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Nanny7

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Type 2
I have been newly diagnosed and as yet have to attend my first appointment with the nurse. My question is where do I find information on meal plans so I can work out how to plan meals. I know I need to follow a low carb diet but need to know carbs fir things like bread and porridge. Can I assume the sugar on a box of porridge info is what I use. I have been working on 130 g of carbs per day.
 
You use the full carbohydrate of the product, to count the amount .
 
Try the thread What did you eat yesterday for ideas
 
adrian1der said:
Try the thread What did you eat yesterday for ideas
Click to expand...
I had 3 desert spoons of nut granola a recipe I found in The Diabetes Cookbook plus 3 deserts spoons of Greek full fat yogurt for breakfast. A bowl of homemade broccoli soup which I took from the freezer. I usually make enough for four portions. The only carbs in this mix was 2 small potatoes and it made four portions. That was lunch. Plus an of Stilton cheese. A three egg mushroom cheese and bacon omelette with a salad. Plus tea and no added sugar squash.
 
Hi, @Nanny7 and welcome to the forum.

There is an alternative to looking for meal plans and that is to take what you currently eat and start to make modifications to get the carbs down. Might be a bit more work up front but it means that you arte not trying to make major changes and it is likely to be more sustainable.

So my suggestion is that you sit down with a notebook and pencil and write down everything you consumed in the last few days. That has to include snacks, coffees and any between meal nibbles.

Then start to work out the carb content of things of those things on the list. You don't have to be absolutely accurate, a decent estimate will do. How do you do that? Depends on what is on the menu.

If you eat a lot of things that are packaged then look on the packet for the nutrition label. Then seek out the "total carbohydrate" figure. Mostly this will be in g/100g, that is how many grams of carbohydrate there is in 100 grams of the item. You then need to get an idea of your portion size which might mean doing a bit of weighing. Sometimes it is easy. For example if you are partial to beans, then find the g/100g carbohydrate on the label and times it by the weight of beans in the can. If you eat a whole can, then you have the carbohydrate. If you have half a can then halve it. If you are partial to for example, spaghetti, then weigh out your pre cooked portion and times that by the g/100g of carbohydrate on the packet. Bread is very easy because the carbohydrate is often given as per slice - all you then have to do is to count the slices.

If you eat things that are not packaged then you might have to do a bit of looking up. Simply google {item} nutrition and you will get something. Again do not try to be too precise. Again you may have to do a bit of weighing and some guestimating.


It might seem like a bit of a faff, but you will quite quickly get point where you can repeat things because we tend to have habits and once you have worked something out once you can use the same value again and again.

Now comes the interesting bit. Look at all the things you have written down and look for the big items and see what you can do to cut them down. Don't need to eliminate things entirely, just need to cut back on some things and substitute with things you normally eat. A good example is Spag Boll. Instead of having a lot of spaghetti with a bit of sauce, have a smaller portion of spaghetti (the bit with the high carb load) with more sauce (the bit with the lower carb load). If you have toast with your breakfast and use sliced white bread, then go for a lower carb bread. If you like marmalade on it, then go for a better quality where you can get the tase for a thinner spread.

Do you see where I am coming from?


Just seen your post saying what your menu.... looks like you might be getting there!
 
Docb said:
Hi, @Nanny7 and welcome to the forum.

There is an alternative to looking for meal plans and that is to take what you currently eat and start to make modifications to get the carbs down. Might be a bit more work up front but it means that you arte not trying to make major changes and it is likely to be more sustainable.

So my suggestion is that you sit down with a notebook and pencil and write down everything you consumed in the last few days. That has to include snacks, coffees and any between meal nibbles.

Then start to work out the carb content of things of those things on the list. You don't have to be absolutely accurate, a decent estimate will do. How do you do that? Depends on what is on the menu.

If you eat a lot of things that are packaged then look on the packet for the nutrition label. Then seek out the "total carbohydrate" figure. Mostly this will be in g/100g, that is how many grams of carbohydrate there is in 100 grams of the item. You then need to get an idea of your portion size which might mean doing a bit of weighing. Sometimes it is easy. For example if you are partial to beans, then find the g/100g carbohydrate on the label and times it by the weight of beans in the can. If you eat a whole can, then you have the carbohydrate. If you have half a can then halve it. If you are partial to for example, spaghetti, then weigh out your pre cooked portion and times that by the g/100g of carbohydrate on the packet. Bread is very easy because the carbohydrate is often given as per slice - all you then have to do is to count the slices.

If you eat things that are not packaged then you might have to do a bit of looking up. Simply google {item} nutrition and you will get something. Again do not try to be too precise. Again you may have to do a bit of weighing and some guestimating.


It might seem like a bit of a faff, but you will quite quickly get point where you can repeat things because we tend to have habits and once you have worked something out once you can use the same value again and again.

Now comes the interesting bit. Look at all the things you have written down and look for the big items and see what you can do to cut them down. Don't need to eliminate things entirely, just need to cut back on some things and substitute with things you normally eat. A good example is Spag Boll. Instead of having a lot of spaghetti with a bit of sauce, have a smaller portion of spaghetti (the bit with the high carb load) with more sauce (the bit with the lower carb load). If you have toast with your breakfast and use sliced white bread, then go for a lower carb bread. If you like marmalade on it, then go for a better quality where you can get the tase for a thinner spread.

Do you see where I am coming from?


Just seen your post saying what your menu.... looks like you might be getting there!
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for your advice. I am use to dieting as I have spent the last 20 years trying to reduce my weight. Like every new person diagnosed I have my unhealthy snacks like a biscuit with a cup of tea or the odd packet of crisps, believe me I have had my 10 o’clock cuppa with no biscuit recently! I do not often buy food except perhaps pizza as I have always cooked from scratch. But my husband who is several inches taller than me is rather partial to stodgy food like stew and dumplings, cottage pie, macaroni cheese. So for me I think it is going to be a lot about portion size and not having my slice of toast with my home made soups. Fortunately I do not have a sweet tooth and do not take sugar in tea or coffee. And neither of us drink a lot. I will miss my half a bar of chocolate on a Saturday night that I share with my husband and had to watch him consume a large bag of fruit pastilles over the weekend. I also like my veg so I guess I am lucky there. I just need to reduce my potato portion.
 
Hi @Nanny7, welcome to the forum.

Good advice already given! I would add that a handy book showing pictures of different foods and their values is 'Carbs & Cals', pretty widely available. I think some people use an app for it but that's too techy for me...

Do you know what your HbA1c number is (the one used to diagnose diabetes)? If it's not much higher than 48 you may need only a few tweaks to get it down.
 
You can make swaps - I roast swede under the chicken or joint or boil and mash with cream, as one good size potato is my entire days carbs in four small bites.
I make cauliflower cheese which has been met with delight several times. It is very simple. Cook some cauliflower until it is almost done. I steam mine. Place it in a warm dish - I have a heavy earthenware dish which I put into a medium oven whilst the cauliflower is cooking. cover the heap with cream cheese, sprinkle on any herbs or spices you like, throw on grated cheese - I like Red Leicester, then you can add a topping of a more powerful cheese if you like, a crumbled blue cheese perhaps. Place in the oven until the cheese is melting and just tinged with gold.
You can use swede or celeriac or even mashed cauliflower in the various options you mention, but fir me, to be in normal ranges, ordinary bread, in fact all grain is out, no potatoes or high carb veges, and no high carb fruit - I stick to stir fries and salads most days, no more than 40 gm of carbs.
I have a meter so I can test my blood glucose levels if necessary - it was only done regularly at first, as I was back to normal in 6 months.
I have also lost weight without effort, but I only eat twice a day, as that is al I need to eat these days.
 
Hello @Nanny7 and welcome to the forum.
As you can see there is plenty of excellent help and advice available here, and it sounds as if you are already getting a good understanding of what to do.

I also have the issue of a husband that likes consuming a lot of stodgy carbs, and still maintains being a thin non-diabetic stick!
I fairly rapidly found ways of not ending up cooking 2 meals though. Usually it means that I eat the protein part of the meal with a large portion of veggies which fill me up, and we add in some carbs for him. I have converted him though to cauli-mash instead of potato mash, but he draws the line at celeriac chips.

Here is a link to the book that @Pine Marten mentioned, which I also find very Carbs & Cals - a guide for counting -Diabetes UK shop - Diabetes UK Shop

Best wishes and I hope all goes well for you.
 
grovesy said:
You use the full carbohydrate of the product, to count the amount .
Click to expand...
Hi just so I know if I have this correct my small loaf of bread 1 slice is 12.5 g of carb 90 Kcal. So when counting the carbs I am using the 12.5 g not the 90 kcal as a figure. So if my daily amount of carbs by gram is 130 that is grams not Ocala.
 
Nanny7 said:
Hi just so I know if I have this correct my small loaf of bread 1 slice is 12.5 g of carb 90 Kcal. So when counting the carbs I am using the 12.5 g not the 90 kcal as a figure. So if my daily amount of carbs by gram is 130 that is grams not Ocala.
Click to expand...
There are other loaves which have fewer carbs - Burgen Soya & Linseed loaf has about 11 carbs per slice but the slices are larger and thicker than other loaves; Hovis Nimble has around 8 per small slice; Waitrose LivLife has around 4 per small slice (this took me some getting used to, as it's a slightly odd texture). There are a few others around.

It's a bit and miss how often you might find these in different supermarkets (Burgen quite often goes AWOL I find) but I think it's worth it if like me you can't exist without *some* bread :D
 
Hellow and welcome to the forum. @Nanny7 🙂
 
Lots of good advice here and elsewhere on the Forum

If you have the traditional meal of meat & 2 veg & spuds you could have; meat & 3 veg but no spuds; or meat & larger helpings of 2 veg but no spuds; and the same sort of approach to other meals

The usual bars of chocolate don't actually taste that much of chocolate, it's mostly just sweet
So look around supermarket shelves for high cocoa chocolate, say 70% or more; that way you will get the hit of intense chocolate taste & flavour, but without the sugar
Even so, you shouldn't eat a whole bar at one go - say one or two squares every other night
Lindt is one brand, but most supermarkets now have their own brands as well

And as is the current fashion, eat it mindfully - slowly, nibble it, enjoy it, look forward to it

I have almost completely stopped eating bread, I just have an oatcake or two now & again
A quick look at the label shows that Nairn's Rough Oatcakes have 6,2 g carb per oatcake
Instead of toast & jam I have oatcake with Marmite
Instead of beans on toast I have an oatcake with cheese/tomato/butter
Sometimes I do have an oatcake with a thin smear of jam, but no more than one a day
 
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Hello Nanny, I was diagnosed a few months ago and have found this site invaluable for advice and I'm sure it will be a big help to you too. Going low carb is definitely the way to bring your levels down. I was diagnosed with an HbA1c level of 53, but through eating lower carb and upping my exercise levels a bit I've brought that down to 46, so within the pre-diabetic range (although once a diabetic always a diabetic I gather). I sympathise with what you are saying about having a husband who enjoys all the things we have to be careful about. My husband and son are the same but I've found it relatively easy to cook for them but adjust what I eat to suit what my body now needs to function in a more efficient way. For example I substitute cauliflower rice for rice and couscous, a few small new potatoes instead of a pile of mash etc. This week I made Singapore noodles, but for me I substituted shredded cabbage for noodles and thoroughly enjoyed it. We also had a creamy mushroom and pine nut tagliatelle dish, but I had the mushrooms with a large 'side' salad instead of the pasta. I'm not saying I never have bread or the occasional roast potato etc, but have cut down so much now that I feel confident that what I do have is probably not harming me, and that means I enjoy them even more on the occasions I have them. So do try to be positive about the diagnosis - you mentioned trying to lose weight for twenty years...well you probably weren't low carbing. I've lost a couple of stone since changing my way of eating, and haven't felt hard done by or hungry at all. I promise you it really does get easier. Good luck!
 
Hi Folks thank you for all the advice. I had my first appointment with the nurse today and was told my reading was 5.4. I was offered tablets but as I started my low carb approach to food three weeks ago I said I wanted to try to get my levels down on my own. This was met with approval. I have already list 7 or 8 1b depending on when I weigh myself. I have lost weight previously quite successfully on Slimming world but it all goes back on when you return to normal eating. I guess this time I will not be coming of a diet. I looked at the Keto diet but decided that was not for me. Today lunch breakfast was Greek yogurt with 15g of porridge three strawberries and a few blueberries. Lunch was two eggs on a slice of toast free from gluten with carb s at 8.7 and 0.5 sugars a slice. My husband found it for me in the Co op. I do not have bread every day but it is handy to have a loaf if I fancy a piece of toast. Or I might have a bowl of soup, homemade, or a couple of dark Rye crisp bread with cheese. Like others I have not had potato’s at dinner with exception of having a roast and I may have a couple of small ones then. I have had two biscuits in 3 weeks so my one I use to have after walking my dogs is a distant memory now. I have found the joy of cauliflower mash on top of cottage pie but my husband still has regular mash. I hope I am going in the right direction. Still living without chocolate
 
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