Hi everyone!

[Grannylorraine]

It is very daunting, I am still learning what I can and can't eat. I have natural yogurt and berries with sunflower seeds, pumpkins seeds and sesame seeds (1 tbps of each), I have only started this week having that and I am not hungry until lunchtime, I eat about 8.30 and lunch around 12.30, when I ate cereals or porridge I was hungry again after two hours.

I am newly diagnosed so I started week 1 cutting out cakes, biscuits, pastries etc, this week I am cutting down on pasta, bread, potatoes and starting a little exercise as suggested by my doctor, next week I will start looking at portion sizes. For me taking it small steps at a time is better otherwise I get overwhelmed.

I hope you find what works for you.

 

[Martin Canty]

One of my problems is that I usually go all day without eating, but then pig out at night. (although recently ive totally cut out high carb foods like pasta, rice and potatoes). I never eat breakfast as most cereals have quite a few carbs too.

Hi Paul,
My diet used to be carb laden, contributing to my current T2 along with a genetic predisposition..... I lost 60lb & have an average FBG of around 5 by cutting pretty much all carbs & reducing my carb intake to between 5-40 per day. I am not telling you to go LCHF, it's a decision you have to make after researching this Way of Eating, but many of us have gone that route with good success. I can't stress though that the quality of food is very important to our diets along with limiting carbs.

 

[Bubbsie]

Paul you have to decide how to tackle your diabetes...if you really intend to...and I believe you do... you need knowledge information and hard work as well as support and guidance from the forum...if you can I suggest you either try to borrow or buy a book called Type Two Diabetes The First Year by Gretchen Becker...it explains her first year as a type 2 diabetic month by month...so informative...as others have said carbs are the enemy...you need to limit them...not avoid all of them all together...some diabetics do intermittent fasting occasionally...however you seem to eat nothing all day...then 'pig out'...I presume this means a large meal...again even if eating different food items with low carbs...depending on the amount of food you have you could still be eating too many carbs...I was the worse diabetic when first diagnosed...now my BG is way down on my starting point of 17.4...I thought I would never get the hang of this...and while I still have a lot to learn what I do know and put into practice is now like second nature...so strongly advise to test 2 hours after food...check carb labels...try to avoid processed foods...its very much an individual trial and error journey...of course avoid the obvious things as advised...rice...potatoes...white bread...pasta...starchy vegetables...some fruits... you cannot start all of this this immediately or all at once...so one step at a time is fine...but you need to get started if you want to manage your diabetes.

 

[Mini-Vicki]

Even with insulin, I avoid carbs in the morning, because I'm more carb sensitive / insulin resistant. My general breakfast every day is two eggs. Either fried or scrambled normally. Sometimes with added mushrooms if I have time. Some people have some meat as well for extra protein, but as a veggie I don't! Lots of people on here follow a LCHF diet, and a GL diet @Northerner usually has some great book recommendations 🙂 hopefully he'll be along soon. Also @Mark Parrott has had great success with a LCHF diet, I'm sure he'll have some great pointers 🙂

 

[Grogg1]

I'm not a breakfast person and hate yoghurt and eggs, bacon have been turning on me. So now I keep some cheese in the fridge in work and when I get hungry - usually about 9.30 I have a chunk of cheese and a small handful of nuts. Keeps me going to lunch time. Lunch always depends on what leftovers I have from night before or what staff canteen has. Today I had a chicken breast with sprouts from canteen! I love, love, love sprouts!

 

[Paul_w]

I think as I said before, I need to seriously work at eating at regular times, better portion sizes and eating the correct types of food as well as taking up regular exercise.

The thing that I struggle with is finding food types that im OK with. I just simply dont have the knowledge about what foods are good for diabetes. There seems to be a lot of information about what food I should avoid, but I could do with more information on what food I should start looking at

 

[Martin Canty]

This should help with the veggies..... https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegetables the lower the number the better

As for meat, anything goes really but oily fish is really good, avoid store bought burgers & sausages as they tend to have carb fillers.

Avoid diet food like the plague, in fact any processed food but particularly anything labeled as low fat as they tend to have added carbs to make them palatable.

 

[Paul_w]

This should help with the veggies..... https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegetables the lower the number the better

As for meat, anything goes really but oily fish is really good, avoid store bought burgers & sausages as they tend to have carb fillers.

Avoid diet food like the plague, in fact any processed food but particularly anything labeled as low fat as they tend to have added carbs to make them palatable.

Thats great! Thanks for this!

 

[Mark Parrott]

Hi Paul, & welcome to the forum. As I was tagged by @Mini-Vicki I suppose I'd better make an appearance.🙂 The others here have given you some great advice. The recipe section here is good for ideas. If you have a problem remembering to take your meds, there is a great app that my wife uses called Medisafe, that you can set up to remind you what tablets to take when. I'm not on meds, just diet & exercise. I follow a LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) diet. Don't be scared by the high fat bit. It's healthy fats that are found in butter, cheese & animal fats. For breakfast I can have Greek natural yoghurt with a few berries, nuts & seeds & sweeten it slightly with Natvia, or a slice of ham topped with scrambled eggs, & n the weekend, high quality sausages, bacon, fried tomatoes & eggs. Lunch can be a tuna salad (mine is tuna, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, mixed in with full fat mayo & wholegrain mustard & topped with grated cheese, or mini fritattas (omlettes made in a deep bun tray & baked in the oven). I make a load of these at the weekend & they last me a week. If you fancy a sandwich, the best bread is either Burgen or Lidl High protein rolls. For dinner, I replace rice with cauliflower rice, spaghetti with courgetti & have even made chips using celeriac or turnips with great success. Also often have roasted Mediterranean veg with a lot of meals as it's very tasty. We will try to sort you out, Paul, but you will need to help too. This diabetes lark can be well controlled.🙂

 

[Paul_w]

Hi Paul, & welcome to the forum. As I was tagged by @Mini-Vicki I suppose I'd better make an appearance.🙂 The others here have given you some great advice. The recipe section here is good for ideas. If you have a problem remembering to take your meds, there is a great app that my wife uses called Medisafe, that you can set up to remind you what tablets to take when. I'm not on meds, just diet & exercise. I follow a LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) diet. Don't be scared by the high fat bit. It's healthy fats that are found in butter, cheese & animal fats. For breakfast I can have Greek natural yoghurt with a few berries, nuts & seeds & sweeten it slightly with Natvia, or a slice of ham topped with scrambled eggs, & n the weekend, high quality sausages, bacon, fried tomatoes & eggs. Lunch can be a tuna salad (mine is tuna, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, mixed in with full fat mayo & wholegrain mustard & topped with grated cheese, or mini fritattas (omlettes made in a deep bun tray & baked in the oven). I make a load of these at the weekend & they last me a week. If you fancy a sandwich, the best bread is either Burgen or Lidl High protein rolls. For dinner, I replace rice with cauliflower rice, spaghetti with courgetti & have even made chips using celeriac or turnips with great success. Also often have roasted Mediterranean veg with a lot of meals as it's very tasty. We will try to sort you out, Paul, but you will need to help too. This diabetes lark can be well controlled.🙂

I really can't thank you all enough! You guys are really helpful and are already giving me great ideas and advice. I seem to have had more help here in one day, than I've gotten in two years from the doctors! If only id been given these ideas sooner

 

[Martin Canty]

I really can't thank you all enough! You guys are really helpful and are already giving me great ideas and advice. I seem to have had more help here in one day, than I've gotten in two years from the doctors! If only id been given these ideas sooner

The issue is that we live with D on a daily basis AND we have decided to do something positive about managing our disease. Perhaps is some of these specialists took time to read through this board then they may learn something

 

[Mini-Vicki]

Hi Paul, & welcome to the forum. As I was tagged by @Mini-Vicki I suppose I'd better make an appearance.🙂 The others here have given you some great advice. The recipe section here is good for ideas. If you have a problem remembering to take your meds, there is a great app that my wife uses called Medisafe, that you can set up to remind you what tablets to take when. I'm not on meds, just diet & exercise. I follow a LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) diet. Don't be scared by the high fat bit. It's healthy fats that are found in butter, cheese & animal fats. For breakfast I can have Greek natural yoghurt with a few berries, nuts & seeds & sweeten it slightly with Natvia, or a slice of ham topped with scrambled eggs, & n the weekend, high quality sausages, bacon, fried tomatoes & eggs. Lunch can be a tuna salad (mine is tuna, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, mixed in with full fat mayo & wholegrain mustard & topped with grated cheese, or mini fritattas (omlettes made in a deep bun tray & baked in the oven). I make a load of these at the weekend & they last me a week. If you fancy a sandwich, the best bread is either Burgen or Lidl High protein rolls. For dinner, I replace rice with cauliflower rice, spaghetti with courgetti & have even made chips using celeriac or turnips with great success. Also often have roasted Mediterranean veg with a lot of meals as it's very tasty. We will try to sort you out, Paul, but you will need to help too. This diabetes lark can be well controlled.🙂

Oops I hope you don't mind me tagging you Mark, it's just you've done so brilliantly. You're an inspiration 🙂

 

[James 048]

Hiya all, im Paul and im a Newby here. Im a type 2 diabetic. I was diagnosed about 2years ago(ish) and I really struggle to manage my diabetes. It seems that no matter what I eat, I always have very high blood sugar.

Ive joined up so hopefully I can get some helpful advice and information. With any luck, I may be able to start putting myself on the right track lol

Hi Paul
Warm welcome to the forum

 

[Mark Parrott]

Oops I hope you don't mind me tagging you Mark, it's just you've done so brilliantly. You're an inspiration 🙂

No problem. Nice to be of service.🙂

 

[Paul_w]

Hiya all! just got the results of my hba1c. They are at 79. I guess thats still pretty high

 

[grovesy]

Unfortunately yes.

 

[Bubbsie]

Hiya all! just got the results of my hba1c. They are at 79. I guess thats still pretty high

Hi Paul...it is on the high side...converts to roughly 9.4 on average for the last three months...however...its still in single figures...as you know it could have been a lot worse...you can work on it...mine were at 17.4 when I started...now down to an average of 6.3...with determination you can reduce that for the next review...what did GP/Nurse make of it...any advice from them?

 

[Paul_w]

The nurse has said that I need to increase dosage of some meds and change another. She said that a balanced diet and plenty of exercise would help. But ive got to monitor my bloods for the next 3 months, and if they dont come down, shes gunna refer me to the hospital to start on insulin.

I take it thats quite bad then.

 

[Bubbsie]

The nurse has said that I need to increase dosage of some meds and change another. She said that a balanced diet and plenty of exercise would help. But ive got to monitor my bloods for the next 3 months, and if they dont come down, shes gunna refer me to the hospital to start on insulin.

I take it thats quite bad then.

Paul the HbA1c is high...but not insurmountable...I get disappointed when health care professionals just say 'balanced diet/exercise...more meds...failing that insulin'...did she give you any encouragement...when you say you have to monitor your blood for three months... does that mean you haven't been testing so far?...I believe with the right management you can get those levels down...avoid high carb foods...increasing your activity...(you must be sick of hearing that)...testing your blood before eating then again two hours later...will show what foods spike your BG...were you offered any other support...education...all of this is hard work and at the risk of sounding like I'm lecturing you (which I have no desire to do )if you can check the foods you are eating for carb content...test...read about diabetes then you should be able to get those numbers down...you should be looking for steady progress as opposed to a quick fix...I can't comment on the insulin no experience of it... what meds are you on...if you've already said sorry I've missed it...try to make small changes initially...once you see an improvement however slight hopefully that will encourage to manage your diabetes and get control of it.

 

[Robin]

Hi Paul, just a point about your latest HbA1c test. You joined us mid January, and I assume that's when you started taking things in hand. The Hba1c is an average of your blood sugars over the last three months, which included Christmas,( when I bet you indulged a bit, like the rest of us!) So keep up the good work and you should see an improvement in the next one.