Thank you. I see it as a habit. I had lots of chocolate over the years, particularly when I was young. It didn't do my teeth any good. My mum had type 2 before she died and she had a sweet tooth. If this runs in our family I would rather my children were making better choices than I did, at an early age, so they have better habits. I wish I didn't have such a sweet tooth. My husband loves savoury food, has great teeth and can take or leave sugar snacks. I always want sugar... I crave it
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Treatment options question
- Thread starter Muffin24
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Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
By using a test meter I discovered just how low my carbs need to be. Whilst it might be required for some to be fairly low to start with - many find that the 50gm of carbs limit brings their numbers back to normal levels, and that seems to enable their metabolism to recover a more normal level too.
I was left with high numbers for at least 10 years before diagnosis. There was a flagged test result which I only found out about long after diagnosis, The surgery dealt with it by no longer doing the test.
Now - over 7 years after getting my HbA1c down to 41, I can go off track once in a while, but I am still really prone to putting on weight and I don't want to do that.
Blueberries are the highest carb berry fruit, so if you alter your choices to lower carb berries, and maybe mash or puree them to release their sweetness the honey will seem a bit too intense. I certainly find that things made 'normally' sweet are far too sickly now. I buy frozen berry mixtures and use them to freeze gelatine with no added sugar squash as flavouring.
I often have scrambled eggs, with cheese added at the end of cooking and a finely sliced tomato laid on top to become warm, but I eat all the traditional breakfast foods, chops, steak, kippers, sausages, bacon and eggs, that is not those new fangled cereals. I buy Greek style full fat yoghurt to eat with berries, but as a dessert after dinner, as I am more insulin resistant in the mornings.
Thank you, I didn't know blueberries were the highest carb berry fruit. I may try and find an alternative. I thought about the bacon sausage egg route, but have also been told I have to be on tablets for high cholesterol and tablets for heart and high blood pressure. I have some other conditions and now have no idea what foods I should be eating anymore. Thank you for your time. Everybody that has replied and given me advice has been really kind. I was hoping for a magic wand, I suspect I just need more research and time to figure out how to eat and exercise in order to keep on living a bit longer.
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Many find their cholesterol and blood pressure improve when they reduce carbohydrates in their diet. Look for good quality sausages as they will be low carb.
It is often more tricky to be juggling requirements of several issues which is why a home monitor is useful as it can help identify foods which are OK as well as those which are best avoided.
It does require some work and commitment to making changes but worthwhile in the end to avoid the unpleasant consequences of high blood glucose. What motivated me was I did not want my daughters to have to become my carers.
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Statins destroyed my ability to learn and remember, along with the Metformin I took for 5 weeks or so, I was in a dreadful state. After a few years of no medication I could take off the post it note which told me which was my mother in a photograph taken at my sister's wedding.
Although I eat all the natural fats which come with the foods I chose to eat, my cholesterol levels are lower now than at diagnosis.
A low carb diet often reduces blood pressure, so be aware that you could become over medicated. On the low carb list I am on there have been reports of bad falls due to taking blood pressure lowering meds no longer required. One fall was on concrete stairs and was life changing.
Proud to be erratic
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 3c
- Pronouns
- He/Him
@Muffin24, in a quick canter through this thread I've seen a reference to mashing or puréeing food. This is generally NOT a good thing to do, particularly for T2s.
Many foods, particularly fruit and vegetables, are a mix of carbohydrates and proteins. Much of the carbohydrate component is easily digested and once digested it becomes glucose. But some of that carbohydrate is fibre, which is indigestible and does not add to your potential glucose burden. However if mashed, or worse puréed, then the fibre becomes digestible and becomes extra glucose. Now its a double whammy: you lose the essential fibres which help cleanse your colon; also you've changed a slow steady low glycaemic index (GI) food into a high GI food that reaches your blood as glucose much more rapidly and doesn't give your T2 hindered metabolism chance to properly manage the glucose.
I'm wholly insulin dependent; I can take insulin to help compensate for puréed food, but I'll stilll probably get an unwanted spike from poor timing. Mashing fruit may enhance the sweetness - but at a greater cost for most T2s.
Many foods, particularly fruit and vegetables, are a mix of carbohydrates and proteins. Much of the carbohydrate component is easily digested and once digested it becomes glucose. But some of that carbohydrate is fibre, which is indigestible and does not add to your potential glucose burden. However if mashed, or worse puréed, then the fibre becomes digestible and becomes extra glucose. Now its a double whammy: you lose the essential fibres which help cleanse your colon; also you've changed a slow steady low glycaemic index (GI) food into a high GI food that reaches your blood as glucose much more rapidly and doesn't give your T2 hindered metabolism chance to properly manage the glucose.
I'm wholly insulin dependent; I can take insulin to help compensate for puréed food, but I'll stilll probably get an unwanted spike from poor timing. Mashing fruit may enhance the sweetness - but at a greater cost for most T2s.
Hi. You seem to understand what the right diet is. For chocolate have 85% Dark and no lower; you do get used to the different flavour from junk stuff. I would expect you to be on Metformin. It's a very cheap drug and even the more bowel tolerant Slow Release is almost as cheap. Do suggest this drug to the GP and may be ask for a second opinion? Metformin never has that much effect but would help.
Why "No lower"?
Doesn't it depend upon person tolerance and how much you eat?
Yes, you are right but typically 70% has a lot more sugar than 85% and the poster is T2 and struggling already down the low-carb route?
Lucyr
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
It’s not “a lot more”
Based on Lindt chocolate
10g of 70% is 3.4g carb
10g of 85% is 2.2g carb
10g of the seasalt one (47% cocoa) is 5g
10g of the classic milk (30% cocoa) is 5.6g
So there’s not a significant difference between milk chocolate and 85% chocolate, so long as you can control portion sizes to a square or two. If you can then even milk chocolate fits into a low carb and even into keto diet if you’re being extreme.
There’s certainly no need to tell people that 70% is significantly more sugar than 85% because it’s simply not true, 1g carb more per square, when people are going to have 1 maybe 2 squares simply isn’t significant. Low carb of 130g a day can easily fit in any kind of chocolate in controlled quantities.
However, if you struggle to control your portion size with milk chocolate, then choose a slightly darker one that gives the chocolate hit but doesn’t trigger overeating.
I quite like the Lindt chocolate with orange which is 4.9g carb per 10g and 47% cocoa.
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