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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
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Sorry you’ve had to join our club, but glad you have found us!
Getting a diagnosis with diabetes can be a bit of a shock, and can leave you feeling overwhelmed and anxious. Some people liken it to a form of grief, with the common stages that would involve.
Diabetes is a serious condition, but it’s also one that can usually be managed well with a few changes and adaptations - it’s something that you can learn to live well with, and it shouldn’t stop you doing things you enjoy. Try not to be disheartened about your diagnosis, many people on the forum later reflect that their diagnosis became a catalyst which prompted them to make positive changes towards a healthier and more active life. Perhaps changes that they had been intending to make for years.
Feel free to rage, rant, wail, moan or just ask all the questions that are bouncing around your head. We have 100s of years of lived diabetes experience on the forum, and nothing will be considered too obvious or ‘silly’ 🙂
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis but I am pleased that you have found the forum, as there is plenty of experience to tap into on here. As Mike has said this is a manageable condition, and each of us can gradually find out what works for us.
Have a look at the threads on here, as well as the Learning Zone (in the menu or the orange table at the top of the page) Fire away with any questions that arise, and know that no questions are considered silly on here. Just ask.
Hi @stokie oatcake and welcome to the forum.
Some cope seemingly easily whereas others, myself included, find it a little more difficult perhaps.
How did you come to be diagnosed?
It takes time to come to terms with and take on board the changes to make in your diet and exercise regime but the alternative is not a healthy option. You might want to get a BG monitor to initially work out what foods are affecting your BG levels...initially take readings before eating and generally 2 hours after you have eaten to see what foods create the highs and lows. You need to get to know what foods affect you as we are all different. Then when you are more informed you can choose whether to keep on with readings or make it an occasional option like me.
Everyone on this site is helpful, friendly and keen to support your findings and explain them. They have helped me even when I was scared. Good luck.
Hi and welcome. I cope each day by planning in advance. I've got an app which records cals (I need to lose weight) and carbs (most Type 2 diabetics benefit from reducing carbs). I tap in the days choices so I know where I am, and try and stick to them. Sometimes I have enough cals and carbs left for a treat. When I was first diagnosed I got a blood glucose monitor and tested before and 2 hours after each meal, so soon learned what caused my blood glucose to spike. Now I just test new foods. Finally I started doing exercise - in my case 3+ trips to the swimming pool each week for Aqua Fit.
Apart from breakfast, I don't plan at all. I fly by the seat of my pants. My only rule is that I don't eat carbohydrate rich foods... so no bread, pasta, rice etc although I have been having a couple of small new potatoes on occasion recently.
I keep lots of low carb snacks in the house like nuts and cheese and olives and pork scratchings 😱 and feta stuffed peppadew peppers, so I will sometimes skip lunch and just have a chunk of cheese or a pot of olives and then eat in the evening. Tonight I had a good quality quarter pounder beef burger fried (no bun or fries) with mushrooms and a massive plate of salad with a large dollop of cheese coleslaw and some balsamic vinegar dressing (which I love). Also had half a glass of port with some gruyere cheese for afters. Feeling pretty stuffed now.
Anyway, that is how i cope and I find it pretty easy now but it was difficult to learn how to eat low carb in the first place. Took me several months because I had spent the previous 50+ years piling my plate with carbs and lets face it, just the logistics of cutting out bread which is a carrier for so many foods, is mind boggling. Once I cut right back on carbs I stopped craving them anymore which is a revelation for me because I was a sugar addict pre diagnosis and loved bread and potatoes particularly. I have other things which I treat myself to now and cheese is my new chocolate although I do buy bars of 75%+ dark chocolate and have at least half a square most days with a spoon of peanut butter. Better than the multipack of Snickers I could very easily consume in an afternoon pre diagnosis.
I like being in control of my eating now and not really being tempted anymore and eating low carb gives me that control without too much effort or need to resist temptation.
I like hearing how people cope. We are all so different. I was diagnosed when I had not eaten bread pasta potatoes or sweets etc for 5 years! So how that happened I have no idea.
Hiya @stokie oatcake - I freely confess I dislike the taste of oats - I may be Staffordshire born and bred (cos West Bromwich was then still in Staffs) but never tasted an oat at all until I was adult and the delicacy itself until I was in my late 40s and working briefly smack next door to the New Vic theatre in N-u-L . But I'm sure you're lovely anyway, me duck!
I seem to be a little different my approach. I control every aspect of my meals that I can: Cals, Carbs, Protein, Fibre, Fats, Salt, Cholesterol, glycaemic load, and keep my eye on nuts and fruit portions.
I plan each days meals the evening before but change things on the fly if they need changing during the day, but still keeping to within the limits that I have set for each aspect that I can.
It sounds like a lot of work, but it is very easy with the right App.
I have a present limit of about 100g carbs a day which is fine for me. Often I go below that upper limit which I suspect helps things but I have to make up the calories by eating more protein and fats instead.
I have found it all a fascinationg journey of discovery about what foods are made up from, and I now have many new foods and meals to eat that I would probably have never discovered had it not been for the diabetes diagnosis
and feta stuffed peppadew peppers, so I will sometimes skip lunch and just have a chunk of cheese or a pot of olives and then eat in the evening. Tonight I had a good quality quarter pounder beef burger fried (no bun or fries) with mushrooms and a massive plate of salad with a large dollop of cheese coleslaw and some balsamic vinegar dressing (which I love). Also had half a glass of port with some gruyere cheese for afters. Feeling pretty stuffed now.
