Maggie Davey's letter to newly-diagnosed Type 2s

The only niggle I have about this, probably due to when it was written, is that it still demonises Fat (especially saturated fat).
Thus it mentions using single cream (rather than double), Lean skinless chicken, instead of fatty Beef, Lamb and Pork .
Doesn't mention lovely hard cheeses, full-fat Greek style yogurt etc.
 
Thank you for all of this. I have a folder on the PC where I am building up a range of reading/advice/help.
 
Thanks for the clear write up which makes it so much clearer to a newbie to understand.
I am still trying to find what works for me but more importantly I know a lot more of what to avoid
 
thanks Maggie!
the best, simplest summary of everything I've been trying to find out after being diagnosed a week ago. You are a superstar
 
ianf0ster said:
The only niggle I have about this, probably due to when it was written, is that it still demonises Fat (especially saturated fat).
Thus it mentions using single cream (rather than double), Lean skinless chicken, instead of fatty Beef, Lamb and Pork .
Doesn't mention lovely hard cheeses, full-fat Greek style yogurt etc.
Click to expand...
Agreed. It also says the body needs to use carbs for fuel and of course if you go keto it doesn't - it uses fat for fuel.
I eat a lot of fat because of going onto keto almost straight away after my diagnosis and I've stuck with that way of eating and my cholesterol levels, cardiovascular health and liver function have all gone back to normal.
Keto (very low carbohydrate and high fat which make the body use fat for fuel instead of carbohydrate) diets were first recommended for people with epilepsy to help reduce frequency of seizures and it is also excellent for very sedentary people or people who cannot exercise for other health reasons.
 
I'm reading it again so have 'faved' it but it's a bit long, I'll do a bit everyday. Thanks for this.
 
Northerner said:
Resources

Alan S's advice to newbies on using the lancet:

Wash your hands in warm water first, and shake them to get the circulation going. Check your lancet - it should be adjustable. Mine is Soft-clix, made by Roche and is usually painless. I get an occasional tiny sting, and it lets me know if it's getting blunt sometimes, but I've tested close to 3500 times in the past 2 1/2 years without any trauma. That's from a guy who was, and is, needle-phobic.

Start with the second lowest setting (1 or 1.5), hold it firmly against your skin on the side of a finger near the tip. Don't flinch when you release the button. The button releases a spring-loaded tiny needle which makes a tiny hole in your skin and instantly retracts. Incidentally, using the sides has two advantages - there are less nerve-ends than on the pads, and it doubles the number of test-points so you can rotate through the positions.

Massage gently (milking a cow) until a drop of blood forms sufficient to put on the test strip. If this setting doesn't provide an adequate quantity, move the lancet setting up one notch for the next one. If you got a large sample and it hurt a little, go to the lower setting.

And that's all there is to it. Sometimes it helps to shake your hands a little more, or warm them up if it's cold. The manufacturers advise changing the lancet needle every time; I change mine when I remember or if it gets a bit blunt – that's about once a month or every 150 tests 🙂 You do what you are comfortable with.

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.

Glossary

BG level – a measure of the amount of glucose in your blood stream at any given time; measured as mg/dL [milligrams per deciliter] in the USA, and as mmol/L [millimoles per liter] in the rest of the world.

BG test meter – a small computerised machine for measuring the amount of glucose in your bloodstream at the moment the sample is taken.

BG test strip – the bit to which you apply a drop of blood that the BG test meter then analyzes to give you your current blood glucose level. These are expensive, and many surgeries are reluctant to prescribe them in appropriate quantities.

FBG – Fasting Blood Glucose: name applied to the first BG reading of the day, ideally taken immediately after getting up.

Glycaemic Index [GI] – a ranking of carbohydrates based on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. It compares foods gram for gram of carbohydrate.

Glycaemic Load [GL] – provides a measure of the impact on blood glucose of a given amount of a food. For example, if a food has a Glycaemic Load of 6, it will give the same blood glucose response as 6 grams of glucose.

HbA1c – the Glycosolated Haemoglobin A1c blood test measures the number of glucose molecules attached to haemoglobin, giving an average blood glucose level over the previous three to four months

Hypo – (a) a drop in blood glucose level below 4 mmol/l; (b) a large drop in blood glucose level in a short period of time

Spike – a sudden rise in blood glucose level, so called because it looks like a spike when plotted on a graph

Urine test strip – diagnostic stick that is dipped into a urine sample, and the colour change is compared to a colour chart on the container. It tells you what your approximate blood sugar level was several hours ago, and therefore is of little use in managing your BG levels; however, these may have some use in testing unknown foods [such as a restaurant meal], according to Dr Bernstein [see Resources]

Resources for the new diabetic (most of the links still work, but not all)

The various resources listed below are only a few of those available, but they are the ones I found most helpful in the early days. All opinions are my own, based on my experience.

Books:

Becker, G: The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes

Berstein, RK: Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution

Rubin, AL: Diabetes for Dummies

I think the Becker book should be required reading for all T2 diabetics. The other two deal with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Bernstein gives excellent explanations of diabetes, but is a bit of a hard read. The Rubin book is more readable and has a lot of useful information, but recommends the high-carbohydrate diet that is recommended by the NHS, rather than one tailored for individual needs.

Internet resources:

This is the fastest, easiest way to get the info you need. If you do not own a computer, it would be well worth using an internet cafe to access these resources. Many local libraries have computers that you can use for free or at low cost, but you may need to book to use them. If your son/daughter is the computer geek in your family, get that person to show you how to navigate your way around the net.

Two words of warning: There are a lot of snake-oil salesmen out there, trying to sell you miracle cures for everything, including diabetes. Some of them are very good at looking good. Take your time, think about what's being said, compare what one site says to others, ask in the support group [see below] if anyone has any experience/knowledge/opinion about particular sites; before too long, you'll be sniffing out these conmen with the best of them. There are also a lot of nutcases out there; these are usually fairly obvious.

My favourite Usenet support group

alt.support.diabetes.uk, also known as ASDUK. This has been the single best source of information and support I've come across. If you can't [or don't know how] to get into Usenet groups, they're also accessible through Google Groups: go to www.google.com, click on Groups, type alt.support.diabetes.uk into the box, then click on the Google search box.

Diabetes information websites

David Mendosa's diabetes web pages:

http://www.mendosa.com/index.html

[American site, uses the American system of measurements]

For a review of blood glucose meters:

http://www.mendosa.com/meters.htm

For information on the Glycaemic Index:

http://diabetes.about.com/library/mendosagi/nmendosagi.htm

Joslin Diabetes Centre website

http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/main.shtml

[American site, uses the American system of measurements]

Medscape's diabetes & endocrinology home page:

http://www.medscape.com/diabetes-endocrinologyhome

aimed at medical professionals

The Flying Rat Online Emporium

http://www.flyingrat.net/

for Health Diabetes Software

To work out how many calories you need daily to maintain your current weight:

http://www.wxrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

To work out how much protein you need:

http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/proteincalc.htm

For another approach to dealing with obesity and diabetes:

http://www.tucana.demon.co.uk/diet.htm

To find out what all the various lab tests are about:

http://www.labtestsonline.org.uk/
Click to expand...
Northerner said:
Resources

Alan S's advice to newbies on using the lancet:

Wash your hands in warm water first, and shake them to get the circulation going. Check your lancet - it should be adjustable. Mine is Soft-clix, made by Roche and is usually painless. I get an occasional tiny sting, and it lets me know if it's getting blunt sometimes, but I've tested close to 3500 times in the past 2 1/2 years without any trauma. That's from a guy who was, and is, needle-phobic.

Start with the second lowest setting (1 or 1.5), hold it firmly against your skin on the side of a finger near the tip. Don't flinch when you release the button. The button releases a spring-loaded tiny needle which makes a tiny hole in your skin and instantly retracts. Incidentally, using the sides has two advantages - there are less nerve-ends than on the pads, and it doubles the number of test-points so you can rotate through the positions.

Massage gently (milking a cow) until a drop of blood forms sufficient to put on the test strip. If this setting doesn't provide an adequate quantity, move the lancet setting up one notch for the next one. If you got a large sample and it hurt a little, go to the lower setting.

And that's all there is to it. Sometimes it helps to shake your hands a little more, or warm them up if it's cold. The manufacturers advise changing the lancet needle every time; I change mine when I remember or if it gets a bit blunt – that's about once a month or every 150 tests 🙂 You do what you are comfortable with.

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.

Glossary

BG level – a measure of the amount of glucose in your blood stream at any given time; measured as mg/dL [milligrams per deciliter] in the USA, and as mmol/L [millimoles per liter] in the rest of the world.

BG test meter – a small computerised machine for measuring the amount of glucose in your bloodstream at the moment the sample is taken.

BG test strip – the bit to which you apply a drop of blood that the BG test meter then analyzes to give you your current blood glucose level. These are expensive, and many surgeries are reluctant to prescribe them in appropriate quantities.

FBG – Fasting Blood Glucose: name applied to the first BG reading of the day, ideally taken immediately after getting up.

Glycaemic Index [GI] – a ranking of carbohydrates based on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. It compares foods gram for gram of carbohydrate.

Glycaemic Load [GL] – provides a measure of the impact on blood glucose of a given amount of a food. For example, if a food has a Glycaemic Load of 6, it will give the same blood glucose response as 6 grams of glucose.

HbA1c – the Glycosolated Haemoglobin A1c blood test measures the number of glucose molecules attached to haemoglobin, giving an average blood glucose level over the previous three to four months

Hypo – (a) a drop in blood glucose level below 4 mmol/l; (b) a large drop in blood glucose level in a short period of time

Spike – a sudden rise in blood glucose level, so called because it looks like a spike when plotted on a graph

Urine test strip – diagnostic stick that is dipped into a urine sample, and the colour change is compared to a colour chart on the container. It tells you what your approximate blood sugar level was several hours ago, and therefore is of little use in managing your BG levels; however, these may have some use in testing unknown foods [such as a restaurant meal], according to Dr Bernstein [see Resources]

Resources for the new diabetic (most of the links still work, but not all)

The various resources listed below are only a few of those available, but they are the ones I found most helpful in the early days. All opinions are my own, based on my experience.

Books:

Becker, G: The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes

Berstein, RK: Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution

Rubin, AL: Diabetes for Dummies

I think the Becker book should be required reading for all T2 diabetics. The other two deal with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Bernstein gives excellent explanations of diabetes, but is a bit of a hard read. The Rubin book is more readable and has a lot of useful information, but recommends the high-carbohydrate diet that is recommended by the NHS, rather than one tailored for individual needs.

Internet resources:

This is the fastest, easiest way to get the info you need. If you do not own a computer, it would be well worth using an internet cafe to access these resources. Many local libraries have computers that you can use for free or at low cost, but you may need to book to use them. If your son/daughter is the computer geek in your family, get that person to show you how to navigate your way around the net.

Two words of warning: There are a lot of snake-oil salesmen out there, trying to sell you miracle cures for everything, including diabetes. Some of them are very good at looking good. Take your time, think about what's being said, compare what one site says to others, ask in the support group [see below] if anyone has any experience/knowledge/opinion about particular sites; before too long, you'll be sniffing out these conmen with the best of them. There are also a lot of nutcases out there; these are usually fairly obvious.

My favourite Usenet support group

alt.support.diabetes.uk, also known as ASDUK. This has been the single best source of information and support I've come across. If you can't [or don't know how] to get into Usenet groups, they're also accessible through Google Groups: go to www.google.com, click on Groups, type alt.support.diabetes.uk into the box, then click on the Google search box.

Diabetes information websites

David Mendosa's diabetes web pages:

http://www.mendosa.com/index.html

[American site, uses the American system of measurements]

For a review of blood glucose meters:

http://www.mendosa.com/meters.htm

For information on the Glycaemic Index:

http://diabetes.about.com/library/mendosagi/nmendosagi.htm

Joslin Diabetes Centre website

http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/main.shtml

[American site, uses the American system of measurements]

Medscape's diabetes & endocrinology home page:

http://www.medscape.com/diabetes-endocrinologyhome

aimed at medical professionals

The Flying Rat Online Emporium

http://www.flyingrat.net/

for Health Diabetes Software

To work out how many calories you need daily to maintain your current weight:

http://www.wxrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

To work out how much protein you need:

http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/proteincalc.htm

For another approach to dealing with obesity and diabetes:

http://www.tucana.demon.co.uk/diet.htm

To find out what all the various lab tests are about:

http://www.labtestsonline.org.uk/
Click to expand...
Wow!! What a great read, have learnt so much just reading this article. Thank you for sharing.
 
Thank you for such an excellent and informed read that helped me get my thoughts in a straight line. Having managed to put my Type2 into remission 3 years ago, losing 2 stone in weight on the KetoDiet, a year ago I found myself diagnosed again having put back the lost weight plus more.This time I was put on Vipidia rather than Metformin and initially it all went well until the lockdown started and I guess I just put my head in a bucket of sand and ignored the warning signs. When I finally did a test I found I was 12.1 which, for me had never happened before. I was put on Dapagliflozin 2 days ago, I am now drinking gallons of water, eating sensibly and already my readings are improving, down to 10.1. Fortunately I can’t go far, just frequent visits to the loo which I do hope become less often as time goes by. Although I have reduced carb intake I have been advised to not cut them out this time, but in truth I don’t want to return to the LCHF way of eating because like all diets, it is not sustainable. I am 75 and prefer to have a bit of leeway in what I cook and consume which my husband totally agrees with!
 
Sujo said:
Thank you for such an excellent and informed read that helped me get my thoughts in a straight line. Having managed to put my Type2 into remission 3 years ago, losing 2 stone in weight on the KetoDiet, a year ago I found myself diagnosed again having put back the lost weight plus more.This time I was put on Vipidia rather than Metformin and initially it all went well until the lockdown started and I guess I just put my head in a bucket of sand and ignored the warning signs. When I finally did a test I found I was 12.1 which, for me had never happened before. I was put on Dapagliflozin 2 days ago, I am now drinking gallons of water, eating sensibly and already my readings are improving, down to 10.1. Fortunately I can’t go far, just frequent visits to the loo which I do hope become less often as time goes by. Although I have reduced carb intake I have been advised to not cut them out this time, but in truth I don’t want to return to the LCHF way of eating because like all diets, it is not sustainable. I am 75 and prefer to have a bit of leeway in what I cook and consume which my husband totally agrees with!
Click to expand...
Glad you have found it useful @Sujo 🙂 Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and we will be happy to help, or if you just want a bit of support, we are always here for you 🙂
 
Northerner said:
Glad you have found it useful @Sujo 🙂 Please feel free to ask any questions you may have and we will be happy to help, or if you just want a bit of support, we are always here for you 🙂
Click to expand...
Extremely grateful to know there is support available; having a diagnosis of Diabetes can be a lonely road to suddenly be on. My body is obviously adjusting to the new drug and the gallons of water I am drinking as I am quite uncomfortable at the moment, I have never been a huge fan of water but needs must ... Low carb eating is not a problem but knowing what is the right 'low' level is. Also how to put enough of the right fibre into my diet to prevent constipation without causing another set of problems. I do unfortunately have diverticular disease and IBS which can be a problem. I have enjoyed trawling through this website and in particular the forums which are full of excellent advice. Thank you for being there.
 
Hi just found this, it's very helpful. will read again, it's a lot for me to read at the moment. I know it says not to copy for commercial but I might find it easier on paper. anyway, I will pop back again. Or at least on a sheet, I can highlight.
 
Thank you for this. It is extremely useful information and has helped me a lot. I will be starting my food diary and testing immediately.
 
Sujo said:
Thank you for such an excellent and informed read that helped me get my thoughts in a straight line. Having managed to put my Type2 into remission 3 years ago, losing 2 stone in weight on the KetoDiet, a year ago I found myself diagnosed again having put back the lost weight plus more.This time I was put on Vipidia rather than Metformin and initially it all went well until the lockdown started and I guess I just put my head in a bucket of sand and ignored the warning signs. When I finally did a test I found I was 12.1 which, for me had never happened before. I was put on Dapagliflozin 2 days ago, I am now drinking gallons of water, eating sensibly and already my readings are improving, down to 10.1. Fortunately I can’t go far, just frequent visits to the loo which I do hope become less often as time goes by. Although I have reduced carb intake I have been advised to not cut them out this time, but in truth I don’t want to return to the LCHF way of eating because like all diets, it is not sustainable. I am 75 and prefer to have a bit of leeway in what I cook and consume which my husband totally agrees with!
Click to expand...
Your story just shows how easy it is to slip into the old habits and go back to old ways. It does illustrate that it is important to find a lifestyle which you can sustain by having foods you like but which will allow management of your weight and blood glucose levels. Unless you do that you are going to suffer the symptoms and not enjoy your life.
I hope you find the support here helpful.
 
Positive letter. I have been getting a bit uptight about all the different messages on the internet having been diagnosed 8 weeks ago. There is so much conflicting advice where one says eat such and such and another says never eat that. Family is great but I’m not sure that I want the we are all in this together stuff when they don’t need to be changing their diet. I know that my previous job (now retired) meant travelling to meetings, staying in hotels and eating too much was likely to be the cause so feel guilty about forcing changes on others
 
Leadinglights said:
Your story just shows how easy it is to slip into the old habits and go back to old ways. It does illustrate that it is important to find a lifestyle which you can sustain by having foods you like but which will allow management of your weight and blood glucose levels. Unless you do that you are going to suffer the symptoms and not enjoy your life.
I hope you find the support here helpful.
Click to expand...
This site has been enormously helpful. I am now 3 months down the line, 22lbs lighter and my BG is reducing which is a blessing. I feel better, am more active and can see that it can only get better. I still have a good way to go but I will get there even is it's slower than I would like.
 
Northerner said:
Resources

Alan S's advice to newbies on using the lancet:

Wash your hands in warm water first, and shake them to get the circulation going. Check your lancet - it should be adjustable. Mine is Soft-clix, made by Roche and is usually painless. I get an occasional tiny sting, and it lets me know if it's getting blunt sometimes, but I've tested close to 3500 times in the past 2 1/2 years without any trauma. That's from a guy who was, and is, needle-phobic.

Start with the second lowest setting (1 or 1.5), hold it firmly against your skin on the side of a finger near the tip. Don't flinch when you release the button. The button releases a spring-loaded tiny needle which makes a tiny hole in your skin and instantly retracts. Incidentally, using the sides has two advantages - there are less nerve-ends than on the pads, and it doubles the number of test-points so you can rotate through the positions.

Massage gently (milking a cow) until a drop of blood forms sufficient to put on the test strip. If this setting doesn't provide an adequate quantity, move the lancet setting up one notch for the next one. If you got a large sample and it hurt a little, go to the lower setting.

And that's all there is to it. Sometimes it helps to shake your hands a little more, or warm them up if it's cold. The manufacturers advise changing the lancet needle every time; I change mine when I remember or if it gets a bit blunt – that's about once a month or every 150 tests 🙂 You do what you are comfortable with.

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.

Glossary

BG level – a measure of the amount of glucose in your blood stream at any given time; measured as mg/dL [milligrams per deciliter] in the USA, and as mmol/L [millimoles per liter] in the rest of the world.

BG test meter – a small computerised machine for measuring the amount of glucose in your bloodstream at the moment the sample is taken.

BG test strip – the bit to which you apply a drop of blood that the BG test meter then analyzes to give you your current blood glucose level. These are expensive, and many surgeries are reluctant to prescribe them in appropriate quantities.

FBG – Fasting Blood Glucose: name applied to the first BG reading of the day, ideally taken immediately after getting up.

Glycaemic Index [GI] – a ranking of carbohydrates based on their immediate effect on blood glucose (blood sugar) levels. It compares foods gram for gram of carbohydrate.

Glycaemic Load [GL] – provides a measure of the impact on blood glucose of a given amount of a food. For example, if a food has a Glycaemic Load of 6, it will give the same blood glucose response as 6 grams of glucose.

HbA1c – the Glycosolated Haemoglobin A1c blood test measures the number of glucose molecules attached to haemoglobin, giving an average blood glucose level over the previous three to four months

Hypo – (a) a drop in blood glucose level below 4 mmol/l; (b) a large drop in blood glucose level in a short period of time

Spike – a sudden rise in blood glucose level, so called because it looks like a spike when plotted on a graph

Urine test strip – diagnostic stick that is dipped into a urine sample, and the colour change is compared to a colour chart on the container. It tells you what your approximate blood sugar level was several hours ago, and therefore is of little use in managing your BG levels; however, these may have some use in testing unknown foods [such as a restaurant meal], according to Dr Bernstein [see Resources]

Resources for the new diabetic (most of the links still work, but not all)

The various resources listed below are only a few of those available, but they are the ones I found most helpful in the early days. All opinions are my own, based on my experience.

Books:

Becker, G: The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes

Berstein, RK: Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution

Rubin, AL: Diabetes for Dummies

I think the Becker book should be required reading for all T2 diabetics. The other two deal with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Bernstein gives excellent explanations of diabetes, but is a bit of a hard read. The Rubin book is more readable and has a lot of useful information, but recommends the high-carbohydrate diet that is recommended by the NHS, rather than one tailored for individual needs.

Internet resources:

This is the fastest, easiest way to get the info you need. If you do not own a computer, it would be well worth using an internet cafe to access these resources. Many local libraries have computers that you can use for free or at low cost, but you may need to book to use them. If your son/daughter is the computer geek in your family, get that person to show you how to navigate your way around the net.

Two words of warning: There are a lot of snake-oil salesmen out there, trying to sell you miracle cures for everything, including diabetes. Some of them are very good at looking good. Take your time, think about what's being said, compare what one site says to others, ask in the support group [see below] if anyone has any experience/knowledge/opinion about particular sites; before too long, you'll be sniffing out these conmen with the best of them. There are also a lot of nutcases out there; these are usually fairly obvious.

My favourite Usenet support group

alt.support.diabetes.uk, also known as ASDUK. This has been the single best source of information and support I've come across. If you can't [or don't know how] to get into Usenet groups, they're also accessible through Google Groups: go to www.google.com, click on Groups, type alt.support.diabetes.uk into the box, then click on the Google search box.

Diabetes information websites

David Mendosa's diabetes web pages:

http://www.mendosa.com/index.html

[American site, uses the American system of measurements]

For a review of blood glucose meters:

http://www.mendosa.com/meters.htm

For information on the Glycaemic Index:

http://diabetes.about.com/library/mendosagi/nmendosagi.htm

Joslin Diabetes Centre website

http://www.joslin.harvard.edu/main.shtml

[American site, uses the American system of measurements]

Medscape's diabetes & endocrinology home page:

http://www.medscape.com/diabetes-endocrinologyhome

aimed at medical professionals

The Flying Rat Online Emporium

http://www.flyingrat.net/

for Health Diabetes Software

To work out how many calories you need daily to maintain your current weight:

http://www.wxrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

To work out how much protein you need:

http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/proteincalc.htm

For another approach to dealing with obesity and diabetes:

http://www.tucana.demon.co.uk/diet.htm

To find out what all the various lab tests are about:

http://www.labtestsonline.org.uk/
Click to expand...
Thank you, this has really helped me.
 
Thank you @Northerner for all this information. I am a 6 day newbie and feeling overwhelmed, but positive, if that makes sense lol. You broke it down very well and I definitely will look into buying the first year book 🙂
 
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