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Hey I was diagnosed yesterday with T2. I'm overwhelmed.
I bought the 8 week blood sugar diet book.
I'm really confused I thought this was to do with carbs and sugar, but some recipes are really high carb.
Also should I have a a blood test meter.
Thanks
Hi there and welcome @Anbemcc to the forum. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. A new diagnosis is pretty overwhelming initially.
There are some great resources in the learning zone and also in the useful info bit of the Newbies forum. The guide to T2 Diabetes: The First year by Gretchen Becker is a great starting point for us T2s and Maggie Davies' letter. I hope someone will link them for you.
You are right, T2 is about an inability to handle too many starches and sugars found in carbohydrates.
It's important not to bring your Blood Glucose (BG) down too fast as you can permanently damage fine blood vessels particularly in your eyes. So make gradual changes to diet rather than all in at once. The changes you make will then be more sustainable. It will also give you the chance to explore diet options that will work for you. We are all very different so you will need to learn what works for your diabetes.
What was your HbA1c given as? This will be a number of 48+ and how did you find out? If your HbA1c is only just over the border, a few nips and tucks may be all that is required. That said, plenty of us are diagnosed at much higher levels (100+) and are achieving good control. The more information you give us, the better we can tailor advice for you.
As you mentioned a diet book, are you in need of losing much weight? Start by keeping a very honest food diary so you can gauge what foods your body is sensitive to. Using that as a guide and adjusting as you go will take a lot of the guesswork out of managing your BG levels day to day.
Welcome
EllsBells has put it very well. Diabetes UK recommend no more than 130gm per day of carbs. I aim for around 90gm a day, but everyone varies. First thing I did was get an app (NutraCheck) which measures thousands of foods for calories and carbs so it cuts out the hard work of checking everything all the time. You just need to make sure you weigh and record everything. Seems daunting at first but I keep digital scales and a clear bowl on my worktop and it just takes a matter of seconds - in fact it's second nature now.
And yes, you should have a blood glucose monitor. You need to measure immediately before and 2 hours after each meal, and keep a record for the diabetes specialist you should be assigned to. I did it religiously at first to find out what spiked my glucose level, and what did not. Now I just use it to check out new foods. I'm sure someone will come along and recommend a suitable monitor and strips.
Lots of friendly helpful people here, happy to answer any questions - we've all asked them in our time!
Hey Ty lovely people for responding. I was told my blood was at 84 I weigh 14.10 but have been loosing slowly. This came out of the blue for me. Im in recovery from cancer ( all clear) and it seems at the time body coped well with the treatment, but it seems it decided let's make her life miserable lol. I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure do know they are linked. I'm under 20 carbs a day normality maybe need to up them. Again thanks all help gratefully accepted. I'm on metaformin day 2.
Hey Ty lovely people for responding. I was told my blood was at 84 I weigh 14.10 but have been loosing slowly. This came out of the blue for me. Im in recovery from cancer ( all clear) and it seems at the time body coped well with the treatment, but it seems it decided let's make her life miserable lol. I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure do know they are linked. I'm under 20 carbs a day normality maybe need to up them. Again thanks all help gratefully accepted. I'm on metaformin day 2.
A good idea is to see what level of carbs you’d normally have eaten before diagnosis and to reduce it by 1/4 for a couple of weeks and then reduce that by 1/4 for a couple of weeks etc. That avoids the risk of the eye issues which can come with drastic reductions too fast.
And yes get a monitor but check the price of test strips as that’s where they make the money long term.
Hey Ty lovely people for responding. I was told my blood was at 84 I weigh 14.10 but have been loosing slowly. This came out of the blue for me. Im in recovery from cancer ( all clear) and it seems at the time body coped well with the treatment, but it seems it decided let's make her life miserable lol. I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure do know they are linked. I'm under 20 carbs a day normality maybe need to up them. Again thanks all help gratefully accepted. I'm on metaformin day 2.
I hope the cancer treatment is going well, the last thing you wanted was an additional worry.
How long have you been only having 20g carbs a day as that is very low so surely would have been reducing your blood glucose levels, so you may have started pre diagnosis much higher than 84.
I would recommend getting a glucose monitor so you can test the effect of foods and meals because if your 20g is causing high levels then increasing it is not going to help. Are you sure you mean total carbohydrate of 20g not just sugar? as it is all carbohydrates which convert to glucose.
So glad to hear that you're in recovery from cancer, must have been quite a journey for you. Diabetes can be very overwhelming at the beginning but hopefully things will become easier over time.
A blood glucose monitor is really handy as you can see the impact that your meals are having on you.
I can't comment on the book but many people manage their blood sugar levels by reducing their sugar and carb intake as those can have a significant impact. We've got some good info on testing and on what to eat that may be helpful:
Knowing your blood sugar levels helps you manage your diabetes and reduces your risk of having serious complications – now and in the future. On this page:
If you, or someone in your family, has type 1, type 2 or another type of diabetes, you'll know that it can sometimes be difficult to know what to eat. Start here for the key information you need to make healthy food choices for a balanced diet.
www.diabetes.org.uk
We've got lots of info on our site so do have a look around and let us know if we can help in anyway.
Like Leadinglights I am wondering if you are measuring your carbs correctly. The packaging will show X Carbs, of which Y are sugars. It's X you need to measure, and it's everything that goes into you. And check you are using the value for the portion size, not the "of which 100gm are". To give you some examples from my last week's meal plan (values from my app): a 150gm Waitrose essential side salad without dressing is 6.3gm. My home made vegetable soup, made with nothing but home made stock and vegetables is 11.8gm per 250ml serving. My dinner of grilled tuna steak, cauliflower rice and lots of mixed veggies, comes to 17.6gm. So if I just had a brunch of soup and salad, plus my tuna tea, it would be 35.7gm of carbs, and super healthy. The sugar count would be 21.6gm.
Sorry to hear you are recovering from cancer and hope it continues to go well. Best wishes
It's in the same ball park as my app as they do seem to vary slightly: 25gm Steamed green beans 1gm, 150gm King prawns are all protein so no carbs, 200gm raw courgette 4.6gm. So 5.6gm in total and I've assumed no dressing. And are you not screamingly hungry ??!!??
lol yes, I am but Im trying to lose weight, so I'm being over cautious. I will have s bigger dinner. I've always eaten low carb and find it really hard to eat grains and bread, but I'm thinking I will need to add good slow release carbs into my diet. I've stopped having my 1 cup of coffee ☕ a day because I take 1 sugar lol it's terrifying me all this x
lol yes, I am but Im trying to lose weight, so I'm being over cautious. I will have s bigger dinner. I've always eaten low carb and find it really hard to eat grains and bread, but I'm thinking I will need to add good slow release carbs into my diet. I've stopped having my 1 cup of coffee ☕ a day because I take 1 sugar lol it's terrifying me all this x
If you don't eat grains and bread you are on to a good start as those are the things people find hardest to give up. I would thing the coffee without sugar will taste OK to you if you gradually reduce the amount you put in or try a sweetener.
I think this is beyond my ability to suggest, and you need to talk to a diabetic specialist in conjunction with your cancer specialist. There may be something in your cancer treatment that is causing diabetic symptoms. You eat so little, of low carb, low fat and low calorie food. I don't know if there is anyone on the Support Team who could help but it may be worth asking. Good luck
I was also wondering why your HbA1C is as high as it is when you eat so little in the way of carbs.
Various sorts of anaemias can cause false HbA1C results and other tests are available to diagnose if this is the case.
I certainly think you should point out to you diabetic specialist that your diet is already very low in carbs.
Yes - I seem to remember reading recently about a member who had a false diabetes diagnosis of what turned out to be a non-diabetic problem with their pancreas. I was ill for 4 months with a mystery infection, during which time I lost 2 stone and my HbA1c shot up through the roof.
If you are in the UK you do NOT work with 'net carbs', just total carbs.
In the USA fibre (clue spelt fiber!) is included in the carbs listing, and is subtracted from the total carbs to give net carbs. In the UK fibre is listed separately, so the total carbs figure is already 'net carbs'. Be very careful if you are using US based websites/recipes/apps.
There are some great resources in the learning zone and also in the useful info bit of the Newbies forum. The guide to T2 Diabetes: The First year by Gretchen Becker is a great starting point for us T2s and Maggie Davies' letter. I hope someone will link them for you.
