# Very new to diabetes



## wiseowl (Nov 18, 2016)

I am in my 4th week afterer being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes,I have to go back in 2 months time for my first review,I have cut out all sugar,even in my tea,cakes,biscuits,chocolate,processed foods,Rice,potatoes,red meat,and I am eating fresh salmon/yellow haddock/tuna/sardines/lots of salad/peppers/a little piece of Edam cheese/Broccoloi/cauliflower/brussels/lettuce/beetroot/mushrooms/.

breakfast consists of porridge no sugar with a 6 grapes in it/and on alternative days I have i slice of wholemeal bread and a poached egg,1 apple and orange each day and I take my dog out 6 to 8 times a day.

Am I doing enough.Thank you


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## grovesy (Nov 18, 2016)

Welcome!


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## MikeTurin (Nov 18, 2016)

Hello and welcome to the community. I am from Italy so some of my food ideas are different.
Do you have to lose some weight? 
The first thing I suggest you is to use an application and start to log the food you are eating and to log your weight.
These application could help you to count the calorie intake and the carbohydrate intake. 

Stay away from "for diabetics" and "gluten free" foods, and processed fats like margarine - instead use smaller quantities of good butter or clarified butter for cooking, use olive oil or peanut oil. Don not fru with sunflower or cooking oil.
You should be aware that all starchy foods are a a source of them, so beware of potatoes, rice, bread and pasta.
Beware also of porridge! I think it's better yogurt or milk. 
Cocoa and dark 80% chocolate in small quantities is ok now and then.
Some fruits are more sugary than others so you should avoid bananas, figs and khaki. You should vary the fruits you're eating changing where you buy it and the cultivars, first of all because if you eat the same thing everyday all is going to be booooring, and in general you minimize the risk to buy poisoned fruits, but this is a general advice, if possible buy directly in the farm.
Meat isn't a problem for diabetes, so if you like a steak or some raw beef sausage now and then isn't a problem, even beef or rabbit liver is ok now and then.

I think also that asking a visit with a dietologist could be useful for a diet. I'm almost saying what my dietologist said to me.

The next thing you should do is to invest in a glucose meter and in strip and at least monitor the fasting blood glucose levels a couple of time a week.


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## wiseowl (Nov 18, 2016)

Good morning @MikeTurin and thank you,I really at this moment in time don't want to go down the meter rought just yet,just  my personal preference at the moment,I do hope that you understand,I was 80 kilos 5ft 7inches now I am 72 kilos,at the moment I am about the correct weight,so I don't want to lose much more ,I am on about 75 carbs each day,didn't want to go much lower as I am quite active,always on the go.thank you for all your advice it is most appreciated my friend


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## Stitch147 (Nov 18, 2016)

Hi wiseowl and welcome to the forum. You defiantely have to find what works for you best in the long run. I personally have porridge every day for breakfast and its usually kind to my blood sugar levels. This forum is a great place for help and advice.


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## wiseowl (Nov 18, 2016)

many ,much appreciated@Stitch147 my friend and thanks for the welcome

I had this sent to me this morning what do you think


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## Ralph-YK (Nov 18, 2016)

Welcome Wise Owl.  E-mails? All e-mails are always scams, even it's from your mum.
You do get support for low carb around here.


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## Ralph-YK (Nov 18, 2016)

I'm still working on diet.  My understanding is you can eat some things like potatoes & have reasonable BG level.  Things like red meat would have limited effect. I'll go with at least a good start.



wiseowl said:


> I really at this moment in time don't want to go down the meter rought just yet,just  my personal preference at the moment,I do hope that you understand,


May I ask why?

I'm not testing because I have no money.  I managed to get a meter & 50 strips.  Even with just the little testing I managed to do it helped.  I didn't get to do porridge though.
Self testing allows you to find out what effect food have on your BG, and what effect any changes have.


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## wiseowl (Nov 18, 2016)

I suffer from severe Gad Anxiety  disorder and it would panic me if my sugar count was to high at any one time,I need to get used to the idea first,I did see the above mentioned tv programme and it certainly opened my eyes and the email was sent and sanctioned by  Diabetes .co.uk


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## Ralph-YK (Nov 18, 2016)

I'm sorry to hear that Wise Owl. I hope we can support you in this.


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## MikeTurin (Nov 18, 2016)

wiseowl said:


> Good morning @MikeTurin and thank you,I really at this moment in time don't want to go down the meter


May I ask why?
I actually use also the urine test strips, as a proxy is something is going really awok. I see that as a crowbar circuit if something goes really really bad, and the urine strips are relatively cheap. A BG meter is of couse more precise.



Stitch147 said:


> I personally have porridge every day for breakfast and its usually kind to my blood sugar levels. This forum is a great place for help and advice.


If you really really like it... I've tried porridge some years ago and didn't liked it very much. I prefer milk with coffee or a greek yogurt.


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## Robin (Nov 18, 2016)

wiseowl said:


> ,I did see the above mentioned tv programme and it certainly opened my eyes and the email was sent and sanctioned by Diabetes .co.uk


You're not confusing diabetes.co.uk with the Diabetes UK charity, Diabetes.org.uk (to which this forum is attached) are you? Diabetes.co.uk is a commercial operation, so will probably generate marketing emails as part of their business.


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## Martin Canty (Nov 18, 2016)

Welcome Wiseowl..... Looks like you have everything just about covered, the only thing I would add is about testing; I hope you will warm to the idea after reading (on this forum) how it helps us.


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## wiseowl (Nov 18, 2016)

Ralph-YK said:


> I'm sorry to hear that Wise Owl.




thats OK I have had it for 30 years on and off


@Robin I saw the tv programme on BBC 3 weeks ago
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...4CJoZgpcBb4JR65JQ&sig2=XvlY2Dbdf9j5a2R9MsGHWw

Thank you everyone for making me welcome and for all your invaluable help and advice

For breakfast I had I piece of wholemeal toast with one poached egg/15g carbs
for lunch I have just had 1 piece of grilled fresh salmon,a very minute amount of mash wih caulifkower and a tomato 11carbs/two wholemeal digestive biscuits/18 carbs


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## Mark Parrott (Nov 18, 2016)

Hi Wise Owl & welcome to the forum.  Sounds like you're doing well, diet wise.  You've certainly got the right ideas.  The only thing I would add is be careful with grapes.  They are little sugar bombs.  Berries are better.  But we are all different.  I'm ok with bananas but other people find it sends their sugars into orbit.


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## wiseowl (Nov 18, 2016)

Good evening @Mark Parrott  and thank you for your welcome my friend,yes grapes they do taste very sweet I shall use rasberries in future


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## wiseowl (Dec 15, 2016)

Good afternoon just got a phone call from the diabetic nurse that I have my first (3 months)fasting blood test on the 5th January and then get results when I attend my first course ,two hours every Friday starting on the 13th January for three weeks.

Informed the nurse that I was on a low carb diet to which she replied don't do that you need your carbs for energy,now I have only been diagnosed for two months and have followed to the letter all the advice and help I have received on this wonderful forum,now I am totally confused by the NHS nureses advice.thank you for listening my friends


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## Northerner (Dec 15, 2016)

wiseowl said:


> Good afternoon just got a phone call from the diabetic nurse that I have my first (3 months)fasting blood test on the 5th January and then get results when I attend my first course ,two hours every Friday starting on the 13th January for three weeks.
> 
> Informed the nurse that I was on a low carb diet to which she replied don't do that you need your carbs for energy,now I have only been diagnosed for two months and have followed to the letter all the advice and help I have received on this wonderful forum,now I am totally confused by the NHS nureses advice.thank you for listening my friends


Unfortunately, advice can be confusing  How have you adapted to your low carb diet, is it working well for you? If so, then it's a good diet for YOU  Much as some healthcare professionals would like to believe it, there is no 'one size fits all', and certainly the assumption that you need lots of carbs in your diet 'for energy' is being discredited in more recent research. So please don't lose faith, it's one of those occasions where some nurses and doctors are a bit behind the times - keep up with what works best for you!


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## MikeTurin (Dec 15, 2016)

You get energy from foot from three categories:

carbohydrates (and sugars that are carbohyrdates too)
fats
proteins
If you consume less calories on carbs you have to consume more on fat and proteins. 
The official NHS guidelines are to follow the eatwell plate that is a better thing compared of the nowadays diet based on trans fats a lot of sugar and refined starchy foods. 
I suppose you could reduce the carb intake without big problems provided that you get your energy from unsaturated fats and proteins.

If you say that you prefer instead of 100g  of bread to eat a couple of eggs or 150g of turkey or like me a giant mixed salad with olives and nuts I suppose is good. On the other hand if you eat instead 1 kg of fried lard...
+


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## Grogg1 (Dec 15, 2016)

I'm at the same point as you, 4 weeks in from diagnosis.  I've gone low carb route and am pleased with the results on my blood sugar.  I test though!  My nurse would probably say I'm over testing but it's helping me find what I can and cannot eat.  I like bread so tested the effect of the Lidl protein roll (less than 10g carbs) and it doesn't cause me any spike, so happy days.  Please consider testing it's quite painless and so reassuring when you can see your blood sugar coming down.

My eyesight has also radically changed from being slightly short sighted to now needing reading glasses.  Saw my optician today who confirmed my distance sight is perfect but I need reading glasses.  She wants me to go back in 4/5 weeks for another check up before she will issue a prescription for reading glasses as she say they like to see 8-10 weeks of good control before prescribing new lens.  She also give my eyes a good check and no evidence of any damage from the diabetes.


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## wiseowl (Dec 16, 2016)

Good afternoon @Northerner @MikeTurin and @Grogg1 and thank you for all your replys my friends,I am going to get a test kit but have no idea what meter to get or how to do it.


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## Northerner (Dec 16, 2016)

wiseowl said:


> Good afternoon @Northerner @MikeTurin and @Grogg1 and thank you for all your replys my friends,I am going to get a test kit but have no idea what meter to get or how to do it.


I would recommend getting the SD Codefree Meter which has test strips at around £8 for 50. It's  the cheapest option we have come across in terms of test strips, which is where the expense comes in (most High street shops sell meters that use strips that cost £25-£30 for 50 strips). If you have any questions about how to use it effectively, just let us know


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## wiseowl (Dec 16, 2016)

Good evening @Northerner my friend I have just ordered it from the link you kindly gave me,many thanks,it should be here on the 21st December


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## Grogg1 (Dec 17, 2016)

wiseowl said:


> Good evening @Northerner my friend I have just ordered it from the link you kindly gave me,many thanks,it should be here on the 21st December



Good move.  My fingers are not vey good bleeders so I have to have my lancing device at mid point else I don't get blood first time.  A more experienced pricker told me to make sure my hands are warm, use side of fingers near nail bed (there are you tube videos you can watch) and to prick and count to 3 before applying some pressure to get blood out (you need a pin head amount).  I was wasting strips and over pricking fingers in not getting enough blood out first time (you can't top up blood on most meters).   Thumbs and index finger supposedly more sensitive but I don't notice a difference and they along with my little fingers are the best bleeders!!  From the link provided I bought 3 record books as I like seeing it written down before I input to my spreadsheet!  I just record numbers in my booklet but my spreadsheet has food / mood etc.  i.e. if you are stressed blood sugar rises - as I found out when I had a blazing row with my OH.   It can all become a little obsessive which is no bad thing IMO.  I went to a First birthday party today and had no trouble resisting the goodies as I've told myself they are poison to my body so a few pickle onions and piece of cheese with a broken off bit of icing was fine.


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## Ditto (Dec 18, 2016)

Good, informative replies on this thread, thank you peoples. I'm learning everyday. Will go check out YouTube for blood pricking tips. It's like getting blood out of a stone with me! 

Welcome to the forum wiseowl.


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## robert@fm (Jan 2, 2017)

Off-topic for this thread I know, but this is too long for a profile post(!) which is where I was originally going to post it, so:

I see from your blog that you live in the Medway Towns. Beautiful part of the world; my elder sister lived there for the last ~30 years of her life (Strood), and I sometimes visited. No Christmas lights in Medway is a huge change from the time I visited at Christmas (circa 1995); there were plenty then, and I got plenty of pictures, although I also nearly got arrested by the Pentagon Centre security.  (Apparently, if al-Quaeda get hold of our Christmas-light secrets it could spell the end of civilisation, or something.) Don't they even have the Christmas tree at St. Nicholas' Churchyard in Strood nowadays? That's said to be haunted by Charles Dickens, so they had better watch out...


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## wiseowl (Jan 2, 2017)

Good morning @robert@fm  yes I am in the medway towns,Dickens Country just on the banks of the River medway,lovely people,salt of the eatrh,thanks for your post most friendly


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## HOBIE (Jan 2, 2017)

Keep going with the good diet ! & welcome WO


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