Income and diabetes control

[Maca44]

I was just thinking how much harder it must be for people to control T2 on a low income.

Since November 2020 I drastically changed my diet to get to grips with my BG after a 125 lab result and feeling rather ill so with the help of this forum and lots of research I have been able to eat really well and get control. My reason for posting this is that to be able to eat my own Keto bread ( Did I tell you I bake my own bread 🙂) , fresh veg and good lean meat/Raw nuts etc the cost for me does add up to a fair amount as I buy most of my raw nuts bread making ingrediencies online as the supermarkets just don't sell what I need and as I buy in bulk it isn't economical to buy locally. I am lucky to be able to buy what I need without much thought but if your on a tight budget, which I have been in the past, I'm not so sure I would be so content with what I eat as I simply would not be able to afford to eat as I do.

It must be harder to control BG on a low income.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I don't find it costs much.
Probably cheaper to be honest.
I plan my meals around whatever is on offer, the yellow ticket shelf, lots of fresh veg, like you bake bread sometimes, but quite often just buy off the reduced shelf
My freezer is usually full as I do get carried away.
I usually cook from scratch now.
I eat less than I used to, so gain that way.
I do have the luxury of spare time.
If I worked full time with a family, that would be more difficult.

 

[Gwynn]

I agree the cost of good healthy food is much higher than the carby, sugary, bad for you foods.

My own food bill has gone up quite a bit, but then my health has improved by more than just quite a bit.

On a lower income I could not do it. I wonder how others manage if their income is tight.

I think that expanding this thinking into real practical answers might be helpful to many people.....

 

[Maca44]

One cost saver for me is that I buy all my Berry's frozen at Iceland who often have a deal if you buy 2 etc, I put what I need in a dish am cover in clingfilm then I have it as my pud with Full fat yog PM, much cheaper than buying fresh off the shelf and full of stuff to keep it fresh if coming from overseas.

 

[Leadinglights]

I think is much more difficult if you are also trying to feed a family when on a low income.
It brought it home to me when I read what somebody said 'that after getting food for her family of 4 children, 2 of whom were fussy eaters she had no money left to buy the food she needed for herself'.
People relying on food from food banks must be struggling as although they do their best to provide fresh veg most of it is high carb starchy food.
People are often not in the right frame of mind to be thinking up economical ways of using fresh foods.

 

[Totalwar]

I think they should make healthy food tax free or lease at a discount.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I think they should make healthy food tax free or lease at a discount.

I wouldn't object.
Obviously, low fat, and low sugar food would be my definition.
I suspect there may be a difference of opinion by others.

 

[Kaylz]

Not just Type 2's, some Type 1's have made a change as well but we've also got added extra's of things to have in to see us through the night if we're too low to go to sleep "safely", the hypo treatments that can mount up a fair bill and yes on a low income it is very difficult then there are other things people mat suffer from that adds more cost such as my OCD costing around £6 a week just to keep my hands washed xx

 

[Maca44]

Not just Type 2's, some Type 1's have made a change as well but we've also got added extra's of things to have in to see us through the night if we're too low to go to sleep "safely", the hypo treatments that can mount up a fair bill and yes on a low income it is very difficult then there are other things people mat suffer from that adds more cost such as my OCD costing around £6 a week just to keep my hands washed xx

Yes I should have added T1's as well all the added things you need to correct your levels as for OCD I have a close friend who suffers and it is an awful condition it has taken over her life.

 

[Sally71]

Yes I should have added T1's as well all the added things you need to correct your levels as for OCD I have a close friend who suffers and it is an awful condition it has taken over her life.

My daughter gets through a 500ml bottle of soap every 2 days at the moment, wouldn’t dream of using bars of soap because they are “dirty”. We’ve been waiting for therapy for her for 7 months now, apparently we are at the top of the list and should be hearing imminently but they keep saying that and still nothing happens. Yes it’s all-pervading, takes over absolutely everything else and is exhausting for us as well as her. If anyone ever says to me again “oh I’m a bit OCD, I’ve arranged all my books and CDs alphabetically” I will find it very hard not to shout at them, that is absolutely NOT what OCD is!!

Sorry, seem to have gone off topic a bit there

 

[Kaylz]

wouldn’t dream of using bars of soap because they are “dirty”

This is why my hands are so bad because I have to rinse it many times so it's "clean" xx

 

[Drummer]

For me eating 'healthy' high carb foods is how I put on so much weight and became rather ill in the months before diagnosis.
The 'healthy' chicken fillets or low fat cuts of meat are far more expensive - now I buy the chicken thighs with bone and skin, fattier mince, non trimmed joints and the price is far lower, the amounts in the packs are higher too.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

For me eating 'healthy' high carb foods is how I put on so much weight and became rather ill in the months before diagnosis.
The 'healthy' chicken fillets or low fat cuts of meat are far more expensive - now I buy the chicken thighs with bone and skin, fattier mince, non trimmed joints and the price is far lower, the amounts in the packs are higher too.

I always cook chicken thighs, they have a far better taste and texture, especially in curries. I do drain the fat later though.
Any meat I buy cubed I trim the fat off, but I cook most things in the slow cooker, so anything cut comes out tasty.

 

[pm133]

I was just thinking how much harder it must be for people to control T2 on a low income.

Since November 2020 I drastically changed my diet to get to grips with my BG after a 125 lab result and feeling rather ill so with the help of this forum and lots of research I have been able to eat really well and get control. My reason for posting this is that to be able to eat my own Keto bread ( Did I tell you I bake my own bread 🙂) , fresh veg and good lean meat/Raw nuts etc the cost for me does add up to a fair amount as I buy most of my raw nuts bread making ingrediencies online as the supermarkets just don't sell what I need and as I buy in bulk it isn't economical to buy locally. I am lucky to be able to buy what I need without much thought but if your on a tight budget, which I have been in the past, I'm not so sure I would be so content with what I eat as I simply would not be able to afford to eat as I do.

It must be harder to control BG on a low income.

Honestly I think it's a lot harder when you have more money.
The temptation to buy whatever you want and know you can do it without thinking about it must be a strong de-motivator.

I'm pretty sure we didn't have these levels of type 2 when we were all poor 100 years ago.

 

[Drummer]

After cooking the chicken I put in mushrooms or stir fry and so I have zero added fat in my diet other than for baking. I toss butter as it has gone off with half the packet left. I don't do it deliberately, it is just how things work out - and the juice drained off does contain a fair bit of the fat, if I think about it. I don't like sauces or things swimming in gravy.

 

[Sally71]

Depends where you are on the bell shaped curve

It’s only classed as OCD if it has a big negative impact on your daily life and stops you from doing other things. Like coming home from school, going to the loo and then taking an hour and a half to wash your hands. Or taking four hours to get ready for bed every night because you can’t sleep until you’ve washed enough times, even when you are in tears and can barely stand up because you are so tired. Or refusing to allow anyone to examine you properly when you might have a broken toe, because you are convinced that all your friends will die if you allow anyone to look at or touch your “dirty” foot, and even though you know that sounds completely stupid and can’t explain how anyone looking at your foot would cause your friends to die, you are still utterly convinced that it will happen. It’s refusing to take any hypo treatments when you have a blood sugar of 3.1 because it fell on the floor and you think it’s dirty (even though it’s wrapped and will be perfectly fine inside). My daughter has done all of these things recently and the standard of her schoolwork is slipping because her head is so full of rubbish, but she doesn’t know how to make it go away. Just rearranging your bookshelf in a particular way is absolutely not OCD, that’s just being a bit fussy.

 

[Maca44]

Yes using the word OCD is often used lightly and I am sometimes guilty of that, fussy is a much better word for people like me, I like things in a neat certain way or I just don't feel right totally different from the real condition. I truly hope your daughter can get the help she needs it must be horrible to see and hard for yourself.

 

[Sally71]

I probably said similar things until I came face to face with it! It’s like anything isn’t it, OCD, diabetes, cancer, heart disease etc etc etc, we all think that we know something about these things, but until you’ve actually had to deal with it first hand, you don’t know very much at all!

 

[Sally71]

I don’t dispute that there are varying degrees.
I’m talking about people who claim to be “a bit OCD” just because they like one aspect of their life to be in a particular order, but otherwise live a perfectly normal life. They put a book away, it goes in a particular place, they get on with the next thing without further thought. That isn’t OCD. Plenty of people like to be tidy and ordered but aren’t obsessive about it. It’s only OCD when it starts to become a problem. And yes, problems can be managed with the right help.

What is OCD?

Learn what obsessive-compulsive disorder is, and what it's like to live with. Our information also explores related conditions, plus stigma around OCD.

www.mind.org.uk