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Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
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- Thread starter Holly Marie
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Holly Marie
New Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I just used the biscuits and milk as examples but I have swapped out a lot of things I ate before for other things is what I meant. I honestly think I need things explained to me in a dumbed down version:::
Holly Marie
New Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
O
oh dear, this is why I have come to this forum for some help and support as I am so new to this I basically thought cut out sugar and I’m all good. Clearly not, thank you though for the advice as I really didn’t know.
- Relationship to Diabetes
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Each individual person with diabetes has a different tolerance to carbohydrate @Holly Marie
From reading previous posts I know that @Drummer has always been very sensitive to carbohydrate, even before diabetes came on the scene, so has found eating a very low carbohydrate diet to be the best way forward. But many on the forum find they are fine with moderate carbohydrate intake, and have either kept their diet quite similar to how it was before but with better portion control, or have made some simple swaps and changes to reduce the overall carbohydrate in meals.
Sugar is just one form of carbohydrate, but as the body’s preferred and easiest energy source, your metabolism won’t really care if it’s sucrose or starch, and will break them both down into glucose quite quickly. So the things you have to be careful of are the obvious sweet stuff, but also bread, pastry, cereals, oats, anything made from flour, rice, root veg, sweet corn and most fruits.
It’s not that you can’t have any of these things necessarily, but that you have to work out what they do to your body as an individual, and what types and amounts your metabolism can cope with (and at what time of day... this can have an effect too, with breakfast often being the time when people are most sensitive to carbs).
The link that @Northerner suggested to ‘test review adjust’ is a very helpful one for working out what food suits your body, what swaps work (eg do seedy breads or whole meal versions of things make a difference for you):
Really, the only way is by testing your blood sugar levels before and after eating, as described in Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S. If you do decide to get a meter then the cheapest option we have come across is the SD Codefree Meter which has test strips at around £8 for 50 (you can pay as much as £30 for 50 test strips for other brands, but they all do the same job with the same degree of accuracy!).
Just treat is as being your own science experiment... Good luck and let us know how you get on 🙂
From reading previous posts I know that @Drummer has always been very sensitive to carbohydrate, even before diabetes came on the scene, so has found eating a very low carbohydrate diet to be the best way forward. But many on the forum find they are fine with moderate carbohydrate intake, and have either kept their diet quite similar to how it was before but with better portion control, or have made some simple swaps and changes to reduce the overall carbohydrate in meals.
Sugar is just one form of carbohydrate, but as the body’s preferred and easiest energy source, your metabolism won’t really care if it’s sucrose or starch, and will break them both down into glucose quite quickly. So the things you have to be careful of are the obvious sweet stuff, but also bread, pastry, cereals, oats, anything made from flour, rice, root veg, sweet corn and most fruits.
It’s not that you can’t have any of these things necessarily, but that you have to work out what they do to your body as an individual, and what types and amounts your metabolism can cope with (and at what time of day... this can have an effect too, with breakfast often being the time when people are most sensitive to carbs).
The link that @Northerner suggested to ‘test review adjust’ is a very helpful one for working out what food suits your body, what swaps work (eg do seedy breads or whole meal versions of things make a difference for you):
Really, the only way is by testing your blood sugar levels before and after eating, as described in Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S. If you do decide to get a meter then the cheapest option we have come across is the SD Codefree Meter which has test strips at around £8 for 50 (you can pay as much as £30 for 50 test strips for other brands, but they all do the same job with the same degree of accuracy!).
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Holly Marie
New Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Amazing, thank you so much. Feeling a little better now @everydayupsanddowns thank you. I am going to switch to the meter you suggested above as the one I have no the strips are too expensive so I will do that and keep you all updated on how I get on. Thank you all
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Even though I have to avoid all high carb foods, the grains and potatoes and even legumes are off the menu, I can still eat quite a lot of plant based foods - and got down to normal levels on 50 gm of carbs a day, large salads, roast veges and stirfries - foods which are 10 percent carbs or less, other than high cocoa chocolate which I do not eat much of, and not every day. I aim not just for below diabetic levels but normal - and almost manage it. I have cream in my coffee, and on the berries I have in the freezer.
Others do eat more dense carbs, allow higher spikes, higher Hba1c levels, but I am perfectly content on no more than 40 gm of carbs a day and seeing normal numbers whenever I test after eating. I would have hoped for my Hba1c to be lower, but I think I was diabetic for a long time before diagnosis, so have to content with the status quo.
Others do eat more dense carbs, allow higher spikes, higher Hba1c levels, but I am perfectly content on no more than 40 gm of carbs a day and seeing normal numbers whenever I test after eating. I would have hoped for my Hba1c to be lower, but I think I was diabetic for a long time before diagnosis, so have to content with the status quo.
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