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New to Diabetes
- Thread starter Blobby
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Hi @Blobby
Sorry to read of your wife’s recent diagnosis.
The right amount/type of carbs is very individual. Some people find removing the obvious higher carb foods with added sugars such as biscuits, cakes etc a good starting point and then gradually reducing the amount of bread/pasta/potatoes they eat too. Some find changing to slower acting carbs such as grainy breads helpful, yet for others it makes little difference to their blood glucose levels.
It can be helpful to buy a home monitor if budget allows and then testing before and after eating will give her an idea of how much of an increase certain foods/portion sizes have on her levels.
I would suggest having a look at the post for Type 2 in the following thread for a good introduction to things:
forum.diabetes.org.uk
as well as a look at the Learning Zone tab at the top of the page.
Do post any questions you have no matter how big or small they seem and someone will be sure to point you in the right direction.
Welcome to the forum 🙂
Sorry to read of your wife’s recent diagnosis.
The right amount/type of carbs is very individual. Some people find removing the obvious higher carb foods with added sugars such as biscuits, cakes etc a good starting point and then gradually reducing the amount of bread/pasta/potatoes they eat too. Some find changing to slower acting carbs such as grainy breads helpful, yet for others it makes little difference to their blood glucose levels.
It can be helpful to buy a home monitor if budget allows and then testing before and after eating will give her an idea of how much of an increase certain foods/portion sizes have on her levels.
I would suggest having a look at the post for Type 2 in the following thread for a good introduction to things:
Useful links for people new to diabetes
These links provide useful information, particularly to those newly-diagnosed. You can also browse the Recommended Books and Links sections for further information :) Contents: Type 1 Section Insulin Pumps Section Type 2 Section General Help and Information Section Complications and screening...
forum.diabetes.org.uk
Do post any questions you have no matter how big or small they seem and someone will be sure to point you in the right direction.
Welcome to the forum 🙂
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Hi and welcome. It is levely that you have come here for information to support your wife with this.
Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer to your question but we can tell you how to find out.
The thing is that everyone is different. The things which affect it are
1. Different point on the diabetes scale (HbA1c reading which is the blood test result used to diagnose diabetes can range from 48 to 150+ although if she was at that top end she would likely be in hospital.... Do you know her reading?)
2. Different medication
3. Different digestive systems... some people have digestive systems which break down things like wholemeal bread and porridge almost as quickly as a Mars Bar which isn't very helpful when you have diabetes
4. Different tastes in food .... no point in telling you she can eat something which she doesn't like.
There are probably a lot more factors which I can't think of at the moment.
Anyway, what we advocate here on the forum and works for many people, is to get yourself a Blood Glucose (BG) meter and use it to see how your wife's body reacts to different foods and adjust her portion sizes or the type of carbs according to the readings you get.
BG meters are relatively inexpensive to buy if your GP will not prescribe one @ approx. £15 for a basic test kit, but the on going cost of consumables for it and in particular test strips is where the finances tot up and for that reason we recommend the 2 meters with the cheapest test strips. These are the SD Gluco Navii and the Spirit Healthcare Tee2 as they are just £8 for a pot of 50 as oppose to some other brands which cost double or triple that much. You go through a lot of test strips in the first few months tailoring your diet to your body's response to different meals so if you buy a test meter, get at least a couple of extra pots of test strips at the same time as there are usually only 10 test strips in with the meter kit. You will also need a box of lancets.
The strategy is to test immediately before eating a meal and then 2 hours afterwards. The difference between these 2 readings is down to the food she ate. If the increase is more than 3 you need to change things next time. That may be changing to a wholemeal variety but keeping the portion size the same or reducing the portion size. It is important to keep a detailed food diary along with the readings so that you can see what happened last time you had that meal and make adjustments as necessary.
The biggest offender is often breakfast cereals which are high in both sugars and starches (both carbs) and even the healthier options like porridge or whole wheat cereals or bran flakes can cause some people problems but others can get away with them, so testing really is key to working out what each individual can manage.
To give you an example..... say a roast dinner....
If you test before and her BG is 6 and she has her normal plate of food which might include a Yorkshire pudding and 2 roast potatoes and a scoop of mash.... those would be the main carbs on the plate... and avoiding any dessert which would complicate the test. If 2 hours after the meal her BG reading is 11 that is too high (11-6= 5 which is more than 3 and indicates that she ate too many carbs for her body to cope with, so next time she has a roast dinner you look at reducing one of the carbohydrate portions. If she really likes her Yorkshire pudding but not that bothered about mashed potato then skip the mash and keep everything else the same, so one Yorkie and 2 roasties but maybe a bit more veg like cabbage or cauliflower which are low carb. Test before and 2 hours after again, subtract the first reading from the second and if the reading is still more than 3, maybe half the Yorkie next time or lose one or the roasties and test again.
Gradually you will find a level of carbs for that meal which her body will be able to tolerate without spiking her BG more than 3 units.
Similarly if she currently eats wholemeal bread with sandwiches, use this process to test how she responds to it. If her levels spike too high (increase of more than 3 units) from the sandwiches, you can try a different type of bread next time like a seeded loaf or a Low carb loaf which are available in most large supermarkets but keep the portion size roughly the same. ie however many slices she would normally have. If it still spikes too high with the seeded or Low Carb bread then try reducing the portion size by half, so maybe have open sandwiches instead but keep everything else the same.
Eventually after a few months of testing you will work out which foods to buy and in what proportion her body can cope with them and fill up her plate with other low carb foods like salad or cheese or olives or veggie sticks with dips... Just remember that fruit is packed with natural sugar so best rationed to one small piece of fruit a day and avoid fruit juice.
Hope that gives you an idea of how to go on. I know it seems like a rigmarole but once you get into a routine of testing and recording it becomes second nature and the results people achieve are really inspirational. It can be far more effective than most diabetes medicines in getting levels under control.
If you don't understand anything please feel free to ask.
Unfortunately, there is no definitive answer to your question but we can tell you how to find out.
The thing is that everyone is different. The things which affect it are
1. Different point on the diabetes scale (HbA1c reading which is the blood test result used to diagnose diabetes can range from 48 to 150+ although if she was at that top end she would likely be in hospital.... Do you know her reading?)
2. Different medication
3. Different digestive systems... some people have digestive systems which break down things like wholemeal bread and porridge almost as quickly as a Mars Bar which isn't very helpful when you have diabetes
4. Different tastes in food .... no point in telling you she can eat something which she doesn't like.
There are probably a lot more factors which I can't think of at the moment.
Anyway, what we advocate here on the forum and works for many people, is to get yourself a Blood Glucose (BG) meter and use it to see how your wife's body reacts to different foods and adjust her portion sizes or the type of carbs according to the readings you get.
BG meters are relatively inexpensive to buy if your GP will not prescribe one @ approx. £15 for a basic test kit, but the on going cost of consumables for it and in particular test strips is where the finances tot up and for that reason we recommend the 2 meters with the cheapest test strips. These are the SD Gluco Navii and the Spirit Healthcare Tee2 as they are just £8 for a pot of 50 as oppose to some other brands which cost double or triple that much. You go through a lot of test strips in the first few months tailoring your diet to your body's response to different meals so if you buy a test meter, get at least a couple of extra pots of test strips at the same time as there are usually only 10 test strips in with the meter kit. You will also need a box of lancets.
The strategy is to test immediately before eating a meal and then 2 hours afterwards. The difference between these 2 readings is down to the food she ate. If the increase is more than 3 you need to change things next time. That may be changing to a wholemeal variety but keeping the portion size the same or reducing the portion size. It is important to keep a detailed food diary along with the readings so that you can see what happened last time you had that meal and make adjustments as necessary.
The biggest offender is often breakfast cereals which are high in both sugars and starches (both carbs) and even the healthier options like porridge or whole wheat cereals or bran flakes can cause some people problems but others can get away with them, so testing really is key to working out what each individual can manage.
To give you an example..... say a roast dinner....
If you test before and her BG is 6 and she has her normal plate of food which might include a Yorkshire pudding and 2 roast potatoes and a scoop of mash.... those would be the main carbs on the plate... and avoiding any dessert which would complicate the test. If 2 hours after the meal her BG reading is 11 that is too high (11-6= 5 which is more than 3 and indicates that she ate too many carbs for her body to cope with, so next time she has a roast dinner you look at reducing one of the carbohydrate portions. If she really likes her Yorkshire pudding but not that bothered about mashed potato then skip the mash and keep everything else the same, so one Yorkie and 2 roasties but maybe a bit more veg like cabbage or cauliflower which are low carb. Test before and 2 hours after again, subtract the first reading from the second and if the reading is still more than 3, maybe half the Yorkie next time or lose one or the roasties and test again.
Gradually you will find a level of carbs for that meal which her body will be able to tolerate without spiking her BG more than 3 units.
Similarly if she currently eats wholemeal bread with sandwiches, use this process to test how she responds to it. If her levels spike too high (increase of more than 3 units) from the sandwiches, you can try a different type of bread next time like a seeded loaf or a Low carb loaf which are available in most large supermarkets but keep the portion size roughly the same. ie however many slices she would normally have. If it still spikes too high with the seeded or Low Carb bread then try reducing the portion size by half, so maybe have open sandwiches instead but keep everything else the same.
Eventually after a few months of testing you will work out which foods to buy and in what proportion her body can cope with them and fill up her plate with other low carb foods like salad or cheese or olives or veggie sticks with dips... Just remember that fruit is packed with natural sugar so best rationed to one small piece of fruit a day and avoid fruit juice.
Hope that gives you an idea of how to go on. I know it seems like a rigmarole but once you get into a routine of testing and recording it becomes second nature and the results people achieve are really inspirational. It can be far more effective than most diabetes medicines in getting levels under control.
If you don't understand anything please feel free to ask.
Hi Blobby,
I notice you ask 'what sort of carbs can she eat for the first 3 months'
This concerns me because Diabetes is a marathon - not a sprint. There is no quick fix and so for example a low carb 'way of eating' (not a calorie restricted diet) is basically for life - probably a better, longer, healthier life than before diagnosis. So it's important to find things that are not only good for her body, but that she enjoys eating.
In my case this includes cheese, fatty fish, fatty cuts of meat, eggs, full fat dairy and berries.
I notice you ask 'what sort of carbs can she eat for the first 3 months'
This concerns me because Diabetes is a marathon - not a sprint. There is no quick fix and so for example a low carb 'way of eating' (not a calorie restricted diet) is basically for life - probably a better, longer, healthier life than before diagnosis. So it's important to find things that are not only good for her body, but that she enjoys eating.
In my case this includes cheese, fatty fish, fatty cuts of meat, eggs, full fat dairy and berries.
Hammergirl
New Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi - I am just through my first three months of type 2 and have managed to reduce my levels by reducing carbs. As others recommend I cut out all obvious sugar like cakes, chocolate, biscuits as well as potatoes, rice, pasta. I can tolerate porridge ( which pleases the scottish part of me!) and low carb bread. I did get a bit fed up with chicken salad as that seemed to appear almost every day but by using cauliflower rice I managed to branch out to curries, including Thai green curry, and chilli. After years of not eating fat I found it exciting to eat cheese, avocado and chicken skin and I have not felt hungry at all.
by focussing on what I can now eat rather than what I can't, I still enjoy my meals!
by focussing on what I can now eat rather than what I can't, I still enjoy my meals!
KARNAK
Much Missed Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Hello @Blobby welcome to the forum, I think you have enough to digest,
remember what @ianf0ster said its not for 3 months but for life.
remember what @ianf0ster said its not for 3 months but for life.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Are you planning to get a blood glucose tester?
If so then for a start, I'd recommend assessing what has been normal in the past and seeing how it alters levels after eating, and if particular meals are causing spikes to replace the high carb foods implicated in them with something lower - swapping mashed potato for swede or cauliflower for instance, then checking levels to see the effect. This might well resolve the problem in the first 3 months, and by sticking to the swaps could mean no further problem in the future.
If so then for a start, I'd recommend assessing what has been normal in the past and seeing how it alters levels after eating, and if particular meals are causing spikes to replace the high carb foods implicated in them with something lower - swapping mashed potato for swede or cauliflower for instance, then checking levels to see the effect. This might well resolve the problem in the first 3 months, and by sticking to the swaps could mean no further problem in the future.
Good afternoon everyone, thanks for all the tips and advice, to answer rebrascora her HbA1c was 57, she also suffers quite badly from fybromyalgia and has IBS (a nightmare for her), so her energy levels are quite low and by 1700 she's ready for bed, being mostly in a wheelchair can make being active quite difficult especially when it's wet and windy, breakfast is just a minefield at the moment, we dont't know what to do.
We bought a diabetic cookbook by Vickie de Beer and Kath Megaw and wished we'd looked through it properly before we bought it, every breakfast recipe is egg based. Bread, crackers, sweets and icecream have all been banned from the house, stir frys and salads seem to be the name of the game at the moment.
My original post "what carbs can she eat for the next 3 months" was a massive typo, it should have read "she's been told to avoid all carbs for the next 3 months, what do you eat as a diabetic to keep your energy levels up?" (i was in a rush, had a 40 mile drive coming up), we'll look online for BG monitor, sounds like a good idea.
Vegetable oil has been binned for olive, walnut and avocado oil to cook foods in any further advice is always welcome.
We bought a diabetic cookbook by Vickie de Beer and Kath Megaw and wished we'd looked through it properly before we bought it, every breakfast recipe is egg based. Bread, crackers, sweets and icecream have all been banned from the house, stir frys and salads seem to be the name of the game at the moment.
My original post "what carbs can she eat for the next 3 months" was a massive typo, it should have read "she's been told to avoid all carbs for the next 3 months, what do you eat as a diabetic to keep your energy levels up?" (i was in a rush, had a 40 mile drive coming up), we'll look online for BG monitor, sounds like a good idea.
Vegetable oil has been binned for olive, walnut and avocado oil to cook foods in any further advice is always welcome.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Eating a low carb diet can quickly and easily reduce fa higher Hba1c to normal - in my case it was 6 months, but I can't honestly say that I was putting in a lot of effort - I had got down to under diabetic level in about 80 days so I was just coasting along eating the same things.
Meat fish seafood, eggs and cheese are all fine, being low carb. I eat low carb vegetables, salad, and some berries, which I buy frozen so there is no temptation to eat them to prevent them being wasted. If you make it yourself them ice cream or custard is good too - though they have eggs, which you seem to wish to avoid if your comments about the cook book are anything to go by. That is a pity as eggs are an excellent food, and so useful for so many recipes.
Meat fish seafood, eggs and cheese are all fine, being low carb. I eat low carb vegetables, salad, and some berries, which I buy frozen so there is no temptation to eat them to prevent them being wasted. If you make it yourself them ice cream or custard is good too - though they have eggs, which you seem to wish to avoid if your comments about the cook book are anything to go by. That is a pity as eggs are an excellent food, and so useful for so many recipes.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Why the exclusion of eggs? is the lady allergic to them?
And yeah - there are carbs in eg lettuce and cucumber though much like the 'trace' amount in an egg, so little that unless you eat a dustbinful at a time, you can largely ignore the amount that anyone would normally eat..
And yeah - there are carbs in eg lettuce and cucumber though much like the 'trace' amount in an egg, so little that unless you eat a dustbinful at a time, you can largely ignore the amount that anyone would normally eat..
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Welcome to the forum @Blobby
Sorry you have to be here, but glad you and your wife have found us.
Hope things are becoming clearer for you as the weeks progress.
Members here have found that the mist cost effective meters are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 which both have test strips at around £8 for 50
Sorry you have to be here, but glad you and your wife have found us.
Hope things are becoming clearer for you as the weeks progress.
Members here have found that the mist cost effective meters are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 which both have test strips at around £8 for 50
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