Very worried Newbie

[Leadinglights]

Ah yes, I assumed we were thinking of dry/powdered spices
Many prepared spice mixes will contain carbs like sugar & starch, and oil; as do ready made sauces for pasta; as we know, sugar finds its way into all sorts of things

As with most things food related, the best way to know what you're eating is to make it yourself

Yes I did mean the dry mixes but even those you do have to be careful of but as you generally don't use that much It is usually OK.
I use fresh ginger and lemon quite a lot in stir fries and home grown chillies which tend to be a voyage of adventure as you can't quite predict how hot they will be.

 

[NotPink]

If you are making curries it is better to use dry spices or spice mixes rather than bought jars of prepared sauces. It might take a bit of tweaking to get it to your taste.
You can still have the accompaniments like the yogurt and cucumber or tomato and onion mix.

I only use make my own cooked food ...nothing processed so thats ideal. Thank you for helping.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hello, I’m new to this forum and I really hope you can help me as I’m really worried about my dad.
He has been diabetic type 2 for about 5 years, he takes 2 Glucophage per day and doesn’t check his bloods regularly. He is 73, retired and walks 2-3 miles a day. He eats fairly healthily but does like a couple of glasses of red wine a week, and a greggs latte once a day as a treat. (He has not had any wine this week.)
2 days ago he started feeling thirstier than normal so he checked his bloods, the reading was 26 then the battery ran out of his metre. The next day the reading was 18, then this morning before breakfast it was 13. He rang the GP and is having bloods taken next week, but in the meantime was advised to take an extra glucophage at lunchtimes. His reading tonight 3 hours after food was 24, so I advised him to ring 111 for some advise, he is now waiting for a doctor to call him back, but I’m so worried I can’t sleep. I know he is worried too, and I’ve asked my mum to keep an eye on him throughout the night (he’s not a great sleeper) and told her to ring 999 if she notices that he seems confused on generally not himself. Am I right to be so worried? Any advice is greatly appreciated xxx

Hi @Jogo1980 I just want to point out a couple of things that may seem muddled to you:

1. Red Wine (if it isn't too sweet) is OK to drink in moderation - I drink it myself. Dry white wine is also OK as are spirits either neat or with just water or a low carb mixer. Beer is the biggest problem, though there are a few low carb ones around. So contrary to what most may think, your dad's glass of red wine may be better for him than his latte!

2. People have said about (full fat plain) yogurt and berries for breakfast. You can also throw a few seeds or chopped nuts into that to make it more substantial - just avoid other fruits. However the best breakfast is either eggs cooked any way but without toast, or cold cuts of meat or fish, or bacon.

Fruit juice is like liquid sugar, so for a diabetic, no fruit smoothie is ever innocent !

 

[Drummer]

Interested in the curries. I love curry and have not had one since being pre D2. I thought that the spices...eg cumin turmeric, etc were all root/carb related and avoided them. Is this so?

Not at all - I use herbs and spices a lot - tiny amounts are very effective when it comes to variety, but they have no effect at all on the carb content of a dish.

 

[Jogo1980]

Welcome to the forum @Jogo1980

Sorry to hear about your Dad’s raised BG levels. Try not to be anxious - though they are really quite high, will probably be making him feel pretty lethargic and grim, with T2 there is often less immediate risk. Certainly wise to keep an eye on things, but hopefully he will have time to make some menu adjustments and/or try some additional medications.

The diet he is on may be fine for different people so I don’t believe the GP gave the ‘wrong’ advice, it’s just that it needs a little adjustment for your Dad. One of the tricky things about diabetes is there is no one simple dietary approach that works for everyone. Each person has a different tolerance to amounts and types of carbohydrate. By gradually reducing portion sizes of the main carbs in his meals, he may reach a point where his metabolism can just potter along happily. For others a more significant reduction in carbohydrate works better.

Keeping a food diary for a week or two, and making a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content of meals and snacks can be really helpful. it can feel like a bit of a faff, and will involve some packet-squinting and weighing scales, but there is valuable learning in where the carbs are found in his meals, and what simple tweaks can lower the carb load.

As an example, creamy greek yoghurt with a spoonful of muesli and more berries, and dropping the banana, will be a very similar breakfast, but will have a much lower carb content than one which is mostly muesli. If the greek yoghurt is full fat it will help him feel fuller for longer.

Hope he manages to get the blood tests done without any hassle (given the current shortage of tubes!) and that you both get some reassuring support and advice from his GP.

Thank you so much for your help. I can’t thank everyone who took the time to reply enough. My dad has overhauled his diet, testing 2 hours after each meal, working out what works for him. His bs readings are now between 5.5 and 12.5. Doctor rang earlier and said his HbA1c was very high, so she put him on an extra glucophage (now 4 a day) plus gliclazide (2 a day) and wants another HbA1c in 8 weeks time. He started on 1 gliclazide on Monday and we were happier with his readings but doc still said to take 2 a day, just wondered if that’s normal with the bs readings he currently has. I can’t believe what a minefield diabetes is, it’s really opened my eyes to the everyday struggle x

 

[Jogo1980]

Hi @Jogo1980 I just want to point out a couple of things that may seem muddled to you:

1. Red Wine (if it isn't too sweet) is OK to drink in moderation - I drink it myself. Dry white wine is also OK as are spirits either neat or with just water or a low carb mixer. Beer is the biggest problem, though there are a few low carb ones around. So contrary to what most may think, your dad's glass of red wine may be better for him than his latte!

2. People have said about (full fat plain) yogurt and berries for breakfast. You can also throw a few seeds or chopped nuts into that to make it more substantial - just avoid other fruits. However the best breakfast is either eggs cooked any way but without toast, or cold cuts of meat or fish, or bacon.

Fruit juice is like liquid sugar, so for a diabetic, no fruit smoothie is ever innocent !

Thank you so much, I will pass that info on. He is doing so well with his diet, just hoping doctor can sort his meds x

 

[Jogo1980]

Hi Jogo1980
It sounds like your dad is fairly active, but that he and your mum follow the sort of diet my parents did to fill up. Hopefully now with some carb education he will be able to reduce his glucose levels steadily. The Forum for food/recipes will give you some idea of what Type 2 people eat.
I'm 71 so near your dad's age. I use an app NutraCheck to measure my daily carb intake and it's quite surprising how quickly the totals clock up. I experimented between 50gm and 130gm a day for carbs and settled on 90gm. But we are all different and need to find what suits us. If your dad measures immediately before and 2 hours after first bite of each meal he will soon learn what foods spike his glucose levels.
For example I found that one slice from a 400gm wholemeal loaf did not cause a big spike, so that lends itself to an open sandwich with lots of salads, meat, cheese egg etc piled on top. If your mum likes cooking, home made soup (without potato, flour, past or rice) blended to thicken, makes a good wintertime lunch. My diabetic nurse told me 2 new potatoes is a portion, as is 80gm berry fruits (and no more than 2 a day). I like a cooked breakfast, so a poached egg with grilled mushrooms, tomatoes and a rasher of back bacon is what I have most days. And cauliflower has become my go-to food - whole, riced, mashed instead of potato. It might be fun to try different things.
Hope all goes well.

Thank you so much. Thanks to the wonderful replies we had, he is doing really well with his diet, testing his blood after every meal and his bs readings are now between 5.5 and 10.5. After his HbA1c test yesterday, doctor rang to say his result came back as ‘quite high’, so she put him on an extra metformin (4 a day) and an extra gliclazide (2 a day) so I’m worried that the 2 will make him too low now though. I didn’t realise what a balancing act it could be. He has an appointment with a diabetic nurse on Wednesday, so I’m sending him with a list of questions to ask!
The homemade soup suggestion was brilliant, thank you. He’s always loved homemade soups so now they leave out the potato and pulses and experiment with different low carb veg, it’s definitely made lunchtimes a lot easier. X

 

[Leadinglights]

When blood glucose levels start to come down people sometimes get 'hypo' symptoms which are as a result of the body adjusting to lower levels so it would be important to test if he gets that feeling and if it is actually low in the 4mmol/l range or less then have something to get it back up, but don't overdo it. People often use things like jelly babies, glucose tablets or a small can of full sugar coke.
If the reading of 10.5 is after 2 hours meals, that is still a bit high and he wants to be aiming at no more than 8.5mmmol/l and no more than 2-3 mmol/l increase from before the meal, if it is then the meal is a bit too carb heavy.
It would be useful to know what his HbA1C is so you know how much he needs to do.
The meds he is taking act in 2 ways, the metformin helps the body use the insulin it is producing more effectively and the gliclazide encourages the pancreas to produce more insulin.