# feeling a bit lost



## bakebeans (May 15, 2019)

Hi I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes on Monday. When I saw my dr I didn’t really ask the questions I should have so was wondering if anyone here could help?

I’ve been prescribed metformin. Going from 1 tablet to 4 over 4 weeks. I’d really rather not take this. I will change my diet and exercise more to lose weight. Am I doing the right thing? I know it’s only early days and it’s easy for me to say I will watch what I eat etc but I will do it. 

I’ve been having a banana for breakfast a pear for mid morning snack salad for lunch and apple for afternoon break and salad for tea. When I woke up this morning and tested my sugar levels it was 7.7 (tonight instead of salad it’s chicken and veg) 

I feel like I’ve just been told to go away and take these tables and come back in 3 months to see the results, I’ve not really got a clue what’s good and what’s not.

Would that change be enough to make a difference and how soon would I see a change? Sorry this is probably a silly question


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## Drummer (May 15, 2019)

But you are type two diabetic according to your info - why are you eating so much sugar?
Most type twos can manage a small serving of berries with cream as a dessert after a meal, but you seem to be deliberately choosing sugars and starches over the basic protein and fats diet most find beneficial.


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## bakebeans (May 15, 2019)

This is why I’m asking these questions. 

I’ve always believed fruit is good for me as it’s a natural sugar so it’s easier for your body to break down. I’m in a physical job so thought fruit would be better for me spread out over the day instead of eating chocolate, crisps and cereal bars. I’m new to this up until a couple of weeks ago I ate ALOT of chocolate and ate bread 3 times a day


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## Pine Marten (May 15, 2019)

Don't worry, @bakebeans, no question is silly and we are all learning as we go along. Fruit is always said to be healthy but unfortunately the 'natural' sugar is still just sugar - some people can tolerate berries (blueberries, blackberries etc) and I have found that half a banana now and again doesn't affect me, but most fruit is a bit of a no-no. The answer is to test different foods and see what effect they have. Were you offered a meter? Most type 2s are not, so quite a few people here fund their own - the cheapest is the SD Codefree which is available from Amazon or direct from Home Health. I'll post the links in a mo...

It's very early days for you yet, so take your time, learn all you can, ans ask anything you like - we'd be happy to help


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## Pine Marten (May 15, 2019)

This is Home Health https://homehealth-uk.com/all-products/codefree-blood-glucose-monitoring-system-mmoll-or-mgdl/ and they take off the vat if you click 'diabetic'.


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## Eddy Edson (May 15, 2019)

Nobody can really give you much useful advice about what to eat for your BG - everybody's different, unfortunately.  Certainly nobody here is really in a position to say what works or doesn't work for "most" T2's - how would they know? You really have to test before & after eating to work out what's good/bad for you, and this will likely change over time.

Personally, I'm with you - I didn't want to give up on fruit any more than I really had to. From my testing, I cut down on morning fruit+melon portion size while I was getting things under control, but nowadays I'm unrestricted, thanks be.

I found it really useful to see examples of other people's progression to kind of benchmark where I was going. Of course things might be completely different for me, but at the start I had zero idea about what was possible so any info was invaluable. Along those lines, these were my daily average BG readings from about 10 weeks after diagnosis up until the point where I was solidly in "normal" range:




At the start of that, I had waking BG about where you are now, 7 or 8-ish. Metformin, cutting out obvious refined carb crap and cutting back on bread and fruit mainly served to get things down to just above normal levels over a few weeks. But you can see that there were big day-to-day swings - frustrating! Things don't go in a straight line and I'd really urge you to track things with a chart like this or something similar, so that you can focus on the trend, rather than the day-to-day. 

The further reduction down to "normal" levels from early September was, I believe, mainly due to weight loss.

A couple of other points: Metformin is triffic but it probably isn't going to reduce your HbA1c by much more than say 10 points (like everything else, though, this varies a lot between individuals). It's also something you need to build up in your system over time - it doesn't work like an aspirin; eg you wouldn't pop a Met tab after a carby meals to keep your BG under control. Diet and exercise are much more powerful, usually. But Met has a wealth of anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory & other benefits unrelated to BG control and I wouldn't be eager to stop taking it, if you don't suffer badly from gastro side-effects.  (I reduced from 2000mg to 1000mg a while back & my doc will surely want me to come off completely when I see him in a few weeks; not sure what I'll do about that.)

I mentioned weight loss. I'd urge you to research this as a strategy for getting to remission.  Won't work for everyone, but it's not just for people who are officially "overweight". Check links in this for details: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/hi-t2-newbie-here.80852/#post-897974

All the best!


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## Ralph-YK (May 15, 2019)

bakebeans said:


> natural sugar so it’s easier for your body to break down.


That's exactly what's wrong with it! Unless you're trying to get your BG to go up. Even though it might be generally "healthier" than some other things you might eat.


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