New, T2, not really sure who to trust!!!

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veekaykay

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Type 2
Hi. Sorry for that dramatic title.

I'm 38, just been diagnosed with T2 a couple of weeks ago. So far the main impact of it has been anxiety rather than any diabetes-related symptoms. This is probably in part because I immediately changed my diet and gave up cigs and caffeine drinks when I found out, which obviously has a big impact. I bought a glucose testing meter mainly to calm myself down, but whilst the readings are never concerning I am still paranoid about eating ANYTHING that isn't salad or plain chicken right now. Obviously that's not sustainable forever.

The anxiety is bad enough that I'll have pins and needles in my hand and be like "oh no, it's neuropathy!" The GP actually laughed when I told her this. I know it's ridiculous, I'm nowhere near that (my blood sugar levels are "not that high," although I didn't know enough to ask for the number), but I can't shake the feeling that it's all gonna go horribly wrong.

So far I'm just totally overwhelmed. Before I signed up to this forum, I was on another forum where people were pushing one particular dietary option to the exclusion of all others, and some people were not particularly careful in doling out medical advice to newbies. (As someone who was already freaking out about this change to my life, I probably didn't need to read "no more bread or pasta or potatoes" on my first day). Then I did some online courses here which were more reassuring, but still alarmingly dropping in the phrase "foot amputation" all the time.

Then there's all the people who around me, who vary between "cut out apples and just eat seeds all day!" and people who are mostly reassuring and act like it's no big deal. Thing is, whilst there's plenty of advice around about what is best to eat, it's really hard to put it in context. Yes, I can swap white bread for wholemeal. Do I need to do that for every meal now, or is one slice of white bread a week gonna be okay? Is it all about my blood sugar levels or do I need to focus on losing weight? People are like "you can have a nice meal out now and then" but how often is now and then?! Once a month? Once a year?

I'm not expecting answers to any of this, and hopefully I can eventually get access to a dietician who can answer some of this, but I just wanted to ask what sources of information people use? There's so much conflicting stuff out there, most of it doesn't seem all that trustworthy and even when it does (this site has served me better than others so far) there's a lack of context.
 
Welcome veekaykay, first of all.....take a deep breath and relax! It does feel overwhelming at first but honest it’s not as hard as you might think 😉
We are all very different in what we can or can’t, do or don’t eat, testing is key to finding out what works or doesn’t for you. The best advice I could give is to go make a cuppa, spend some time reading through the back posts, you can then gain the real experience of SO many people who started exactly where you are now.
I started 6 months ago with a blood sugar of 22, now I am over two stone lighter and running at between 5 and 6 :D. I chose to go low carbohydrates and spent a couple of weeks keeping a food diary and tracking my blood sugars with my meter.
I can assure you I don’t live on lettuce leafs and seeds 😱 I love my food too much for that! I eat a lot of stir fry’s, steak, gammon, cauliflower cheese but with different kind of cheese sauce, I have egg and bacon for breakfast, I buy Burgen bread which is a soy and linseed low carb option, I use it for toast or sandwiches. Had a yummy bacon and cream cheese sandwich tonight 😛
Take your time, explore the forum, ask questions and make your own mind up. The issue with carbohydrates is that our body reacts to them in exactthe same way as it does obvious sugars, but there are ways to learn what works for you. I know that if my situation changed tomorrow, there is no way I would go back to my old eating habits. I feel better, sleep better, have more energy and my daughter tells me I’m much nicer to be around 🙄
 
What you describe is pretty much how I've been feeling since diagnosis 8 weeks ago. Ive managed some pretty dramatic weight loss in that time - having read up on the effects of the Newcastle Diet on achieving remission - although I've not done anything so drastic. I've just use the Carbs and Cals book and tend to have between 1100 and 1500 cals and between 90 and 140g carbs - many people seem to stick to far less.

My blood monitor suggests that this has really paid off (I'm not on meds by the way) but I almost refuse to believe it - Ive just posted this about my results:

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/board...test-readings-seem-too-good-to-be-true.75626/
 
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RELAX !! It's a long journey and a steep learning curve and no great hurry.
You've gone and bought a meter so can do your own tests to see how different foods affect your BG - a great move as we are all different, so just test and learn and adapt your diet to your own needs.
If you want some background reading Dr David Cavan's, 'Reverse Your Diabetes,' is a good and easily read start.
 
Hello @veekaykay , welcome to the forum. Try to relax , easy to say hard to do I know. Many of us on here have been managing our diabetes well for decades, you will too ! Ignore the people telling you, my gran had a friend who ......... as this friend Possibly did absolutely nothing to help themselves, probably ate tons of sweets and lived in choccy biccies. Ignore the people who are not diabetic or specialists in diabetes who are trying to give you dietary advise as they have probably heard/read the wrong dietary advise.

As you already know it’s the fast acting carbohydrates that our bodies c@nt handle too well, on this forum we recognise that their is not a one size fits all way of achieving this so we follow a variety of diets
We usually have no problems with protein and unless you have other medical conditions 5hat need low fat diets we have no problems with good fats either.

No you can’t live on salad and chicken, not only are we omnivores needing a good variety of different food types salad and chicken is very boring long term.

In my opinion it’s best to eat to your glucose meter, ie if your meter likes it then it’s fine for you, regardless of what anyone says including us ! even if it’s 4 delicious small roast potatoes and a small Yorkshire pud on sundays .
We all have treats, just not every day.
We all fall off the wagon , don’t beat yourself up , just try hard to get back on again.

Why not come and have a look at what we eat
what-did-you-eat-yesterday

This blog will help you in eating to your meter
test-review-adjust by Alan S
 
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First off, you don't need to jump into drastic changes yet.
Take stock, read up on all the solutions, decide how you are looking to deal with your diabetes, if you want to manage by diet, if you want to attempt to reverse it, then decide what's for you.

I was diagnosed, and like you looked at a site where it was simply a bombardment of one single solution to the exclusion of anything else, without any attempt to find out anything about my lifestyle or previous diet.
Not for me.
I ate to my meter, cut out food that actually did spike me, (which wasn't everything) then decided what the way forward was for me.
 
PaulLa said:
What you describe is pretty much how I've been feeling since diagnosis 8 weeks ago. Ive managed some pretty dramatic weight loss in that time - having read up on the effects of the Newcastle Diet on achieving remission - although I've not done anything so drastic. I've just use the Carbs and Cals book and tend to have between 1100 and 1500 cals and between 90 and 140g carbs - many people seem to stick to far less.

My blood monitor suggests that this has really paid off (I'm not on meds by the way) but I almost refuse to believe it - Ive just posted this about my results:

https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/board...test-readings-seem-too-good-to-be-true.75626/
Click to expand...

It worked for me.
 
Second the recommendation of David Cavans book.

I've found significant unexpected positives. It has inspired me to lose weight and get more active in a way nothing else could have. Its just 2 months since diagnosis and what a difference...it suddenly dawned on me this morning how effortlessly I was walking past 3 blokes who were obviously in a hurry. I realised that I was no longer plodding along (which Id put down to getting older) and instead of being overtaken by all and sundry I was doing the overtaking. My boss was taken aback when we hurried to catch a train as Id have been lagging and telling him to go ahead without me.

After weeks of doom and gloom it put a big smile on my face and had me thinking what I may be like as I lose more.

Just thought Id give my own experience of how the end of the world thoughts are already becoming much more positive as I start to get control over my health and am really feeling the benefits. Two T2 diabetics I know have emphasized 'its not the end of the world' and I now get that.
 
I have always had to watch the carbs as I put on weight really easily, so when I was diagnosed with diabetes I thought a few choice words about 'cholesterol lowering' diets and went home and ate chops for a couple of days - there might have been some kippers too - and basically my blood glucose nose dived from the over 17mmol/l area down towards normal.
I do eat some carbs - I ate up to 50gm of carbs per day to get down to normal BG and Hba1c, but that is what my meter told me I could cope with. I tend to stick to low carb vegetables - 10 percent or under, and also lower carb fruits such as berries - but you can eat any meat, any fish, shellfish, eggs, cheese, cream, butter, have salad dressing or coleslaw - use fats or oils for cooking or baking. It is a great diet to be stuck with.
I drink coffee - though I add water to it as the strength my husband wants it brewed is too much for me. It doesn't seem to induce cravings so I have a couple of mugs a day, with cream. I still can't stand tea - my taste buds went funny when given tablets at diagnosis. I stopped them pretty quickly but I am still finding out the effects - the most alarming one was loss of the ability to remember. Things which I forgot around the end of 2016 are still surfacing from time to time.
 
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