Welcome to the forum
@Pinkymoo182
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, and that lockdown hasn’t helped your efforts to manage your BG levels.
What other things are complicating your medical history? Are you already living with one or more conditions?
When it comes to diabetes and BG management, one of the most direct things you can do to help your metabolism is to keep a close eye on your carbohydrate intake. While there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will be wanting to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits.
The really tricky thing is that blood glucose responses to various foods are highly individual, and it can be impossible to say which types and amounts of carbohydrate will ‘spike’ your BG without checking for yourself.
You can use a BG meter, taking a reading before and again 2hrs after eating, to see what the differences are, to identify any carbs that seem to be spiking BG (initially in a way the numbers themselves matter less than the differences between them). Once you can see how you respond to different meals you can begin experimenting with reducing amounts of carbs and trying different types to see which suit you best.
If you are interested in this approach you may find
test-review-adjust by Alan S a helpful framework.
If you need to self fund your BG meter, the most affordable meters members here have found are the
SD Gluco Navii or the
Spirit Tee2 which both have test strips at around £8 for 50
When it comes to managing your diabetes, it’s best to make these changes gradually - partly because they need to be sustainable long term, but also because very rapid and sudden changes to blood glucose levels are harder on the fine blood vessels, and changing things more gently will give your body time to adapt.
Do keep asking questions too - lots of folks here are ready to help with their own tips, tricks, swaps and suggestions. There are no such things as ‘too obvious’ or ‘silly’ questions on the forum either
🙂
For a bit more background information on diabetes and its management, the ‘useful links’ thread is a mine of helpful information -
useful-links-for-people-new-to-diabetes
As starting points, members here frequently recommend
Maggie Davey’s Letter and
Gretchen Becker’s book
Good luck, and let us know how you get on
🙂
