Hello - New to the forum, my husband was diagnosed type 2 about a week ago. He had Covid in March and has felt a bit crappy ever since, so he did a Thriva blood test which came back as HbA1C of 60, plus raised cholesterol and triglycerides. He has spoken to diabetic nurse but no GP appt or newbie courses available due to Covid. She is going to speak to him again next week. She prescribed metformin but so far he hasn't taken it. He needs to lose about 15kg to get him to mid range BMI, we have taken a hard look at our diet and eliminated all white carbs, and we read the Blood Sugar diet and bought a low carb cookbook. His fasting BS has been around 6 units in the morning. Week 1 so beginners enthusiasm but we have eaten well - lots of lean protein, eggs, veg and salad. He felt awful for a few days (described it as mother of all hangovers) but is now feeling better. The aim is remission. I have seen a few things about low carb diets being unhealthy long term but we haven't been given any advice re what to eat, or how to know what carbs he can tolerate. He's having 60-80g carbs a day. I would love to hear from anyone who is in remission or well controlled without meds, and how that pans out longer term. Thank you!
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Hi!
- Thread starter JennyR
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Hi, Not long term yet, but I'm still in remission after over 1yr of low carb.
I was barely overweight when diagnosed - so was Thin Outside, Fat Inside (TOFI).
Thus going for a strictly weight loss (ultra low calorie) approach didn't appeal to me.
I find with LCHF plus a restricted time eating window (aka Intermittent fasting , 16x8 or sometimes OMAD), I have broken my sugar cravings and lost 23lbs without feeling deprived or extra hungry.
I found a Blood Glucose monitor invaluable is helping me work out how many carbs I could eat as well as which carby foods affected me most - we are all different in that respect.
I know of people in this forum and 'the other one' who have been Low carb (or even Keto) for up to 7 yrs.
There is no nutritional downside since we can get all macro and micro nutrients we need (including Vitamin C) from meat, fish, eggs, dairy plus leafy green (above ground) veg with a few nuts, olives, avocados and occasional handful of berries.
So for me, no tropical fruit, no apples, pears, cherries etc.
I see that Low Carb is now popular enough to be attacked in the newspapers, even though it is little different from how western people ate until the 20th centuary.
Dr Bertstein in the USA is a T1 diabetic (diagnosed in 1946 at age 12) he wrote books on Low carb for Type 1 diabetes and has a group called TypeoneGrit he has been eating low carb for decades - he is still alive and healthy - so much for carbohydrate advocates saying it is unsustainable or bad for health!
I was barely overweight when diagnosed - so was Thin Outside, Fat Inside (TOFI).
Thus going for a strictly weight loss (ultra low calorie) approach didn't appeal to me.
I find with LCHF plus a restricted time eating window (aka Intermittent fasting , 16x8 or sometimes OMAD), I have broken my sugar cravings and lost 23lbs without feeling deprived or extra hungry.
I found a Blood Glucose monitor invaluable is helping me work out how many carbs I could eat as well as which carby foods affected me most - we are all different in that respect.
I know of people in this forum and 'the other one' who have been Low carb (or even Keto) for up to 7 yrs.
There is no nutritional downside since we can get all macro and micro nutrients we need (including Vitamin C) from meat, fish, eggs, dairy plus leafy green (above ground) veg with a few nuts, olives, avocados and occasional handful of berries.
So for me, no tropical fruit, no apples, pears, cherries etc.
I see that Low Carb is now popular enough to be attacked in the newspapers, even though it is little different from how western people ate until the 20th centuary.
Dr Bertstein in the USA is a T1 diabetic (diagnosed in 1946 at age 12) he wrote books on Low carb for Type 1 diabetes and has a group called TypeoneGrit he has been eating low carb for decades - he is still alive and healthy - so much for carbohydrate advocates saying it is unsustainable or bad for health!
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Best advice for learning what each individual body can tolerate carbohydrate wise is
loraldiabetes.blogspot.com
which was actually carried in an issue of the British Medical Journal, despite Alan, the author, being Australian. His nationality isn't the point, it's still the best advice on using fingerprick testing to a T2's best advantage!
Being as nobody knows exactly how the lurgy has affected your husband's body ie by what method has it made him now present as T2? whilst definitely knowing all the damage untreated Type 2 diabetes can and does cause to human bodies which nobody is aware of, usually before it's already too late to prevent it - I'd have to think very long and very hard indeed before saying I'm not going to accept a drug that does not usually cause life threatening side effects. Sometimes, though not always, some side effects. But not life threatening. T2 however can have those side effects. Just my opinion.
I wonder since your husband has had it, whether the nurse has known other such local cases and that's why she prescribed Metformin pdq.
Test, Review, Adjust
Managing blood glucose levels for type 2 diabetes. Learning how to achieve long term control by testing and diet.
loraldiabetes.blogspot.com
which was actually carried in an issue of the British Medical Journal, despite Alan, the author, being Australian. His nationality isn't the point, it's still the best advice on using fingerprick testing to a T2's best advantage!
Being as nobody knows exactly how the lurgy has affected your husband's body ie by what method has it made him now present as T2? whilst definitely knowing all the damage untreated Type 2 diabetes can and does cause to human bodies which nobody is aware of, usually before it's already too late to prevent it - I'd have to think very long and very hard indeed before saying I'm not going to accept a drug that does not usually cause life threatening side effects. Sometimes, though not always, some side effects. But not life threatening. T2 however can have those side effects. Just my opinion.
I wonder since your husband has had it, whether the nurse has known other such local cases and that's why she prescribed Metformin pdq.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
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Welcome to the forum @JennyR
It sounds like you and your husband have made a great start!
We frequently recommend Aussie former member AlanS's 'test review adjust' on the forum which is similar to the approach you are taking (https://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html).
That blog post was written in 2006, and as far as I am aware Alan is still in good health and still 'eating to his meter' aiming for low glucose spikes. He wrote this post approximately a decade later in 2015, in which he asks whether diabetes complications are inevitable, and concludes, 'not necessarily', given some recent test results he had received.
loraldiabetes.blogspot.com
It sounds like you and your husband have made a great start!
We frequently recommend Aussie former member AlanS's 'test review adjust' on the forum which is similar to the approach you are taking (https://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html).
That blog post was written in 2006, and as far as I am aware Alan is still in good health and still 'eating to his meter' aiming for low glucose spikes. He wrote this post approximately a decade later in 2015, in which he asks whether diabetes complications are inevitable, and concludes, 'not necessarily', given some recent test results he had received.
Are Diabetes Complications Inevitable? Not necessarily...
Managing blood glucose levels for type 2 diabetes. Learning how to achieve long term control by testing and diet.
loraldiabetes.blogspot.com
Thank you, I have had a look at the post you recommended. I'm making the connection with covid myself because there was a letter to the BMJ from a load of doctors saying they were seeing new cases as a consequence. I know his levels were OK not too long ago as he had a 'well 40' check and blood sugar and HbA1C were fine. He is a bit o'wt (BMI 27) but feels a bit hard done by to run into problems at a few kg overweight. The Covid may just be a coincidence.Best advice for learning what each individual body can tolerate carbohydrate wise is
Test, Review, Adjust
Managing blood glucose levels for type 2 diabetes. Learning how to achieve long term control by testing and diet.
which was actually carried in an issue of the British Medical Journal, despite Alan, the author, being Australian. His nationality isn't the point, it's still the best advice on using fingerprick testing to a T2's best advantage!
Being as nobody knows exactly how the lurgy has affected your husband's body ie by what method has it made him now present as T2? whilst definitely knowing all the damage untreated Type 2 diabetes can and does cause to human bodies which nobody is aware of, usually before it's already too late to prevent it - I'd have to think very long and very hard indeed before saying I'm not going to accept a drug that does not usually cause life threatening side effects. Sometimes, though not always, some side effects. But not life threatening. T2 however can have those side effects. Just my opinion.
I wonder since your husband has had it, whether the nurse has known other such local cases and that's why she prescribed Metformin pdq.
Thank you Mike.Welcome to the forum @JennyR
It sounds like you and your husband have made a great start!
We frequently recommend Aussie former member AlanS's 'test review adjust' on the forum which is similar to the approach you are taking (https://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html).
That blog post was written in 2006, and as far as I am aware Alan is still in good health and still 'eating to his meter' aiming for low glucose spikes. He wrote this post approximately a decade later in 2015, in which he asks whether diabetes complications are inevitable, and concludes, 'not necessarily', given some recent test results he had received.
Are Diabetes Complications Inevitable? Not necessarily...
Managing blood glucose levels for type 2 diabetes. Learning how to achieve long term control by testing and diet.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Type 2 is absolutely not restricted to folk who are overweight! - there are causes such as genetic influence, needing to take steroids for some other medical condition can cause T2 and all sorts of other things, the majority of which the T2 person has absolutely no influence over.
Anyway - cut the carbs by a decent amount and with a following wind, your husband might get rid of a good few pounds of weight.
There are quite a lot of people around and about in anyone's life, who think they know more than the person with diabetes themselves does about their condition. That might actually be true on day 1 - but it's up to each of us to learn what we can about it and then act on what we discover from RELIABLE sources. So far it has been the person's wife, to me - I'd always want and need this to be a joint voyage of discovery!
Anyway - cut the carbs by a decent amount and with a following wind, your husband might get rid of a good few pounds of weight.
There are quite a lot of people around and about in anyone's life, who think they know more than the person with diabetes themselves does about their condition. That might actually be true on day 1 - but it's up to each of us to learn what we can about it and then act on what we discover from RELIABLE sources. So far it has been the person's wife, to me - I'd always want and need this to be a joint voyage of discovery!
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