New Member

[Karen57UK]

Hi
I was diagnosed Type 2 about 18 months ago. Was diet controlled then went on to Metformin, tried regular Metformin and slow release but can’t tolerate either.
I started Januvia (sitagliptin) 100mg yesterday after seeing a specialist Diabetic nurse at our Doctors practice. She has also given me a blood sugar monitor.
My last H1abc was 54 in December.
I am struggling with the food side of things so hoping for help here. My sugars today were 8.4 when I got up and then 10.4 pre lunch. I had weetabix with semi skimmed milk for breakfast.
Anyway I’ll shut up now

 

[SB2015]

Hi
I was diagnosed Type 2 about 18 months ago. Was diet controlled then went on to Metformin, tried regular Metformin and slow release but can’t tolerate either.
I started Januvia (sitagliptin) 100mg yesterday after seeing a specialist Diabetic nurse at our Doctors practice. She has also given me a blood sugar monitor.
My last H1abc was 54 in December.
I am struggling with the food side of things so hoping for help here. My sugars today were 8.4 when I got up and then 10.4 pre lunch. I had weetabix with semi skimmed milk for breakfast.
Anyway I’ll shut up now

Welcome to the forum Karen. Sorry to hear that you are having issues with controlling your levels. It is good to hear that you have been given a test kit by your Practice, and I am assuming that they are also funding the strips. This will help you to get an idea of what foods your body can tolerate.

Firstly to address your issue of Weetabix. Unfortunately virtually every cereal is basically a bowl of sugar in disguise. I used to love eating Weetabix, but avoid them completely now. If you look on the back of the packet they show you the total carbohydrate for the which is 26g for 2 Weetabix. It is important to look at the total carbohydrate on anything you eat, not just the sugar, which on your Weetabix is only 1.6g, so it looks ‘healthy’.
However ALL carbohydrates that we eat will be converted to glucose, some more slowly than others (that is one reason I regularly shout at the TV or radio when they talk about sugar rather than carbs in relation to D).
One way of seeing what reaction your body has to certain foods is to test before the meal, then again two hours after the meal. I was surprised when I did this for porridge!! Another ‘healthy food’ which sends my BG straight up. So that leaves the question of ‘so what can I eat’.

There are loads of suggestions on here in the foods section, from people who are managing their levels effectively. For breakfast I make my own Muesli from quinoa flakes instead of oats, and leave out the dried fruit (another sugar bomb which is why they taste so nice!!) and replace them with very tasty nuts. I have this with yogurt and berries from the freezer. Another option, to go with my boiled egg on Saturday, is Burgen bread which is lower carb than many others. I have tested and found out what works for me.

For other meals, you could start to calculate the amount of carbs that you are eating. As you have T2 Diabetes you know already that your body is not able to manage the amount of carbs that you are eating so you could look at ways of reducing the amount. This could be by swapping to lower carb options or reducing the portion size.

I will stop for now as I have rambled on. I am sure that there are others who will be along with useful info soon. Just keep in touch and keep asking questions. Nothing is considered silly on here.

 

[Karen57UK]

Thank you so much for the reply. I am going to try eggs tomorrow for breakfast and see how that goes.
I was given 100 strips to last until my next appointment so they should last until then.
I’m trying to lose weight too and have joined Slimming World but will try to ensure I monitor my carbs.

 

[SueEK]

Hi Karen and welcome. Good info from SB2015 above. I also find that weetabix sends my levels soaring. Breakfast is the hardest for me as I have to wait at least a half hour to an hour before I can eat due to medication and I’m in such a rush I end up either having one piece of toast or a tiny bowl of cereal, got a new one I’m trying out. I do have a Maria biscuit and 2 pieces of Lindt 85% cocoa chocolate during the morning as I get horrible nausea and these seem ok for me. The rest of my meals have been easier to change and testing has helped a lot. A lot of us seem to have a high reading first thing in the morning but it improves during the day. Please ask any questions you may have no matter how big or small they may seem, we are all doing our best to get good readings and there’s loads of help from people on this site. All the best to you.

 

[Karen57UK]

Thanks Sue. It’s all such a minefield isn’t it. The lowest my reading has been in 2 days is 8.4 and highest 13.7 so I do need to get it sorted.
Hopefully my new medication will help.

 

[SueEK]

Thanks Sue. It’s all such a minefield isn’t it. The lowest my reading has been in 2 days is 8.4 and highest 13.7 so I do need to get it sorted.
Hopefully my new medication will help.

I hope so Karen. As you can see from my readings mine were really high. Thanks to the others on this site they encouraged me to test and have found all sorts of things that affect me badly so don’t have them, or very rarely anyway. You are right that it is a minefield and certainly feels that way to begin with, I used to get quite upset at times (still do occasionally) but little by little you can change what you have, you can’t do it all overnight, it’s just not possible if you want to stay sane!! You will see your readings come down but certainly low carb is the way to go. Good luck

 

[Drummer]

Slimming world will need a lot of adapting to suit a type two diabetic - if you follow their advice on carbs your poor meter will be having fits!!
If you have been eating starches with liquid sugar (Weetabix and skimmed milk) you have been doing yourself no favours, but if you managed to stay fairly low Hba1c eating that then that is very hopeful that if you go low carb you could return to normal levels.

 

[Karen57UK]

Slimming world will need a lot of adapting to suit a type two diabetic - if you follow their advice on carbs your poor meter will be having fits!!
If you have been eating starches with liquid sugar (Weetabix and skimmed milk) you have been doing yourself no favours, but if you managed to stay fairly low Hba1c eating that then that is very hopeful that if you go low carb you could return to normal levels.

Thank you. From having weetabix and semi skimmed milk this morning to testing again pre lunch my number went up so I’m guessing that’s a no more.

 

[SueEK]

Thank you. From having weetabix and semi skimmed milk this morning to testing again pre lunch my number went up so I’m guessing that’s a no more.

That’s rubbish isn’t it. I spent ages yesterday trawling the cereal aisle and found Quaker Oats oat crisps at 17g carbs so am going to try that tomorrow, will test and see what numbers I get. Feels like a fight sometimes but you’re not alone and loads of people have ‘cracked it’.

 

[Karen57UK]

That’s rubbish isn’t it. I spent ages yesterday trawling the cereal aisle and found Quaker Oats oat crisps at 17g carbs so am going to try that tomorrow, will test and see what numbers I get. Feels like a fight sometimes but you’re not alone and loads of people have ‘cracked it’.

It’s always the nice stuff we can’t have. I only really like weetabix as cereal, well apart from Frosties which are obviously off the menu . Will try eggs tomorrow I think

 

[SueEK]

It’s always the nice stuff we can’t have. I only really like weetabix as cereal, well apart from Frosties which are obviously off the menu . Will try eggs tomorrow I think

Eggs are good, I believe Burgen bread is fairly low in carbs, though haven’t tried it myself, so eggs on toast then or an omelette with cheese, yippee

 

[Karen57UK]

Eggs are good, I believe Burgen bread is fairly low in carbs, though haven’t tried it myself, so eggs on toast then or an omelette with cheese, yippee

I may even have mushrooms too haha. I’ve started new medication too so that may help once it kicks in

 

[Browser]

A nice wee fry-up of bacon, egg, mushrooms and tomato and a slice of Burgen toast is quite ‘user friendly’ for me.

 

[Drummer]

I am unlucky in one way - I was more insulin resistant in the morning than the evening, so my first meal was 8 to 10 gm of carbs and the rest protein and fat - then I went right though to evening when I ate the rest of whatever amount I allowed myself - it was 50 gm at first but now I am going lower to try to lose weight. My glucose is just fine, has been far ages, but I stick to low carb to keep it that way, and to feel good too.

 

[trophywench]

Any protein will be better than any carb - neither my body nor yours cares what colour food is - hence the carb in a carrot, in an oat, spud, orange, a bag of self raising flour or one of demerara are treated exactly the same.

 

[SueEK]

I may even have mushrooms too haha. I’ve started new medication too so that may help once it kicks in

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Karen57UK]

Let us know how you get on.

When I got up my blood was 7.7. I had mango, a banana and yogurt and 2 hours later it’s 8.9. Having bacon and egg for lunch as need to dash out this morning

 

[SueEK]

Well that’s pretty good Karen. If I had 2 bits of fruit and a yoghurt I’d prob be in the teens! Bacon and egg sounds good

 

[Madeline]

Well that’s pretty good Karen. If I had 2 bits of fruit and a yoghurt I’d prob be in the teens! Bacon and egg sounds good

Me too, I swear I absorb the bananas in the fruit bowl via osmosis, just being in the same room as them.

I’d murder for a mango.

 

[SB2015]

When I got up my blood was 7.7. I had mango, a banana and yogurt and 2 hours later it’s 8.9. Having bacon and egg for lunch as need to dash out this morning

That sounds better Karen. You will work out what you can to,erase.
Just keep at it.