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Hi my name is Lisa. I am 48 years old and recently diagnosed type2. I have no clue whats happening. I was meant to see a diabetic nurse yesterday but my surgery cancelled due to her being sick. My number is 52 from my bloods. I'm not sure if that requires medication. I have a finger prick counter and I feel a bit woozy so did my finger and its 11.1. What does all this mean please and what do I need to do?. Many thanks
Welcome @lisa haigh🙂 An HbA1C of 52 is just in the Diabetes zone so hopefully you won’t need meds and will be able to make some small changes to improve things.
Are you overweight? If so, losing weight will help. Exercise like walking helps too, along with looking at your diet and seeing where you can tweak it to reduce the carbs.
Hi and welcome. Your HbA1c is 52 mmol/mol, which is only just in the diabetic range. With a few tweaks to your lifestyle, you should hopefully be able to reduce it without the need for medication. Finger pricking takes your blood glucose at the time of the test, and is not the same as your HbA1c. Could your woozy feeling be stress? Did you wash your hands thoroughly before testing? How soon after eating did you test, and what did you have to eat? All this can affect your reading. Ideally you should test immediately before eating, then 2 hours after first bite. This will show you how your body is coping with that particular meal. 11.1mmol/l is higher than it should be, as you should be looking for no more than 8.5 mmol/l after eating.
This website is the ideal place to learn about diabetes, through the Learning Zone, which you can take at your own pace. Anything you are unsure about, please ask in this Forum. We have all been where you are and asked all the questions. Nothing is silly. You can also put together a list of questions to ask when you finally get to see someone.
Lifestyle changes suggested include reducing your daily total carb intake (slowly) to less than 130gm a day. I measure mine via an app (as I find it easiest), others use pen and paper or spreadsheets. Increasing exercise is another suggestion. That can simply be walking more, but I go to the pool twice a week, and others cycle, or do classes like Pilates or Yoga.
Hope this gets you started.
I recommend you look at this link for some good information and menu plans and recipes which will show you can still have tasty filling meals. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
Hi my name is Lisa. I am 48 years old and recently diagnosed type2. I have no clue whats happening. I was meant to see a diabetic nurse yesterday but my surgery cancelled due to her being sick. My number is 52 from my bloods. I'm not sure if that requires medication. I have a finger prick counter and I feel a bit woozy so did my finger and its 11.1. What does all this mean please and what do I need to do?. Many thanks
Hopefully a few moderate changes to your menu will significantly help your glucose levels. Have a chat to your Dr about what they recommend, but if you would like 3-6 months to try to manage your glucose levels without medication, then you could certainly request that.
Your 11.1 is above range, and out of range glucose levels can make you feel a variety of symptoms. High glucose levels tend to have less marked symptoms than low glucose, certainly in the short term - but longer term high glucose levels are associated with thirstiness, fatigue, tiredness, and needing the toilet more often.
Welcome @lisa haigh🙂 An HbA1C of 52 is just in the Diabetes zone so hopefully you won’t need meds and will be able to make some small changes to improve things.
Are you overweight? If so, losing weight will help. Exercise like walking helps too, along with looking at your diet and seeing where you can tweak it to reduce the carbs.
Hopefully a few moderate changes to your menu will significantly help your glucose levels. Have a chat to your Dr about what they recommend, but if you would like 3-6 months to try to manage your glucose levels without medication, then you could certainly request that.
Your 11.1 is above range, and out of range glucose levels can make you feel a variety of symptoms. High glucose levels tend to have less marked symptoms than low glucose, certainly in the short term - but longer term high glucose levels are associated with thirstiness, fatigue, tiredness, and needing the toilet more often.
That all sounds familiar. I only eat once a day and thats around midnight. I live on coffee. I am menopausal too and dr wants to discuss HRT. I am a chef and not allowed to eat on shift and I do 3 shifts a day. I work 6 sometimes 7 days a week. I have 5 horses and rescue animals so I never stop. But I am also overweight because of my eating habit. I do have a bottle of wine when I get home. I DONT eat sweets or chocolate or biscuits I don't have a sweet tooth. I do love my carbs though x
That sounds really hard @lisa haigh Is there no way you can have breaks to eat during the day, even if only short ones? Not only is eating at midnight not ideal, which you know, I’m sure, the lack of food during the day will be sending a message to your body that there’s a ‘famine’ and it should keep up its fat stores, which isn’t what you want.
As you are a chef it would seem like teaching your grandmother how to suck eggs to make suggestions for all the tasty low carb meals you could make.
I remember staying in a small hotel when I was a kid and the chef only ever had sherry with a raw egg whisked in it or so he said.
With a bit of planning there must be some easy things you can have during your breaks.
That sounds really hard @lisa haigh Is there no way you can have breaks to eat during the day, even if only short ones? Not only is eating at midnight not ideal, which you know, I’m sure, the lack of food during the day will be sending a message to your body that there’s a ‘famine’ and it should keep up its fat stores, which isn’t what you want.
Thats the problem. I've done it for 30 years that its now become habit. I have made changes and am now having lunch. Still not cracked breakfast. And since I have started on the low carbs I'm starving all the time now. Whereas before when I eat a sandwich and coffees on the go I had more energy but still with tiredness. Its weird. But I stayed full and could manage all day just on coffee x
As you are a chef it would seem like teaching your grandmother how to suck eggs to make suggestions for all the tasty low carb meals you could make.
I remember staying in a small hotel when I was a kid and the chef only ever had sherry with a raw egg whisked in it or so he said.
With a bit of planning there must be some easy things you can have during your breaks.
Thats the problem. Us chefs are the worst. We concentrate so much on satisfying our diners that we cut so many corners and every1 says but you're a chef. U should know what to eat. I say I'm a chef not a nutritionist and I haven't got a bloody clue on dieting. I can just cook well haha. And all the nice tasty dishes are 9 times out of 10 full of bad stuff. This whole thing has stumped me. I have to loom at carbs, saturates, salts , fat and sugar. I'm well confused. And the diet i need to really be on consists of lots of preparation. Which I don't have time to do. I have to fit in riding and yard jobs. And my rescue animals and my home life aswell as shift work. I'm a head chef so I don't tend to take breaks. To much to do. Thankfully hubby does the housework haha x
No disrespect but that perhaps explains why people really struggle to get low carb food when eating out.
Low carb meals don't always need lots of preparation and making things in bulk and freezing portions will help.
Curries, chilli, casseroles can all be frozen.
Have a look at this link as it might help you in seeing what foods you can have rather than thinking of all those you shouldn't have. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
There is no need to avoid low fat unless you need to for other medical reasons. So by incorporating healthy fats that can help with not feeling hungry.
Chicken breast fillets were on offer in Lidl a while ago so I bought several lots and froze them.
I baked all of the pack at once, so I had some with stirfry, with mashed swede, with salad, and with peas and cauliflower. Preparation time was minutes - I do the swede in a pressure cooker, but such things as scrambled eggs with grated cheese and a sliced tomato is maybe five minutes from fridge to plate.
Personally I think that defrosting, batch cooking, dividing up, freezing and then thawing to reheat is more time consuming than making from scratch every time.
Low carb starts with a shopping list but soon becomes a habit - and it really is so easy to get into the habit.
