Newbie saying hello

[Blue-eyed-girl]

Hi. Just been diagnosed T2. No medication, just advised to change diet and lifestyle. Finding it a bit overwhelming and daunting re the cant-eats, like cornflakes...thought cereal was healthy food, lol. I love Hovis seeded bread - is this a no go too? Is semi-skimmed milk allowed? Is it ok to use Steria granulated instead of sugar? I like pasta and rice but this appears to be off the table - can i swap for brown instead? And i guess no lurpak? This is a nightmare!!

 

[Drummer]

Hello and welcome - and the one thing you need to know is that it is all about the carbohydrates - sugars and starches, because they are not 'healthy' at all.
The introduction of grains to the human diet is a fairly recent innovation in evolutionary terms, and we can easily do without them. What we can't live without are protein and fat - so your guess wrong about the lurpack - that is fine. I use the fats from the meat I buy, and a little olive oil, and some butter and lard for when I have cleaned everything and there is need for something to cook with.
I put cream in my coffee, I buy Livlife or protein bread which has 4 gm of carb a slice, I eat cauliflower and swede, I do have artificial sweeteners around, but hardly use any as eating low carb has made my sense of taste more sensitive to sweetness and my brain doesn't crave sweet things.

 

[Docb]

Hi @Blue-eyed-girl and welcome to the forum.

Whoa! If you have been diagnosed and not started on medication then I am guessing that you are just into the diabetes category. Have you come across the HbA1c blood test in your research? This is a measurement made on blood taken from a vein and sent to a laboratory. If it is above 48, you get a diagnosis of diabetes. The higher the number is, the more challenging the problem of dealing with it. Some on here have had HbA1c readings well over 100 and have had to get on top of things a bit sharpish. If you are around 48, then you need to get on and do something but there is no need to panic. So, first question is, do you know what your HbA1c was? If not it is a good idea to ask your surgery for it because it is useful to judge how big a hill you have to climb. Hopefully it will be a bit of a stroll up gentle hill and not a mountain.

You have picked up on the idea that your blood glucose is affected by what you eat. The important food group is carbohydrate since it is carbohydrate which is turned into a big portion of the glucose you see in your blood. So what you are looking at is reducing carbohydrate intake. This does not mean there are things you cannot eat. It means that you have to reduce the amounts of things with lots of carbohydrate, like cereals, potatoes, rice, pasta and sweet things generally. Quite how you go about it depends on you and your lifestyle and how big the hill in front of you is. If you are just above the diabetes threshold then some simple tweaks could well suffice.

The first thing you will find you have got to do is to ignore the attempts of food manufacturers to get you to buy their stuff by calling it healthy! A lot of the stuff is far from healthy for those with T2 diabetes. There is only one important thing on the packet and that is the nutrition label... usually round the back and a bit small. That tells you what you need to know, not the big writing on the front of the packet.

Check around the forum and the main site and things should get into perspective. Above all, ask questions. There are a lot of friendly people on here who will share their experiences and help you out. And no question is considered too silly.

 

[Blue-eyed-girl]

Aww thank you both. That is really helpful, especially not having to give up Lurpak lol! My blood count was 51 so doesnt look so bad now in comparison. Ive been reading around the site and a lot of the things that arent great, like potatoes, cakes, biscuits, sugary cereals etc i dont eat much of usually because ive been trying to lose weight for ages but never seem to make any progress, so it looks like im already on the right path, just need to work a little harder at it.

My biggest problem is i suffer stress and depression so tend to overeat sugary comfort food on occasion and often feel anxious when going out so tend to avoid it. My job doesnt help in that it demands hours on the computer and i deal with an emotionally difficult client group. The covid situation has only made things worse for me. By the time i finish work im extremely exhausted with little motivation to exercise or cook.

But i feel better reading these replies as being T2, and potentially reversing it doesnt look like such a mountain to climb now. Thank you both.

 

[grovesy]

If you suffer from stress and depression, I would advise rather than make drastic and or restrictive changes , make small changes. This a marathon not a sprint.
Try not to beat your self up if you have a bad day food wise.

 

[Ralph-YK]

Welcome to the forum Blue-eyed-girl, from a fellow T2.

I love Hovis seeded bread - is this a no go too? Is semi-skimmed milk allowed? I like pasta and rice but this appears to be off the table - can i swap for brown instead?

I'd advice self testing. This will show you what affect food has on your blood glucose (BG), as well as any changes your make. This will give you some information to help you decide.
Keep a food diary, along with a record of your levels. After a couple of weeks hopefully you'll start to see a pattern.

And i guess no lurpak?

It's not food that raises our BG. It's carbohydrates in particular. Lurpak, being butter, doesn't really have any. It's fats. So, as a diabetic it is OK. However, in terms of caries, weight management, and other health issues, that's another question.

thought cereal was healthy food, lol.

Well, they're low fat, and relatively low cararie, which was the generic "healthy eating's" "big baddie". However, as diabetics, we've got other considerations. As in the carbohydrates.

sugary cereals etc i dont eat much of usually

It's not just the sugary cereals. For example mini shredded wheat, which only had wheat as an ingrediant, makes a big difference to my BG.

 

[Docb]

Hi @Ralph-YK - were there a couple of typos in your post? Should "caries" and "cararie" have read "calorie" and calories?

 

[Blue-eyed-girl]

Thanks all for comments. I got jist of cararie, lol, at least i wasnt told to cut down on my intake of canaries!

 

[Perfect10]

Thanks all for comments. I got jist of cararie, lol, at least i wasnt told to cut down on my intake of canaries!

canaries?!!!! love spellcheck sometimes.

Hi, I had a reading of 49 a couple of months ago and by cutting carbs reduced this to 44 in 4 weeks so I am now pre diabetes. There are a few breads that are lower carb, Hovis do a lower carb loaf that is about 9g per slice, then the protein bread and brown nimble are about the same.
Replace potatoes, rice and pasta with cauliflower rice or mash and celeriac mash or chips. You can buy barenaked noodles and rice and Holland and Barrett also do their own which are zero carb. I found it helpful to buy a Keto diet book to start to think about lower carb meals. Lots of good advice on this forum.

 

[Blue-eyed-girl]

Thanks, Vonnie. I have a couple of Keto recipe books as i was going to try it but all the faff of replacement flour etc, and that i found i was allergic to avacado, really put me off. Ive ordered some Diabetic recipe books so will dig out my keto books as well to start gathering some anti-T2 bullets.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Blue-eyed-girl

Hope you can find a few simple easy swaps and tweaks that make a big difference to your BG results and drops your HbA1c back down again.

As @grovesy suggests it might be worth making small and manageable changes to begin with, rather than jumping in to a whole new approach all in one go.

Some people find keeping a food diary, detailing everything they eat and drink (along with a count or estimate of their carb counts) can be a very helpful way of spotting any meals or snacks that are high-carb but low-satisfaction, which are prime candidates for tweaking.

Good luck and let us know how you are getting on 🙂

 

[SB2015]

Welcome to the forum @Blue-eyed-girl

You have already had some great advice from others, so I will just encourage you to ask any questions that you have. Nothing is considered silly on here, so just ask away.

 

[Ditto]

Hello and welcome to the forum @Blue-eyed-girl 🙂

Mmmm Lurpak...