Newbie help!

[Lixxii]

Hey guys I’m a new type 2, I’m struggling and could use all your wisdom
I have pernicious anemia also very low and just started b12, I inject my diabetes meds weekly but I’m practically veggie and I’m struggling for food ideas, I’m also 17stone and 4’9 with arthritis in my knees ‍♀️ My diabetes isn’t under control yet and I just need some tips because I have no idea what I’m doing ‍♀️ Thanks everyone and hope you are all well xx

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome.

Sorry to hear you are struggling to get your diabetes under control. The anemia will impact your diabetes readings, so it may be inflating your HbA1c result.... This is the blood test used to diagnose diabetes. Do you know what your reading was at diagnosis?
Also when was your pernicious anemia diagnosed.... ie. at the time of your diabetes or was it an existing condition prior to the diabetes diagnosis?

Which injectable treatment are you using and how are you managing with that?

As regards diet, perhaps you could give us an idea of what you currently eat and then we could suggest suitable lower carb swaps. So, what does an average day's breakfast, lunch and evening meal look like for you including any drinks and snacks.

Keeping an honest food diary for a few days can help to identify areas where your carb intake is getting a bit out of control and where making simple swaps could have the most impact. Breakfast can be one of the easiest meals to change for maximum impact because many of us have the same breakfast every day, so once you find a low carb alternative that you enjoy, it just becomes a routine that you don't have to think about. Also, we are usually more insulin resistant in the morning, so eating less carbs then can have a significantly bigger impact than other times of the day, so it is a good place to start.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Lixxii

Sorry to hear about your diabetes diagnosis, and your anaemia and other health problems

Hopefully your Dr is using fructosamine or another test which doesn’t involve red blood cells to monitor your overall progress with diabetes, because as @rebrascora says, amaemia can adversely affect the accuracy of the standard HbA1c.

Eating well with diabetes and being vegetarian is perfectly possible, but you may need to adjust and adapt some recipes, because while meat as a protein source contains no carbohydrate, other protein sources (eg pulses) can also be a source of carbohydrates. Additionally some recipes might use things like adding breadcrumbs for texture or ‘filler’ - like they do with the rusk added to cheaper meat sausages.

And it is the total carbohydrate content (not just ‘of which sugars‘) that you need to balance with both your meds, and your body’s ability to cope with different carb sources - as a sort of triangular balancing act!

Keeping a food diary, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content of different meals and snacks can be really helpful. Then you can spot the ‘big hitters’ and begin to experiment with some tweaks and changes. Eg if you had porridge or muesli for breakfast, you might be able to halve the carb count or more by basing the breakfast on unsweetened greek yoghurt with some frozen berries, and then a sprinkling of granola / nuts / seeds for texture.

As you are on injectable meds, it is wise to make any changes to your menu gradually and incrementally. Do you have a BG meter to monitor your levels at home?

Sounds like the arthritis and the extra weight you are carrying might make activity slightly challenging for you, but it will really help if you can try to increase the amount of gentle exercise and activity you are able to put into your routine too. Doesn’t have to be hugely strenuous, but just raising your heart rate for 30 minutes.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on 🙂

 

[Lixxii]

Hey ladies thank you so much for replying My hbA1c number was 76 first reading and then 54 second however I have found it so hard to stick to the diet and fallen hard off the wagon and the pernicious anemia was around 3 years ago found but only now treated so very low, I didn’t no that impacted so hopefully might help once the meds for that start working Well my diet is mostly carbs, iv changed to wholemeal but it’s still a big intake, I’m trying to go Keto but because I don’t eat meat I’m just not finding anything to eat, whole meals bread, pasta, cheese, crisps and green veg raw is what I live on really lol I don’t eat sugary foods anyway or drink tea or coffee but it’s the carb foods I struggle with, I can’t eat eggs so that’s hard as every snack or breakfast includes an egg everywhere I look lol I have wholemeal peanut butter but my fat is also limited as my cholesterol was 6.6 so fats are also not an option my diabetics meds I find easy although the side affects are grim lol just the once a week injection is fine, it’s just so overwhelming and so hard to turn around, im trying to eat chicken as much as I can but it’s hard as I don’t like meat

 

[adrian1der]

Try the thread What Did you Eat Yesterday. It might give you some inspiration

 

[Lixxii]

Thanks so much everyone, I really did well the first few months but my body just went into starving mode and I don’t have any support, everyone around me also still eats the same and I’m gutted I can’t find long term solutions, I’m literally starving all the time, I didn’t use to eat breakfast so tried adding whole meal bread with plant based butter and a fibre substitute sprinkled on top but apparently that’s too much carbs and so I’m stuck as anything less I’m getting hungry and then go binge on crisps or something like that xx

 

[adrian1der]

You only have fat, protein and carbs to play with. You should try and increase your intake of fat. This will keep you feeling fuller for longer. As a diabetic you need to be trying to replace some of your carb intake with either protein or fat. All carbs are rapidly broken down by your body into glucose so it is not just the sweet sugary things you need to reduce.

 

[Lixxii]

Welcome to the forum @Lixxii

Sorry to hear about your diabetes diagnosis, and your anaemia and other health problems

Hopefully your Dr is using fructosamine or another test which doesn’t involve red blood cells to monitor your overall progress with diabetes, because as @rebrascora says, amaemia can adversely affect the accuracy of the standard HbA1c.

Eating well with diabetes and being vegetarian is perfectly possible, but you may need to adjust and adapt some recipes, because while meat as a protein source contains no carbohydrate, other protein sources (eg pulses) can also be a source of carbohydrates. Additionally some recipes might use things like adding breadcrumbs for texture or ‘filler’ - like they do with the rusk added to cheaper meat sausages.

And it is the total carbohydrate content (not just ‘of which sugars‘) that you need to balance with both your meds, and your body’s ability to cope with different carb sources - as a sort of triangular balancing act!

Keeping a food diary, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content of different meals and snacks can be really helpful. Then you can spot the ‘big hitters’ and begin to experiment with some tweaks and changes. Eg if you had porridge or muesli for breakfast, you might be able to halve the carb count or more by basing the breakfast on unsweetened greek yoghurt with some frozen berries, and then a sprinkling of granola / nuts / seeds for texture.

As you are on injectable meds, it is wise to make any changes to your menu gradually and incrementally. Do you have a BG meter to monitor your levels at home?

Sounds like the arthritis and the extra weight you are carrying might make activity slightly challenging for you, but it will really help if you can try to increase the amount of gentle exercise and activity you are able to put into your routine too. Doesn’t have to be hugely strenuous, but just raising your heart rate for 30 minutes.

Best of luck and let us know how you get on 🙂

Yeah the b12 I have just had loading dose a month ago but I’m not sure if they are keeping it separate or not maybe at my next bloods, it’s just carbs are what iv had to live on for the last 20 years being a veggie it was most of my diet along with veg, veg I usually eat as much as I like but also now that’s restricted too I I find I’m just always left hungry without carbs and end up eating just as much and going over calories, a lot of people in my family have type 2 but all of there’s is not under control so not the best people to ask lol

 

[Lixxii]

You only have fat, protein and carbs to play with. You should try and increase your intake of fat. This will keep you feeling fuller for longer. As a diabetic you need to be trying to replace some of your carb intake with either protein or fat. All carbs are rapidly broken down by your body into glucose so it is not just the sweet sugary things you need to reduce.

Yeah that’s the struggle as I also can’t have a lot of fats and don’t eat meat or eggs, I’m thinking upping fibre? Will this help?

 

[Lixxii]

So I found this fibre stuff you sprinkle or add to water, I sprinkle it on food too and it sometimes helps feeing alittle fuller but only a short while and obs can’t eat too much ‍♀️ has anyone else used it? X

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

As folks on the forum reduce their carb intake, often they find it helpful to slightly increase intake of ‘good fats’, including nuts, seeds, olive oil and dairy.

Fats and protein help you feel fuller for longer, and can help reduce the cravings that you may be experiencing

EDIT: Oops! didn’t see that these suggestions were already being discussed.

Regarding cholesterol - some people on the forum have found that reducing carbs rather than aiming for very low fat had a more beneficial impact on their cholesterol ratios and levels.

 

[rebrascora]

I also loved carbs like bread and potatoes as well sweet stuff, so I can sympathize with that craving and not wanting to give them up.
I can tell you that going low carb has been a revelation as I now very rarely feel hungry or have cravings and I eat a lot less than I did before. What I found was that the carbs were making me hungry and crave more carbs. Once I dramatically reduced my carb intake AND ate more fat (full fat versions of yoghurt, milk, cheese, mayonnaise, coleslaw, nuts etc.... as well as cream in my morning coffee and fatty meat, although I appreciate you are mostly veggie) I stopped feeling hungry and amazingly my cholesterol levels started to come down despite eating a lot more fat. 2 years later and my cholesterol levels are still slowly reducing and I love my low carb higher fat way of eating and I love the control I have over my diet whereas before I was eating far too much and always craving more.

The new thinking on cholesterol is that it is produced by the body rather than coming from what you eat, but that a high carb diet may have more of an impact on the cholesterol you produce than eating fat. I was really apprehensive about going against the low fat dietary advice from the NHS but I am so pleased I did because I feel so much better for eating more fat and less carbs and my blood test results show an improvement in cholesterol and diabetes management. My consultant is very happy and so am I.