Travelling and vegetarian

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SomethingElse

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Type 2
Hi all,

I was diagnosed T2 last week. 38y/o male, bloods were 96mmol/11. Metformin prescribed and I’m going to be undertaking a serious weight loss effort. I’m going through the mourning process at the moment - lots of regrets, tears but also recognition that I can no longer bury my head in the sand. I don’t have a monitor yet but plan on getting one.

I’m vegetarian and travel a few times a year for work and holidays with my young family.

I’m watching my carbs at the moment and trying to keep them at 100g or so at home, which I’m going ok with. Trying not to eat more than 40g or so at lunch and dinner. I’m also trying not to get too obsessed with this and concentrate on shifting weight first and foremost, which I know can be done a number of ways (though I see a small group of folk who shout about what worked for them.)

I’ve been veggie (and often plant-based for periods) for almost all of my adult life so it’s not hard for me. Travelling is difficult for a couple of reasons. Firstly, my old self viewed is a chance for a care-free blow out of food and beer. Secondly, most of my travel involves eating out.

Today I’m heading to Sweden to speak at a conference. In the airport this morning, all I could find was a protein bar that wasn’t too bad (15g) and some vegan pepperami chicken bites (4g). Not gonna lie - I already feel a bit sad after I’ve looked forward to this trip for so long.

Tonight I’m eating with the business I’m visiting at a restaurant of their choice. Sweden isn’t great already for veggies and I imagine options will be pasta or rice based. I’m thinking I’ll just try to eat a smaller portion.

Is this what people do? Do you instead not worry about it too much while away? I know for meat eaters it can be much easier.

With this being new I feel a bit hopeless as a veggie and I’m also being careful not to be obsessed as I’ve done this with things in the past and have negatively affected my mental health.

Thanks!
 
If you’re going to Stockholm, I found a few veggie restaurants there which serves lots of veg, along with things like falafels, hummus or lentil fritters. A number of the meals were low carb. Some ethnic restaurants also have veggie options and plenty of veg.
 
Thanks Inka. I think I’m getting too hung up on carbs already. Maybe I need to keep aiming to lose weight and accept that things like falafel and hummus that have a few more carbs may be on the menu when I’m travelling.
 
SomethingElse said:
Thanks Inka. I think I’m getting too hung up on carbs already. Maybe I need to keep aiming to lose weight and accept that things like falafel and hummus that have a few more carbs may be on the menu when I’m travelling.
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Falafels and hummus aren’t mega carby. If you had them with salad or veg and a small amount of more carby accompaniment that would still be ok. You can also improvise by ordering sides, eg in an Indian restaurant you can choose some vegetable side dishes along with some paneer.

Unless you eat loads of potatoes, etc, you should be ok. The Swedish crispbreads are reasonably low carb too. I’d search out veggie or vegan restaurants and ethnic restaurants, checking the menu before you go in. In a hotel, just eat a small amount of the carby potato/rice/pasta and order a side salad or extra veg, and/or a salad or veg starter to fill you up.
 
Remember this is for a few days and in the scheme of what is a long term change of way of eating is not long. Just use your best judgement and if needs be leave some of the high carb food and go easy on pudding.
 
Luckily for me I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. I’ve promised myself an ice cream on holiday every now and then so I won’t go nuts - but that’s it.

Halo Top is good. Been having that at home recently.

Also think US may not be too bad outside eating out as they love their low carb snacks in the supermarket etc.
 
Hi and welcome and sorry to hear you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by your diagnosis, but I am sure we can all relate to that and I can assure you it does get easier.

My concern is that your HbA1c is currently very high and therefore your BG levels are not well controlled, so in these early days it maybe more important to be careful with your diet, than once you get levels down into range and then you have more leeway to be relaxed whilst away or on holiday. Metformin will have minimal impact on your levels so I am just a little concerned that you are going abroad with a newly diagnosed condition that is not currently well controlled or monitored. Maybe I am overly suspicious/cautious because I was misdiagnosed as Type 2 when I was actually Type 1 (as many others were here) and that makes me more concerned when newly diagnosed people have a high HbA1c at diagnosis and it is not fully investigated/monitored.

Can you tell us a bit about how your diagnosis came about? Was it a sudden onset of symptoms or was it picked up through a routine blood test and you had no idea anything was amiss?
 
I had thrush, as well as increased thirst and urination. I’m also very overweight - 18.7st at 6ft. So I imagine it is type 2 since there were symptoms.

My metformin doesn’t start until I get home from my trip. Just going to be sensible. I can’t do worse than I was when I was oblivious.
 
Hi @SomethingElse
The other thing to consider is not to bring your levels down too fast. I know many people will want to "fix things" as soon as possible but dropping levels too quickly can affect eye sight and neuropathy.
Gradual adaptation is better.
 
Well it is probably a relief that you aren't starting Metformin till you get back. The first few days/week can upset the digestive system and I was thinking a business trip involving flying might be tricky during that period if you did get side effects. 🙄

Yes, I appreciate that you are overweight which makes it easy to assume Type 2, but it is possible to be overweight and get Type 1 (I was carrying a couple of stones too much), just like there are some slim Type 2s. But yes, I understand what you are saying that pre diagnosis, you were none the wiser and continued to eat normally. Just concerned really in case you were to develop DKA whilst away if it was Type 1. Being diagnosed with a high HbA1c like yours and symptoms is less common with Type 2 than Type 1, but again there is overlap with both situations. Just worth bearing in mind if you were to start to feel ill.
 
Thanks @helli - what would someone do to do it gradually? Don’t want to risk those things.

@rebrascora - would someone with type 2 be diagnosed with different issues then? I always assumed type 2 symptoms were commonly the ones I had. I’ve got friends who are type 1 but have been since teens.
 
it is suggested that you reduce your carb intake over a period of weeks rather than go 'cold turkey' so if you keep a food diary of everything you eat and drink including any snacks and estimate the amount of carbs by looking at packets, the internet for the carb value of the foods you have, you may need to weigh things to work it out. You can cut down by one third for a couple of weeks, then another third etc until you get to where you need to be.
If you are going to follow a low carb regime then aim at no more than 130g per day total carbs.

Incidentally Type 1 can be diagnosed at any age and there are more people being diagnosed since Covid.
 
SomethingElse said:
@rebrascora - would someone with type 2 be diagnosed with different issues then? I always assumed type 2 symptoms were commonly the ones I had. I’ve got friends who are type 1 but have been since teens.
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The symptoms you experienced are those of high Blood Glucose (BG) levels and can be experienced by both Type 1 or Type 2 diabetics, but many Type 2 diabetics don't get these symptoms because their diabetes is picked up before their levels get to this stage and it is a slow steady progression. Unfortunately many health care professionals, as well as the general public, are of the opinion that Type 1 develops in children, so if you are a mature adult and especially if you are a bit overweight, "you must be Type 2". Added to that the onset of Type 1 diabetes in adults is often (but not always) slower and again that can make it look like Type 2. It will sometimes respond to dietary changes or Type 2 meds in the initial stages, causing further confusion, but eventually the insulin production reaches crisis point and that is usually when weight loss starts and BG levels go high and ketones can start to develop and then Diabetic Ketoacidosis becomes a very serous concern. That crisis point can take weeks, months or even years to reach, but it can be quite dangerous when it does happen, which is where my concern comes in.
Yes, you might be a straightforward Type 2 but being diagnosed at a relatively young age with a very high HbA1c having developed symptoms of very high BG levels and with no family history and no sweet tooth and an otherwise reasonably healthy diet by the sound of it, all raise slight question marks in my mind.

Just to clarify.... The classification of diabetes is down to the cause of the high BG levels, so....

Type 1 is caused by an autoimmune attack on your insulin producing beta cells in your pancreas, meaning your immune system attacks and kills some of your beta cells and insulin production starts to dwindle. This might happen following a virus when the immune system is stirred up and it may well be that a number of people have developed Type 1 diabetes after their immune system was triggered by Covid. My gut feeling is that there may be a genetic predisposition to autoimmune conditions but not specifically Type 1 diabetes.

Type 2 is metabolic and initially there may be an over production of insulin to overcome insulin resistance. There may also be a build up of visceral fat in and around the liver and pancreas which hampers them working efficiently together to balance BG levels. Eventually, because the beta cells are working overtime to produce increased amounts of insulin, they can burn out but many people get diagnosed before that stage and provided they take action, it certainly should be possible to stop further die off and potential for them to regenerate.

I won't go into the causes of the other types of diabetes, since these are the two we are talking about.

Anyway, just saying that it is worth keeping this in the back of your mind and particularly because you are relatively young at 38 and I am guessing your symptoms have come on reasonably suddenly and that high HbA1c at diagnosis.

As I say, I am just a bit more sensitive to possible misdiagnosis, having been through it myself although mine was picked up very quickly by a switched on practice nurse, there are many others here on the forum who had months and years of battling to get a correct diagnosis and appropriate treatment and support.
 
Thanks @Leadinglights. I think I got myself so scared that I wanted to ditch everything as quick as I could.

I know I can’t go back to how I was with carbs, but I’ll be more sensible on the way down. 130g actually isn’t bad at all now that I’ve done it a few times.

As I say, just travelling. But I’ll limit myself to a holiday treat here or there and always try to choose the ‘least worst’ option the rest of the time.

A marathon, not a sprint. Good advice.
 
I hear where you’re coming from. And thanks for the info.

I don’t think my diet has been great most of my adult life unfortunately - even as a vegetarian! I’ve always eaten to excess and all my weight has been carried around my stomach - massively so.

I think I maybe did have symptoms before but I didn’t recognise them and put them down to other things, so it may have been gradual.

I have an uncle who has been type 2 since a similar age but that’s the only family link.
 
SomethingElse said:
I hear where you’re coming from. And thanks for the info.

I don’t think my diet has been great most of my adult life unfortunately - even as a vegetarian! I’ve always eaten to excess and all my weight has been carried around my stomach - massively so.

I think I maybe did have symptoms before but I didn’t recognise them and put them down to other things, so it may have been gradual.

I have an uncle who has been type 2 since a similar age but that’s the only family link.
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Often vegetarian food especially eating out can be very carb heavy though it doesn't have to be as it is usually pulses or pasta or rice based so needs a bit more planning and thought to find some substitutes for those foods.
I find edamame bean or black bean pasta an OK alternative and things like butternut squash, swede and celeriac alternatives to potatoes. A favourite is squash, cauliflower and chick pea curry with either paneer, halloumi or boiled eggs.
 
@rebrascora given your concerns regarding undiagnosed Type 1, what are your thoughts about buying some ketostix to use if @SomethingElse starts to feel unwell as a test for DKA before it gets too bad?
Whilst I am not as concerned as you (38 is not that young), they could be a cheap insurance.
 
Yes, I was thinking of mentioning it but I am not sure how readily they would be available in his current location/destination of Sweden, so didn't raise the topic at this time, but a purchase of BG meter and Ketostix on return might be a worthwhile investment. Ketostix are only about £5 for a pot of 50.
 
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