Husband newly diagnosed - Type 2

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Lisa Birch

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi all, my hubbie has just been diagnosed Type 2. I've had a good read of many web sites today that give info on what foods to have & not to have. It seems low sugar, low salt, low fat etc as is usual with a healthy diet, which we have anyway. However hubbie does like butter which I know he can't have from now on, can anyone suggest an alternative?

Ta!
 
Why can't he have butter? Of course he can, if he likes it.
It is a great fallacy that the only healthy diet is 'low fat, low salt, low sugar'. Yes, you need to watch your (his) sugar. But you need to watch the carbs he is eating more than anything else. Have a look in the recipes section on here to find loads of low carb recipes. Search on LCHF diets (on here) to find loads of success stories. The best 'diet' as in what you eat as opposed to how to lose weight is the one that you (he) can stick to.
Oh, and, welcome! Loads of T2s on here will be along shortly to give advice etc.
 
Thanks for your help. However the Nurse he saw today at our Doctor's surgery said he couldn't have butter any more. We eat healthly anyway as I needed to lose weight & all our meals (well 99% of them) are freshly cooked. Any other tips gratefully received!
 
Hi Lisa, sorry to hear about Hubby, but welcome to the group.

I'm sorry to say that the nutritionists are giving some, well lets say, inappropriate advice; I have been reading (on these boards) a lot if quite strange recommendations from the medical community.

First, Cut the carbs (sugar is just 1 form).... Beads, pasta, rice, starchy vegetables & fruit; not to say he can't have them but reduce the portions or have them as a treat. Fat is no issue (despite what they have been telling us for 40 years, Carbs are the real problem)
Second, Obtain a test meter, without this essential piece of equipment he will not be able to determine how foods affect his BG
Third, Don't be overwhelmed, there is a lot to learn (1 year in & still learning), ask questions & you will get answers

Since LCHF has been mentioned (Low Carb High Fat), there is growing support for this way of eating, http://www.ruled.me/ has a lot of information & background (even if you don't go ultra LCHF) as to where to sensibly direct your diet. Personally it works for me, lost 50lb since DX & the last 20 was going strict LCHF. Cholesterol near normal at my last blood test (was through the roof a year before) & I FEEL GREAT!!!
 
Lisa Birch said:
Thanks for your help. However the Nurse he saw today at our Doctor's surgery said he couldn't have butter any more. We eat healthly anyway as I needed to lose weight & all our meals (well 99% of them) are freshly cooked. Any other tips gratefully received!
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Hi and welcome.

The thing about Type 2 is it's often thought of as a sugar intolerance. It's not. It's a carbohydrate intolerance (of which sugar is only one). All carbohydrates are metabolised into glucose when they get digested (some faster than others, but all nonetheless). It's this glucose that causes the problems for a Type 2 as they don't produce enough insulin or are resistant to the insulin that is produced so it hangs around in the blood stream and can eventually go on to cause complications.

The most important thing to do is to get hold of a glucose meter as that will allow your husband to find out which foods cause his glucose levels to rise the most and therefore which to cut down on - most likely bread, pasta, potatoes and rice. I'm sure @Northerner will be along soon with some links with more information.

It's daunting, but we've all been through it, and once you get your head around it it gets easier.

PS - Ignore your nurse, they clearly don't know what they're talking about with regards to a diabetic diet (sadly all too common an occurrence based on other posts here). The glucose meter will quickly prove that
 
'Moderation in all things - except laughter' is the thing !!

Nobody is ever suggesting that having your food swimming in grease is a good idea LOL but neither are we telling you to eat 'bread and scrape' - but by all means swap the bread for something lower carb - I personally adore Ryvita and although I'd rather spread my (salted! LOL) butter on the side with the dents in it for obvious reasons, if we spread it on the 'flat' side instead and be reasonable with it - then that classes as 'moderate'.

Many many 'low fat' things - and low fat yoghurts are notorious for this so be warned! - actually have hidden added sugars to compensate from their lack of taste from removing the fat. It's the deepest pothole you've ever seen for the unsuspecting to find themselves at the bottom of.

Yes - we do all know that LCHF diets have been called 'dangerous' in the press very very recently. Look through the threads on this and other UK diabetes forums and note how many T2 diabetics who are positively blooming on it - and wonder why - after following NHS advice so many other T2s land up morbidly obese, having their kidneys fail, lose their eyesight or need limbs amputated .......

The NHS will tell you it's because they DIDN'T follow 'proper' advice - and that these things all happen anyway to T2s. They don't though, same as they don't happen to all T1s - because we are told to eat them - but watch the carbs and make sure we don't gain weight, amongst other reasons.

If I ate what current NHS advice says I should eat - I'd be dead frankly. I eat normally - the same diet I had in 1972 pre diagnosis - no more than 110g carb a day, (though these days with better insulins and diabetes management it's usually nearer 80g) and the current advice is 250g! Oh - and as far as I'm concerned, I'm about a stone overweight and if I actually want to lose that, I will have to cut down on them.
 
Cowboy Bob said:
...for a Type 2 as they don't produce enough insulin or are resistant to the insulin that is produced...
Click to expand...
It was my understanding that T2 is insulin resistance. On both DESMOND and this local T2 course I'm doing they tell you Type 2 is insulin resistance (rusty locks). We may also not produce enough insulin as well.
 
Ralph-YK said:
It was my understanding that T2 is insulin resistance. On both DESMOND and this local T2 course I'm doing they tell you Type 2 is insulin resistance (rusty locks). We may also not produce enough insulin as well.
Click to expand...

It's my understanding it can be one or the other or both. The main difference between the main types as I understand it is that T1 is auto-immune and T2 isn't. Apart from that, it's a spectrum of causes and effects that varies between different people.
 
Ok. {*starts page five of questions for DDSN "I didn't understanding..."*}
 
I could. There's all sorts that's taken me over a year to find out.
 
Think Bob is right - T2 isn't 'simple' (LOL) - it's a collection of things and not everybody has all of them. But they still have the same net effect - your body can't cope with carbs like it's supposed to. That's why different drugs have different effects for different people and their reactions to much the same food, much the same exercise etc, is so varied.
 
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