# New girl on the block ...



## Sandie (Jul 10, 2018)

Hi there, 
My name is Sandie and I have just joined this site. I am type 2 and struggling with what I am supposed to eat. I have gone back to basics and try to eat no processed food, lots of leafy stuff and nuts etc. but my blood glucose is still high...  what am I doing wrong?


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## Spireite72 (Jul 10, 2018)

Hi @Sandie  welcome and it’s normal to not understand everything at the start. We are all different and different foods affects us differently as a general rule bread potatoes pasta rice will spike our bloods so best avoided or cut down. If you have a test meter it will help you understand what we Can  and  can’t eat. Test just before and 2hrs after each meal. Look up low carb recipes check out the recipes and ideas on the forum you will be surprised what we can eat. Sounds like you’ve made a good start and it will get easier.


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## Ljc (Jul 10, 2018)

Hi Sandie welcome to the forum. It’s like Spireite says, it’s carbohydrates  we need to cut down on and some things that are considered healthy are not for good for us,   eg fruit juice is packed full of fructose so makes a wonderful hypo treatmeant for those of us on meds that can cause hypo’s, grapes are little sugar bombs .
We usually have no problems with protein and good fats.
Come and have a look at what we’re eating
what-did-you-eat-yesterday.
Their are some good low carb recipes on the forum too
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/forums/recipes.21/

How did you come to be diagnosed


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## Deleted member 18634 (Jul 10, 2018)

Hi Sandie and welcome to the forum! For some back to basics info take a look at the Enjoy Food sections of our website:

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/eating-with-diabetes

As @Ljc suggested, you should also definitely keep an eye on the forum food boards for tips and recipe suggestions


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## CathyB (Jul 10, 2018)

Welcome Sandie, the others have said it all really, all you need to know is here so take some time to read as much as you can.  Keeping a food diary and regularly testing before and two hours after eating is a great way to track what works for you or what you might need to tweak or change.  Lastly. There is no such thing as a stupid question so feel free to ask anything


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## Sandie (Jul 10, 2018)

Thank  you for all your replies, it's very kind of you.
I went to docs as i Ias so tired and  was diagnosed type 2. 
Can I ask, I usually have porridge with blueberries, raspberry and bannana. Is it ok for me to still have it?


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## Ruby/London (Jul 10, 2018)

Sandie said:


> Hi there,
> My name is Sandie and I have just joined this site. I am type 2 and struggling with what I am supposed to eat. I have gone back to basics and try to eat no processed food, lots of leafy stuff and nuts etc. but my blood glucose is still high...  *what am I doing wrong?*



Probably nothing, Sandie -  just finding your feet by the sounds of it.  I am quite new and still a bit baffled but learning slowly but surely.  I was a carb queen and still trying to get my head round low carb cooking.  My default food was bread and pasta.  I know I need to expand my low carb cooking skills.  I can happily eat some things that seems to cause spikes for others but even a small amount of bread spikes my bg.  It seems to be trial and error in the beginning to get things on track.  Zero coke, something I would never have drunk and KP nuts 2.5g gets me over the biggest carb cravings without feeling deprived - and I will omit the coke further down the line.  For me, it's all about adjusting...


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## Mark T (Jul 10, 2018)

Sandie said:


> Thank  you for all your replies, it's very kind of you.
> I went to docs as i Ias so tired and  was diagnosed type 2.
> Can I ask, I usually have porridge with blueberries, raspberry and bannana. Is it ok for me to still have it?


That combo would send me very high!  Easily into the teens...

If that's breakfast, you might want to consider something a little lower in carbohydrate, such as eggs and bacon!


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## Ruby/London (Jul 10, 2018)

Being a lazy - no, reluctant cook, my starting strategy was to choose two easy meals that I know I would love and keep these consent for a few weeks until I got the hang of this... Most days, I stuck to Fage yoghurt and berries for breakfast (10 carbs) and smoked salmon on cream cheese on two low carb crispbreads (12 carbs) with a small bowl of courgette and cheese soup for lunch. (5 carbs)  I varied my evening meal - usually salad/veg and meat based protein.  That kept things pretty steady.  It was only when I started experimenting with bread again that my bg readings went high.

I was inspired by the fact that Bill gates wore the same type of clothes (black turtle neck and blue jeans,) everyday and ate roughly the same food because not having too make choices about "trivial matters" simplified his life.  Some would call it lazy.  I call it being far too busy to be faffin' about   So far, rotating 3/4 dishes has worked ok for me.  

I've just looked at my stats from June 1st to July 10th.  I set a target range of 5 - 7.9.  I averaged < 5.) - 13.24% of the time, >7.9 7 - .35% of the time and between 5.0 and 7.9 - 79.41%


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## Ljc (Jul 10, 2018)

Sandie said:


> Thank  you for all your replies, it's very kind of you.
> I went to docs as i Ias so tired and  was diagnosed type 2.
> Can I ask, I usually have porridge with blueberries, raspberry and bannana. Is it ok for me to still have it?


That combination would not be good for me .  Far to many carbohydrates.  TBH we are all different in what the various carbohydrates do to us, I can eat porridge but others have to avoid it like the plague. I haven’t touched a banana in years.
The only way to discover what you can tolerate well is by self testing.  It’s unlikely that they have provided you with a glucose meter and test strips,  if you would like to test , do ask for one but the answer is likely to be no , often some real silly reasons are given, such as it will only upset you or you only need the Hb1ac.
The SD Codefree meter is the cheapest one we know of to self fund the ongoing cost of the testing strips it’s available from
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codefree-G...fm-21&linkId=f39210144fdc26c27738e45b6d957003
Or directly from Homehealth.
You’re entitled to claim vat relief.

Have a read of
test-review-adjust by Alan S

You’ll find the above and lots of useful info on this thread
useful-links-for-people-new-to-diabetes
For future reference you’ll find it at the top of the newbies forum.
I suggest you start with
Test review adjust.
Maggie Davies letter.
Then take your time with the rest of the T2 section.

To give you some ideas, come and see what we eat 
what-did-you-eat-yesterday.
We also have a good recipe section on the Food carbs queries thread .


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## Sandie (Jul 11, 2018)

I had my breakfast and just tested my blood glucose two hours after.. it's 6.6.
Does this mean I can still have porridge and fruit ?


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## Haydnpat (Jul 11, 2018)

Sandie said:


> Hi there,
> My name is Sandie and I have just joined this site. I am type 2 and struggling with what I am supposed to eat. I have gone back to basics and try to eat no processed food, lots of leafy stuff and nuts etc. but my blood glucose is still high...  what am I doing wrong?


Hi, Sandie, I'm new to site too, but not new to diabetes. You are not doing anything wrong, it's really cutting right back on carbs, it will come down ! Keep at it xx


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## CivicFreak (Jul 11, 2018)

Sandie said:


> Hi there,
> My name is Sandie and I have just joined this site. I am type 2 and struggling with what I am supposed to eat. I have gone back to basics and try to eat no processed food, lots of leafy stuff and nuts etc. but my blood glucose is still high...  what am I doing wrong?


Hi Sandie.

I'm going through this myself a little, having been diagnosed in December and bought myself a blood monitor just last week so I could see for myself what was going on.

Are you taking any medication? Also, when are you testing? As others have said, it is best to test just before and then again 2 hours after a meal. If you test after exercise you might also find that this can cause "spikes" in your readings (I am just learning this) so try to be mindful of this.

Everyone is different, I am finding that carbs aren't having too much of an effect on my BG readings, but perhaps this is because I am also on 2000mg metformin each day. However cutting down on your carb intake seems to be a good place to start. You don't mention if you're taking any medication or not, this could also be a factor. I believe some veg such as spinach can help lower your BG so try to incorporate that with your food, and also fresh fruit as it is full of fibre and naturally occurring sugars, which the body seems to be able to process better. Keep a food diary, and with regular testing you can see which foods are having a detrimental effect much easier.

Hope this helps!


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## Alister (Jul 11, 2018)

Sandie said:


> I had my breakfast and just tested my blood glucose two hours after.. it's 6.6.
> Does this mean I can still have porridge and fruit ?


Looks like a good figure to me, I doubt many here would be upset at a 6.6 at any time (before or after a meal)


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## Stitch147 (Jul 11, 2018)

Hi and welcome to the forum and also welcome to the "I can tolerate porridge club!" (just made that one up but I can tolerate porridge too!)


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## Alison Jane (Jul 11, 2018)

Sandie said:


> Hi there,
> My name is Sandie and I have just joined this site. I am type 2 and struggling with what I am supposed to eat. I have gone back to basics and try to eat no processed food, lots of leafy stuff and nuts etc. but my blood glucose is still high...  what am I doing wrong?


Hi Sandie I'm new too


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## Lyn68 (Jul 11, 2018)

Hello and welcome I am fairly new as well and still learning. I to can tolerate porridge but I would drop the banana I stick to berries. The key to this seems to be to test test and test again to see what you can and can’t tolerate.


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## Sandie (Jul 12, 2018)

Thanks to you all... It's great having you impart your knowledge. 
This morning took beaten egg, spinach and smoked salmon to work. Made scrambled eggs and it was lovely. 
It's good to know I can tolerate porridge, as I do love it! 
On another note, I have stopped drinking as it was making my bg bad in the morning.. got to say I haven't missed it at all.. and no hangover this morning after the football!


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## Sandie (Jul 12, 2018)

Alison Jane said:


> Hi Sandie I'm new too


Hi Alison , 
Hope you are enjoying the forum and getting lots of tips xx


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## Jeffrey Forward (Jul 12, 2018)

Hello Sandie, 
It looks like most people have given good advise as I have found with this forum, I tend to jump in every now and then.
It's good to hear you can still eat porridge, I have to be honest it's one of the first things I dropped out my diet, it used to make me feel so weird after eating it.

I now have a diet of manly berries, nuts, fish and some meat. not all at once. 
For instance if I have Bacon and egg for breakfast, I'll have a leafy salad with nuts for lunch, then in the evening I'd go for salmon with asparagus.
I like to mix it up a fair bit so if I have something meaty in the evening, I'd go for a more hunter/gatherer breakfast, berries with seeds and a dollop of Skyr yogurt.

It really comes down to finding things you enjoy that won't spike the sugar to much.


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## Alison Jane (Jul 12, 2018)

Hi Sandie I am I hope you are too learnt more on here the last day than I have in 18 years of being diagnosed


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