Husband recently diagnosed type 2 - how bet do I support him

[CaroDougFerg]

My other half has recently been diagnosed with Type2, he's feeling anxious and overwhelmed, and I'm wondering how best to support him make the changes to his diet and lifestyle. Where do we start? Diet? exercise? Trying to quit smoking? Reduce alcohol intake? He's the sort of person that will likely try to do everything at once, but I'm not sure how sustainable that would be.

 

[Drummer]

I have found that diet is the key to controlling blood glucose, I eat a low carbohydrate diet and that is all I need to do to get normal numbers.
A blood glucose tester was most useful in finding out what I ought to eat. I aimed to be below 8mmol/l at the 2 hour point after meals, and when I got there I kept eating the same things and my numbers continued to go down as my metabolism, presumably, recovered.
I eat swede or cauliflower rather than potato, make cheese waffles from time to time rather than have bread. By avoiding carbohydrate, starch as well as sugar it seems the easy option, in my opinion.

 

[CaroDougFerg]

Thank you for your feedback, I've been trying to reduce carb intake myself and have already got a blood glucose tester, so that makes perfect sense, just need to see if he wants to try the same approach as me, he's terrible for not eating regularly, so this will be a challenge, but I've got to try

 

[Kopiert]

Anxious and overwhelmed is probably an accurate description of what many of us felt when diagnosed. One thing that helped me was to think about controlling my T2 by changing my lifestyle. When I thought about diets or excercise it all began to feel quite overwhelming. By thinking about how do I change my lifestyle it just becomes more manageable. Changing what you eat and doing a little more excercise becomes something that supports you make that change - and not an end in itself.

My advice would be small steps often and as @Drummer says lowering carbohydrate is a really good start. Using a meter to understand what foods are having most and least impact is a great idea too. In terms of excercise, just start to walk a little more - you don't need to get a gym membership or train for a marathon.....unless you want to 🙂

Good luck

 

[Lucyr]

he's terrible for not eating regularly, so this will be a challenge,

He doesn’t need to take up regular eating if that’s not his preference. Many people use intermittent fasting to help control weight and blood sugars. It’s more about what he eats and drinks when he does.

 

[Admiral Benbow]

Te

My other half has recently been diagnosed with Type2, he's feeling anxious and overwhelmed, and I'm wondering how best to support him make the changes to his diet and lifestyle. Where do we start? Diet? exercise? Trying to quit smoking? Reduce alcohol intake? He's the sort of person that will likely try to do everything at once, but I'm not sure how sustainable that would be.

If he is overwhelmed, tell him to just take a breath and realize it's fully possible to get his blood sugars down within a few months. The bigger issue is figuring out a long-term sustainable diet that he can maintain longterm that is both satiable and enjoyable. Perhaps have him check out this channel, and watch a few testimonies of people who have reversed high blood sugar levels like this guy:

I watched this a couple of times as motivation to help deal with my own blood sugar issues.

 

[CaroDougFerg]

Te

If he is overwhelmed, tell him to just take a breath and realize it's fully possible to get his blood sugars down within a few months. The bigger issue is figuring out a long-term sustainable diet that he can maintain longterm that is both satiable and enjoyable. Perhaps have him check out this channel, and watch a few testimonies of people who have reversed high blood sugar levels like this guy:

I watched this a couple of times as motivation to help deal with my own blood sugar issues.

That's a great idea, he's an avid fan of Youtube, so I reckon i could encourage him to check this out, appreciate your time in replying, thank you

 

[DaveB]

Hi. He will be helped by reducing his daily carb intake. Exercise also helps but the right diet is key. Smoking shouldn't make any difference. Beer contains carb so can increase BS but wine and spirits are not too bad for carbs.

 

[bulkbiker]

If he likes videos maybe this one will help

I credit Dr Fung for turning me onto low carb and fasting to put T2 into remission.

 

[Leadinglights]

My other half got on board when I was diagnosed and decided on a low carb approach so we both have the same meals though he does have a few extras, so that really helped.
I followed the principals in this link
https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/ as it made perfect sense.
Also I was given a copy of Dr Jason Fungs book the Diabetes Code which I also found made a lot of sense and had some very good analogies.