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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.
Just to say Hi
- Thread starter Debz5564
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Windy
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi @Debz5564 welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, I hope that you're coping ok.
I can recommend getting a copy of Roy Taylor's book about reversing your diabetes. He's done two books, one's Life without diabetes and the other one is Your simple guide to reversing type 2 diabetes. I bought a copy and found it helpful. There's information on his university's website and you can search for videos on youtube where he and his colleague Dr Mike Lean talk about it.
Would you mind me asking what your blood test result was for diabetes (HbA1c)? It gives us an idea of how far past the figure of 48 mmol/mol you are (this is the figure for diagnosis of T2). I was 82 at my worst, and have got it down to 42, which makes me "pre diabetic". I followed a low calorie diet for 3 months and am on 1500 calories a day now. Still lots of weight to lose though!
Have you got any particular questions you want answering?
Kind regards, Sarah
I can recommend getting a copy of Roy Taylor's book about reversing your diabetes. He's done two books, one's Life without diabetes and the other one is Your simple guide to reversing type 2 diabetes. I bought a copy and found it helpful. There's information on his university's website and you can search for videos on youtube where he and his colleague Dr Mike Lean talk about it.
Would you mind me asking what your blood test result was for diabetes (HbA1c)? It gives us an idea of how far past the figure of 48 mmol/mol you are (this is the figure for diagnosis of T2). I was 82 at my worst, and have got it down to 42, which makes me "pre diabetic". I followed a low calorie diet for 3 months and am on 1500 calories a day now. Still lots of weight to lose though!
Have you got any particular questions you want answering?
Kind regards, Sarah
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Welcome to the forum
It is always a shock to be given a diagnosis of diabetes but very goo you have been given the opportunity to get your HbA1C down by some life style changes. Those are going to be looking very carefully at your diet and the amount of all carbohydrates not just sugar you have. How much work you need to do depends on what your HbA1C is and if not too far into the diabetic zone getting into remission with a level below 42mmol/mol is very possible.
Have a look at the Learning Zone here but also this link may help you find a way forward to a new dietary regime. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/. It is a low carb approach which many people find is successful based on real food.
Many people on here follow a low carb dietary regime which would be less than 130g per day but some people go go lower than that. Reducing your carb intake slowly is kinder on your nerves and eyes and keeping a food diary and estimating the amount of carbs and then reducing then by a third for a few weeks, then another third until you get to where you need to be.
Getting a blood glucose monitor so you can test the effect of meals on your blood glucose level is very helpful in managing the condition. Inexpensive ones can be bought on line, the GlucoNavil being one with the cheapest strips. You should buy extra strips at the outset as you only get a few in the kit.
It is always a shock to be given a diagnosis of diabetes but very goo you have been given the opportunity to get your HbA1C down by some life style changes. Those are going to be looking very carefully at your diet and the amount of all carbohydrates not just sugar you have. How much work you need to do depends on what your HbA1C is and if not too far into the diabetic zone getting into remission with a level below 42mmol/mol is very possible.
Have a look at the Learning Zone here but also this link may help you find a way forward to a new dietary regime. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/. It is a low carb approach which many people find is successful based on real food.
Many people on here follow a low carb dietary regime which would be less than 130g per day but some people go go lower than that. Reducing your carb intake slowly is kinder on your nerves and eyes and keeping a food diary and estimating the amount of carbs and then reducing then by a third for a few weeks, then another third until you get to where you need to be.
Getting a blood glucose monitor so you can test the effect of meals on your blood glucose level is very helpful in managing the condition. Inexpensive ones can be bought on line, the GlucoNavil being one with the cheapest strips. You should buy extra strips at the outset as you only get a few in the kit.
My hba1c was 50
thanks for the advice I will look at the books
i am a bit confused regarding carbs, I thought it was sugar I had to reduce
trying to find a suitable diet as I don’t want to go on medication
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- She/Her
All carbohydrates convert to glucose, some things can be low in sugar but still very high in carbohydrates so the information you need to look at id the TOTAL carbohydrate of a food or product.
It is a misapprehension that many people have not helped by the medical profession and media referring to it is blood sugar rather than blood glucose which is a more accurate term.
Windy
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Oh, you're only just into it then. You may be able to get back into non-diabetic numbers by losing a little bit of weight and cutting down on sugary stuff and also carbs like potatoes etc. The body converts potatoes, bread etc into glucose, but it's loads slower than if you had sugar, but your pancreas is still having to work to balance it out with insulin, and T2s have insulin resistance.
Can you get a referral to a DESMOND course (it's an education course for T2s about diabetes) or maybe sign up for the learning zone (red link at the top of this page) and find out about diabetes?
There's some diets on the main Diabetes UK site, low carb, low calorie, vegetarian etc, so a fair bit to choose from.
Sarah
Hi @Debz5564 and welcome to the forum.
It's A level biology that all starchy carbs are turned into sugar (glucose) when they are digested. Indeed the process with things like bread (or other highly refined flour products) can turn from a neutral/savoury taste to a slightly sweet taste in the mouth when held in the mouth chewed for a minute or so. Indeed Bread has a higher Glycaemic Index than does Table Sugar (around 71 for bread versus 65 for table sugar)..
Thus Type 2 diabetics are best advised to cut or control their consumption of all carbohydrates - even those we are told are 'healthy' such as whole grains and tropical fruit.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
For me it was the first Biology experiment age 11 where we investigated digestion of starches.
A Hba1c of 50 should be reduced quite quickly just with a few reductions in carbs - always assuming an ordinary type 2 and nothing more exciting.
A Hba1c of 50 should be reduced quite quickly just with a few reductions in carbs - always assuming an ordinary type 2 and nothing more exciting.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
And me! the GCSE O Level course at school, crust of Mothers Pride suspended between the jaws of a boiling tube stand, above the sink on the teacher's bench, whilst Mr W our Biology teacher dripped iodine onto the crust and it turned the most gorgeous deep purple as we watched. The colour change indicated without shadow of a doubt that it contained starch.
We learned about Percy Potter running across the lawn every Monday evening shortly after that - Ptyalin, Pepsin, Rennin, Amylase, Trypsin, Lypase, Erepsin, Maltase, Enterokinase.
The first sentence in the text book said that the earthworm is a cosmopolitan - and I had to look cosmopolitan up in the dictionary cos I didn't know the actual true meaning of the word - but we didn't have to dissect one for ages!
We learned about Percy Potter running across the lawn every Monday evening shortly after that - Ptyalin, Pepsin, Rennin, Amylase, Trypsin, Lypase, Erepsin, Maltase, Enterokinase.
The first sentence in the text book said that the earthworm is a cosmopolitan - and I had to look cosmopolitan up in the dictionary cos I didn't know the actual true meaning of the word - but we didn't have to dissect one for ages!
Hi! I’m in a similar situation to you in that my Mmol result is only just inside the limit. I’ve been monitoring my food intake for just under a month now and have lost 5.5lb just by eliminating added free sugar from my diet!
I’ve found that using the “my fitness pal” app is really helpful and makes it really easy to track your nutrient intake for which you can set specific goals. It is free but you can also subscribe for more detail.
I’m eating sensibly and gradually making small adjustments using the MFP data. I’d recommend looking at it if you want to understand nutritional values in food more fully.
I’ve found that using the “my fitness pal” app is really helpful and makes it really easy to track your nutrient intake for which you can set specific goals. It is free but you can also subscribe for more detail.
I’m eating sensibly and gradually making small adjustments using the MFP data. I’d recommend looking at it if you want to understand nutritional values in food more fully.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Welcome to the forum @Debz5564
If you’d like to experiment with a lower carb approach to see if that helps to reduce your HbA1c - these meal plans might be helpful
www.diabetes.org.uk
If you’d like to experiment with a lower carb approach to see if that helps to reduce your HbA1c - these meal plans might be helpful
Low-carb diet and meal plan
Eating a low-carb diet means cutting down on the amount of carbohydrates (carbs) you eat to less than 130g a day. But low-carb eating shouldn’t be no-carb eating. Some carbohydrate foods contain essential vitamins, minerals and fibre, which form an important part of a healthy diet.
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