s'nic
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- At risk of diabetes
As a diabetic sugar is best avoided
When you eat carbs they turn into a form of sugar, so both sugar and carbs can raise your blood glucose
-
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.
-
Learn more about joining the Diabetes UK Support Forum team here: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/volunteering-opportunities-why-dont-you-join-us.112862/
To worry or not?
- Thread starter Ranger
- Start date
- Status
When you eat carbs they turn into a form of sugar, so both sugar and carbs can raise your blood glucose
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Starches and sugars are all carbohydrates, so you only need to take note of the carb content of a food.
Testing your blood glucose after eating will show you if the amount of carbs was right for you.
Thanks Drummer that is exactly what I was getting at, so as long as I concentrate on Carbs per meal/day I'm on the right track.
If that is right mate and I just need to concentrate on the carb info on the labels then happy days I can probably get by. So when it says "of which sugars" after the carbs on the label I should just concentrate on the main carbs total.
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
The only time when you might take notice of the 'sugar' is if you have two products with similar carbs per 100g and one says of which 2g is sugar and the other is of which 10g is sugar you would be wise to choose the one with the least as you are not having as much carb which is converted to glucose more quickly.
The message is to look at the carbs and don't worry too much about the sugar.
The message is to look at the carbs and don't worry too much about the sugar.
All good info, I think it's getting clearer.
As a general question does everyone on here with type 2 just rely on diet/exercise?. I had it in my head that a lot just took a tablet and that was it job done!
I don't know what my appointment may bring or if there is a choice to be honest.
As a general question does everyone on here with type 2 just rely on diet/exercise?. I had it in my head that a lot just took a tablet and that was it job done!
I don't know what my appointment may bring or if there is a choice to be honest.
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Yes I manage my Type 2 with diet only. I reduced my HbA1C from 50mmol/mol to 42 in 3 months and to below 40 in another 6 where I have remained for nearly 3 years by following a low carb regime which is my normal way of eating, I have about 70g per day.
Many fail even on medication because they think the meds will magically remove the carbs from foods and make no dietary changes so the job does not get done and more meds are added.
People have and do reduce their blood glucose from higher levels than me by making those dietary changes.
My perspective is no good taking more and more meds whilst not removing the very foods that are raising blood glucose to wit carbohydrates.
PerSpinasAdAstra
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Absolutely not a silly question and nobody knows it all. Keeping asking questions. Just by reading the posts on this thread you're already miles ahead of where I was so soon after diagnosis in terms of knowledge about carbs and blood glucose levels. I was diagnosed in October and didn't learn about the usefulness of the two tests, before and 2 hours after meals, until January. I learned about it by reading a thread just like this one. If I hadn't gone in search of a discussion forum I might never have learned about it. Most people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes probably never come to learn many of the things you're already picking up.
To answer your question - no, 8.9 mmol/L two hours after eating isn't dangerous as such. You're not going to suddenly drop dead by eating that meal or anything else you would typically have eaten. It is however a level you should probably aim to avoid as far as is reasonably possible if you can. If you were to hit that level regularly, year after year after year, then that would be a potential problem for your long-term health.
You will find a lot of conflicting advice here and elsewhere about what is and isn't an acceptable food for a Type 2 diabetic. There is even disagreement about what is and isn't a 'low-carb' food or meal, or what a reasonable daily goal for carbs eaten is. Part of the reason is that the nature and severity of T2 diabetes is specific to each individual. A given quantity of a particular food is handled well by some and not by others. Some people can eat quite a lot of carbs, some go to extremes to limit them.
There are also many variables to consider. For example very many people report that a given amount of carbs eaten for breakfast will have a greater impact on their blood glucose levels than the same amount eaten later in the day. That's certainly the case for me. I find for example that a fairly small amount of fruit at breakfast time, eaten after an omelette, raises my blood glucose quite a bit, but if I go for a walk about 30 minutes after eating it, once digestion is well underway, the blood glucose spike from the fruit is cancelled out by the exercise. A similar amount of carbs eaten at dinner, three baby potatoes for example with salmon and green veg, does hardly anything to my blood glucose levels - no walk necessary.
Nobody gets their head around all this stuff overnight and there's a lot to learn, so be kind to yourself and take it step by step. Pretty soon you'll be the one able to answer someone else's questions 😉
PerSpinasAdAstra
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That's pretty much what most people do, and frankly what most type 2 diabetics are advised to do by their doctors, if they get any advice at all.
Take the tablets, don't eat sugar and do eat wholegrain bread, pasta and rice instead of the white kinds. Try to lose weight, if you can, and do try to exercise more. You'll have an appointment every six months or so to check your bloods (bring a urine sample so we can check your kidneys) and appointments once every year or two to check your eyes and feet. By the way, you'll likely need more tablets over time, and eventually you'll likely need to go on insulin.
I'm 46. If I take that advice and otherwise live my life they way I was living it then by the time I reach a ripe old age the worst-case scenario is that I'll be blind, or an amputee, or on dialysis (or all three) if I don't die of a stroke or heart attack first. That might well happen whatever action I take, but I intend to take every step that I reasonably can to push those kinds of potential consequences as far into the future as I can, and hope to avoid them entirely. That means weight loss, diet changes and exercise.
I'm on two medications at present and while I would like to get off them I'm happy to take them for the rest of my life if necessary to control my diabetes to the greatest extent possible. I'm never going to run marathons and I'm never going to give up Christmas dinners with all the trimmings - life is to be lived after all - but the steps I consider reasonable to help preserve my health go far beyond what a typical doctor expects from a typical patient. As such I hope to do better than the typical prognosis for a person diagnosed with Type 2 in their 40s.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
The tablets made me really ill and unhappy.
I was prescribed Atorvastatin and Metformin and in a few weeks I was suicidal.
For years now I have relied on diet alone to keep my blood glucose normal.
I can't reply to all but am really grateful for all pon this thread its great.
Your diagnosis of 50 is exactly what I got so I can relate directly to your journey.
That's interesting Drummer and something not mentioned or considered by me at present.
Slowly getting my head round some of it now Martin, I appreciate all your help so far mate it has lead to some intresting conversations (for me anyway). Keep Smiling
Proud to be erratic
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 3c
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hello @Ranger, I am an insulin dependent T3c (no pancreas at all) and 4 years into this D malarkey. So my multi daily "concerns/ worries/ anxieties/ fears" are different from yours. Yet .....
You ask a great general question. It is comforting to be able to compare our circumstances with others and reassuring to find you are not alone so must be doing something that is about right.
But I can't help wondering if this audience is representative of the greater body of people with T2 diabetes. As @grovesy said
and those on insulin may have a very different perspective simply because:
1. They will probably have a much higher HbA1c than yours (you are only just into the formal T2 diagnosis) and will proably have been wrestling with their T2 for a long time.
2. Their insulin provides them with an outcome that is measurable from finger pricking (or CGM) very quickly.
So comparison with T2s on insulin doesn't truly help.I think (and it is just that (my thought)) that with your slight "excursion" into T2 you should have a really good likelihood that diet and exercise can sort this out for you. That shouldn't mean draconian changes that you can't sustain for the longer term. It will be sensible and necessary to see those changes as Lifestyle changes that you will be able to continue.
I think that modest dietary changes in reducing carbs, in making exchanges of low carb items for otherwise bigger hitters (such as potatoes, rice and pastas), in avoiding obvious big hitters like cakes and jams (but not necessarily totally excluding such things) AND a concious effort to gently reduce portion sizes will all pay a good return to you.
I also think that increased exercise (which can easily be associated with activities and hobbies you enjoy) and which doesn't have to be punishing or gruelling exercise if that is just not enjoyable for you - then such exercise will also serve you very well.
Then, I think, those dietary and exercise changes will work for you - regardless of whether most other T2s do or don't "just take a tablet and job done". This will need your mindset that "I can do this" and "this must be sustainable in the longer term".
Good luck; I look forward to reading about your next HbA1c.
Thanks again all useful info I'm taking it all in?
Hopefully all this info in does not affect my carb intake🙂
Felinia
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi and welcome. If your HbA1c was 50, then you are only just into the diabetic zone, and should be able to reduce it with just a few tweaks to your lifestyle - diet and exercise. But this is a change for life - it's so easy to slip back into bad habits (bitter experience!!!). You are also highly unlikely to have done damage to yourself, having been picked up as diabetic so early.
I find it handy to have my phone app, which measures carbs, when I go round the supermarket, which might help your wife. Alternatively, a leisurely online shop, giving time to check your carb contents, might help
I find it handy to have my phone app, which measures carbs, when I go round the supermarket, which might help your wife. Alternatively, a leisurely online shop, giving time to check your carb contents, might help
Thanks again for that, the app sounds handy as opposed to scraps of paper I try to consolidate in the evening. Is there one app in particular you could suggest.
Felinia
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I personally use NutraCheck which is UK based. Last time I looked, an annual subscription was around £35 which includes the app and website. They used to offer a free 7 day trial - don't know if they still do. MyFitnessPal is free and is USA based. Not sure about the Cals and Carbs app.
Just to add to the post from @Felina.
There is a reason why it is important to consider the source of the data you use for carb counting and where the apps are based.
In the UK (and most other countries), the stated Total carb content excludes fibre. This is not digested so it does not affect our BG.
In the US, the Net carbs includes fiber. So to calculate the amount of carbs digested, you need to subtract the fiber content.
The hint is always in the spelling - in the US it is fiber
There is a reason why it is important to consider the source of the data you use for carb counting and where the apps are based.
In the UK (and most other countries), the stated Total carb content excludes fibre. This is not digested so it does not affect our BG.
In the US, the Net carbs includes fiber. So to calculate the amount of carbs digested, you need to subtract the fiber content.
The hint is always in the spelling - in the US it is fiber
- Status