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Permalink Reply by JB King on May 11, 2010 at 7:19am

I freaked out, that's what I did. Not exactly the best thing to do, but what else is there when you get told your diabetic and have to start doing things differently. I was diagnosed back in June of 2007, drank a lot of regular pop and wasn't active at all.

The dietician may say to just keep on doing what you are doing. However, you could also ask what you could change and what are some things to notice. How often are you eating and what signs do you have to tell you when to eat are a couple of other ideas that you could pass along. The dietician is there to help you so do ask questions if you have them.

If I could do it again, I'd probably start with a "Where am I?" project listing what I eat, when I eat, and those kinds of things as that will help to identify the problem spots. One of my big ones was not eating breakfast. Now I eat breakfast quite regularly.

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Permalink Reply by Kelstyr on May 20, 2010 at 9:29pm

Yu are doing a good thing, gather info, share storioes with others that have been there. We all have something to share both good and bad experiences, just rememvbeer to sort out what you here and watch the bigger picture, as thru the internet to a lovely place to share ideas...rememvere it is the gammit of peopl;e withj may extenuating mental health issues, and or other dianosis that do not pertain to you. But it givrd yu a good amount of info to learn, share ( give the proper amount of ponderance) to what you read., If you know what I mean?

decide what method of testing, which meter you will use and incorporate thje testing into your lifr so long periods of time don't go by without testing. consistantly.

What meter have you slected?
How often will yu be testing and were goals set as whjat yooue=r waking numbers shuld be vs a cxol hour after meals?

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Permalink Reply by Bobby on June 28, 2010 at 1:11pm

Hi! I cut out butter and only drink no fat milk and eat 12 or 15 grain bread. Mostly I just backed off on the snacks and bedtime ice cream! Went from 298 to 282 with 90 more lbs to go. I'm type II and just smaller portions help. I average around 130 to 150 and take metformin twice per day. I also found a pepsi with 0 cal, 0 carbs and 0 sugar even some with no caffeine! THAT'S helped a lot! Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Zolar1 on August 1, 2010 at 5:30pm

First thing I did was get a blood glucose meter and a LOT of test strips.
I tested in the morning, right before each meal, 2 hours after each meal, and at bedtime.

I tracked what foods did what to my blood sugars. Foods that spiked me too highly, I either ate less of them, ate them at a different time, or stopped eating them.

I went on a nearly all meat diet with as few carbs as I could get by with, sometimes only 10g of carbs per day, the rest meat cooked on a George Foreman Grill.

I looked up my basal metabolic rate and ate only that for months.

Eventually my blood sugars dropped like a rock, and so did my a1c.

My only a1c's were:
6.8 at time of diagnosis
5.7 six weeks later
5.8 three months after that
5.3 just a few days ago (and that's with huge spikes into the mid to high 200's too).

Let your meter be your food boss, not a book, not a dietitian, and certainly not a doctor.

By the way, I managed to lose 60 pounds of body weight, and got nearly all my numbers nearly perfect. WITHOUT going to a single diabetes class, or following some unrealistic diet plan/scheme. Oh, and all without taking a single medication whatsoever.

Since it got hot and humid outside, my postprandial blood sugars have soared, double, triple, and once quadruple.

I asked my doc for insulin. They gave me my first Humalog pen the other day so I can take 'corrective' insulin dosages. This means when I spike into the 200+ range, I take a shot to bring it back down.

As long as I avoid carbs and especially stay out of the heat, my blood sugars are pretty well controlled.

Don't toss out everything food wise. Your hubby can eat it, your kids can eat it, other family members can eat it.

I had over a 6 month supply of canned foods that I couldn't eat at first. I told my doc that I couldn't afford to eat right, but could only afford to eat cheap.

So, I ate what little I could, the wife ate the rest. We still have some foods that haven't expired yet. It will take time to eat them, but far cheaper than tossing everything and restocking the fridge.

If you take metformin or insulin, many times you can still eat some or most of the foods.

Now, my birthday is coming up. I WILL eat a piece of my own birthday cake with 1 scoop of ice cream come u-know-what-or-high-water.

I will also do this on the holidays too, except I know how to pair my carbs with protein, and how to keep blood sugars more under control. And if that doesn't work, my backup plan is insulin if needed.

YOU rule diabetes, not the other way around.

Look up Dr Bernstein or Atkins or South Beach diets.
Be a good diabetic and once a month you can enjoy some of the off-limits foods without guilt.
Just so you know, any of those diets above can drop your A1c significantly and in a hurry.

If you have medication(s) and they can counteract high carb meals, then you can dine out with your hubby & friends -0 just avoid eating the desserts and high carb stuff. You CAN eat a lousy ear of corn or mashed potatoes, but watch out for the gravy - it sneaks up on you when you're not looking.

Avoid ANYTHING that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup - as of January 17, 2010 there have been links to getting type 2 diabetes and pancreatic cancer.

-Personal observation- I noticed that a lot of newer T2's used to be Mountain Dew addicts... Just something to ponder.

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Permalink Reply by Hoss the SURVIVER on August 4, 2010 at 5:22pm

HI ALL

The first thing i did was stop using processed sugar, Coffee is now sweet free, look at not eating white breads.
Learn eat less at a meal.

Change habits nothing can trip one up as quick as an established habit especially eating habits/

Oh n no soft drinks or energy drinks

Hoss
EGM

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Permalink Reply by Zolar1 on August 21, 2010 at 4:37pm

great suggestions/advice!

However, my coffee is not sweet free. I use the "pink Stuff" (artificial sweetener) - he he

Regarding bread - I try not to eat a lot of it, but I have to.
Ever eat a peanut butter sandwich without bread?

In today's awful economy, I can only afford to eat cheap & on the run.
Eating healthy costs far more than buying medication to control blood sugars.

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Permalink Reply by JeffD on August 21, 2010 at 9:36am

Two books I really like:

Gretchen Becker's book "Type 2 Diabetes, The First Year". Its like a day to day week to week hand holdng guide through everything you need to learn to do the right things for you. It really helped me.

The second book I got was the Diabetes for Dummies. I got the 3rd edition. Lots of good information. Its a good reference.

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Permalink Reply by Zolar1 on August 21, 2010 at 4:44pm

Hmmm, diabetes for dummies.....

I wonder if they got a 'wife for dummies book?' LOL

Just a big dummy here. And that glass of chocolate milk tonight tasted soooooo good too!

Note: I can easily burn off any blood sugars under the right conditions. And without a single med too.

However, I prefer to use insulin and lessen the stress of having this disease.

Not much of a life eating, then exercising until I eat again, over and over, day in, day out.

At least with insulin, I can exercise when time permits instead of having my whole life evolve around blood sugars.

Maybe when you come visit, you can bring the book with you? Perhaps take a glance at it?

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Permalink Reply by Hoss the SURVIVER on August 21, 2010 at 5:19pm

HI ALL

DA, eat in moderation, I also found that since I've been eating home-baked bread. My sugars have leveled out as well, Processed bread really is full of crap n all the goodness has been refined out.
I seem to be good at around 8 in the morning ? but if i go below 3.5 LOW SUGAR is a major problem

till I'm a bit off a walking GORILLA that may be the reason, different strokes for different folks hey

Hoss
E G M

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