Recently diagnosed

[Michael 63]

Hi everyone,
I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I am 58 years old, with quite an physical job in construction, I live alone and find it quite difficult to cook healthy meals for one person after being at work all day, and have normally settled for ready made meals.
I would be grateful for any advice on the types of meals\foods that others found helpful in the way they changed or altered their eating habits after being diagnosed, and any other advice you may have.
Thanks Michael

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi everyone,
I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I am 58 years old, with quite an physical job in construction, I live alone and find it quite difficult to cook healthy meals for one person after being at work all day, and have normally settled for ready made meals.
I would be grateful for any advice on the types of meals\foods that others found helpful in the way they changed or altered their eating habits after being diagnosed, and any other advice you may have.
Thanks Michael

Welcome to the forum, you will find plenty of advice here.
The problem with ready meals is they are not designed to be the best options for managing blood glucose levels as they tend to be very high carb and you might get away with just having half a portion and filling up with low carb veg and salad.
So most people find that they find the best results from cooking from scratch. There are strategies you could adopt, like cooking more than a single meals worth and freezing the rest or using a slow cooker so it does it for you and is ready when you get home. Having a stock of things in the fridge to make a quick meal like cooked meats, hard boiled eggs and salad and coleslaw. You may have to put your chef's hat on and try some quick recipes, many can be found on this site.
The main thing is to be careful of your carbohydrate intake and base meals on protein and vegetables, no need to go low fat unless you need to for medical reasons.
What was you HbA1C that gave you the diagnosis and are you on any diabetic medication as that will help know how much you need to do.

 

[Cherrelle DUK]

Hi Michael 63, welcome to the forum.

Meal prep/ batch cooking might be useful for you. You can plan out your meals, cook or prep them in one go then you just reheat or put in the oven when required.

There are a lot of hidden sugars of ready meals so worth looking into.

 

[SB2015]

Hi @Michael 63 , and welcome to the forum. I am glad that you have found us.

You might find it useful to look through the thread ‘what did you eat yesterday’ and other threads.
The idea of bulk cooking can be very helpful. Where I do this I write the amount of carbs in it on the label.
Preparing these from scratch certainly gives you the control over how many carbs are in each and is often a lot lower than purchased pre-prepared meals.

Keep in touch and keep the questions coming.

 

[Michael 63]

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your replies, cooking in batches seems like a good idea, especially the slow cooker idea, I'll give it a try and see how I get on, if any one as any recipe idea's I'd be grateful, I'll also look at "what did you eat yesterday" posts.
Thanks Michael

 

[Lucyr]

I don’t use ready meals that much but when I do I like this one. It’s only 27g of carb, has some veg in the mash, and I usually have more veg on the side. I find it easier to cook meals for 4 and freeze 3 portions. That way you only need to cook twice a week.

 

[Leadinglights]

Something I found useful when working late hours was a George Forman grill as you could just do chicken, steak, high meat sausages or burgers or even salmon very quickly and have with salad and coleslaw or veg.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Good luck with your culinary endeavours @Michael 63

I think one of the significant challenges cooking for one is the motivation. It’s quite different to making the effort (or feeling the responsibility) for cooking meals to share with others. Especially if you are arriving home tired after a hard day’s graft

But preparing food, experimenting, finding new recipes, or perfecting old favourites and enjoying the results, can be a pleasure in itself. Especially if you can then pull things from the freezer or fridge for a quick meal that YOU have made yourself.

 

[Michael 63]

Hi everyone,
Thanks again for all the suggestions and advice, I spent today cooking some meals, shepherds pie and a chicken casserole, which I divided up into portions and froze, and will have with some vegetables over the week ahead, will take a while to get used to, but wasn't to much of pain, and I think it is the best way forward.
Thanks Michael

 

[Lucyr]

Hi everyone,
Thanks again for all the suggestions and advice, I spent today cooking some meals, shepherds pie and a chicken casserole, which I divided up into portions and froze, and will have with some vegetables over the week ahead, will take a while to get used to, but wasn't to much of pain, and I think it is the best way forward.
Thanks Michael

Well done. Now you’ve got some meals in, if you try and make a habit of cooking once a week, you’ll then be able to eat home made ready meals every day, with a bit of variety as you build up your repertoire.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi everyone,
Thanks again for all the suggestions and advice, I spent today cooking some meals, shepherds pie and a chicken casserole, which I divided up into portions and froze, and will have with some vegetables over the week ahead, will take a while to get used to, but wasn't to much of pain, and I think it is the best way forward.
Thanks Michael

Great stuff @Michael 63 - so e great choices. Hope you enjoy this new phase, and even have a bit of fun with it, building a range of standard recipes and fancier things that give you real pleasure.