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Newbie. Anne the Artist.

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Anne the artist

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Type 2
Hello. I've just been diagnosed as diabetes2. I am 76 years old, bright, active and a graphite artist. I think I've sorted out my low carb diet, but am a bit confused about the pasta, rice and potato amounts. I am vegan. I have been measuring 1 cupful. Is that correct......
 
It, depends, Anne, the best way to find out if it's OK is by testing....
 
I prefer weight rather than cups full. Cups can vary a bit in size whereas the gram is pretty constant.
 
Anne the artist said:
Hello. I've just been diagnosed as diabetes2. I am 76 years old, bright, active and a graphite artist. I think I've sorted out my low carb diet, but am a bit confused about the pasta, rice and potato amounts. I am vegan. I have been measuring 1 cupful. Is that correct......
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Hi Anne, and welcome to the forum. There is plenty of advice and support available on here, so have a look around at the various bits and pieces. Also feel free to ask any questions that you have.

With regard to the ‘correct amount of pasta, ... ‘ there is no correct answer. The amount depends on what you can tolerate. A good way to to find that out is to test BG before and after your meals and keep a record of what you have eaten, remembering that it ALL carbs that will get converted to glucose once inside us.

You say that you have sorted your low carb diet, so have already made some decisions about changes. What are the ones that you have made?

I found when wanting to reduce the spikes in my BG after meals I found an amount of carbs that worked for me at each meal and we now stick to that. I have found varieties of black bean spaghetti which means I can have a good portion to carry my sauce, I love courgetti spaghetti and have just found alternatives to the loaded carbs. We weigh everything at meals and aim for our target cabs each time.

It is good that you are already active as that will help to use up your glucose. I certainly found that diong something fro at least 15 min after each meal has had a big impact on levels. The muscles just suck up the glucose that they need and the BG levels stay down rather than creating mighty peaks.

As I said before do ask any questions that you have. No questions are considered silly on here.
 
It's a bit odd. I did ask if I needed to test, but the Doctor said No, it isn't bad enough. So.......just low carbs and wait until my next Blood test in May.
 
Doctors say don't test in case you ask them to provide a meter because there is no funding for them.
Buy you own Codefree meter and strips off eBay and test two hours after each meal.
That will tell you what and how much of each carb you can tolerate.
Once you know that you are home and dry!
 
Anne the artist said:
It's a bit odd. I did ask if I needed to test, but the Doctor said No, it isn't bad enough. So.......just low carbs and wait until my next Blood test in May.
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As Jackie has said there is rarely funding for T2’s to test, but many of those in here choose to do test to get the info that they need to enable them to control their levels. Waiting for the next test at your Practice, without testing in between is like trying to get somewhere with a blindfold on. A lot harder to achieve.

I am also not convinced of the sense in waiting for things to get worse before finding out what is happening, and doing something about it.
 
I test, it’s been invaluable and I’d thoroughly recommend it. I simply don’t see how you can work out what works for you without the evidence from one. I very rapidly discovered that I cannot manage any more than 10-15g carbs at a time, and threw that ruddy NHS eatwell nonsense in the bin. If I ate to their plan I’d be on a shedload of meds, instead the meter and a strict diet has meant I’m trialling being off Metformin altogether. That has got to be better.
 
Anne the artist said:
It's a bit odd. I did ask if I needed to test, but the Doctor said No, it isn't bad enough. So.......just low carbs and wait until my next Blood test in May.
Click to expand...
I live in the States, there was no question at DX about being proscribed a meter, though the advice on how to interpret the results was somewhat sketchy.... 4 years of experience (and wisdom from the good folks on this forum) has given me the insight on how to interpret the results. As a result of testing & adjusting my diet, I am thankfully off of my meds.
 
I was lucky enough to be given a meter from the diabetes nurse at work, she is very keen on her patients being proactive. My surgery have given me prescriptions for needles and strips so I guess I’m quite lucky. Am finding testing very useful, though sometimes confusing!
 
I got meter from the diabetic nurse at the GP and get supplies on prescription. Bg's over 20 but not fitting into the inappropriate life stye box, being started on gliclazide with a risk of hypo, making it clear that I could cope with testing and showing that I understood that I had manage the problem probably put me in the "give him a meter" box.

The DN made an interesting comment. One of her problems with T2 patients was trying to get them to understand that they had to manage their condition, all she could do was advise. Too many simply expected to offload the problem onto her and to leave her to fix it.
 
Have any of you got to a point with experience such that you don’t need to test because you recognise the adverse responses when they happen or because you know what will affect you from past experience and learning from others and also reading the food labels on the food packs. Or both?
 
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Hi Willy, bit of a crossover with another thread, but I think I am getting there.
 
No because unfortunately you can eat the same meal, say a chicken casserole from the same batch two days running and get vastly different readings.
I also use my pre meal test results to see what I can eat, if it's high less carbs, low maybe a square of chocolate afterwards.
If you have it you might as well get the best from it.
Forget weight watchers if you go low carb you will loose weight automatically, someone else on here said the weight watchers diet plans are dangerous for diabetics because of the concentration on carbs and that no diabetic should follow them.
My husbands "redtop" paper gives away their booklets from time to time and I was appalled at how unhealthy their menus were.
 
JMyrtle said:
No because unfortunately you can eat the same meal, say a chicken casserole from the same batch two days running and get vastly different readings.
I also use my pre meal test results to see what I can eat, if it's high less carbs, low maybe a square of chocolate afterwards.
If you have it you might as well get the best from it.
Forget weight watchers if you go low carb you will loose weight automatically, someone else on here said the weight watchers diet plans are dangerous for diabetics because of the concentration on carbs and that no diabetic should follow them.
My husbands "redtop" paper gives away their booklets from time to time and I was appalled at how unhealthy their menus were.
Click to expand...
Someone kindly gave me a Weight Watchers book but I soon discovered it would not be of use to me.
 
JMyrtle said:
No because unfortunately you can eat the same meal, say a chicken casserole from the same batch two days running and get vastly different readings.
I also use my pre meal test results to see what I can eat, if it's high less carbs, low maybe a square of chocolate afterwards.
If you have it you might as well get the best from it.
Forget weight watchers if you go low carb you will loose weight automatically, someone else on here said the weight watchers diet plans are dangerous for diabetics because of the concentration on carbs and that no diabetic should follow them.
My husbands "redtop" paper gives away their booklets from time to time and I was appalled at how unhealthy their menus were.
Click to expand...

I hate SW for the same reason. Any ‘diet’ that advocates free carbs such as pasta is dangerous imo.
 
I don't seem to need to test my BG - but I have been well below diabetic levels for over a year now. I did expect a lower Hba1c last time, but I had an abscess under a broken toth which baffled the dentist for some time.
I am not trying to see how many carbs I can eat and 'get away with', I have just settle down to making tasty meals for myself and keeping under 40 gm of carbs a day.
 
Drummer said:
I don't seem to need to test my BG - but I have been well below diabetic levels for over a year now. I did expect a lower Hba1c last time, but I had an abscess under a broken toth which baffled the dentist for some time.
I am not trying to see how many carbs I can eat and 'get away with', I have just settle down to making tasty meals for myself and keeping under 40 gm of carbs a day.
Click to expand...

Neither do I.
But I never have counted carbs, never been low carb, everything is yummy when you have the freedom.
But it's whatever suits you.
 
Drummer said:
I don't seem to need to test my BG - but I have been well below diabetic levels for over a year now. I did expect a lower Hba1c last time, but I had an abscess under a broken toth which baffled the dentist for some time.
I am not trying to see how many carbs I can eat and 'get away with', I have just settle down to making tasty meals for myself and keeping under 40 gm of carbs a day.
Click to expand...
I have just got down to HbA1c of 36 from 41 quite quickly on about 100grams of carbs a day or slightly more.

So you don’t use a meter at all? I don’t .
 
Drummer said:
I don't seem to need to test my BG - but I have been well below diabetic levels for over a year now. I did expect a lower Hba1c last time, but I had an abscess under a broken toth which baffled the dentist for some time.
I am not trying to see how many carbs I can eat and 'get away with', I have just settle down to making tasty meals for myself and keeping under 40 gm of carbs a day.
Click to expand...
Heh @Drummer I wouldn’t say I felt 30 years younger but just a couple of months back I felt like kak and feel a lot better now.
 
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