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Struggling Diabetic

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F

Flying Finn

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hello everyone,

I hope you are all well and safe. I've been diabetic for few years now, and I'm on meds. I think I'm still in denial of the whole thing. My diet is horrendous. I tend to avoid checking my BM because I know it won't be pleasant reading. I hope this forum and other useful info on this site will motivate me to move forward to healthier lifestyle. Onwards and upwards.
 
Hello and welcome. 🙂
 
Hi @Flying Finn and welcome from me too 🙂 If it's motivation you're after, you've come to the right place. There are such inspiring stories here, and so much knowledge. I don't think I could have properly got my act together without it!

If you're looking for diet inspiration, take a look on the food and carbs section. There are some great ideas for alternatives to carb heavy food. Carbs were my particular downfall but I no longer miss them.

Shout out with any questions you have. There will always be someone able to help 🙂
 
Hi @Flyingfinn, great to have you here.

I think initial denial is a big part of many people's journey as it can be a lot to take in. I know it seems less scary to ignore things but I've found that the more you're aware of what's going on, the more 'in control' you'll feel.

When you're ready, have a look around the forum and take a look at the info pages on the main site as they provide a wealth of info that'll put you at ease.
 
Hi @Flying Finn
Welcome to the forum, your not the only person who went into denial mode
im not sure how horrendous your diet was, I’m sure there was worse, keep an eye on the forum you will get some great support

I’d recommend you start testing
it’s quite an eye opener to see hoW some foods afrect diabetes
a year ago I was living on all the wrong things, my diet was probably worse than yours!

good luck, hope you get some great advice & ideas.
 
Welcome to the forum @Flying Finn - and thanks for being so honest.

Hang in there - we are here for you, and will support you as you begin to make changes.

Try not to think of numbers as being ‘good’ or ‘bad’. They are just information. Not any reflection of the effort you are putting in, or how easy or hard you are finding things. They are only there to help you decide what to do next.

A member here ( @rebrascora I think) sometimes says that ‘diabetes has no memory’ because tomorrow is a new day, and you get to decide what to do all over again.

What is past is past. You can’t change it - it you can use it to inform the choices you make next.
 
Horrendous diet? I bet mine was way worse. So bad that the diagnosis HbA1c was 130. I so liked my sweets, cakes, chips, whisky. Etc. I mean, guzzling was my life. Not grazing, but guzzling.

A few lifestyle changes. More awareness (thanks to these forums). Deciding to take hold of my real data and not hide from it... and at the moment it looks like I got it licked. But who cares, the important bit is that I feel so well. Better than I have ever felt in my life. And yes, it is a life change and not a short fix.

The brilliant thing is that I have no cravings for or desired for those daft things I guzzled in the past. I eat real food now, and it tastes so good, and naturally sweet.

So, be encouraged to see who you are and what you can do. Its exciting to feel better and better.

I wish you all the best.
 
Guzzling is such a good word, describes me to a tee. 🙂
 
It doesn't really matter how you were eating - my diet before diagnosis was one from a printout the GP gave me - you probably know the one, breakfast was porridge or cereal with low fat milk, or wholemeal bread toast with low fat spread, and it went on with low fat foods for the rest of the day. I ought to have been really well, but I was fat and miserable and had given up weighing myself as I put on weight every week no matter how I tried to cut down on what I ate. I was so stressed I broke my teeth clenching them.
I was diagnosed with Hba1c of 91 and told that I was 'a very bad diabetic'.
Next day I used the diet sheets to light the barbecue.
Your diet did not make you unable to cope with carbs - it could well be something in your DNA that was always going to come home to roost one day.
The good thing is that for most people, controlling their blood glucose make them feel so much better, and I can really recommend it.
 
Drummer said:
It doesn't really matter how you were eating - my diet before diagnosis was one from a printout the GP gave me - you probably know the one, breakfast was porridge or cereal with low fat milk, or wholemeal bread toast with low fat spread, and it went on with low fat foods for the rest of the day. I ought to have been really well, but I was fat and miserable and had given up weighing myself as I put on weight every week no matter how I tried to cut down on what I ate. I was so stressed I broke my teeth clenching them.
I was diagnosed with Hba1c of 91 and told that I was 'a very bad diabetic'.
Next day I used the diet sheets to light the barbecue.
Your diet did not make you unable to cope with carbs - it could well be something in your DNA that was always going to come home to roost one day.
The good thing is that for most people, controlling their blood glucose make them feel so much better, and I can really recommend it.
Click to expand...
Mine was mostly a family pack of Gregg's donuts?
 
I've never understood what people like about doughnuts.
 
Bet it isn't real custard.
No - that would not be at all attractive to me.
 
Drummer said:
Bet it isn't real custard.
No - that would not be at all attractive to me.
Click to expand...
Custard, jam, apple, it's all good.
Nowadays, I can still eat them, I just don't eat the entire family pack in one go.
Far better for me.
 
Drummer said:
Bet it isn't real custard.
No - that would not be at all attractive to me.
Click to expand...
I love how we are all different with different tastes, likes and dislikes.
I can appreciate most likes even if they are not my own.
The smell of coffee makes me nauseous. But that doesn't make me question those that love it. I wish I could join in with some of the caffeine obsessed conversations and Italian cafe culture.

The only doughnuts I really liked were the fresh ones you buy at fun fairs. But I love looking at the gaudy iced ones and contemplating the doughnut menus whether they contain real custard, where the jam has seen any fruit or whether the chocolate is at least 60% cocoa solids.
 
Drummer said:
I've never understood what people like about doughnuts.
Click to expand...
I don't have too much prob liking the fillings. It's the actual doughnuts I'm not fond of - just too, er, doughty.

Now - extrude the dough through a star nozzle into your deep fat frier and call em churros - sprinkle vanilla sugar on em and I like em fine. Not doughy. See?
 
trophywench said:
I don't have too much prob liking the fillings. It's the actual doughnuts I'm not fond of - just too, er, doughty.

Now - extrude the dough through a star nozzle into your deep fat frier and call em churros - sprinkle vanilla sugar on em and I like em fine. Not doughy. See?
Click to expand...
You are a bad person for that idea!
It's a good job I've lost my sweet tooth
But it's so tempting!
 
No I'm not a bad person! I'm a perfectly normal (well, IMHO!) Type 1 mate.

Last time I had any was straight after watching the Valencia Moto GP in person in approx 2007.
 
Flying Finn said:
Hello everyone,

I hope you are all well and safe. I've been diabetic for few years now, and I'm on meds. I think I'm still in denial of the whole thing. My diet is horrendous. I tend to avoid checking my BM because I know it won't be pleasant reading. I hope this forum and other useful info on this site will motivate me to move forward to healthier lifestyle. Onwards and upwards.
Click to expand...
Hello @Flying Finn

Welcome to this forum! It's a wonderful place to get some answers from those with actual experience of the Big D.

I love @Gwynn's and @Drummer's posts.

@Gwynn because it gives you (Us) hope and @Drummer for the humour and that GPs advice is not always right. To be fair GPs are only advising what they are told to advise by higher entities (Big Pharma) or government departments. GPs throughout their seven years training spend little time on nutrition, and the benefits of it. I have a former GP friend who said he had to change careers to become a holistic naturopath because he wanted to "prescribe" lemons and drinking water to many of his patients.

You say "I tend to avoid checking my (BG?) because I know it won't be pleasant reading" but in fact the opposite is true. You need to check your BG because it won't be pleasant reading. Once you accept that, you can start to make positive changes. See it as a challenge, work with your body to try to understand it, what it likes, what it doesn't like which may change over time, so change with it!

Yes we are all different but our bodies operate in a similar way. It wants to preserve itself for as long as possible, which is why we have an immune system. We can work with our bodies using our lifestyle choices instead of against our bodies.

So the question to us all is, Do we want to dig our own graves one dessert spoonful at a time?
 
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