Newbie in need of advice

[Shannonb]

Hi I'm Shannon,

I got diagnosed with pre-diabetes a while back and was advised to lose some weight, do some food swaps, and watch potion size all sensible stuff really. As well as keeping a regular check on my levels.
I already has type 2 running in my family on my mother's side.
Over the last 3 weeks my levels are been going up and down like a yo yo and is really starting to affect my mood. I have another check up with my GP tomorrow for more tests and I'm really worrying now that I will be diagnosed with type 2.
I have eaten the same breakfast for the last 2 weeks and this morning my levels went up to 13.3. My ap on my phone is telling that this is high but what is high or to high? Where should my levels be 2 hours after eating? So fed up, confused and dreading eating dinner today.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Randi]

Type 2 is different for each person. just remember, 4 - 7 before meals and 7 - 9 after meals (two hours). Find some slow releasing carb food. Walk for at least 30 mins to an hour everyday. Twice a day after meals if you can.
Stay away from pasta or rice unless you're exercising. If you're not yet on insulin then keep taking the metformin tablets twice a day with large meals.
Says he who is recovering from a extreme Hypo, which landed me in hospital.

Good luck

 

[Hannah76]

Have a breakfast which is slower releasing, i.e. porridge, wheatabix, shredded wheat and when eating pasta and rice make it the brown stuff as this is also lower in sugar and releases more slowly. I have just changed to eating brown rice and pasta and it doesn't taste any different. I'm a type 1 so not really on the ball with type 2, but keep going to your appointments and don't fret.

 

[Shannonb]

Type 2 is different for each person. just remember, 4 - 7 before meals and 7 - 9 after meals (two hours). Find some slow releasing carb food. Walk for at least 30 mins to an hour everyday. Twice a day after meals if you can.
Stay away from pasta or rice unless you're exercising. If you're not yet on insulin then keep taking the metformin tablets twice a day with large meals.
Says he who is recovering from a extreme Hypo, which landed me in hospital.

Good luck

Thank you Randi

At least I now know where my numbers should be. I'm diet controlled or should be not feeling very controlled at the moment. I see my GP tomorrow, so he might put me on Metformin then. Wishing you a speedy recovery and thanks again.

 

[Shannonb]

Have a breakfast which is slower releasing, i.e. porridge, wheatabix, shredded wheat and when eating pasta and rice make it the brown stuff as this is also lower in sugar and releases more slowly. I have just changed to eating brown rice and pasta and it doesn't taste any different. I'm a type 1 so not really on the ball with type 2, but keep going to your appointments and don't fret.

Thank you for your advice Hannah,

Sadly I've already changed to brown rice, wholemeal bread and pasta, sweetners. I also choose low fat or diet products like ww soups along with fruit and vegetables. I'm not sure to where I could be going wrong or what other swaps I could make in my diet. Maybe I should ask my GP tomorrow over potion sizes.
Thank you again and I'll try not to fret

 

[Martin Canty]

I also choose low fat or diet products

Be wary of carbs in these low fat or diet products.... Manufacturers hide carbs in these to make them palatable....

 

[Shannonb]

Be wary of carbs in these low fat or diet products.... Manufacturers hide carbs in these to make them palatable....

Thank you Martin,

I'll read labels with a little more care as I wasn't aware of this fact.

 

[Drummer]

Thank you for your advice Hannah,

Sadly I've already changed to brown rice, wholemeal bread and pasta, sweetners. I also choose low fat or diet products like ww soups along with fruit and vegetables. I'm not sure to where I could be going wrong or what other swaps I could make in my diet. Maybe I should ask my GP tomorrow over potion sizes.
Thank you again and I'll try not to fret

None of those foods are low carb - so they will just spike your blood glucose levels.
As a full blown type two I can only eat low carb foods - I set a limit of 10 percent carb content, and at the moment I am eating a maximum of 40 gm per day, to try to lose weight, but I controlled my BG in the normal range eating up to 50 gm per day. You might be able to eat more carbs per day, but I would advise avoiding grains of all kinds, legumes often cause spikes, and of course all sugars, which includes fruit other than a small amount of berries.
Low fat is not a good idea - fat is a necessary nutrient, and an excellent fuel - and if ww is Weight Watchers then be aware of the carbs which are considered benign on their plans - they are not for many people, and particularly diabetics can be badly affected by the packaged products.

 

[Shannonb]

Thank Drummer,

It's seems everything I thought I knew about better choices has just confused me even more. As they promote so much over your 5 a day and choosing healthy snack swaps, especially as I'm picky eater to start with I think I could definitely benefit from a Desmond course.

 

[Pine Marten]

Hi @Shannonb, welcome to the forum. There are some tasty recipes on the different sections of the forum which you might like to have a look at - the 'Food/carb queries & recipes', and the 'What did you eat yesterday' one, which should give you lots of ideas. Good quality meat, fish, green leafy veg, eggs, cream, red wine 🙂 are all good.

Many of us have found the DESMOND course to be not very helpful, but it varies enormously so in your area you may find a good one! The one I went to was fairly unhelpful in many ways and I have learnt far more from the good people on this forum.

The thing is to take it one step at a time, learn all you can, and think positive! Ask any questions you like, and someone here is bound to know the answer 🙂

 

[Drummer]

On low carb I only eat twice a day, as I am not hungry at all.
I eat meat, fish and shellfish, lots of salad and other low carb veges, small portions of frozen berries a couple of times a week, with thick cream, which I use for my coffee as well.
It is good to have various colourful veges - sweet peppers are my favourite, so I can make a swift stir fry with mushrooms courgettes or aubergine, maybe a tomato - now that the days are colder and shorter.
I have even been known to make a salad stew - when I had a whole bag of salad to use up - some neck of lamb, green beans and the salad, washed and the worst bits picked out, plus half an onion, some mushrooms, a few sticks of celery, half a bag of frozen cauliflower - it worked well. It was even better than the first day on subsequent days - I just kept adding more stuff, until I got fed up of it and poured the last of it away.

 

[JMyrtle]

Watch out for fructose and lactose they are both forms of sugar, one from fruit and one from dairy.
"Low sugar" products often have the sucrose ( sugar) replaced by fructose which is just as bad or even worse.
Low fat or diet products such as soup or yogurt often contain thickeners like cornflour which of course is also a carbohydrate.