New here and just diagnosed with diabetes

mtaylor7144

I tried the free app several years ago but went premium this time as I was just diagnosed with diabetes. I'm turning 50 this year and I need to get my life and weight back in line. My kids have now all graduated (or will in two weeks) so time to start focusing on myself. Feeling a bit overwhelmed and wondering where to start first.

Strudders67

Start by congratulating yourself on wanting to do something to help yourself, not just accepting the diagnosis and thinking "that's that". Where to start is like asking how long a piece of string is, so I can only give you my experiences. Also, is it Type 1 or Type 2 as the two are very different? I'm assuming T2.

My approach was to lose weight slowly and steadily and to simultaneously play around to gradually adjust my diet.


What did your doctor suggest you do / are you on medication? If you're in the UK, the answer to that first question could well be 'nothing'. If you're on tablets, changing your diet drastically may have detrimental impact if the combination with your tablets takes your blood sugar levels too low, so you may need to at least consult your doctor / make them aware of what you're doing / have regular checks if not happening anyway. My diagnosis (just over 5 years ago) was a shock, but also sufficient to give me the kick that I needed. I said that I wanted to try to get my diabetes under control via diet. My GP was open to that, I did it and have continued to do so - as my weight came down, so did my blood sugar number until, eventually, I was at a pre-diabetic number - so I've never taken tablets or insulin.

I focused on losing weight and came to MFP to track absolutely everything I consumed. If I ate at home, I weighed everything solid and measured, using spoons, everything liquid. If I ate out, I used the most reasonable database entries I could find. I didn't set my weight loss rate too aggressively (I'm short, so couldn't anyway) but my weight slowly started trending down.

Then, through this forum, I learned a lot (from people with far more experience) about carbs. That, ultimately, led to me contacting Diabetes UK and finding out that their recommendation is to eat no more than 130g of carbs a day, no matter what your calorific intake is. I believe the recommended figure in the US is higher (not sure if it's 150g or 250g), but I think they also suggest restricting to 45-60g per meal and 15-30g per snack.

I got this from Diabetes UK: "The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits." although they didn't say which fruits.

Rather than 'wasting' calories and carbs on potatoes, pasta and rice, I switched to loading my plate with veg instead. It made me feel fuller and I had far fewer carbs on my plate too. I have continued doing that and rarely have potatoes, pasta or rice at home now - I prefer to gently saute some finely sliced white cabbage and use that as a base to almost all my meals. I no longer track absolutely everything, as I reached my goal weight some time ago, but I do track most things, mainly to keep an eye on my daily carb intake.

From the Forum, I also learned that eating a good quality protein with your carbs slow the absorption rate into the blood stream. If I have an apple I usually have a chunk of good cheddar with it, if I have fruit for breakfast it'll be with yoghurt etc. Also, many people will swear that protein makes you feel fuller for longer so make sure you're getting enough. The suggestion is around 0.8g per kg of body weight.

If you type 'diabetes' or 'diabetic' into the Search field of the Forum, you'll find quite a few questions and responses that may help.