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Type 2 and the rest

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R

Rifkah

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
hello hoping someone can help me.
I was diagnosed diabetic yesterday.
I had a twenty minute consultation and have come away more confused than I went in.

First problem...co morbid psychotic depression
the nurse spent about ten minutes explaining all the ways I am going to suffer with foot and leg ulcers heart disease furred arteries and nerve problems and eventually blindness and death and so on.
So I feel I know where this is going, I'm just wondering how other people balance suicidal thoughts with the enevitability of a horrid death anyway?

Second problem co morbid gut issues
The nurse explained how fats are converted to glucose in the blood so I'm not allowed to eat sugars, fats or carbohydrates from now on. I struggle to eat high fibre foods as I am incontinent and rely on plugs to manage that issue. How do other folk unable to eat fibre manage? Fruits and pulses lentils and so on would mean I become house bound. So I'm thinking chicken, fish and turkey? What other foods might I be able to add to that list?

Third problem autonomy and informed consent
I'm on quite a lot of medications that have side effects of weight gain. The nurse has told me I cannot come off these, but surely that would be the best way of helping the diabetes. Are diabetics under any legal compulsion to take their medications or can I just do what I think is best for me?



Thanks in advance
 
As far as I know it's carbohydrates that convert to glucose during digestion not fats and that pairing fat with a carbohydrate reduces the speed that the carbohydrate converts to glucose causing less blood sugar spikes.
If fat changed to glucose that there would be no point changing to low carb high fat diets to reduce our blood glucose levels.
I was diagnosed eight months ago and following advice on this site I bought a meter and self tested to see what I could tolerate and certainly fats such as cream or cheese make no difference to my readings at all.
 
Gluconeogenesis creates glucose from fats. I'm not allowed fats, sugars or carbs because of the diabetes. I'm not allowed high fibre due to the gut issues.
 
Sorry, only trying to help!
 
First and foremost - the glucose in your blood is high because you cannot process carbohydrates in the 'normal' way - and for most people removing the dense carb foods - potatoes, rice pasta and starchy veges, and the sweetest fruits, will mean that their numbers head down, and even become normal.
That means that there are no side effects from high glucose levels, no ulcers etc. and people usually feel a lot better, more energetic and happier all round. Usually there is weight loss as an added bonus.
Once that is sorted out most people find that they can eat meat fish eggs cheese, shellfish, and salad stuff, and they can add low carb veges and fruit with the lowest carb content. Fat has almost no impact on blood glucose and it is not converted to glucose in the blood. Fat is essential to life, along with protein, and the veges, salad and berries make for a good variety of meals. Is pulverizing and filtering an option for you?
I would suggest that you ignore just about everything the nurse said and concentrate on making a shopping list - oh I forgot mushrooms - they are low carb and delicious.
 
Mushrooms generally leave me housebound for a few days if someone sneaks one or to in a stew for example.
 
Hang on though - my understanding of the body is that it finds it far far easier to convert carbs - whether it's from sugar fructose lactose starchy carbs or whatever - to glucose which obviously it needs to fuel every single cell in the body.

It can also convert both protein and fat to glucose if it needs to, but will only do it if it isn't getting enough carbs for its needs. If it is fed more of anything at all than the body as a whole needs - then basically it lays that down as fat.

I've always said that LCHF is a misnomer - LC is correct but really it's 'moderate' fat - in other words don't try to avoid the stuff entirely, but moderate which fat and how much of it you eat.

Instead of spending her time convincing you that this will kill you she'd have been far better employed telling you how you can manage it - because it is manageable - but absolutely not without a great deal of effort on your part. So far all you've done is picked on one thing each responder has mentioned and stated baldly that you can't do it.

Try having a 'perhaps I can do' mind instead and see how you can get on with your condition.
 
Sounds like you had an absolutely dreadful introduction to diabetes from someone who was entirely unskilled in treating you as a whole person, and taking into account your other challenges which add extra complexity to diabetes management.

Just focus on this fact: diabetes is something YOU CAN manage alongside the other challenges you face. You WILL be able to find a collection of foods that suit your blood glucose and dietary needs. And you will find some wonderful surprises along the way of things that you shouldn’t apparently be able to eat according to the textbooks, but you are just fine and dandy with. How do I know this? Because I have been involved in this forum for enough years to see it happen time and time again, even for people with the most complex and overlapping ‘can’ts’

It will happen for you. But it will take a little time, some effort, and some experimentation.

And forget about all those horror stories of potential complications. Those are absolutely not inevitable and neither are they going to happen anytime soon.

Take it steady. Take a moment to find your feet, and then begin to become your own diabetes expert.
 
Your understanding is lower school level, bring you up to high school. Diabetes results in changes to metabolism, metabolic pathways normally only used in starvation get switched on all the time. Whole point of t2 is the body isn't laying down fat when it ought to, it isn't getting rid of the excess glucose properly.


No idea what LCHF means, so from this point you're chating to the audience not me.

She has told me how to control it. She has said I need a no carb no fat no sugar diet.
What she hasn't done is given me some examples of foods which fit this criteria.
I am struggling to come up with any of my own back as I am also not allowed anything high fibre due to the fact my intestines don't work properly.
Was thinking people here might be helpful, as they have tried to be so far up until your post in fact.....it's just it seems like holding four bits of information .....no fat, no carb, no sugar, low fibre. Seems to be a little hard for most people here.

I thought I'd be allowed chicken fish and turkey as low fat low carb low sugar low fibre foods but someone mentioned eating too much protein will cause high blood sugar.....so now I am left with no foods I can eat!



I am really trying my best here, I just don't see a way around this problem I am feeling suicidal and some keyboard warrior has decided I'm not trying hard enough.
 
Hello @Rifkah

For clarity, LCHF is ‘low carbohydrate, high fat’. It’s an approach that some people find helps them manage their diabetes. By severely limiting carbs (usually less that 40-60g per day) you can get the body to adapt to use ketones as fuel rather than carbohydrate. Ketone bodies are produced during the breakdown of fat ( and also protein I think?) and the body can use ketones as an energy source rather than glucose where normal insulin/glucose metabolism has broken down.

If you have been given the impression that you need to find a diet which is suitable for sustaining you and your T2 and is simultaneously ‘no fat, no carb, no sugar’ then I can see how you are struggling because no such diet exists. It is almost impossible to sustain a diet with no carbohydrate, especially if it contains any vegetables.

In order to find out what foods suit your body and you BG, I would recommend getting a blood glucose meter and using it to examine your response to different meals. You may find results vary through the day (many people can cope with more carbohydrate later in the day) and balance carbs/fats/proteins with amounts of fibre that your body can manage. The result will be unique to you, and you will be able to find a diet that suits your complex situation I am sure.

The folks here can support you as you look to find it.

If your surgery is not happy to prescribe a blood glucose meter, many here find the SD Codefree to be one of the most affordable to self-fund. Take a look at Alan S’s ‘test, review, adjust’ for suggestions of how to use a BG meter to navigate through the conflicting advice about diet 🙂

http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.co.uk/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html
 
Hello Rifkah
Definately self test. Keep a food diary, and record readings from before and 1-2 hours after eating. This will tell you what pushes up your blood glucose levels, and what is ok. After a couple of weeks you should start to see a pattern. You will also see what effect any changes you make have. As diabetics, it's carbohydrates in particular that we need to manage.
Medical people like us to manage fats for other reasons. It's not specifically for diabetic reasons. They're not good at explaining it.
 
Rifkah said:
Are diabetics under any legal compulsion to take their medications
Click to expand...
As diabetics we do not have to follow anything medical people say. However, now might not be the best time to refuse to take your medication. Try waiting until you have more of a grip on things.
 
You cannot live on a diet with no fat in it - fats are essential for life, and as a diabetic you need to fuel your body with something other than glucose, so ketosis is the way to go - and if you cannot eat any fruit or veges well not a problem, there are no essential carbs - but if the nurse is urging you to cut out all fats - she should be corrected rather sharply.
a diet of meat or fish can sustain a person indefinitely as long as it is eaten fresh, and without carbohydrate to push up your blood glucose levels you should not have any problem in remaining in the normal range. You should probably take a multivitamin and mineral tablet each day so as to counter any deficiency, but you would not be the only person living on a keto diet.
 
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