Hello
@SteveH23 and welcome to the forum.
It is good to hear that you are finding the forum useful, and also that you are doing so well with getting diabetes under control. It would be interesting to hear what dietary changes you have made that are helping you.
I do not have any experience of life insurance issues, but hopefully someone else will be along that may have more information about this.
I am sure that the fact that you are getting your diabetes under control will be a help factor. I did read that some insurance companies may provide cover if you can show that the diabetes has been under control for 6 months.
Unfortunately I understand that insurance companies are being even more nit-picking in these Covid times.
I hope you find a solution soon.
Thanks for your reply. I have got my diabetes under control by being pretty strict on myself and cutting out the things I knew were bad for me and changing the way I eat. As a chef working long straight hours, I would tend to binge eat in the evenings, apart from tasting I rarely felt like eating during the day. If I had something to eat on an early shift, it would be something like a sausage In a white bap (both not ideal).
When I looked at what I ate, overall I did have a varied diet with lots of veggies mainly wholemeal bread more white meat than red and looking at some of the recipes on here, I was thinking 'well I eat a lot of this stuff anyway'. So what was I doing wrong? Like I say, I did tend to binge eat in the evening and not always eat anything during the day so I decided I needed to change my habits. Yes I was eating a varied diet but it was also what I was eating after a main meal and the size of the main meal itself. I would pile my plate high large portions, yes there was veg there, but also a mounting of potatoes. If I ate something like a chilli made with quorn as my wife and daughter are vegetarian, I'd have a mounting of basmati rice with it. Basically I was eating fairly healthy but in large amounts of the worse things on the plate for someone with type 2.
After a main meal, soon after I would hit the snacks. That may of been crisp's, I would easily munch 3 packets or one large bag. Sweets again, I would eat maybe 2 bags of haribo a night and cheese and biscuits would be another favourite. What makes it worse, to look at me you'd probably think where do I put it all as I've always been slim in build although I did start to get a bit of a belly just before diagnoses.
Exercise was another thing. We had a dog that sadly died a year before I was diagnosed. I'd walk him at least twice a day, often more. Just after being diagnosed we got a new dog so I am walking more again.
So with my diet, luckily with being furloughed, I have managed to get into a routine of eating 3 smaller meals a day. By the evening I'm not starving so can eat less. I've cut out totally the snacks, haven't eaten crisps, sweets and cheese even though I could eat a small amount of cheese if I wanted. I'll eat a smaller amount of potato and add sweet potato instead. I've started eating more fish, cut back on red meat and totally cut out bacon and sausages. I'm eating more beans and pulses especially in things like Moroccan vegetable style stews which leave me feeling satisfied for ages. I opt for brown rice now and again that leaves me more satisfied. I would take brown sugar in coffee and swapped that for sweetener.. Takeaways are very occasional now and when shopping I am more conscious of the labelling.
It has been a bit of a juggling act as my cholesterol was slightly raised so have had to watch my saturated fats to although that has come down. If I feel the need to snack I will eat whole nuts.
So basically for me it's been more of a case of changing my habits, exercise and swapping the things I like for more less processed whole foods.
Hope this helps you.
