New Type 2

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Denis J

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Type 2
Good Afternoon.

Thanks for having me.
My name is Denis and I've recently been diagnosed as Type 2 Diabetic.
I live in Ireland and I found that people are very helpful in this forum, so decided to join.
All this is new to me,but, my main difficulty is deciding what to eat,how I should eat and when.

Thank you all.

Denis
 
Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis but pleased you have found the forum as it is a goldmine of experience and practical help as well as emotional support.

I think the most important thing to start with is to ask what if any medication you have been prescribed and what is your HbA1c result. This is the blood test used to diagnose diabetes and monitor your journey with it and will usually be a number if 48 or more but can go up into 3 figures if things are seriously amiss. It might also help to know how you came to be diagnosed? ie. was it discovered through a routine blood test like and annual "MOT" or were you symptomatic and went to see your GP as a result. If so, which symptoms did you have. Knowing if you have much/any weight to lose will also influence the advice we might give.

Sorry to throw questions back at you before answering yours but your answers may well influence the advice we give regarding food.
 
Hello Barbara.

Thank you.
To try and answer your questions;
Over the past number of years I've had trouble sleeping with my legs.
I get crawling sensations and sometimes pain. I now believe it to be nerve damage. About 1.5 years ago, I went to the doctor about this and had my bloods checked. My GP said that I was boarder line Diabetic. Unfortunately, I didn't do anything about it then.
Two weeks ago, I went to the doctor to get my blood checked as it had been a long time. When we got the results back, my GP said that, he now had to put me on medication as my HbA1c was now at 69, whereas previously, 1.5 years ago, it was at 53.
I'm 54, and a smoker.
I have a very sweet tooth, love my chocolate.
Since I was diagnosed, I haven't touched, chocolate, sweets,etc.
A few months back, I was nearly 17 stone,but strangely enough, when I was weighed by my GP, I was down to 15.5...I was delighted.
So basically, I need to lose about, 2 - 2.5 stone.
 
Welcome to the forum @Denis J - and glad you have de-lurked!

There’s a downloadable ‘Enjoy Food’ booklet here that offers some general advice and guidance.


One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with your diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like chocolate, cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut right back on straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits. That doesn’t mean you have to try to avoid all those things entirely, but aiming to keep an eye on portion sizes, and looking for some swaps and changes to reduce your overall carbohydrate intake can be very effective at improving glucose levels.

Many new members find it can be really helpful to keep a brutally honest food diary for a week or two. Note down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content in your meals and snacks - it doesn’t have to be gram-perfect, the nearest 5-10g is fine. It might sound like a bit of a faff, and will involve weighing portions, squinting at the fine print on packaging, and possibly looking up things on the internet, but it will give you a really good idea of which foods are the main sources of carbs in your menu. Once you can see which meals or snacks are your ‘big hitters’, and where carbs might be unexpectedly lurking, the process might also suggest some likely candidates for swaps, portion reductions, or using lower carb alternatives (eg celeriac or swede mash, or cauli ‘rice’).

Congratulations on the weight loss! That can help to improve insulin sensitivity, especially if you are losing weight around your abdomen which can reflect visceral fat around your organs.
 
It is a great pity that your GP told you you were only borderline diabetic before as with an HbA1C of 53 you were most definitely diabetic as the threshold is anything over 47mmol/mol.
Even with the medication you will need dietary changes but there is still plenty you can eat with options for filling tasty meals.
Have a look at this link for some ideas for a way forward, it is a low carb approach which many have found successful in losing weight and reducing HbA1C. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
 
Thanks for that extra info. Chocolate in itself isn't too much of a problem if you choose the higher cocoa content dark chocolate, so 70% or more and limit yourself to a square or two. It is all the sugar they put in the milk chocolate which is the problem. I was a chocoholic and sugar addict pre-diagnosis, but that had to stop when I got the diagnosis. Now I have an occasional square of very dark chocolate with a spoon of peanut better to make it more satisfying and that works well for me. Better than the multipacks of snickers I used to consume!!

Unfortunately diabetes isn't just about sugar though, but all carbohydrates which break down into glucose in your digestive system and gets absorbed into your blood stream. So it isn't just the sugar in cake but the flour as well which makes conventional cakes and biscuits a problem. And of course bread is made with flour and pastry and dumplings and pasta and couscous. And then it isn't just wheat products but all grains are high in carbs, so rice and oats and barley are also carb rich, as are potatoes. Basically all the things you probably bulk your meals out with. That is the bad news! 🙄 The good news is that meat and fish and eggs and cheese and butter and cream and green veggies are all low carb. There are alternatives to potato and rice, like cauliflower which works really well mashed with a dollop of cream cheese and a spoon of mustard, with bangers or topping a cottage/shepherd's, fish pie..... with plenty of grated cheese on the top. Cauli can also be grated to produce a low carb rice substitute, or you can buy it ready grated and takes a couple of minutes to cook, but personally I have my chilli on a bed of cooked shredded cabbage (with a knob of butter) instead of rice and same with curry, although sometimes I just make a pan of curry and eat it just as it is with a spoon like a stew. No reason why you have to have bland carbs like rice with it, just eat the tasty stuff. I have found ways of incorporating more and different veggies into my diet. Butternut squash features quite regularly as a tasty lower carb potato substitute and you can mash it to make bubble and squeak. You just have to start thinking outside the box when it comes to food. Steak and chips is still on the menu occasionally, but the chips are celeriac instead of potato and served with fried mushrooms and a salad and a dollop of coleslaw or pickled beetroot works well with steak. Depends what you like.

As regards the legs pains, I would be seeking some help to quit smoking as soon as you can. The discomfort you are feeling may be peripheral neuropathy or peripheral artery disease and smoking is likely to increase the risks of it deteriorating, especially now that you have diabetes. Bit of a double whammy having to look at giving up smoking as well as changing your diet but I can assure you it will be worth it.
 
Denis J said:
Thank you Barbara, truly appreciate it.
Click to expand...
My brother in law used hypnotherapy to stop smoking and it was incredibly successful for him. Never wanted one since and it is 20 years ago! Doesn't work for everyone of course.
 
Denis J said:
Hello Barbara.

Thank you.
To try and answer your questions;
Over the past number of years I've had trouble sleeping with my legs.
I get crawling sensations and sometimes pain. I now believe it to be nerve damage. About 1.5 years ago, I went to the doctor about this and had my bloods checked. My GP said that I was boarder line Diabetic. Unfortunately, I didn't do anything about it then.
Two weeks ago, I went to the doctor to get my blood checked as it had been a long time. When we got the results back, my GP said that, he now had to put me on medication as my HbA1c was now at 69, whereas previously, 1.5 years ago, it was at 53.
I'm 54, and a smoker.
I have a very sweet tooth, love my chocolate.
Since I was diagnosed, I haven't touched, chocolate, sweets,etc.
A few months back, I was nearly 17 stone,but strangely enough, when I was weighed by my GP, I was down to 15.5...I was delighted.
So basically, I need to lose about, 2 - 2.5 stone.
Click to expand...

I'm 59 now and was a smoker from the age of 17 until being admitted to hospital 6 weeks ago. I wasn't admitted for a smoking related problem but I initially had to go on oxygen because my SATS were down on 91%, that was a bit of an eye opener tbh, by the time I left hospital 5 days later i was around 94% which I could increase to 97% with some deep breaths. Last week at a hospital appointment my SATS were 97% without needing to take deep breaths.

If you can give up, it is so worth it, even with the diabetes which was diagnosed when I was in hospital I feel better than I have for years.
 
Sat 9th December

So having slept in from 11.00 on Friday night to 12.00 on Saturday morning..I got up
Had a small bowl of granola/seeds&greek0% yogurt, a slice of wholegrain bread,1 Cholesterol original yogurt drink from Brookland (ALDI) and a cup of tea for breakfast. I dosed off again for an hour on the couch and when I woke up again, I decided to check my blood sugar for 2hrs after breakfast ( I didn't check my after sleeping fasting one after getting up at 12.)
My mmol was 10.7
What am I doing wrong
 
It depends what your waking readings was, before eating breakfast. You can't take any useful info from your after breakfast reading unless you know what it was before you started eating.

How much granola did you have? I have a tiny sprinkle on my yoghurt (and I always buy full fat Greek yoghurt) but the order you have them listed looks like you had yoghurt with a normal portion of granola and then a slice of bread afterwards which is 2 carb rich ingredients in your breakfast. ie the granola and the bread. If you know your portion size of granola ie. the weight then you can calculate the carbs in it. A medium slice of wholemeal bread is about 15g carbs. I stopped eating bread because it spikes my levels too much. Wholegrain has almost the same amount of carbs as white bread, it just has a bit more fibre which is better for your gut but makes little difference to your diabetes. This is where many of us feel Diabetes UK lets people down or at least confuses them, by recommending wholemeal/grain products. Not by any means saying eat white bread, but your diabetes is all about carbs and there is almost no difference between the carbs in white or wholemeal.
 
It is a steady progression of trial and improvement. I made lots of mistakes in the first few months before I got my head around it and my diet figured out, but you learn lots from mistakes, so don't worry about making them.
 
rebrascora said:
It is a steady progression of trial and improvement. I made lots of mistakes in the first few months before I got my head around it and my diet figured out, but you learn lots from mistakes, so don't worry about making them.
Click to expand...
Many thanks again Barbara.
I guess it is...can be very frustrating in the beginning....but ill get there
 
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