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gillianh

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Hi there,
I was diagnosed yesterday with type 2 diabetes. I am 40 years old. My head is a little busted trying to understand it all. Do I need to get a blood glucose monitor? Can all food/drink still be consumed in moderation or do some need to go entirely? I'm constantly googling and getting so much conflicting information. I don't know what to do until I get to see a dietician. Thank you for reading!
HbA1c was 77 at diagnosis. I have been prescribed Metformin
 
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gillianh said:
Hi there,
I was diagnosed yesterday with type 2 diabetes. I am 40 years old. My head is a little busted trying to understand it all. Do I need to get a blood glucose monitor? Can all food/drink still be consumed in moderation or do some need to go entirely? I'm constantly googling and getting so much conflicting information. I don't know what to do until I get to see a dietician. Thank you for reading!
Click to expand...
If you are an ordinary type 2 then reducing the amount of carbohydrate you eat would be the first thing to try.
Some dieticians seem to think that eating wholemeal carbs will do the trick, but I can't think of anyone who has reported being in remission putting it down to brown carbs.
If you are only in the low numbers of the HbA1c range for diabetes then reducing carbs smaller portions and the like might be enough to turn things around, but I was at 91 at diagnosis, so I cut the carbs down to 50 gm a day and was back in normal numbers at 6 months.
I used a blood glucose tester to check my numbers after eating - it helped me discover that I can extract more carbs than the listed value from peas and beans.
 
Welcome @gillianh 🙂 There are a variety of diets out there. You need to find what suits you. Although a blood glucose meter isn’t crucial, you’d find it very useful to see how certain meals affect you and to monitor your progress.

You might want to start off by looking at the Learning Zone (orange tab at the top of this page). Diabetes U.K. also has some Meal Plans:

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

And a Recipe section, with nutritional info for all the recipes:

Recipe finder - Enjoy Food | Diabetes UK

www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk

While Drummer above might not be able to eat many carbs, plenty of Type 2s do eat more, and it’s perfectly possible to eat wholemeal/brown carbs and go into remission. It’s all individual, as I said, and you should find what works for you. It also depends on your starting diet, weight, etc. Start off by making some small, sustained changes and get a meter to see how things go.

What was your HbA1C at diagnosis?
 
Hi @gillianh welcome!
After diagnosis, I went into remission for over 2 years, did some simple things so hope you find this helpful. Cut out white things replaced white potatoes with sweet potatoes, changed white bread for wholemeal, white rice for wholemeal........I also started reading food info and basically made sure the things I was eating had less than 10% sugar, I tried to keep that number as low as possible...... along side that, I increased the amount of exercise I did and lost some weight.
When it came to portion sizes, I found it easiest to make small changes to avoid hunger and temptation to snack so if I used to have 3 sausages on my plate, I still cooked 3 but cut a quarter off and did that for a week, the following week, I'd cut another quarter off, I found that way psychologically it didn't feel like I was having to make huge changes.

Like @Inka says, there are variables that means you have to find what works best for you individually but the things I've said in my message worked well for me so hope it's helpful. Good luck and best wishes, Matt.
 
I found following the principals in this link was successful and it was an approach I found very easy and it is now my new way of eating, https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
As mentioned you need to find a way that you enjoy, suits you and family life.
How much work you need to do will depend on your HbA1C result from something quite modest if you are at the lower end of the zone, anything over 47mmol/mol is a diagnosis to something more substantial if significantly higher.
Of course what might be suitable will depend on any medication you may be prescribed.
If you provide a bit more information then people can make appropriate suggestions.
 
Hi @gillianh and welcome to the forum. If you just dive into things then you will get advice from all directions which can lead to overwhelming confusion. Welcome to the world of Type2 diabetes!

What I suggest you do is to stop and take stock and as regulars on the forum know I like to start with the numbers. Most important is the HbA1c result which led to your diagnosis. This tells you where you are on the diabetes scale and is the first input into devising a plan. Next you have to decide whether you need to lose some weight. Does not really matter at this stage whether you look at BMI or waist to height ratio. Once you have those you can decide on what you are going to target and then devise a plan to achieve those targets.

In my opinion forget about all the clever "diets" and blood glucose monitoring until you have a broad plan to put things right. Once you have decided where you are going, which is likely to include some changes in what you eat, and may include blood glucose monitoring, you can look at and choose from amongst the options available without getting overwhelmed. Don't be surprised to find that many of the things lauded as "healthy" may not be appropriate for somebody working to get their blood glucose under control.

That said, look around the forum to see how members have approached things, check out the learning zone and above all, ask questions on here. Nothing is considered silly, most of us have been where you are now and are happy to help you work your way through things.
 
gillianh said:
I was diagnosed yesterday with type 2 diabetes
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum
Did your doctor tell you what your HbA1c result was? Knowing what meds (if any) were prescribed can also help folks in providing feedback.
 
Docb said:
... decide on what you are going to target and then devise a plan to achieve those targets.
Click to expand...

Hi @gillianh

Picking up on @Docb, your HbA1c is 77 in the middle of the red scale below. You are newly diagnosed, meaning you can most probably get to 'remission' at 48 by losing some weight. Even better get back into the normal range by losing about 15 kg, or less if you are not overweight. Metformin may help you 'live with diabetes' but diet can lead to 'life without diabetes'.

Hope this helps you to decide on a target. Then all you have to do is choose a good weight loss diet* - and stick to it!
* suggestions available.
1725125068287.png
 
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Sorry @gillianh, I had not registered the HbH1c in your first post. If you could do with losing some weight then as @JITR suggests then losing it is a very good bet as a plan to get things under control. If you don't need to lose weight then you will have to come up with a different plan. To me the important thing is to understand your starting point before embarking on anything.
 
No it's fine, I edited the post to add it in after a few people were asking. This forum really has been so helpful and supportive. Losing weight is definitely the starting point!
Thank you
 
I too am new to diabetes and learning. Noone has suggested a dietician to me and the diabetes nurse whom I saw a fortnight ago didn't weigh me or check my feet. I was 69 on first test 64 four weeks later. I cut lots of things out because if I buy something naughty I will eat it quicker than I intended eg biscuits I'll say ill just have one more. I've had a few treats where I have made a positive decision. My sister can keep a box of chocolates for months. She is 8 stone!

I have been eating lots of fish and vegetables with breakfast of eggs and mushroom or full fat Greek yoghurt with berries added and sometimes nuts. I also have cheese. I tend to buy veg at my local WI market and used to buy homemade pies and scones. I've had one small pie but now buy a frittata.



I go to a Spanish class in my local city and then buy at the market and M and S. I like their smoked salmon avocado's and steamed beetroot. They also do a well being range which I occasionally buy from. I'm used to checking calories and salt but carbs is a revelation. I'm on an increasing dose of metoformin and coincidentally or not I haven't been poohing much.

The good news is I am losing a kilo a week and my bmi has gone from obese 32 to 29 which is overweight. I still feel I'm paddling to keep my head above water but am chuffed at my weight loss. My skinny sister has noticed. I don't like planning meals but I have made sure I have available good choices so I'm not tempted to go to a takeaway or impulse buy from a supermarket. Good luck.
 
Drummer said:
If you are an ordinary type 2 then reducing the amount of carbohydrate you eat would be the first thing to try.
Some dieticians seem to think that eating wholemeal carbs will do the trick, but I can't think of anyone who has reported being in remission putting it down to brown carbs.
If you are only in the low numbers of the HbA1c range for diabetes then reducing carbs smaller portions and the like might be enough to turn things around, but I was at 91 at diagnosis, so I cut the carbs down to 50 gm a day and was back in normal numbers at 6 months.
I used a blood glucose tester to check my numbers after eating - it helped me discover that I can extract more carbs than the listed value from peas and beans.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply with your experiences, I was 77 at diagnosis. I went shopping today and checked saturated fats and salt and never even thought about carbs. That's fantastic you're back to normal numbers now and thank you the information about a blood glucose tester.
 
Inka said:
Welcome @gillianh 🙂 There are a variety of diets out there. You need to find what suits you. Although a blood glucose meter isn’t crucial, you’d find it very useful to see how certain meals affect you and to monitor your progress.

You might want to start off by looking at the Learning Zone (orange tab at the top of this page). Diabetes U.K. also has some Meal Plans:

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

And a Recipe section, with nutritional info for all the recipes:

Recipe finder - Enjoy Food | Diabetes UK

www.diabetes.org.uk www.diabetes.org.uk

While Drummer above might not be able to eat many carbs, plenty of Type 2s do eat more, and it’s perfectly possible to eat wholemeal/brown carbs and go into remission. It’s all individual, as I said, and you should find what works for you. It also depends on your starting diet, weight, etc. Start off by making some small, sustained changes and get a meter to see how things go.

What was your HbA1C at diagnosis?
Click to expand...
It was 77. See I'm not even sure what all these things mean! Thank you so much for mentioning the Learning Zone, I went in it earlier and it was really helpful. I am overweight as awful as it feels to admit in an open space! Just feels like there's so much info to take on board and where to start with it all. Feels like my life is going to completely change and I'm anxious and feel like I'm heading into a world I know nothing about. Comments like yours in this forum have really helped and I'm so grateful. Sorry for the pity me party!
 
mattski said:
Hi @gillianh welcome!
After diagnosis, I went into remission for over 2 years, did some simple things so hope you find this helpful. Cut out white things replaced white potatoes with sweet potatoes, changed white bread for wholemeal, white rice for wholemeal........I also started reading food info and basically made sure the things I was eating had less than 10% sugar, I tried to keep that number as low as possible...... along side that, I increased the amount of exercise I did and lost some weight.
When it came to portion sizes, I found it easiest to make small changes to avoid hunger and temptation to snack so if I used to have 3 sausages on my plate, I still cooked 3 but cut a quarter off and did that for a week, the following week, I'd cut another quarter off, I found that way psychologically it didn't feel like I was having to make huge changes.

Like @Inka says, there are variables that means you have to find what works best for you individually but the things I've said in my message worked well for me so hope it's helpful. Good luck and best wishes, Matt.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that advice is really helpful. That's a really good way to think about it in that you're still having 3 sausages but actually in reality you're not but psychologically it's not feeling like a massive change. Thank you. I was just diagnosed on Thursday there and today I went shopping with a menu plan, I checked every product for saturated fats and salt but never even thought of carbs and sugar. I thought I was doing well! Thank you for your advice on everything I should be thinking about and making me feel like it is doable.
Gillian
 
saffron15 said:
I too am new to diabetes and learning. Noone has suggested a dietician to me and the diabetes nurse whom I saw a fortnight ago didn't weigh me or check my feet. I was 69 on first test 64 four weeks later. I cut lots of things out because if I buy something naughty I will eat it quicker than I intended eg biscuits I'll say ill just have one more. I've had a few treats where I have made a positive decision. My sister can keep a box of chocolates for months. She is 8 stone!

I have been eating lots of fish and vegetables with breakfast of eggs and mushroom or full fat Greek yoghurt with berries added and sometimes nuts. I also have cheese. I tend to buy veg at my local WI market and used to buy homemade pies and scones. I've had one small pie but now buy a frittata.



I go to a Spanish class in my local city and then buy at the market and M and S. I like their smoked salmon avocado's and steamed beetroot. They also do a well being range which I occasionally buy from. I'm used to checking calories and salt but carbs is a revelation. I'm on an increasing dose of metoformin and coincidentally or not I haven't been poohing much.

The good news is I am losing a kilo a week and my bmi has gone from obese 32 to 29 which is overweight. I still feel I'm paddling to keep my head above water but am chuffed at my weight loss. My skinny sister has noticed. I don't like planning meals but I have made sure I have available good choices so I'm not tempted to go to a takeaway or impulse buy from a supermarket. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thank you for all those great ideas of what to eat, they sound fantastic, apart from those mushrooms lol! Well done you on the weight loss, that's fantastic, That's going to be my main focus. My GP gave me so much info over the phone that I have definitely not taken it all in. I'm almost sure she mentioned a referral to a dietician, I hope she did because I believe that would massively help.
Thank you again for replying and good on you for everything you've achieved.
Gillian
 
Making the right choices in the foods you eat, for example with the sausages, there can be a big difference in the carbs depending on what sausages you pick, from as little as 1.5g per sausage to as many as 8g per sausage which if you have 3 sausages would be 4.5g rather than a massive 24g. Similarly yoghurts can have a big difference.
Pasta can still be part of your diet by having black bean or edamame bean pasta rather than normal wheat pasta and with plenty of a flavourful sauce will be a low carb meal.
Using herbs, spices, curry pastes and dry rubs rather than pre-made jars of sauces will give you flavour but not so many carbs.
 
I tend to take a much simpler view of these things. Fundamentally excess weight comes from excess calories. If you want to lose weight then you need to consume less calories. All the noise about salt, sugar, saturated fats just confuses the issue. Get your weight where you want it to be by whatever means suits you and then begin to do the fine tuning on the other stuff is my thought.

Easy to say I know and you will find all and sundry telling you how to consume less calories but I reckon that it is best to work out yourself what will work for you. One thing you might try is to write down a brutally honest diary of everything (yes everything including snacks, coffees and the like) you consume in a week and use the inteweb or packet labels to get the calorie count for everything on the list. Focussing on the big calorie items, start to work out what you can stop consuming, where you can reduce portion size, and where you can substitute things. If you want to be a bit clever, you can target things that are high both in calories and carbs and get a double whammy.

That route worked for me, but more importantly because it suited my circumstances and character I could make it work without too much hassle and interruption in my daily life.

PS...train your brain to turn off when food related adverts come your way be it on the net, TV or printed media. The advertisers are remarkably good at attracting your attention and then training you to accept that their products are desirable whether needed or not. Just like they did with cigarettes......
 
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Hi and welcome
As you have probably learned from the above posts, it's all carbs you should be thinking of reducing, as they turn into glucose in the blood. As your HbA1c was in the middle range, that is why you were prescribed metformin. This works in conjunction with healthy eating, not as a stand alone. It can have bowel consequences and is best taken in the middle of a meal. If you do get tummy upsets, they often settle, but if not you can ask for the slow release version which is kinder to your inner workings.
Many people when diagnosed go flat out at first. If you cut back too much too quickly, it can affect your eyes. Also you have to have a plan that is sustainable long term. I suggest you look to reduce your carb intake slowly and steadily until it is less than 130gm a day. Some people go lower as they are less tolerant to carbs. I experimented and settled for 75-90gm a day. To help me monitor my carb intake and portion sizes, I got an app. I use NutraCheck but there are others like MyFitnessPal. I plan first thing each day, adding absolutely everything - all meals, snacks and drinks. I also suggest moderation, not abstinence. Whatever suits your mindset.
 
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