Making a Life Change

SharonNehring

Hello everyone! I joined about 2 weeks ago but am just now browsing the boards. I've been overweight my entire life and as all of you can relate to, one of losing and regaining over and over again.

A month ago, my toes went numb and tingly. After investigating the cause I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and started on medication. I have no choice now but to make a dramatic lifestyle change to manage this and lose some weight.

The good news is after 2 1/2 weeks of eating low carb the feeling has returned to my toes! And the metformin causes me extreme abdominal cramping if I eat too many carbs, so it's a double deterrent to help keep me on track. I've lost 10 lbs already, which is a great jump start but not sustainable in the long term.

There's a few things I'm struggling with and hope to get some advise., How to eat the occasional meal out without blowing my carb limit is trying at best. I travel a fair amount so sometimes it's a full week of restaurants. I'm spending a lot of time staring at the menu trying to guess at what I can have.

How to incorporate different foods into my diet. I'm already getting tired of salads and oatmeal and need help to find other options I can have. I've started looking at recipes but the problem is my husband does all the cooking at our house. I'm trying to educate him on the number of carbs I can have, things to stay away from and such but it's tough. I came home one night to pasta with a clam sauce. Great, I can have 2 bites of that. I give him credit for trying though as most of the time he's doing pretty well with it.

I'm also undecided on how to share this new diagnosis with family and friends. I don't want the people around me to become the food police, telling me what I can't be eating. We'll be visiting family for a week over the holidays so it's going to be really hard to explain why I'm not eating the yummy foods they've prepared.

If you've made it this far, sorry that this is a bit long. LOL If you've had similar struggles, I'd love to hear your ideas on how to make this huge change a permanent part of my life going forward. Thanks!

april1445

There are tons of diet books out there that emphasize protein/carb balance the easy way (i.e. not for cooks ). Body for life is one, insanity comes with a good meal plan--new rules of lifting...Lots of them. Most weight lifting programs emphasize protein. Also, you should qualify for a meeting with a diabetes educator? Or check out the diabetes websites--although I find them unnecessarily complicated sometimes. Good luck. You may find it easier to just swear off sweets than have them in small amounts. That will be trial and error.

SharonNehring

Thanks for the book suggestions. I'm going to check those out. I've been looking at some of the diabetes websites and you're right, somewhat confusing. They give general suggestions but not meal plans. And yes, I'm learning that protein is my friend.

RobynMWilson

Here's a great site for healthy eating and here's their section on low carb eating:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2007/07/low-carb-recipes.html

As for telling your family, I would just be frank with them. The more honest and open you are about it, the more support you will get. My dad was diagnosed about 10 yrs ago w Type 2 and he has diverticulitis so there's a whole lot of food he can't have! Anybody who is worth anything in our family understands that and my dad just eats what he can.

You don't wanna go down the route of eating what you're not supposed to and having to take insulin. Unfortunately, I have diabetics in my family who eat what they aren't supposed to, drink what they aren't supposed to, and adjust their insulin accordingly. And they are NOT well. My aunt is only 49 and is in a wheelchair now and had Charcot foot b/c she is not taking care of her disease properly...