What do I eat?

[Kasey]

Hi all. Hope you're well.

I'm new to this forum so apologies in advance if I ask any repeated questions. I've recently found out I'm Type 2 and I'm not entirely sure what things to eat. I also have high cholesterol. I have an appointment to discuss these type of issues, next week but thought I'd try and get a head start. It was when giving me the news about my blood test when the nurse told me not to eat too much fruit. As far as I'm aware, which appears to be backed up by some Diabetes websites, you can eat plenty as most have natural sugar. Is this correct?

Also, I'm a very fussy eater and have been eating a lot of chicken and rice since receiving the news. Is this okay? The rice appears to be low in fat, sugar and salt and the chicken is breast with no skin.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks all.
Kasey

 

[Ljc]

Hello @Kasey , welcome to the forum .
You have come to the right place for info and support .
Firstly sugar is sugar no matter in what form or what it’s calked or even if it’s naturally in something that’s healthy ie fruit . It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat fruit, it’s just what sort of fruit and how much if it that your body can handle for the time being stick to anything that has berry as part of its name as berries are often tolerated better. So your nurse is right .

The fruits that originated in hot climates are mostly much higher in carbohydrates (sugar is all carbohydrate) and it carbohydrate our body an no longer handle too well especially the starchy ones which includes, rice, potatoes, bread and pasta, don’t worry you will find good subtitles
you could try cauliflower rice with your chicken.

We are fine with protein in all it’s forms and providing you have not been told to reduce fats , good fats are fine ie avocado , oily fish .mostly we make our own cholesterol.

I have a few questions for you so we can give you more appropriate advise based on what has worked for us.
Your Hb1ac blood test it should have been given to you.
Your cholesterol level and we’re you given a full breakdown of them if so what were they .
What foods do you like.

Be careful when researching online. Their is an awful lot of misinformation out there some places even manage to mix up T1 and T2 etc, info eg T1 can eat honey (sugar) and any fruit if they wish to they just have to inject the right amount of insulin so their body can handle the carbohydrates.
Also if you look at the thread,
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/what-did-you-eat-yesterday.30349/
People with many different types of diabetes post their some will be on insulin, so those meals may not be suitable for you .
But I am sure you will find some good ideas there

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there about dietary advice both for diabetes and cholesterol even from the NHS.

As regards diabetes, it is all carbohydrates which break down in the digestive system into glucose and get absorbed into our blood stream, causing out Blood Glucose(BG) levels to rise. This happens to non diabetic people as well as us diabetics but our body's response to reduce those levels again and keep them in balance is compromised so our BG levels run higher for longer and this puts our fine blood vessels at risk particularly in our eyes and feet.
Carbohydrates are both sugars and starches and even otherwise healthy sugars in fruit and starches in wholegrains and porridge can cause us problems. Generally we find that a small portion of lower carb fruits like berries and rhubarb (stewed with a little artificial sweetener) are better than the higher carb exotic fruits like bananas and pineapples and mangoes etc. Grapes can be a problem because they can be pretty high in sugar but also because they come in large bunches or punnets and it is far too easy to just keep eating them until they are gone.... particularly if they are nice sweet ones.... if they are sour you rarely get carried away with eating too many.
Generally the more sour berries/currants are usually quite nutrient dense and very intensely flavoured, as well as being lower carb so a small portion is enough. I buy bags of frozen summer berries (a mixture of rasps, blackcurrants, blackberries and blueberries I think) from Lidl and just have 2 dessert spoons in my creamy natural Greek style yoghurt for breakfast with some mixed seeds and/or nuts and that is usually my fruit portion for the day but I have plenty of veg/salad, particularly green veg like cabbage and kale and broccoli to make up my fruit and veg intake. Some people have half an apple or a small whole apple or a nectarine or Kiwi fruit. Not saying you can't have other fruits but you need to be careful with portion size and make them an occasional treat rather than a daily fixture. So half a banana sliced up and served with some cream as a dessert makes a really nice treat once in a while but probably not good to have it for breakfast every morning.

Starch carbs are mostly grains and grain products, so unfortunately your rice is not a great choice, depending on the portion size.... which is something that you really need to become more aware of. So basically bread, pasta, couscous, pastry and batter, noodles, rice, breakfast cereals as well as root veg like potatoes and parsnips are all carb rich foods which are likely to spike your BG levels and controlling/limiting portion size of these things will help to manage your BG levels and improve your diabetes management.

Most people here on the forum find that getting themselves a Blood Glucose testing meter helps them to see the effect that foods have on their BG levels and make appropriate changes to their diet from the results they get. The benefit of this is that we are all slightly different both in the way our bodies break down these foods and what we enjoy eating, so some people may love porridge but it spikes their BG badly, so they may compromise and have just a very small portion but bulk out their breakfast with some nuts and seeds and yoghurt and berries. Some people might find that porridge doesn't spike their levels too badly at all but they aren't really that keen on porridge anyway and find they would prefer to eat something else instead. You might find that a small portion of brown rice with your chicken works fine but your normal portion spikes your levels too much or you may find that even a small portion of brown rice sends your levels too high and rice needs to be avoided, or perhaps having fried rice will work better than boiled because the fat slows down the digestion so the glucose is released more slowly.... same principle as having my half a banana with cream.... the cream slows the release of the glucose from the banana.

I know this will all sound very complicated at first and is why the dietary advice is often so confusing because it can be quite individual. We all know it takes a bit of getting your head around it, but once you start testing and seeing results you start to understand how it works for you with your body. Keeping a food diary of everything you eat and drink will help and an indication of the portion size you ate along with your test results if you get a meter (testing before and 2 hours after a meal) Once you figure out which foods/meals and what portion size you can get away with and which you need to avoid, (usually a 3month ish period) you can usually just do occasional spot checks to make sure everything is ticking along as it should and just test the odd occasion when you eat something different that you haven't tested before.

Anyway, I hope that makes a bit of sense. If you don't understand anything, please ask as I understand there is a lot of stuff to get your head around and it is not by any means straightforward!

 

[Kasey]

Hi, LJC.
Thanks for getting back to me. Basically, I've been hovering around the pre-diabetic stage for 2/3 years now. My last test 2 years ago stated it back back to normal, or as normal as can be. But due to the lockdowns, created by COVID, I kinda slipped back into bad habits. My chol is extremely high, so told. 6.6. My blood is 50. I think I'll be getting some tablets to help reduce my chol - Stato's or something like that. It's confusing. Some sites tell you ignore natural sugar in fruit as it's not the same sugar as say chocolate, biscuits and that type of thing.

I'm not overweight, or so told. Although over the past year or two, I've noticed loss of weight on my arms and legs, and more weight to my stomach (comes with age, I know).

Advice always appreciated

 

[Kasey]

I do have a food supplement daily - Seagreens, but often find I'm still tired especially in the evenings. or when the working week has finished. My diet atm is :-

3/4 Shredded Wheat for breakfast with Lactose free milk and Candarel sweetener
A chicken sandwich on wholemeal bread for lunch.
Skinless breast of chicken with rice (low in fat, sugar and salt)

I'll admit, many of the foods mentioned (avocado, lentils, nuts etc), I generally can't stand the taste, but if it has to be done, it has to be done.

I also find that I'm always hungry of late. I don't know if that's phycological, or my body telling me to feed it more.

Regards,
K

 

[Ljc]

Phew Your overall cholesterol is not very high . Tbh you need to get the breakdown of the various cholesterols, as you may have a low level of so called bad ones but a high level of the good ones which can also give you the average 6.

With an Hb1ac of 50 you have only just crossed the 48 threshold into diabetes. , so it is likely you will only need to make some small changes and shouldn’t need diabetes meds yet

 

[Kasey]

Phew Your overall cholesterol is not very high . Tbh you need to get the breakdown of the various cholesterols, as you may have a low level of so called bad ones but a high level of the good ones which can also give you the average 6.

With an Hb1ac of 50 you have only just crossed the 48 threshold into diabetes. , so it is likely you will only need to make some small changes and shouldn’t need diabetes meds yet

It was only a quick call they gave to let me know the results and to give me advice until my appointment. They said they want to get my chol below 4 and the bad chol below either 3 or 2 (couldn't quite hear her for that part of the conversation). They did say they were concerned, and I have started the ball rolling into getting much healthier lifestyle. I actually walk about 35k a day - 4 days a week in my job and pull about 30-40k kilo a day in moving pallets, so I think the exercise is winning. I definitely think the diet needs improving, though. It was strange.

About 2 1/2 months ago, I was taken into A & E with chest pains. I think it was caused by inflammation to my back, which I've been seeing the Chiropractor over. They ran ECG'S and bloods. The doctor told me he was going to message my surgery to prescribe tablets for my high chol, but when I spoke to my surgery, they have no record of this request. It's only when they ran bloods for diabetes 6 weeks later did they get the results of my current plight.

When giving me the results last week, she also asked if I am peeing more and having issues with dry mouth. I said no, which at the time I didn't, but it has been a yes over the past few days. I'm not sure if it's to do with my intake of water, which I've recently increased, or again, phycological.

Many thanks to both you and Reb for the advice. As stated previously, it's confusing and is good to speak to people who can give you good advice.

 

[Kasey]

Hi and welcome

Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation out there about dietary advice both for diabetes and cholesterol even from the NHS.

As regards diabetes, it is all carbohydrates which break down in the digestive system into glucose and get absorbed into our blood stream, causing out Blood Glucose(BG) levels to rise. This happens to non diabetic people as well as us diabetics but our body's response to reduce those levels again and keep them in balance is compromised so our BG levels run higher for longer and this puts our fine blood vessels at risk particularly in our eyes and feet.
Carbohydrates are both sugars and starches and even otherwise healthy sugars in fruit and starches in wholegrains and porridge can cause us problems. Generally we find that a small portion of lower carb fruits like berries and rhubarb (stewed with a little artificial sweetener) are better than the higher carb exotic fruits like bananas and pineapples and mangoes etc. Grapes can be a problem because they can be pretty high in sugar but also because they come in large bunches or punnets and it is far too easy to just keep eating them until they are gone.... particularly if they are nice sweet ones.... if they are sour you rarely get carried away with eating too many.
Generally the more sour berries/currants are usually quite nutrient dense and very intensely flavoured, as well as being lower carb so a small portion is enough. I buy bags of frozen summer berries (a mixture of rasps, blackcurrants, blackberries and blueberries I think) from Lidl and just have 2 dessert spoons in my creamy natural Greek style yoghurt for breakfast with some mixed seeds and/or nuts and that is usually my fruit portion for the day but I have plenty of veg/salad, particularly green veg like cabbage and kale and broccoli to make up my fruit and veg intake. Some people have half an apple or a small whole apple or a nectarine or Kiwi fruit. Not saying you can't have other fruits but you need to be careful with portion size and make them an occasional treat rather than a daily fixture. So half a banana sliced up and served with some cream as a dessert makes a really nice treat once in a while but probably not good to have it for breakfast every morning.

Starch carbs are mostly grains and grain products, so unfortunately your rice is not a great choice, depending on the portion size.... which is something that you really need to become more aware of. So basically bread, pasta, couscous, pastry and batter, noodles, rice, breakfast cereals as well as root veg like potatoes and parsnips are all carb rich foods which are likely to spike your BG levels and controlling/limiting portion size of these things will help to manage your BG levels and improve your diabetes management.

Most people here on the forum find that getting themselves a Blood Glucose testing meter helps them to see the effect that foods have on their BG levels and make appropriate changes to their diet from the results they get. The benefit of this is that we are all slightly different both in the way our bodies break down these foods and what we enjoy eating, so some people may love porridge but it spikes their BG badly, so they may compromise and have just a very small portion but bulk out their breakfast with some nuts and seeds and yoghurt and berries. Some people might find that porridge doesn't spike their levels too badly at all but they aren't really that keen on porridge anyway and find they would prefer to eat something else instead. You might find that a small portion of brown rice with your chicken works fine but your normal portion spikes your levels too much or you may find that even a small portion of brown rice sends your levels too high and rice needs to be avoided, or perhaps having fried rice will work better than boiled because the fat slows down the digestion so the glucose is released more slowly.... same principle as having my half a banana with cream.... the cream slows the release of the glucose from the banana.

I know this will all sound very complicated at first and is why the dietary advice is often so confusing because it can be quite individual. We all know it takes a bit of getting your head around it, but once you start testing and seeing results you start to understand how it works for you with your body. Keeping a food diary of everything you eat and drink will help and an indication of the portion size you ate along with your test results if you get a meter (testing before and 2 hours after a meal) Once you figure out which foods/meals and what portion size you can get away with and which you need to avoid, (usually a 3month ish period) you can usually just do occasional spot checks to make sure everything is ticking along as it should and just test the odd occasion when you eat something different that you haven't tested before.

Anyway, I hope that makes a bit of sense. If you don't understand anything, please ask as I understand there is a lot of stuff to get your head around and it is not by any means straightforward!

Thanks, Reb. It's given me a tremendous breakdown of how it works, and yes, I understand most of it. Could I just ask about the testing meter? I'm happy to go out and purchase one, but how does it work? Does it actually give you a reading of your blood. I'm certain it wouldn't as surely the GP's would use one of these as opposed to taking bloods. I do have one of those Oximeters (I think it's what they're called), but would imagine this is a different bit of kit entirely. Do you test daily, or approximately before and then 2hrs after every meal?

Thanks again, Reb. Advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Ljc]

Hi. Home glucose meters give yo an on the spot reading of what you blood glucose level is at the time. They come into their own when used to discover which carbohydrates we can and can’t tolerate , which is very individual. .
This is done by testing directly before eating the two hour after the first bite , if the post meal level is no more than 3 mmol higher then that meal was fine , gradually your pre meal levels will come down . Some folks also test on waking and bedtime .

The Hb1ac the Gp arranges is more like an average of your glucose level over the past 12 or so weeks . My Hb1ac is very good but it actually bears little resemblance to what I see on my meter .
So for me the Hb1ac is only a guide.

Usually GPs only provide a meter and test strips for people on medications that can cause hypo’s , Metformin usually doesn’t. But do ask as you practice may be more enlightened.
If not then many self funders use The Gluco Navii meter and the Gluco navii test strips
We use the mmol/l measurement in the uk.
You are entitled to claim VAT relief.
You will need more pots of testing strips I suggest 2 pots to start and a box of lancets.
Meters sold in chemists often use test strips that cost in excess of £15.
The Gluco Navii ones are £8 , so it is a big difference esp when doing in depth testing .

 

[Leadinglights]

You sound to have an active life style and that obviously helps in keeping blood glucose levels in check. It is easy to underestimate just how much carbohydrates one is having on a daily basis so keeping a food diary is definitely a good idea to know where your starting point is. I would hope that you GP will give you the opportunity to tackle reducing your HbA1C by making some changes to your diet and only if you don't make progress prescribe medication. I started at 50mmol/mol and by diet alone I reduced to 42 in 3 months so it is a realistic target. Often people find their cholesterol reduces as well by making the dietary changes.
Whatever you do has to be sustainable and involve foods you like otherwise you will falter, what foods you have has to be your choice, people can make suggestions but in the end it is up to you.
Your breakfast of shredded wheat, I was not sure if you said three quarters of one or 3 or 4 whole ones which would be a huge carb load for breakfast. Breakfast cereals are one of the things to be cautious of as although even if you choose low sugar ones they can still be high in carbs.
Have a look at the thread What did you eat Yesterday for ideas of what Type 2 folk have for meals. Nothing boring or tasteless there.

 

[rebrascora]

Thanks, Reb. It's given me a tremendous breakdown of how it works, and yes, I understand most of it. Could I just ask about the testing meter? I'm happy to go out and purchase one, but how does it work? Does it actually give you a reading of your blood. I'm certain it wouldn't as surely the GP's would use one of these as opposed to taking bloods. I do have one of those Oximeters (I think it's what they're called), but would imagine this is a different bit of kit entirely. Do you test daily, or approximately before and then 2hrs after every meal?

Thanks again, Reb. Advice greatly appreciated.

I think Lin answered this question pretty well before I saw it but basically your BG levels are fluctuating up and down throughout the day and night because they are affected by a number of factors (about 42 different things can in fact affect your BG including the season and the weather and stress and hormones but by far the biggest influencer is the food you eat, followed by the exercise you do. Whilst GPs do usually have a BG meter to do spot tests they don't use it to diagnose diabetes because it varies so much throughout the day and whilst there is a range which is considered "normal", non diabetic people go beyond that range occasionally and diabetics can be within that range at times or even most of the time, so if the GP suspects someone is in a very serious diabetic condition then they can use it to see if their levels are way beyond the normal range as that might indicate that they need immediate hospitalization but the blood test from your arm is the one which is used to diagnose because it measures the amount of glucose stuck to your red blood cells which live for about 12 weeks before they die, so that reading will give a good indication if your levels have been elevated beyond the normal range over that approx. 12 week period.
The benefit of you using a BG meter at home to monitor and tailor your diet is that you can measure your levels immediately before eating a meal and then 2 hours afterwards which is a point in time when the glucose from complex carbs is most likely to be hitting the blood stream..... if you were to eat pure sugar it will hit your blood about 15 mins later but hopefully as a diabetic, you will have already cut the sugar out, so you will be trying to assess the more complex carbs from rice and pasta and bread and breakfast cereal etc. which take a bit longer to hit the blood stream so the 2 hour point is an arbitrary period to assess what is going on. It may be at the peak of BG release into the blood stream or it may be slightly earlier or later but that time scale gives you a reasonable idea of what is going on, So if you test before your meal and your reading is 6.2 and then you eat bangers and mash and mushy peas and 2 hours later your reading is 9.2 or higher, you ate too many carbs and you need to reduce your portion of mash (and measure it in some way... one serving spoon or two perhaps) or maybe have cauliflower cheese instead of the mushy peas (as they are quite carby) or have half and half mashed potato and cauliflower or 100% mashed cauliflower which actually tastes great if you add a dollop of cream cheese and a spoon of wholegrain mustard.... and no need to peel spuds) You could also look at getting higher meat content sausages as cheap sausages contain rusk which is carbohydrate. I get some 95% meat outdoor reared chippolata sausages which are really tasty. You then try the same meal the next week or whenever but with the carb reduction and see what happens and if the adjustments to portion size or content has made enough difference or if you need to tweak it a bit more.... It's all about experimenting to see what works for you by means of trial, test and and improvement. I know that seems really involved but once you learn what your body can cope with and start getting good results you just consign that meal to your repertoire as sorted and work on other meals. Once you have breakfast (usually the easiest meal to sort because most of us have the same breakfast almost every morning, and lunch you are then just working on evening meals where there is generally more variety and needs more intensive testing.

Anyway, hope that explains it. You can't really correlate the readings you get on your meter to the HbA1c result the GP does unless you test your blood every few minutes day and night over 3 months and take an average but it gives you loads of information to help you tailor your diet to what your body can cope with and that goes a long way to managing your diabetes.

As regards what the BG meter testing entails. It involves pricking the side of your finger with a spring loaded lancing device. Teasing out a drop of blood by gently manipulation(squeezing), which is then offered up to a test strip which has been put into the meter. Capillary action draws the blood into the end of the test strip and the meter reads it and displays the result.

Hopefully I haven't given you information overload.... but you did ask! 🙄 😉

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Kasey

It was a good question, and you’ve had lots of ideas shared. Being able to ask questions on the forum is a great way to find out about others’ experiences of managing their diabetes day-to-day, and to add to the information that you are getting from your nurse.

So ask away! Nothing will be considered too obvious or ‘silly’ 🙂

 

[Felinia]

I do have a food supplement daily - Seagreens, but often find I'm still tired especially in the evenings. or when the working week has finished. My diet atm is :-

3/4 Shredded Wheat for breakfast with Lactose free milk and Candarel sweetener
A chicken sandwich on wholemeal bread for lunch.
Skinless breast of chicken with rice (low in fat, sugar and salt)

I'll admit, many of the foods mentioned (avocado, lentils, nuts etc), I generally can't stand the taste, but if it has to be done, it has to be done.

I also find that I'm always hungry of late. I don't know if that's phycological, or my body telling me to feed it more.

Regards,
K

Hi and welcome
Two things struck me about your diet - the high amount of carbs (cereal, bread, rice) and no mention of vegetables and fruit. If you were to pack out your meals with vegetables it might stop you feeling so hungry (but not root veggies like potato). And when I was your age, before I became diabetic, I would crash out in the evenings after work!!!!!
Somebody mentioned you are just in the diabetic range, and that it is worth trying to lower your HbA1c by diet. Some GP's try it - it's certainly worth asking. High cholesterol is something else - some people can take statins, but others can't. I'm one that can't take them, so my GP advised me to take a cholesterol lowering drink daily, which did result in a reduction. There are other cholesterol reducing medications as well. Best wishes