Newbie wanting food advice please

[WelshRoo]

Hi everyone.
I was told by my doctors receptionist on Friday afternoon (2/3/23) that I have early diabetes. That was all she told me - so given that Im 5'5 and 17st 4 and was fairly sedetary - Im presuming its Type 2 but Im not 100% sure at the minute. There is a lot of Type 2 on one side of my family and Type 1 on the other. She has booked me in to see the diabetes nurse on the 13th so I am still over a week away from my appointment but in the mean time I am trying to make some proactive changes to my diet and fitness.

Previously I was eating chocolate, crisps, pepsi/coke/7up (all full fat) daily and not a small bar of chocolate or a small bag of crisps I might add, then home cooking or takeaway if husband suggested it and snacking a lot on things like biscuits, chocolate, cake etc. Also 2/3 sugars in my tea or coffee too and about 4/5 of them a day. Sweet tooth is ridiculous.

So since Friday I have just decided to cut sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks from my diet. I know there are things like diet /sugar free versions but I would rather just not have it there as a temptation at the minute as I learn to manage my diet and diabetes.

So I followed the food section of this site and did a food shop - replaced things like processed butter spreads with an olive oil based spread, got extra virgin olive oil to cook with if its needed, lots of veg, protein, pulses etc. I've also brought flavoured sparkling water to try and give me the fizzy craving without all the sugar but I'm aware it probably still has additives so is this ok?

My food diary for today so far looks like this

breakfast (8am)
2 slices of wholemeal bread toasted with olive oil spread.
coffee, no sugar with skimmed milk

lunch (12)
tin of Heinz lentil soup with cracked black pepper

Afternoon snack (about 2pm)
Cucumber and celery sticks, 1 cup of chopped fresh strawberries and a handful of lentil crisps. (proper variety)

Dinner tonight my daughter has requested Fajitas, so it will be chicken, mixed peppers, red onion, and maybe some spinach with seasoning - I will have mine in lettuce wraps and they will have proper wraps.

I've been drinking no added sugar diluted squash during the day and have worked out on my treadmill for an hour at 3.3km/hr

Does this look like an ok start? Anything else you'd recommend?

Any feedback at all is appreciated.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

That sounds an excellent start.
You need to wait until you see your nurse now, and take it from there.
Have a look at

I have type 2 diabetes – what can I eat?

If you've just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, one of the first things you might be worried about is food. You’re likely to be faced with what seems like an endless list of new tasks. Medical appointments, taking medication, stopping smoking, being more active and eating a healthy, balanced...

www.diabetes.org.uk

 

[WelshRoo]

Thank you Travellor.
I see from your signature that you follow a mediterranean diet. Can I ask do you find it helpful because I am leaning more to following a diet like that as opposed to low carb.

Also what is the newcastle diet?

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I originally was diagnosed a while ago.
I took all the meds offered, did all the NHS courses, and used the time to look at what I wanted to achieve.
I decided weight loss would help, not just with diabetes, but general health.
I did a low fat, low calorie diet, exercised, then the Newcastle diet just hit the news, which is eight weeks of shake based 800 calorie restricted diet, so I finished with that.
(There are some that claim any weight loss is always a yo-yo diet, I would say it's experienced based, it does for them, but not for all of us, so you need to look at that)
The break from food was good for me, it was a reset, so I looked at different foods for afterwards.
Low fat, minimal saturated fats, minimal processes foods are probably the main target, but I can, and do eat anything when I need to now.
All I do is keep the weight in my target band.
(Mostly, like normal people, I often do a dry January, and diet, to recover from an excessive Christmas!)

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Well done on the major changes you have started to make @WelshRoo 🙂

I think you need to find an approach that works for you, and appeals to you, and which you believe you can maintain until you reach your goals.

Are you aiming primarily for weight loss or blood glucose management? Or a bit of both?

Some forum members prefer the idea of a aiming long-term switch to their way of eating, based around the level of carbohydrate intake that their body can successfully manage.

Others prefer the possibility of the research which suggests an ‘personal fat threshold’ where for some people significant weight loss, especially visceral fat around the abdomen, can reboot the pancreas and restore balance to their metabolism.

Some find a more steady and gradual weight loss effort more sustainable for them with a moderate or low-ish level of carbohydrate allowing them more variety.

Sounds like you are doing really well so far - there’s no ‘one size fits all approach’, and there’s no problem in trying one approach and seeing how you get on with it - you can always try another strategy if you think that would be helpful later on 🙂

 

[WelshRoo]

Thank you @everydayupsanddowns
I have quite a lot of visceral fat around my mid section so ultimately losing some of that will not be a bad thing but the overall goal of being healthier and fitter is my main goal.
Like I have said I haven't seen my diabetic nurse yet so I dont know numbers etc but I guess I can really set a focus once I know them and decide the best route for me but until then I am going to start making changes to my diet and my exercise to put myself in a better mindset to focus on getting myself better.
Im hoping to put it into remission but to be honest it came as such a shock that I am just trying to learn what I can about diabetes and the best ways to help myself going forward

 

[Leadinglights]

You have made a good start, it is better to reduce your carbs gradually over a few weeks as it is gentler on the eyes and nerves as a sudden change can cause issues in some people especially if they have previously had a high carb diet which it sounds as if you have.
Getting used to looking at the carb information on foods so you can estimate how much you are having per day or per meal is a good idea and keeping a food diary so you can show at your appointment.
I followed the principals in the Freshwell link I posted.. Typically I have full fat Greek yoghurt with berries and a 15g scattering of a low sugar granola or eggs in any form sometimes with bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes with just 1 thin slice of toast.
Lunch is things like homemade soup (bought soups can be quite high carb), cheese, cooked meat, salad and a couple of ryvitas or similar, dinner things like chilli, curry, meat, fish, omelette, stirfry, lightly dusted fish fillet with veg or salad.
I don't have rice, very occasionally potatoes and use edamame or black bean pasta.
Pudding is sugarfree jelly with berries and cream or strawberries and cream, Kvarg deserts. I sometimes make a fruit crumble, the crumble part is ground almonds, butter, and low sugar granola.
I have semi skimmed milk in drinks and have weekend treat of a square of dark chocolate.
I try to keep to 70g total carb per day but a starting point of no more than 130g per day is suggested for a low carb approach.

 

[42istheanswer]

@WelshRoo additives (artificial sweeteners I assume you mean?) in fizzy water are very much an individual choice. For some of us, the aftertaste or the possible laxative effects mean that we prefer to avoid them (and it is possible to be allergic to them) but others find they don't have any noticeable side effects. You can though get some fizzy waters which have no added sugar but also no added sweeteners - brands like Ugly and Dash and Aqua Libra are often available in supermarkets. They are a bit more expensive so it depends how much your budget is for treats like fizzy drinks, as well as how bothered you are by having sweeteners.

 

[Giilcat]

I have been eating Lurpak butter but have today swapped for Bartoli olive oil spread is this a good swap? Also love muller corners but have bought plain greek yoghurt and fruit today to make my own hopefully this works as well. Still quite confused as to whether I should be checking carbs or sugar content in the food. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[bulkbiker]

I have been eating Lurpak butter but have today swapped for Bartoli olive oil spread is this a good swap? Also love muller corners but have bought plain greek yoghurt and fruit today to make my own hopefully this works as well. Still quite confused as to whether I should be checking carbs or sugar content in the food. Any help would be appreciated.

Check carbs.. they all turn to sugar once ingested so...

 

[Leadinglights]

I have been eating Lurpak butter but have today swapped for Bartoli olive oil spread is this a good swap? Also love muller corners but have bought plain greek yoghurt and fruit today to make my own hopefully this works as well. Still quite confused as to whether I should be checking carbs or sugar content in the food. Any help would be appreciated.

It is the carbs number on your packets as things can be low sugar so get a green traffic light on the front of the packet but are high carbs.
My example is the cereal puffed wheat which is 0.6g sugar per 100g so gets a green but is a whopping 69.6g total carbohydrate per 100g so definitely not a good choice.
Butter, oils or fats won't affect your blood glucose as they don't convert to glucose but you might choose something other than butter for other reasons. Personally, I can't stand any of those spreads myself, I would rather not have anything so stick to butter.

 

[Giilcat]

Check carbs.. they all turn to sugar once ingested so...

Thank you that makes it a bit less confusing

It is the carbs number on your packets as things can be low sugar so get a green traffic light on the front of the packet but are high carbs.
My example is the cereal puffed wheat which is 0.6g sugar per 100g so gets a green but is a whopping 69.6g total carbohydrate per 100g so definitely not a good choice.
Butter, oils or fats won't affect your blood glucose as they don't convert to glucose but you might choose something other than butter for other reasons. Personally, I can't stand any of those spreads myself, I would rather not have anything so stick to butter.

Thank you you are all so kind and helpful, it's so nice to have things in English rather than just a load of words to read and no proper explanations. I decided today be it right or wrong that I just cannot cope with making great big changes or changing the way I have lived for the last 60 odd years, always been a meat, potato and veg eater with some spaghetti thrown in as my Dad was Italian 🙂 so it will be just a bit at a time and smaller servings which I think is one of the problems, and more walking. Hope this will change me for the better lol.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you that makes it a bit less confusing

Thank you you are all so kind and helpful, it's so nice to have things in English rather than just a load of words to read and no proper explanations. I decided today be it right or wrong that I just cannot cope with making great big changes or changing the way I have lived for the last 60 odd years, always been a meat, potato and veg eater with some spaghetti thrown in as my Dad was Italian 🙂 so it will be just a bit at a time and smaller servings which I think is one of the problems, and more walking. Hope this will change me for the better lol.

Butternut squash is a good substitute for potatoes or celeriac or swede. Edamame or blackbean pasta is much lower carb than normal pasta.
More of the meat and veg less of the potatoes, more of the sauce and less of the pasta.