Hubby has been diagnosed with type 2.

[Linday]

Hi, my name is Lin my hubby was diagnosed with type 2 yesterday.
I have spent most of the day trolling the internet for answers to my lots of questions it's a mine field out there.

We are both disabled, and we don't cook a lot (we have mostly ready meals from the supermarket).
What l thought was that we could have breakfast of overnight oats with fruit, toast nut butter eggs and other low sugar breakfasty things for lunch sandwich/salad etc dinner ready meals. We only drink coffee with sweeteners sugar free drinks etc squash/lemonade/cans soda.
Am l going in the right direction? if not can someone point me in the right direction, please.
Also does anyone know of where l can order low fat/low sugar ready meals. We have tried Oakhouse they are ok but we wanted to try something else
Thanks.......

 

[42istheanswer]

Hi Lin

For Type 2 diabetes it is reducing all carbohydrates that is recommended, not just sugar. Adding some proteins and fats to breakfasts like eggs and nut butter may mean your husband can still have some carbohydrates, but there are some Type 2s on the forum who find their bodies can't really cope with any carbohydrates for breakfast and need to have them later in the day. Maybe at first he could try having toast or porridge (I'm not sure if you meant having both at the same breakfast?)

In terms of ready meals, it can be very hard to find them without too many carbohydrates - maybe look for ones that are designed for you to buy the potato/ rice portions as "sides", or have them in a separate part of the tray so they can be left, and replace them with e.g. Birds Eye steam fresh vegetable packs, cauliflower cheese (cauliflower is very low carbohydrate so depending on the cheese sauce ingredients and amount can be a good option).

Often reducing processed foods is recommended in adapting diet after a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, I understand if you have difficulty with cooking this may be difficult but if you can, say, "steam" frozen fish portions and frozen veg in the microwave for some meals this may help.

 

[Linday]

Hi Lin

For Type 2 diabetes it is reducing all carbohydrates that is recommended, not just sugar. Adding some proteins and fats to breakfasts like eggs and nut butter may mean your husband can still have some carbohydrates, but there are some Type 2s on the forum who find their bodies can't really cope with any carbohydrates for breakfast and need to have them later in the day. Maybe at first he could try having toast or porridge (I'm not sure if you meant having both at the same breakfast?)

In terms of ready meals, it can be very hard to find them without too many carbohydrates - maybe look for ones that are designed for you to buy the potato/ rice portions as "sides", or have them in a separate part of the tray so they can be left, and replace them with e.g. Birds Eye steam fresh vegetable packs, cauliflower cheese (cauliflower is very low carbohydrate so depending on the cheese sauce ingredients and amount can be a good option).

Often reducing processed foods is recommended in adapting diet after a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis, I understand if you have difficulty with cooking this may be difficult but if you can, say, "steam" frozen fish portions and frozen veg in the microwave for some meals this may help.

Thank you for your input. I will take all you have said on board to help me with Hubby's type 2 thank you once again...

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Linday

Sorry to hear about your husband’s diagnosis.

You might find some helpful pointers and general guidance about food in the ‘enjoy food’ booklet (which might help your choices even if you aren’t planning on cooking.

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/resources-s3/2020-02/enjoy-Food-june-2019.pdf

We also had a thread a while back regarding ready meals which you might find interesting. Wiltshire Farm Foods seems to have quite a good reputation.

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/i-really-need-help-with-regard-to-ready-meals.101409/

One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want your husband to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects his Blood Glucose levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. That doesn’t mean he has to avoid those things entirely, but getting the portion size in balance with your husband’s metabolism and individual tolerances (which vary from person to person) is an important part of diabetes management.

If he wants to try a lower carb approach, your husband might want to aim for total carbohydrate intake (not just ‘of which sugars’) of 130g per day or less. With a moderate carb apporach being approx 130-180g of carbs a day.

Hang in there and be kind to yourselves. And keep asking questions too.

 

[Leadinglights]

Wiltshire Farm Foods is another company that does meals that are delivered. They have a good range of foods and do have the nutritional information on their web site. Some meals are high carb but you will probably find quite a few which would be suitable.
Many supermarkets will have some ready meals which are also not too bad, especially the Slimming World or Weight watchers, the ones to be careful of are ones with potato, rice or pasta.
Having cooked meat, cheese or tinned fish which you can have with salad and coleslaw. Boiled eggs, yoghurts are good options. Keeping frozen veg and berries which can be added to other meals.
The Oakhouse foods you mention do seem a bit high carb but if you are selective you may find some of those are OK. They do seem quite pricy.
It would only be if you are trying to have a pretty low carbohydrate regime that some of the meals would be way too much.
But it will depend on what medication he is on and how far into the diabetic range is how much work he needs to do.

 

[Linday]

Welcome to the forum @Linday

Sorry to hear about your husband’s diagnosis.

You might find some helpful pointers and general guidance about food in the ‘enjoy food’ booklet (which might help your choices even if you aren’t planning on cooking.

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/resources-s3/2020-02/enjoy-Food-june-2019.pdf

We also had a thread a while back regarding ready meals which you might find interesting. Wiltshire Farm Foods seems to have quite a good reputation.

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/i-really-need-help-with-regard-to-ready-meals.101409/

One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want your husband to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects his Blood Glucose levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. That doesn’t mean he has to avoid those things entirely, but getting the portion size in balance with your husband’s metabolism and individual tolerances (which vary from person to person) is an important part of diabetes management.

If he wants to try a lower carb approach, your husband might want to aim for total carbohydrate intake (not just ‘of which sugars’) of 130g per day or less. With a moderate carb apporach being approx 130-180g of carbs a day.

Hang in there and be kind to yourselves. And keep asking questions too.

Thank you very much for all the advice you have given me the links will be very handy also....

 

[ianf0ster]

I found that the DietDoctor website was great for quick comparisons of which food categories are lowest (and highest) in (digestible) carbohydrates:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegetables for example.
All fresh (unprocessed) meat and fish has no carbs at all. so can be grilled/fried/baked with low carb sauce/condiments and low carb veg to make a low carb meal.
Most cheeses also contain few carbs. Eggs are probably the most versatile low carb feed (contain approx 0.5 gms of carbs per large egg) and form the basis of many a Type 2 diabetic's breakfast either boiled, fried, scrambled or as an omelette with herbs, mushrooms, cheese, low carb veg etc.

 

[Linday]

I found that the DietDoctor website was great for quick comparisons of which food categories are lowest (and highest) in (digestible) carbohydrates:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vegetables for example.
All fresh (unprocessed) meat and fish has no carbs at all. so can be grilled/fried/baked with low carb sauce/condiments and low carb veg to make a low carb meal.
Most cheeses also contain few carbs. Eggs are probably the most versatile low carb feed (contain approx 0.5 gms of carbs per large egg) and form the basis of many a Type 2 diabetic's breakfast either boiled, fried, scrambled or as an omelette with herbs, mushrooms, cheese, low carb veg etc.

Thank you very much for the link you have put in your answer to my question. I have just been looking through it it is brilliant and so very informative. Even though my husband will not be the keto diet l can still see what food/drink/snacks etc he will be able to have. Thank you once again....