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Hi from Oxford

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
W

Wayne Rushen

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Recently diagnosed with type 2
Can any one recommend a app for sugar/ carb counting
I must admit I’m struggling with the dietary aspect due to different health problems

Any advice will be gratefully received
Thank you
 
Welcome to the forum @Wayne Rushen . Sorry to hear of your recent diagnosis, there is a lot to get your head round at the start.

Carbs are what will become glucose once inside you, so it is great that you are looking to carb count. The only app that I use is Carbs and Cals when I am out and about. It includes photos of portions sizes, and includes a variety of set meals. At home we calculate our carbs by weighing raw ingredients and doing a bit of calculating. It is surprising how quickly you become familiar with the carb count of many things.

I am aware that there are more recent apps, some which can use the QR code in packages and then tell you the carbs.
 
Hello @Wayne Rushen and welcome to the forum.
It can be quite a shock being diagnosed with Type 2. Diabetes is a serious disease, but it can be positively managed and in many circumstances, you can do a lot to help yourself.

Regarding apps, some forum members use Mysugr.
Personally I find it easier to use a simple spreadsheet to keep a carb tally and use the Carbs and Cal book as a guide to carb values.

Reducing carb intake is what many of us have found to be a good solution to getting blood sugar levels down.
If you are happy to tell us about the other health problems that are making the dietary aspects difficult, then we may be able to help with some pointers.

For more general information 'useful-links-for-people-new-to-diabetes' at the head of the Newbies section may be worth a look, and also the Learning Zone Orange tab at the top of the page has some useful guides.

Hope you will keep posting and let us know how it is going and we will always try to answer any questions.
 
Thank you all for your help and advice

my other health problem is BPH so a high protein diet is not helpful to this
 
Hi and welcome from me too

I am not sure any of us would necessarily recommend a high protein diet for diabetes anyway. Some might suggest you can eat more protein to replace the carbs but most of us cut back on our carbs and just eat a bit more fat but keep the protein the same. The Low Carb, Higher Fat or LCHF way of eating is probably the most preferred and successful way of managing diabetes through diet here on the forum and on a long term basis, it is reasonably sustainable from the point of view of being relatively easy to stick to once you get the hang of it.
If you read around the forum a bit I am sure you will get the idea but if you find you don't understand anything, just ask.

What medication, if any have you been given for diabetes and do you know your HbA1c result? This is the blood test result that they use to diagnose diabetes and will usually be a number of 48 or higher. It gives you and us an idea of where on the diabetic scale you are, so that we can give more appropriate advice.
 
rebrascora said:
Hi and welcome from me too

I am not sure any of us would necessarily recommend a high protein diet for diabetes anyway. Some might suggest you can eat more protein to replace the carbs but most of us cut back on our carbs and just eat a bit more fat but keep the protein the same. The Low Carb, Higher Fat or LCHF way of eating is probably the most preferred and successful way of managing diabetes through diet here on the forum and on a long term basis, it is reasonably sustainable from the point of view of being relatively easy to stick to once you get the hang of it.
If you read around the forum a bit I am sure you will get the idea but if you find you don't understand anything, just ask.

What medication, if any have you been given for diabetes and do you know your HbA1c result? This is the blood test result that they use to diagnose diabetes and will usually be a number of 48 or higher. It gives you and us an idea of where on the diabetic scale you are, so that we can give more appropriate advice.
Click to expand...
Firstly- thank you all for your assistance and advice

my HbA1c - 63mmol/mol
Currently on 150ml metaformin - 1 tablet each meal
 
Re BPH - have you heard of the new Rezum treatment? - so much less invasive and far less scary than TURP - and now available in 18 different centres all over England! (Nearest for us is Warwick Hospital.)
 
63 isn't too bad, so that is a positive. Quite a few of us were close to, or over, the 3 figure mark and got things back down with the advice of this forum and the right management strategy for us as individuals. Figuring that out takes a bit of trial and error and time and effort but we are here to help point you in the right direction.
 
Welcome to the forum @Wayne Rushen

Hope you find a way of eating that suits you. 🙂

I’ve not really used any food tracking apps (I usemysugr for bg and doses). Some members have mentioned ‘my fitness pal’ over the years?
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @Wayne Rushen

Hope you find a way of eating that suits you. 🙂

I’ve not really used any food tracking apps (I usemysugr for bg and doses). Some members have mentioned ‘my fitness pal’ over the years?
Click to expand...
Thanks all - feeling my way through the maze of what I should and shouldn’t eat. I am confused about fruit especially grapes
Good or bad - can somebody confirm ?
 
Wayne Rushen said:
Thanks all - feeling my way through the maze of what I should and shouldn’t eat. I am confused about fruit especially grapes
Good or bad - can somebody confirm ?
Click to expand...

Some folks here describe grapes as ‘sugar bombs’. I would only eat 2-3

Fruit generally needs a little experimentation with a BG meter as different people can tolerate different types and amounts.

As a general guide, the more tropical the fruit the more likely it is to cause BG upheaval.

Berries tend to be the kindest to BG, followed by apples and pears, then oranges, then on to bananas and grapes then mango / pineapple and the like.

Portion size is important too, remembering that a medium sized piece of fruit might be 15-25g of carbs.
 
Hi @WayneRushen.... @everydayupsanddowns beat me to it! Answers to any question about whether something is good or bad always has to start with "It depends…"

With grapes, it depends on the variety, its ripeness, how many you eat at a time and on top of that it depends on how your system reacts to them! If you are a pessimist you don't go near them, if you are an optimist you might have a few but avoid eating a whole bunch and if you are really curious and want to get a definitive answer then you need to do some before and after blood testing to find out how you, as an individual, react to them.

Could not resist getting some tangerines this morning so I have a similar problem and will resolve it with some testing.
 
Docb said:
Could not resist getting some tangerines this morning so I have a similar problem and will resolve it with some testing.
Click to expand...

I generally find the smaller Clementine/Satsuma type oranges OK. Not sure how tangerines fit into that, but clementines are often only around 6-7g of carb
 
I like the odd Kiki fruit at about 5g carbs so I don't generally need to bolus for it

As others have said, the biggest problem with grapes is knowing when to stop because they don't usually come in small sized portions and the temptation is to keep having a few and a few more until most of the bunch is gone before you know it and your BG has hit the roof.
If you can be disciplined and satisfied with just having half a dozen then they are probably no worse than any other mid range fruit.
 
rebrascora said:
I like the odd Kiki fruit at about 5g carbs so I don't generally need to bolus for it

As others have said, the biggest problem with grapes is knowing when to stop because they don't usually come in small sized portions and the temptation is to keep having a few and a few more until most of the bunch is gone before you know it and your BG has hit the roof.
If you can be disciplined and satisfied with just having half a dozen then they are probably no worse than any other mid range fruit.
Click to expand...
What is a Kiki fruit?
 
Sorry, should read Kiwi
 
I think my 'serving size' for grapes would be about 3 maybe 4 if they are small ones.
I think I will stick with the various packs of frozen berries and the deliberately rather small bowl for desserts.
 
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