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helen56 said:
Hi everyone. I'm Helen, 56 and I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes a week ago. My initial readings were 13.9 first thing in the morning and 18 2 hours after lunch. My doctor put me on Metformin (twice a day) and gave me some advice on what to eat and what to avoid and, so far, I've followed her instructions to a T. Trying to do more exercise, too, as she stressed that walking is essential. This morning I was at 6.8 and I must say I'm pleased with myself 🙂
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Welcome to the forum @helen56

Good to hear you’ve been making good progress so far, and have been pleased with the results you’ve been seeing 🙂
 
helen56 said:
As for potatoes, tomorrow will be the first time I'll have some (with chicken and salad) since I was diagnosed and I'm curious to see if/how much it will affect my after lunch reading.
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Well, I did have my potatoes (4 pieces) and my reading 2 hours later was a nice 7. Lower than my morning reading (that was 7.4).

Next worry is for tomorrow as I'm having pasta and that was what had given me my highest reading since I started Metformin, 9.5.
 
helen56 said:
Well, I did have my potatoes (4 pieces) and my reading 2 hours later was a nice 7. Lower than my morning reading (that was 7.4).

Next worry is for tomorrow as I'm having pasta and that was what had given me my highest reading since I started Metformin, 9.5.
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just have a small portion, weight what you have then you will know and have plenty of sauce and veg or salad. you were fine with the potatoes.
 
Truth be told, I had felt I had had a bit too much pasta but I'm not sure. Is one serving supposed to be 100 grams of dry pasta or is that too much?
 
helen56 said:
Truth be told, I had felt I had had a bit too much pasta but I'm not sure. Is one serving supposed to be 100 grams of dry pasta or is that too much?
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I did a bit of research. A small portion of dried pasta is 50gm. When cooked it weighs about 120gm. Either way, the carb value is about 37gm. So I would say 100gm dry pasta is too much!!!
 
Felinia said:
I did a bit of research. A small portion of dried pasta is 50gm. When cooked it weighs about 120gm. Either way, the carb value is about 37gm. So I would say 100gm dry pasta is too much!!
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It's not like I'll have many more carbs throughout the day but I suppose it makes a difference if you have a lot in one go.

I'll try with 70 grams dry pasta and see how it goes.
 
helen56 said:
It's not like I'll have many more carbs throughout the day but I suppose it makes a difference if you have a lot in one go.

I'll try with 70 grams dry pasta and see how it goes.
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I tend to look upon it as what one can tolerate per meal rather than the day as a whole. I try to keep breakfast and lunch to15-20g carbs and dinner 25g with the rest of my 70g for drinks as that then keeps my 2 hour post meal reading to below 8mmol/l.
I use edamame bean or black bean pasta which is only 15g carb per 100g dry weight and cook 50g for the 2 of us.
 
I guess I'll go by trial and error. Last time I had pasta (resulting in 9.5), I hadn't really weighed the dry pasta. I had assumed it was around 100 grams but it could have been more. I had noticed I felt a bit too full after that lunch.

I'll see what happens with 70 grams (weighed this time!) and if the result is similar to last time, I'll try with 50 grams next time.
 
helen56 said:
Truth be told, I had felt I had had a bit too much pasta but I'm not sure. Is one serving supposed to be 100 grams of dry pasta or is that too much?
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100g dry pasta usually equates to approx 70g carbohydrate for white pasta, and 60g carbohydrate for wholemeal pasta.

The best bet to work out a portion size that suits you is probably to take both a before and after reading around the meal a few times. Check BG immediately before eating (when the meal is in front of you) and again 2hrs after the first bite. Ideally you’d want the BG rise from the meal (the difference between the before/after numbers) to be approx 2-3mmol/L or less, and the after number to be 8.5mmol/L or less.

But if your starting number is higher, the ‘meal rise’ figure may still provide useful pointers. Eg 6.2 before and 9.2 after is still only a rise of 3 - which is pretty decent, even if the ‘after’ number has just tickled up a little. If you’d started at 5.2 you’d most likely have been happy with the result!
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
The best bet to work out a portion size that suits you is probably to take both a before and after reading around the meal a few times. Check BG immediately before eating (when the meal is in front of you) and again 2hrs after the first bite.
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Maybe it's because I'm very new at all this but I try to do exactly what my doctor told me. I mean, in my mind, what you're saying makes perfect sense but until I visit my doctor again (in 10 days) I don't feel comfortable doing something different.
 
helen56 said:
Maybe it's because I'm very new at all this but I try to do exactly what my doctor told me. I mean, in my mind, what you're saying makes perfect sense but until I visit my doctor again (in 10 days) I don't feel comfortable doing something different.
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Of course! That’s completely understandable. To be honest, you seem to have a particularly enlightened Dr. There aren’t all that many who offer BG meters to people with T2 diabetes, unless they are on meds that risk hypos.

Hope you get some helpful information at your follow-up appointment 🙂
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Of course! That’s completely understandable. To be honest, you seem to have a particularly enlightened Dr. There aren’t all that many who offer BG meters to people with T2 diabetes, unless they are on meds that risk hypos.

Hope you get some helpful information at your follow-up appointment 🙂
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I totally trust her as my dad was pre-diabetic about 2 years ago and he followed her instructions of diet and some exercise, lost 3 stones and he's perfectly healthy now (at 82).
 
One "useful tip" to reduce that constant weighing of different foods is to find your own equivalent of the US cup. Identify whichever cup, bowl, jug it is in your cupboard that gives you a quickly repeatable measure of 70 or 60 or whatever weight you want for spiral pasta (other pasta types apply!) and reach for that measure rather than the scales. My wife has a standard of 5 of her handfuls for a couple of things in portions for 2 people; I've checked (how could I have ever doubted?) and its always spot on; the recipe book even has its own manuscript note of '5x h'fuls for 2'. We now have a variety of our very own bulk 'measures'.
 
helen56 said:
I totally trust her as my dad was pre-diabetic about 2 years ago and he followed her instructions of diet and some exercise, lost 3 stones and he's perfectly healthy now (at 82).
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Welcome to the forum Helen

You are already progressing with your plans and are very fortunate to have such a switched on GP, who has given you a glucose meter. As others have said it is a case of finding out what your production of insulin can cope with carb wise.

Simple swaps and reductions in portion sizes can help and avoid the idea of ‘nor being allowed’ things. When we decided to go for 30g of carbs as our target for meals (and we wobble either side of that) we found that smaller plates helped to make our new portions sizes look bigger. Like others we now don’t need to weight the items we eat regularly as we have a visual measure taken from when we did weigh stuff. This works for our regular food stuff and we weigh oddities or different brands where necessary.

You are already finding out what works for you and you can chat this through with your GP.
Let us know how you get on.
 
helen56 said:
Oh, I didn't cut out milk. I've never liked milk much, anyway, and especially not in coffee. I meant black as in without sugar or any sweeteners. My doctor told me I could use stevia or a teaspoon of honey but that was even harder for me (I hated the taste), so, I just drink it black.

As for the finger pricking, I just do what the doctor told me. Twice a day (morning and 2 hours after lunch) and write it down. I imagine she wants to see something in those readings when I visit her again.
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Have a look at no-added sugar soya milk (not the low sugar version). It's a Marmite thing but I found it better than dairy milk or cream in my decaf coffee. Also, if you like decaf, take a look at Machu Pichu decaf. A bit expensive but Waitrose have it.

PS Here's the contents list from the soya carton

SoyaCarton.JPG
 
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grovesy said:
I find Soya milk looks curdles in hot drinks.
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I drink it in coffee all the time and never had a problem - but I ordered one at the Savoy once and it was disgusting. Perhaps it's a temperature problem. Coffee isn't a boiling water drink, so maybe I'm doing it right and the Savoy wasn't.

Also tried it in porage once. Awful taste combination but not curdled.
 
victorhamesse said:
Well done you. I tried some pasta again a month ago and my reading went from 9 to 12.
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Thank you! The last time I had pasta, a week ago, I had my highest reading since I started Metformin, a 9.5. But it was a much bigger serving than the one I had today.
 
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