Recently diagnosed with Type 2

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Sean Hill

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Type 2
Hi, my GP diagnosed me with T2 at the end of August 2016. A few weeks prior to that, like a lot of people, I started to suffer with fatigue and a crazy thirst (I'd finish 1 pint of water and was ready for another). My vision went really blurry and I had a Vision Test. The optician recommended that I book in for a blood test as I was showing the signs of Diabetes.

I had the blood test at 08:45hrs on the Friday, and I received a phone call from an NHS Call Centre at 21:00hrs on the same day, advising me to rush to A&E, but that is all they would tell me. I was at the hospital within the hour and the GP took samples of urine and did a finger prick, the reading came in at 33 mmol, he asked me what seemed like 100's of questions and then sent me home.

The following Wednesday, I had my appointment and my GP confirmed that I was T2, gave me loads of information, a support pack, glucose monitoring system and prescribed me Metformin and Glicalazide. I had to fingerprick 3x per day and I watched my reading's go gradualy down from 28 mmol.

4 months have passed, and I am now only on the Metformin 2x 2 per day and I eat an healthier diet, finger prick twice a day (my readings are now between 4.5 and 7.9 mmol) and I visit the gym 3-4 times per week.

The one thing I do struggle with is fully understanding the food labels. I have read the excellent advice on this website and read this - https://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-t...pping-for-diabetes/Understanding-food-labels/ but still, I am not confident I am picking the right foods. I always go for the green labels under the 'Traffic Light System'. I was advised that the Carbohydrate (needs to be 5g or less), which I have always looked for however, I find a lot of food that have 7g & 8g that are still green? Are these also ok to consume?

I regularly put the food back on the shelf if over 5g, but am then tempted to pick it back up again because it is showing green. Can anyone advise?

Thanks

Sean
 
Is that 5g per 100g. I'm quite new to this too and I look for 10g or less per meal so if a cooking sauce has 10g per 100 and jar is 300g then I have to guess if I will eat just a third of the jar. Same with tin of soup etc.

I don't count carbs in veg as i am sticking to greens mainly. I tolerate onions, peppers well too so don't count those either.

You have done very well
 
Sean Hill said:
Yes, that is 5g per 100g - I tend to look for green labels only
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I don't look at colours or look at sugar as I've learnt from this site it's total carbs important. I wouldn't discard if over 5 but depends what it is and how much I will eat. I wouldn't waste 10g of carbs on packet of quavers but might on slice of bread with butter
 
Sean Hill said:
Yes, that is 5g per 100g - I tend to look for green labels only
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Unfortunately this is where the traffic light system is misleading, because it refers to sugar, which is only one type of carbohydrate. People with diabetes should,be looking at the overall carb figure, which is only found in the small print on the back of the packet.
 
Hi Sean! I think most folk here would suggest you are best guided by the carbs info on the back of packs rtaher than the traffic lights. The carbs are what influence your BS levels, which by the way seem to be pretty good in your case! Of course the quantity of the carbs you eat also needs to be taken into consideration, not the the total carbs per 100g in the food itself.
There's a very good guide to over 3000 foods in the Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset and it gives a vast amount of nutritional data, you do though need Excel to be able to download and read it.
 
Welcome Sean. You will learn something nearly every day & hydration is quite important. Good luck 🙂
 
Hi Sean.🙂 The best way to see what foods don't affect your BG (blood glucose) is to use your meter. Test just before, then 2 hours after a meal. You are looking for no more than 2-3mmol/l rise. Labels are confusing, & really tiny in some cases. Ignore the traffic light system & look at the nutritional info. Ignore 'of which sugars' & look at total carbs. Though saying that, food with more sugar will spike quicker.
 
Welcome, well done on getting control of your BG levels.
 
Have you seen a diabetic specialist yet?

They are there to help to you. Have you had an HbA1c blood test recently (that shows a 3 month average of your blood glucose).
 
Hazel said:
Have you seen a diabetic specialist yet?

They are there to help to you. Have you had an HbA1c blood test recently (that shows a 3 month average of your blood glucose).
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I am on the list to see the Diabetic Specialist, just awaiting my appointment date. I have my HbA1c blood test just after Christmas. I can't remember what my GP said the average was but my she told me that I was managing it well and that is when she took me of the Glicalazide
 
Hi Sean - Did your GP order the HbA1c test or the hospital ? If it was the GP - the result of the test should be easy enough to get from the surgery - on the phone - if you want it before you go to see the specialist (I'm assuming he/she's at the hospital - most T2s in England never get referred to a hospital clinic with specialist doctors and nurses at all) - or indeed just want to know how you've been getting on, anyway. I know I'm always interested!
 
trophywench said:
Hi Sean - Did your GP order the HbA1c test or the hospital ? If it was the GP - the result of the test should be easy enough to get from the surgery - on the phone - if you want it before you go to see the specialist (I'm assuming he/she's at the hospital - most T2s in England never get referred to a hospital clinic with specialist doctors and nurses at all) - or indeed just want to know how you've been getting on, anyway. I know I'm always interested!
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It was my GP. I will call the surgery this week. Thanks
 
Our surgery - we can only ring for results on Tuesday lunchtimes between 12 and 2. Hope yours aren't that mean!
 
Hello Sean. 🙂

I try not to buy anything that's wrapped. I think if it's wrapped somebody has mucked about with it. I eat very boring though. :D
 
When I first got diagnosed I wanted to improve my lifestyle so I asked my GP about the best type of diet and what exercises would help. She referred me to a scheme run by the council in conjunction with the local leisure centre. A few days later I received an appointment (it was all done within the week, and I started my Gym Sessions immediately after the referral).

At the appointment, I have my height, weight, blood pressure measured, and we talked about my lifestyle and ways of improvement. He set me up with a personalised gym exercise program and from that I joined the Leisure Centre Gym. I had a review at 12 weeks and we changed the program slightly. My next review is in 12 months. Because I am on the program, I got the first years membership at a discounted rate which could be paid monthly, annually or at £3 every visit (I think it is approx. 1/2 price which goes to full price in 12 months time).

As mentioned above, I try to go to the Gym 3-4 times a week. My current plan is 15 minutes on the treadmill, 8 minutes on the hand-bike, 10 minutes on the rower, 10 minutes on the Octane, 15 minutes on different weights, 10 minutes on the bike and finishing with another 5 minutes on the treadmill.

It is quite tough, but I have lost 2 stone so far and am feeling other benefits eg more energy.
 
Sean Hill said:
Hi Gottfried,

When I first got diagnosed I wanted to improve my lifestyle so I asked my GP about the best type of diet and what exercises would help. She referred me to a scheme run by the council in conjunction with the local leisure centre. A few days later I received an appointment (it was all done within the week, and I started my Gym Sessions immediately after the referral).

At the appointment, I have my height, weight, blood pressure measured, and we talked about my lifestyle and ways of improvement. He set me up with a personalised gym exercise program and from that I joined the Leisure Centre Gym. I had a review at 12 weeks and we changed the program slightly. My next review is in 12 months. Because I am on the program, I got the first years membership at a discounted rate which could be paid monthly, annually or at £3 every visit (I think it is approx. 1/2 price which goes to full price in 12 months time).

As mentioned above, I try to go to the Gym 3-4 times a week. My current plan is 15 minutes on the treadmill, 8 minutes on the hand-bike, 10 minutes on the rower, 10 minutes on the Octane, 15 minutes on different weights, 10 minutes on the bike and finishing with another 5 minutes on the treadmill.

It is quite tough, but I have lost 2 stone so far and am feeling other benefits eg more energy.
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Wow, that's a great scheme, I believe some local authorities do that, but sadly not mine. I joined Puregym through work and though it doesn't have any tax benefits, paying for an annual pass is cheaper so I do beneft. Mind you, my local one is only £14.99 a month. I generally go about 6 or 7 times a week, which works out a about 60p per visit.

I started out with a similar plan, but as I find it quite boring, I go for nearly maximum heart rate (220-age * 85%) and when i achieve this on just about any machine I burn about 20kcal per minute, so I can do a decent cardio in under 30 mins. I generally run a 5km 3 or 4 times a week and use a similar variety as you on the other days.

I've found a heartrate monitor really useful, BTW, you can get really great cheap ones from Decathlon - they're £12.99 - it's a chest strap (which is far more accurate than a fitbit) and a watch which displays the rate. Almost every computer controlled piece of gym equipment I've been on - at Puregym and a lot of hotels - picks up the heartrate monitor and displays it as if you're holding the handles.
 
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