Diabetes and calories, carbs

judyvalentine512

As a newly diagnosed diabetic, the 'web' has such conflicting messages, I'm soooo confused. Long story short, I had a gallstone removed 2 years ago. The surgeon knicked my pancreas. It got infected and I lost half my pancreas due to necrotising pancreatitis.
So, the diabetic diagnosis wasn't a surprise. So, I go to the Canadian Diabetic Association for education and support.
The dietician has told me to count carbs, as a diabetic, you need carbs, that's what gives you energy. But then 'they' tell you to count calories. Watch your fat and sugar intake. Never skip a meal.
When I missed lunch and supper one day, my blood sugar was 6.1(normal). When I eat three meals a day, stick within calorie and carbs goal, my sugars are always high. Anywhere from 10.8 to 17.
Any other diabetics out there who really have a handle on this? I'm not on insulin yet, we're still experimenting with the oral meds.
Any personal experience that could help me would be appreciated.

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yarwell

Sounds like you had a bad time, I hope the compensation will assist you.

There are conflicting approaches to Diabetes so you will get confused. It sounds like you are effectively a Type 1 so I don't see why you aren't on Insulin as flogging the remaining pancreas to push out more insulin will hasten its demise.

Blood sugars that high will damage you and lead to horrible complications, this needs to be addressed with your medical team.

If you like the idea of a dietary approach, rather than pharmaceuticals, try -

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/
http://www.diabetes-book.com/

Executive summary - eat whole foods, fish/meat/cheese/eggs with green vegetables and the occasional low sugar berries or fruit.

RodaRose

Focus on eating meat, eggs, fish and lots of veggies: Kale, collards, spinach, swiss chard, bok choy, brussel sprouts, Romaine., Also broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, snow peas, okra, green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, asparagus, eggplant
Also add more fat and oils: bacon, nuts, butter, dark meat chicken.
Eat a lot less rice, pasta, pizza, cereal.

Pollywog_la

I can't speak to your situation exactly as my beta cells work afaik.
I got the type 2 notice 3 years ago and had the same issue with conflicting info. There will always be conflicting info, so you have to be your own best advocate and read a lot.
My biggest advice would be to "eat to your meter". If a food raises blood glucose in you, reduce or stop eating eat.
Carbs raise your blood glucose. Protein about 1/2 as much as carbs. Fat hardly any reaction.

My blood sugar is normal now (last A1c was 4.8) because I went very low carb.
Your body uses carbs for fuel, but it doesn't need to. Any glucose some of your cells need (like the brain and red blood cells) can be created by your liver via neoglucogenesis.
If you need to take insulin, low carb wont fix that, but it can reduce your spikes.

I get better numbers by usually having 2 meals a day and not snacking all the time (too many meals would keep my insulin perpetually raised) and I have lower fasting readings in the morning if I don't have a lot of protein in my dinner.

jgnatca

The most helpful two bits of advice when I was newly diagnosed was to eat on a schedule starting with breakfast the same time every day (this helps with testing and tracking), and the second was to visualize a plate with all my macros on it. The diabetic's life is one of balance.

http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/create-your-plate/?referrer=https://www.google.ca/

Here's what happened on your two skipped meal days. Your body ran through it's reserves of glucose, was starting to release it's fat stores, and you were heading to the closest thing you will ever feel to low blood sugar. This may seem great but you are setting yourself up for really high blood sugar numbers after your next meal. The swings are too high and low.



On the days you were following the dietitian's advice, your blood sugar was slowly rising throughout the day as you were eating slightly more than your poor little pancreas could keep up with.



I would suggest lowering the suggested calorie count per meal by, say, between 25-50 calories. See what this does to your numbers. Experiment, test, learn from every day's experience.

The weird number I always dealt with was a high fasting blood sugar number first thing in the morning. It was my over-enthusiastic liver dumping it's glucose in to my bloodstream after my nightly "fast".

judyvalentine512

[quote="

My blood sugar is normal now (last A1c was 4.8) because I went very low carb.
Your body uses carbs for fuel, but it doesn't need to. Any glucose some of your cells need (like the brain and red blood cells) can be created by your liver via neoglucogenesis.
If you need to take insulin, low carb wont fix that, but it can reduce your spikes.

I get better numbers by usually having 2 meals a day and not snacking all the time (too many meals would keep my insulin perpetually raised) and I have lower fasting readings in the morning if I don't have a lot of protein in my dinner.[/quote]

Now you see, my dietician and nurse have said that the liver will dump glucose into your cells if needed, but it doesn't have a 'turn off' switch and will raise your blood sugar.

I didn't get any compensation for the surgical error, because I chose not to sue the doctors or hospital. In Canada, there is a ceiling to how much you can sue for. Also, I would have had to pay my hospital bill, and after being there for 4 1/2 months, it would have been expensive. That and the lawyer would have eaten up any compensation.

The day that I missed lunch and dinner, I was actually shaky by 9 pm. I go to a monthly meeting with other diabetics at the Canadian Diabetes Association, and I take notes.

I will certainly refer back to all your responses for reference.

Thanks so much

judyvalentine512

So, after re-reading all the advice here, and on other posts I read, I adjusted the settings on MFP. I am actually SEDENTARY. I like to think I'm more active than I am, but the numbers don't lie. So, MFP has reduced my daily caloric intake by 200 calories. So JGNATCA, that would fall right into the advice you gave me about shaving off 25-50 calories per meal.
AAAANNNDDDD, my blood sugar this morning when I woke up was 7.4. Only .4 over what is considered good.
So thanks again everyone.
I have a group workshop today with the Canadian Diabetes Association dietician all about healthy eating. Oh the questions I have. I've written them down with examples. I may need a one on one with her.

suzan06

I don't know how CA is different, but here in the US there are opportunities for one on one diabetic counseling that will help you work through all this. This can be a dietitian or an RN. Sometimes grocery store chains offer it for very cheap (the dietitian version).

I would say the best thing to do now is keep very close track of your numbers and what/when you eat, to look for patterns. Then you can bring that info to your dr. or diabetes counselor to have them help you look it over.

Are you counting carbs and staying within a certain limit for meals?

Traveler120

A logical first step would be to change your sedentary status and start adding about an hour of exercise. Exercise improves insulin sensitivity. As for diet, I'd suggest one heavily centered around plant foods. Check out nutritionfacts.org for additional info on impact of diet on diabetes.

judyvalentine512

Yes, here in Canada, the same services are offered. My counsellor(RN) has said that because I only have half a pancreas, thatdieyand exercise alone won't do it. But, I have been tracking my carbs and calories. I've been making. A real effort to get outside more. Park further from doors, go to my favorite walking trail. I know IhVeto do more, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed. Supposed to aim for 150 minutes of exercise a seek. That would 30 minutes 5 times a week. I do plan to get another one on one with the dietician and possibly the RN.
Talk soon!

jgnatca

I wonder if you are working with half a pancreas, if you could be described as half a "type 1". You sort of have the same problems of a type 2 diabetic but not quite. For instance, you may not have "insulin resistance".

You benefit from eating like a diabetic and everything you are learning in the classes, but you will still have trouble keeping your blood sugars low without some additional help (like Insulin or Metformin). I also agree with the comment above about adding more exercise.

My daughter, who is not diagnosed diabetic or hypoglycemic, still notices that she gets sleepy after lunch. I suggested exercise, and that has benefited her greatly. She now runs up the stairs at work after lunch and she doesn't get sleepy any more. What that exercise is doing is using up the brand new, free floating blood sugar from your lunch, so you don't need quite as much insulin to stabilize.

nvmomketo

I found Dr R. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution to be a great help. His plan is aimed at T1D but he suggests it would help slow the loss of pancreas function in most T2Ds. It is a low carb plan, and it worked very well for me.

Best wishes.

Yi5hedr3

YOU DO NOT NEED CARBS. if ever there was a candidate for a ketogenic diet, it is you! Otherwise you will lose the remaining half of your pancreas

judyvalentine512

JGNATCA, I am taking Metformin, and some other pill glyce something or other. My doc just checked in with me last night and I've increased the second one to 4 pills a day along with the 2 Metformin twice a day. The next step is insulin.
Interesting workshop yesterday with the healthy eating. I'm not going to worry about losing weight for now as much as I'm trying to get my blood sugar stabilized. Did you know, when you check labels, you subtract the amount of fibre from the total carbohydrates to get the 'available carbs' for your meal?
And, the dietician explained that my blood sugar should gradually start getting lower to avoid getting too low too quickly.
So, I've gone from 29.3 fasting in July to 9.7 this morning. I'm getting there. It's still kinda high 2 hours after a meal (12.9) after breakfast this morning. As I'm typing this, I'm waiting for the man from the Brick to come and replace my couch cushion. I've got my camera in the car, birdseed in the trunk. A hiking/birdwatching excursion is on the agenda for today.

Oh, and apparently there's a theoretical type 3 diabetes for people with trauma to the pancreas. Not only does my poor pancreas not produce enough insulin(I think) or it doesn't know what to do with it. It also is considered 'chronic pancreatitis' so the enzymes used for digestion sometimes don't make it to the intestines before they become active and actually activate inside the pancreas. This causes quite a bit of pain and can last for days.
Ain't life grand.(LOL)
Will definitely check out Dr. Berstein.
Thanks everyone for listening and responding.

jgnatca

From 29.3 to 9.7 is great. For our American audience, Canadians use mmlol/l instead of mg/dl. When discussing my sugar numbers with my American friends, I'd have to do a mental conversion first.

http://www.onlineconversion.com/blood_sugar.htm

It's pretty typical to see your numbers go up a bit even two hours later after a meal. So from 9.7 ideally you'd like to see around 11 or 12. I believe you're rockin' it, babe.

judyvalentine512

Thanks so much for the encouragement. There's so much conflicting information, it's hard to sift through it all. I know I have to make a lifestyle, lifetime change, so I con't want to go too restrictive because I know I won't stick to it.