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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
Hullo All
- Thread starter LordVauge
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rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hi and welcome.
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself and your diabetes diagnosis....
Things like how long you have been diagnosed..... and how that came about?
What if any medication you have been put on to manage your diabetes?
Your HbA1c reading if you know it? This is the blood test used to diagnosed and track/monitor your diabetes management.
Anything else which might be appropriate or of interest or causing you concern. Please ask whatever questions you need answers for. We all know that it is pretty overwhelming at first and a lot of what the nurse told me in my first few appointments just went over my head until the kind people here filled in the gaps for me, so that I had a better understanding.
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself and your diabetes diagnosis....
Things like how long you have been diagnosed..... and how that came about?
What if any medication you have been put on to manage your diabetes?
Your HbA1c reading if you know it? This is the blood test used to diagnosed and track/monitor your diabetes management.
Anything else which might be appropriate or of interest or causing you concern. Please ask whatever questions you need answers for. We all know that it is pretty overwhelming at first and a lot of what the nurse told me in my first few appointments just went over my head until the kind people here filled in the gaps for me, so that I had a better understanding.
I was informed two weeks ago and had a less than helpfull meet with my practice nurse last friday
HbA1c 85
114 kg
1.8mt
While I have six monthly blood tests for the last five years
the Practice had not previously tested and when they decided to
this was the result.
Prescibed Metformin 500 x 2 no self testing suggested, three
months till my next blood test.
Told I should eat and drink moderatly?
I have reduced my carb intake but have no real idea how to make a
"Carb limit plan" for each day . How much carb?
I like beer and just bought some 3 carb 250ml Skinny
I love oily fish, eggs and slow cooked stews have problems with salads
no teeth
I have been sedentary since my legs and feet became swollen in 2019
shoe size increased from 10-12 and last year began to feel vertigo
particularly in the shower but this has become more pronounced when
getting up also have very little energy COPD
Its a lot to understand and Im just at the begining so happy to be here
HbA1c 85
114 kg
1.8mt
While I have six monthly blood tests for the last five years
the Practice had not previously tested and when they decided to
this was the result.
Prescibed Metformin 500 x 2 no self testing suggested, three
months till my next blood test.
Told I should eat and drink moderatly?
I have reduced my carb intake but have no real idea how to make a
"Carb limit plan" for each day . How much carb?
I like beer and just bought some 3 carb 250ml Skinny
I love oily fish, eggs and slow cooked stews have problems with salads
no teeth
I have been sedentary since my legs and feet became swollen in 2019
shoe size increased from 10-12 and last year began to feel vertigo
particularly in the shower but this has become more pronounced when
getting up also have very little energy COPD
Its a lot to understand and Im just at the begining so happy to be here
Lily123
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I think you should get yourself a blood glucose meter so you can see the effect certain foods have on your BG. The two that are most recommended on the forum are Gluco Navii and SpritTee2. @rebrascora are those the right names?
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
@Lily123 Hi, yes, the Gluco Navii and the Spirit Healthcare Tee2 are the 2 meters most used by members of the forum who self fund because they are reliable and pretty much the most economical on the market to use because of the test strip price which is the key issue to consider when self funding.
@LordVauge Using a meter is something which most of us find invaluable to see how particular foods impact our Blood Glucose (BG) levels and helps us to make informed decisions about portion size or which foods are just not worth the aggravation and BG upheaval. It enables us to see what our body can tolerate carbs wise and what they can't and being able to actually "see" the impact each meal has on our levels makes the diabetes more visible in general, especially if we are not experiencing any particular symptoms..... It can be all too easy to bury your head in the sand and ignore it because it may not really be causing us any obvious problem, but slowly and insidiously in the back ground, those high BG levels can be causing irreversible damage to eyes and feet and by the time we start to have problems in those areas it can be a question of preventing further damage rather than reversing it. Taking control in the early stages of diagnosis is really helpful in preventing such damage and the BG meter when used with a structured testing strategy of just before and 2 hours after each meal will show you which foods are causing you problems. Keeping a food diary or everything you eat and drink along with an idea of the carb portions, like 3 pieces of potato or 2 serving spoons of rice of 1 slice of bread or 1 small Yorkshire pudding etc along with the before and after readings will help you to trim things down if you need to when you next have to same meal and gradually you will develop a range of meals, the portions of which, your body can comfortably cope with. ...... You are looking for an increase of no more than 2-3 mmols from starting the meal to 2 hours later.... So if your premeal reading is 8.7, you are looking for your 2hr post meal reading to be no more than 11.7 If it is higher, you are too many carbs, so maybe reduce by 1 potato piece or 1 Yorkshire pud or 1 slice or bread etc and bulk the meal out with other low carb elements like eggs or meat or fish and leafy green veg etc or cauliflower mash instead of potato or celeriac chips instead of ordinary ones. There are lots of alternatives and suggestions so do ask once you get to that stage, but getting a BG meter and learning how to use it will put the power in your hands.
If you decide to follow that advice, remember to tick the box which confirms that you are diabetic as this will remove the VAT from the price. You would be well advised to purchase at least 2 extra pots of test strips (50 per pot) withe the kit as most kit's just come with 10 strips and you will go through them in the first couple of days. I believe the Gluco Navii is currently slightly cheaper thatn the Tee2 for test strips at £14 for 2 pots of 50 (ie 100) and the test meter kit is about £15 so shouldn't break the bank but could turn out to be the most useful present anyone ever bought you if you have family members looking for suggestions this festive season.
@LordVauge Using a meter is something which most of us find invaluable to see how particular foods impact our Blood Glucose (BG) levels and helps us to make informed decisions about portion size or which foods are just not worth the aggravation and BG upheaval. It enables us to see what our body can tolerate carbs wise and what they can't and being able to actually "see" the impact each meal has on our levels makes the diabetes more visible in general, especially if we are not experiencing any particular symptoms..... It can be all too easy to bury your head in the sand and ignore it because it may not really be causing us any obvious problem, but slowly and insidiously in the back ground, those high BG levels can be causing irreversible damage to eyes and feet and by the time we start to have problems in those areas it can be a question of preventing further damage rather than reversing it. Taking control in the early stages of diagnosis is really helpful in preventing such damage and the BG meter when used with a structured testing strategy of just before and 2 hours after each meal will show you which foods are causing you problems. Keeping a food diary or everything you eat and drink along with an idea of the carb portions, like 3 pieces of potato or 2 serving spoons of rice of 1 slice of bread or 1 small Yorkshire pudding etc along with the before and after readings will help you to trim things down if you need to when you next have to same meal and gradually you will develop a range of meals, the portions of which, your body can comfortably cope with. ...... You are looking for an increase of no more than 2-3 mmols from starting the meal to 2 hours later.... So if your premeal reading is 8.7, you are looking for your 2hr post meal reading to be no more than 11.7 If it is higher, you are too many carbs, so maybe reduce by 1 potato piece or 1 Yorkshire pud or 1 slice or bread etc and bulk the meal out with other low carb elements like eggs or meat or fish and leafy green veg etc or cauliflower mash instead of potato or celeriac chips instead of ordinary ones. There are lots of alternatives and suggestions so do ask once you get to that stage, but getting a BG meter and learning how to use it will put the power in your hands.
If you decide to follow that advice, remember to tick the box which confirms that you are diabetic as this will remove the VAT from the price. You would be well advised to purchase at least 2 extra pots of test strips (50 per pot) withe the kit as most kit's just come with 10 strips and you will go through them in the first couple of days. I believe the Gluco Navii is currently slightly cheaper thatn the Tee2 for test strips at £14 for 2 pots of 50 (ie 100) and the test meter kit is about £15 so shouldn't break the bank but could turn out to be the most useful present anyone ever bought you if you have family members looking for suggestions this festive season.
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
In a bit of a rush at the moment but I think the above is a link to the basic meter kit... I am sure extra test strips will also be available from Amazon or you could purchase the whole lot direct from the manufacturer
Felinia
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi and welcome
Lots of helpful information here. I keep my food diary on an app. There are free ones available, but I use NutraCheck at £7.99 a month. I fill in my meal plan at the start of the day, so know just how many carbs I plan to have. Everyone is different, so I experimented between 50gm and 130gm a day, settling on 90gm.
You mentioned eating difficulties. My friend has the same problem, so has a lot of home made soup, as do I (pictures below). I just chuck the vegetables in a pot with stock, simmer, tart it up a bit with seasonings or spices, light coconut or skimmed milk, then par blitz the lot. Plenty of ideas on the Food/Recipes Forum if soup's not your thing. Shop bought soups, even the fresh ones, have lots of thickeners/additives like potatoes, so I find are best avoided.
Lots of helpful information here. I keep my food diary on an app. There are free ones available, but I use NutraCheck at £7.99 a month. I fill in my meal plan at the start of the day, so know just how many carbs I plan to have. Everyone is different, so I experimented between 50gm and 130gm a day, settling on 90gm.
You mentioned eating difficulties. My friend has the same problem, so has a lot of home made soup, as do I (pictures below). I just chuck the vegetables in a pot with stock, simmer, tart it up a bit with seasonings or spices, light coconut or skimmed milk, then par blitz the lot. Plenty of ideas on the Food/Recipes Forum if soup's not your thing. Shop bought soups, even the fresh ones, have lots of thickeners/additives like potatoes, so I find are best avoided.
I do a fair amount of slow cooked soups and ditto shoulder of lamb in tinfoil slowly in the oven so no problems there
I dont have a sweet tooth either so that helps
the closest to fast food I have is Kimchi noodles with some pork sausage and spinach with some shoyu and chilli in olive oil I will be interested to see how that is as It means I can have a couple of bowls over an hour and its something i like
Sausige the first noodles second as I said two bowls still got enough for first meal tomorrow any comments welcome as this also really hits the spot for me especially if Im not feeling like long preparation times
I dont have a sweet tooth either so that helps
the closest to fast food I have is Kimchi noodles with some pork sausage and spinach with some shoyu and chilli in olive oil I will be interested to see how that is as It means I can have a couple of bowls over an hour and its something i like
Sausige the first noodles second as I said two bowls still got enough for first meal tomorrow any comments welcome as this also really hits the spot for me especially if Im not feeling like long preparation times
Net Contents
160g ℮Nutrition
| Typical Values | Per 100g | Per 53g serving |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 1002kJ/241kcal | 531kJ/128kcal |
| Fat | 18g | 9.4g |
| Of which Saturates | 7.4g | 3.9g |
| Carbohydrate | 4.2g | 2.2g |
| Of which Sugars | 1.6g | 0.85g |
| Protein | 16g | 8.5g |
| Salt | 2.0g | 1.1g |
| This pack contains 3 servings | - | - |
Net Contents
90gNutrition
| Typical Values | per 100 g prepared product |
|---|---|
| Energy | 316 kJ / 75 kcal |
| Fat | 2,8 g |
| Of which saturates | 1,5 g |
| Carbohydrate | 11,0 g |
| Of which sugars | 0,7 g |
| Protein | 1,5 g |
| Salt | 1,1 g |
gll
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
This is where the testing comes into play, what would be ok for me might sent you soaring and visa versa.
Eat, test, see.
Some things I have been pleasantly surprised at although there were ugly cry tears when I had to break up with my beloved pasta
We are all different.
I'm assuming your meter wont arrive today so not much you can do but have it and test next time you make it. Don't get overly worried about it.
Your HBa1c didn't get to where it is in one meal 🙂 (I'm not saying eat anything anytime but first few weeks are rough and allow yourself some room to breathe and figure it out).
Eat, test, see.
Some things I have been pleasantly surprised at although there were ugly cry tears when I had to break up with my beloved pasta
We are all different.
I'm assuming your meter wont arrive today so not much you can do but have it and test next time you make it. Don't get overly worried about it.
Your HBa1c didn't get to where it is in one meal 🙂 (I'm not saying eat anything anytime but first few weeks are rough and allow yourself some room to breathe and figure it out).
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You could reconnect with your pasta if you try edamame or black bean pasta as it is only about 15g carb per 100g and I find a 25g dry wt perfectly adequate. EXPLORE brand but sometime ALDI have it.This is where the testing comes into play, what would be ok for me might sent you soaring and visa versa.
Eat, test, see.
Some things I have been pleasantly surprised at although there were ugly cry tears when I had to break up with my beloved pasta
We are all different.
I'm assuming your meter wont arrive today so not much you can do but have it and test next time you make it. Don't get overly worried about it.
Your HBa1c didn't get to where it is in one meal 🙂 (I'm not saying eat anything anytime but first few weeks are rough and allow yourself some room to breathe and figure it out).
I found the black bean.pasta today and am going to give it a go during xmas week. The picture doesn't look very appetizing but will give it a go..
Meter arrives 20-22nd Dec so all I can do is best guesse till thenThis is where the testing comes into play, what would be ok for me might sent you soaring and visa versa.
Eat, test, see.
Some things I have been pleasantly surprised at although there were ugly cry tears when I had to break up with my beloved pasta
We are all different.
I'm assuming your meter wont arrive today so not much you can do but have it and test next time you make it. Don't get overly worried about it.
Your HBa1c didn't get to where it is in one meal 🙂 (I'm not saying eat anything anytime but first few weeks are rough and allow yourself some room to breathe and figure it out).
I was really just looking at
A) What I already like and
B) has very low carbs in this example the "soup"
plus extras for 2 meals has 18 grms carbs plus .5 for spinich
lets say 20 and I am already happy with
yesterday I had two slices of bacon and 3 eggs 0 carbs?
and two soup @14 grms
2 skinny beers @ 5-6 grms carbs
If that resulted in a high reading
I would feel pretty stuffed
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Firstly you have to understand that BG levels are affected by much more than just food..... There are something like 42 factors which can push it up or down or more frustratingly, in both directions. Food and exercise and medication are the 3 main players, but it's certainly not a mathematical absolute. Biological systems are "messy" and you have to look for trends rather than solid reproduceable results.I may be havnt yet grasped that carb counting is not "mechanically " connected to BG
As regards foods, the speed of your digestion, the ability and speed of your pancreas to respond to it and produce/release insulin, the composition of your gut biome in breaking it down which can be highly individual.... this has a particular impact with higher fibre foods like pulses (beans, peas and lentils) as some of us seem to be able to extract much more glucose from them than their carb content would suggest.... Anyway, it is all very complicated, which is why testing to see how your particular body responds is so massively helpful and generally this will be reasonable reproduceable for you, so you will get a sense of which foods cause you too much BG upheaval to be worth bothering with and which and in what portion size are OK, but don't ever base a decision on any one individual test. Always do at least 2 or 3 before discarding a food from your menu.
Alan S
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
G'day from an old type 2 with no complications after 20 years on the far side of the world. I am so sad to see how limited your advice has been, especially "no self-testing". You will understand why I feel that way after you read this and the pages it links to: Getting Started
Incidentally oily fish, eggs and slow cooked stews are marvellous foods but be careful of the carbohydrate content of your stews. I like an occasional beer too but you need to look for low carb beers. Your UK locals should be able to offer advice on those.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
G'day to you too, Alan! Long time no communicate. Hope all's well down under.
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