Meal Planning

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Kathleen C

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Type 2
Hi I have recently been diagnosed with Type 2, can anyone advise what I should be eating and avoiding.
Many thanks
Kathleen
 
Welcome @Kathleen C 🙂 Are you on any medication for the Type 2?

You could start by looking at the orange Learning Zone (top of the page).
 
Ok. Well, a good starting place is to look at what you were eating before diagnosis - literally write down an average day’s food - and look at where you can reduce carbs. That’s all carbs not just sweet ones, so bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, etc. Most Type 2s aim for under 130g carbs a day. The amount depends on the individual. That’s why looking at your previous diet and reducing carbs is a good idea.

Do you know what your HbA1C was?
 
There are some Meal Plans on this website, but you’ll need to learn what you personally can tolerate and what works best for you:

Meal plans and diabetes

Eating nutritious, healthy and downright delicious food is that bit easier with our meal planners. We've created multiple different weekly meal plans to suit all types and tastes. They're nutritionally balanced, are calorie and carb counted, and can help if you want to lose weight. They also...
www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk

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Hello and welcome. You have come to the best place for advice. We all started where you are now and asked many questions. Nothing is silly (I probably asked them myself).
Can you tell us what your HbA1c was on diagnosis, as that will help us best advise you. You are entitled to know where you are starting from. A result of 48mmol/mol and above is diabetic and as you have been prescribed Metformin you are probably above 60mmol/mol. Below that you could ask to try lifestyle changes first (healthy eating and exercises). The lower it is, the fewer adjustments you will probably need. Also if you have any other medical conditions and medications.
The starting place is the Learning Zone. I suggest you take one section a day, so you can absorb everything, starting with food, then exercise. It is suggested that for Type 2 diabetics, carbs should be less than 130gm in total (food, drink, snacks) a day, and this should be approached by SLOWLY reducing your portion sizes and topping up with extra veggies and protein. It does not mean NO CARBS (impossible - even lettuce has carbs). Too drastic can cause temporary eye problems. Carbs are not just the obvious things (like sweets, cakes, biscuits, pastries, crisps, chips, ice cream, pies), but bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, processed food, some fruits. Everybody's body is different, so there are no hard and fast rules about what to eat. For example I can't take rice, pasta and apples, but I can have a small slice of wholemeal bread or a couple of new potatoes - others can't.
You can get an app showing cals and carbs, to keep a food diary, or a spreadsheet/pen and paper. Initially I would advise you to weigh things, so you get to learn portion sizes. I've been diagnosed 5 years and still do a daily plan on my app first thing. I found this was an opportunity to eat more healthily and try out new foods. For example, having cauliflower (rice or mash), edamame bean pasta. Wholegrain bread, rice and pasta have just as many carbs as white but are more slow acting. I also make a lot of soups, stews in my slow cooker so I can control what goes into everything.
Initially I got a monitor and tested immediately before and 2 hours after eating to see how my blood glucose rose. By comparing it with my food diary I was able to work out what foods caused me to spike. Now I just test for new foods. I'm sure someone will post to tell you what levels to aim for, and the best monitor to get. The forum food/carbs recipes and queries will give you lots of ideas - just look for Type 2 posters as Type 1 have different needs. I expect you will also be recommended to look at the low carb Freshwell plan.
Then you should be looking at weight and exercise. Not all Type 2 are overweight but if you need to lose a few pounds it would be a good idea. Exercise doesn't mean pounding away at a gym. It can be as simple as a daily walk, cycling or swimming. Then there are exercise classes like Pilates, yoga or aquafit (which I do). There are many YouTube classes to follow at home as well.
 
Some good suggestions above but just to add to your reading when you are ready this link is also very good and straightforward with explanation, some do's and don'ts as well as recipes and menu plans. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
 
Hi, welcome.
For me, as suggested on here, this brilliant book was a great start for me, together with a council nutrition expert run healthy eating weight loss series of courses at the local leisure ctr. Not suggesting you need to lose weight of course, I didn't either but was interested in how foods work.
The book became my bible, I have now memorised most of it and it gets much easier to access foods without using it.
 

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Kathleen C said:
Hi I have recently been diagnosed with Type 2, can anyone advise what I should be eating and avoiding.
Many thanks
Kathleen
Click to expand...
You might find that a few simple changes to your diet are all that's needed. I discovered that I can eat pretty much the same meals as before as long as I replace rice with riced cauliflower, potatoes with celeriac or cauli, and pasta with a half-portion of a non-grain variety, thus taking out the high carb ingredients. Needless to say I also ditched sweet things like cakes, biscuits etc, which are now just an occasional treat.
 
Last edited:
Dave_Z1a said:
Hi, welcome.
For me, as suggested on here, this brilliant book was a great start for me, together with a council nutrition expert run healthy eating weight loss series of courses at the local leisure ctr. Not suggesting you need to lose weight of course, I didn't either but was interested in how foods work.
The book became my bible, I have now memorised most of it and it gets much easier to access foods without using it.
Click to expand...
My Bible
 
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