started. At the simplest level it boils down to balancing carbohydrates with your body‘s ability to deal with them. While there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will be wanting to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. Many T2 members here find that a moderate or low carbohydrate diet really helps.
For a bit more background information, the ‘useful links’ thread is a mine of helpful information - useful-links-for-people-new-to-diabetes
Members here frequently recommend Maggie Davey’s Letter and Gretchen Becker’s book, as very helpful starting points.
Look forward to hearing more of your story over the coming weeks and months.
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, and the lack of information you have been given - I suspect you would have had more follow-up if it weren’t for the whole Covid19 palaver.
Take a look at the Learning Zone (there’s a tab at the top of the page) and Diabetes UK‘s ’Enjoy Food’ section for some ideas to get you started. At the simplest level it boils down to balancing carbohydrates with your body‘s ability to deal with them. While there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will be wanting to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. Many T2 members here find that a moderate or low carbohydrate diet really helps.
For a bit more background information, the ‘useful links’ thread is a mine of helpful information - useful-links-for-people-new-to-diabetes
Members here frequently recommend Maggie Davey’s Letter and Gretchen Becker’s book, as very helpful starting points.
Look forward to hearing more of your story over the coming weeks and months.
Many thanks. I am learning a lot from this forum. Your food suggestions seem very practical: even a man can do it! I've pasted them into a Word doc that I am assembling from tips on the forum. Interesting that you too have struggled with depression. I know from experience that exercise can be very important, but as you know doubt appreciate, motivation can be a problem [particularly when you live at the bottom of a 1 in 3 hill.....]. Your comments on fat are particularly interesting. Thank you
Chris
Chris
rebrascora
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You are so right about motivation being the most difficult part. I really struggle with that too and I also live at the bottom of a very steep hill and have done pretty well all my life.
My motivation to tackle that and get me out of the house is that I have animals at the top of that hill which are relying on me but sometimes it takes me half the day just to leave the house. It is so frustrating to find that getting the mindset to leave the house is infinitely harder than actually walking up that hill and mucking out 4 horses and feeding chickens, but the truth of the matter is that it is. Once I get out I will happily plod along all day and/or night so I don't think that I am lazy, I just really struggle with the idea of facing the world.
Choose a day when you are feeling at your best to start a new activity/walking routine and a time of day or night (I love being out late at night when I have the whole world to myself) when it is most pleasant and set yourself a very simple target. Make it as easy for yourself as possible to achieve that target. If you are successful and want to do more and are able to, once you are out there, that is fine but the important thing is to make the target easy enough to achieve and try to do that every day for a couple of weeks, as once it becomes a habit or routine, it takes less motivation to tackle it.
I am the worst person in the world for making everything 10x more difficult than it needs to be both mentally and practically, so I really need to take more of my own advice, but aiming low and achieving your target it much more motivating than making things too difficult to even attempt.
Setting yourself up for success is the key.
My motivation to tackle that and get me out of the house is that I have animals at the top of that hill which are relying on me but sometimes it takes me half the day just to leave the house. It is so frustrating to find that getting the mindset to leave the house is infinitely harder than actually walking up that hill and mucking out 4 horses and feeding chickens, but the truth of the matter is that it is. Once I get out I will happily plod along all day and/or night so I don't think that I am lazy, I just really struggle with the idea of facing the world.
Choose a day when you are feeling at your best to start a new activity/walking routine and a time of day or night (I love being out late at night when I have the whole world to myself) when it is most pleasant and set yourself a very simple target. Make it as easy for yourself as possible to achieve that target. If you are successful and want to do more and are able to, once you are out there, that is fine but the important thing is to make the target easy enough to achieve and try to do that every day for a couple of weeks, as once it becomes a habit or routine, it takes less motivation to tackle it.
I am the worst person in the world for making everything 10x more difficult than it needs to be both mentally and practically, so I really need to take more of my own advice, but aiming low and achieving your target it much more motivating than making things too difficult to even attempt.
Setting yourself up for success is the key.
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