New to this hi everyone

[Marilyn Phelps]

Hope you can give me diet tips. I have a sweet tooth, can anyone tell me if sweet potatoes are better for me than potatoes. I like most veggies, also instead of sugar I have been using raw coconut sugar to have with my cereals. am I doing the right thing? I don't take sugar in my tea, don't drink alcohol, eat the odd bar of chocolate, but one is never enough. I don't like fishy things very much, and mostly eat chicken . I am on metformin 500 mg once a day

 

[Toucan]

Hello @Marilyn Phelps
If you are following a low carb diet, which many of us on the forum do, then it is best to avoid potatoes as well as pasta and rice. Sweet potatoes are actually a bit higher than standard potatoes, new potatoes are about the lowest.
Cereals also tend to be high in carbs, as does any type of sugar. Chocolate needs to be just an occasional treat, and as high in cocoa as possible.

There is a book 'Carb and Calorie Counter' available from the Diabetes UK web site, which I find very helpful with this sort of information.
Also, if you have a look at Maggie Davey's letter, this will give you some ideas on what is good to eat.

My personal diet is mainly fresh poultry, fish, occasional red meat, nuts, some dairy products, and vegetables. I also try to avoid too much processed food, and to include plenty of fibre some from the veg, plus seeds and pulses. I limit to one piece of fresh fruit per day, usually berries as many fruits are also quite high in carbs.There are many good recipes to make these things really tasty. Have a look at Food/carb queries + recipes for more ideas.

Hope this helps, and please keep posting and we will always try to answer any questions

 

[Tee G]

Hi and welcome @Marilyn Phelps - You are in for a big change...

As @Toucan has already given you useful links to read through - I thought I would ask whether you are self testing at home with a glucose monitor? - Its a vital piece of equipment if you want to understand how foods are effecting the body - (You probably havent been given one by your Dr's surgery so here is a link for a popular model : SD Gluco Navii which has test strips at around £8 for 50.

I must stress we are all different in respect of what sugar & carbs do to us e.g. I can only eat 4 tbsp of porridge with zero carb unsweetened almond milk, otherwise I get a 'spike' in BG levels. Others can eat it quite freely. some cant have any at all. The only way to really know is to test yourself.

You will need to start reading labels on foods for 'TOTAL' carb values. (the lower the better). Google is a useful tool to get this info on loose items. I go for 10g carbs per 100g of product - (people vary their daily total carb intake on here, some very low, other around 50 - 120grms).....I only eat fruit with 'berry' in the name (and only a handful a few times a week) My veg is the 'grown above ground' varieties (i find underground ones, are more carb dense). I eat 1 slice of livelive bread (waitrose) for breakfast and top it heavily with something like smoked salmon, peanut butter, marmite, cream cheese, tinned fish mackerel/sardines. Any other bread, be it wholemeal, wholewheat again sends my sugar levels a bit too high for my comfort. Others on here find their own levels where bread is concerned. I avoid ALL cereals. I eat salad for lunch with some protein as chicken /fish (give my insides a rest from carbs whenever i can). Evening meal is usual fare, meat, fish and plenty of veg. I make 'cauliflower mash/rice' - its great substitute for potatoes. I only have 5 chips. and swapped pasta for other alternatives. for snacks i have sugar free jelly with Greek yogurt. A handful of mixed nuts & seeds or a boiled egg (i keep some in the fridge)....I intend to stay off meds for as long as i can.

I only eat 2 squares, at most, of high cocoa chocolate (85%) once a fortnight. Its definitely seen as a treat! Conventional chocolate/bars are so damaging to us, its not worth taking risks.

Diabetes T2, is a progressive disease and needs to be taken seriously and handled with respect. You can do it. It just takes a little re-training and educating yourself. You will want to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible. Its doable, just needs a bit of planning and focus. Ask any questions you like, we are all here to support each other. 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Marilyn Phelps

As with many things when it comes to diabetes, the answer to your question is most likely to be ‘it depends’!

People’s reaction to foods is very individual, and is governed by all sorts of differences in gut biome, metabolism, and genetics.

The only way to be sure of how your individual body reacts to sweet potato vs normal potato is to measure it. You could look into GI or GL (glycaemic index, or glycaemic load) for different foods, bit those will only give an indication based on an average of 100 other people, they won’t actually give you the detail of what happens for YOU.

There have been lots of threads here over the years where people have discussed vastly different reactions to the same foods.

As the saying goes... Your Diabetes May Vary 😉

 

[Drummer]

Hope you can give me diet tips. I have a sweet tooth, can anyone tell me if sweet potatoes are better for me than potatoes. I like most veggies, also instead of sugar I have been using raw coconut sugar to have with my cereals. am I doing the right thing? I don't take sugar in my tea, don't drink alcohol, eat the odd bar of chocolate, but one is never enough. I don't like fishy things very much, and mostly eat chicken . I am on metformin 500 mg once a day

Oh dear. Substituting sugar with sugar to put on your starches sorry but not the right thing at all. Sweet potatoes are higher in carbs than ordinary ones, and they are too high in carbs for most type twos. There are chocolate bars which are high in cocoa but lowest carb, but I only have one square, not one bar at a time.