just diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes

I too follow a very low carb ketogenic diet to manage blood glucose. If I keep carbs very low, my BG is completely normal. Not "diabetic normal" but normal and healthy. It really can work well.

I follow the plan by Richard Bernstein md. He is a T1D who managed his disease through diet back when most T1Ds did not make it past middle age. His low carb approach translates well to a T2D's diet. His book is called Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. It helped me a great deal.

BTW, my fasting blood glucoseis often my highest reading of he day too. My dawn phenomenon is made worse if I eat carbs in the evening, or go over 20g of carbs in a day. High protein snacks in the evening can raise my FBG too. Eating very LCHF is the only way I have found to combat it with diet. Evening exercise also helps but that isn't always practical for me.

If you are interested in low carb, join the Low Carber Daily forum. There are many of us there who are managing insulin resistance through diet alone. Best wishes.

Shua89 wrote: »

Thanks for all the encouragement and advice. It's been a week since I got the diagnosis (my A1C is an 8.2) and since then I've been completely 100% low carb. My daily readings are around 115 in the morning, around 100-110 at 4 PM and 95-100 at bedtime. I'm thinking I'm doing okay so far and I'm making sure I get a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise a day (I almost always hit 10,000-13,000 steps on my pedometer anyways).

I'm researching and reading as much as I can right now to learn the best things for me. I have a long family history of T2D so I don't know if I'll ever be completely med free but I'm working towards that goal.

One of the things that saddened me the most was giving up fast food (sorry people but I love fast food) and today dh took me to Jimmy Johns and got me an Unwichh sandwich. Having that option cheered me up a lot.

Those are good numbers! I hated giving up fries, darnit. The fries don't agree with my BG, even though I always had the kids' size. But I can eat a little cheeseburger with the top bun removed. Get creative

edival wrote: »

I don't trust the people who run the diabetes centres as they're all bought and paid for by the drug companies that they're giving bad advice. It's a pretty sick and sad system. The recommended diabetic foods that they give to new diabetics is designed to keep them on their meds which is completely unnecessary.

Obviously, even among diabetics, there are varying levels of insulin resistance and some can get by (at least temporarily) eating over 100g of carbs and be considered "managed", but I would expect that in 10 years, even they'll need to either up their meds or change their diet.

***

I wouldn't recommend just jumping in blind, but I do seriously recommend doing your research into it and making up your own mind. Too many people are getting sicker and dying because of the advice from the ADA and Health authorities.

Excellent advice.

It won't make poor Edival a nickel, but fortunately he doesn't appear to need a gimmick to sell a diet book+gizmo package and doesn't live off commissions from drug sales.


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Being your basic simpleton, I've boiled it all down to The One Big Basic Point:

Make a religion of staying informed and in touch with educated people who are interested ONLY in their own health, and carefully test what you learn, with yourself as the subject of the experiment!

* It follows that you SHOULD .....

Develop an understanding of:

1) why low-carb diets are the only effective way for so many T2Ds to keep their numbers in line and how you in particular respond;
2) how exercise affects you; and
3) how the basic diabetes meds work and what it's worth to you not to take them.


* It also follows that you SHOULD NOT.....

Make a religion of simply following broad guidelines, especially the ADA's suggestions, unless and until you have determined through careful experimentation that you, as an individual with T2D, really can eat that many carbs without driving up your BG and insulin to unacceptable levels or being forced to take meds you'd rather avoid.

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It took this dumbed-down, single-rule system to keep me moving straight ahead month in, month out, until the benefits of eating low-carb, low calorie as Bernstein and others recommend were simply undeniable.

Once I got the mindset licked and started reading and carefully experimenting, it started getting easier to make conscious, informed choices in diet, meds, and exercise.

Fast forwarding several months, life got a LOT easier. Not necessarily more fun or filled with gooey pastries, but much easier.


A caveat: The results of your self-experiments won't always be perfect, good, encouraging or even acceptable in the short run. Welcome to the human race!

So try not to let yourself get hemorrhoids from little bumps in the road - it's the long-run that counts!

****************************

Being your basic simpleton, I've boiled it all down to The One Big Basic Point:

Make a religion of staying informed and in touch with educated people who are interested ONLY in their own health, and carefully test what you learn, with yourself as the subject of the experiment!

* It follows that you SHOULD .....

Develop an understanding of:

1) why low-carb diets are the only effective way for so many T2Ds to keep their numbers in line and how you in particular respond;
2) how exercise affects you; and
3) how the basic diabetes meds work and what it's worth to you not to take them.


* It also follows that you SHOULD NOT.....

Make a religion of simply following broad guidelines, especially the ADA's suggestions, unless and until you have determined through careful experimentation that you, as an individual with T2D, really can eat that many carbs without driving up your BG and insulin to unacceptable levels or being forced to take meds you'd rather avoid.

******************************

this great advice squarely hits the nail on the head and deals with the crux of the matter imo.
this from a former 276 llb T2 metformin swallower who is now 160 llbs and med free from following advice like above.
in the uk my doctors,diabetic nurse practitioner ,the nhs.co.uk AND diabetes.co.uk sites are all excellent resources.

many thanks @RalfLott for posting.
good luck on your journey.

Good luck. I have a friend who was told she was prediabetic and he brazenly told her (this means, forget the carbohydrates as much as possible and the sugar.) Her sister has Type 2 Diabetes but she does not after having done this for three years. She has replaced white rice with black rice, white flour with some of the alternative kinds. When she eats in the staffroom, she has meat and vegetables. She goes easy on the fruit. She does not exercise but has a fairly active job. Prior to, she had massive brain fog and was having trouble thinking and going to work.

'Happy to hear that your food plan is working for you.

@RalfLott .Still diet controlled,and do lots of running.
Thanks for the follow up.

Shua89 wrote: »

I wanted to give you all a 3 month update on me. I have now lost 35 pounds (yay!). I am still eating low carb and have adjusted to it pretty well. Sweets really hold very little temptation for me now. I walk on average 6-8 miles a day which has helped tremendously.

I go back to the doc in 2 weeks to find out my new A1C level. My monitor says my 90 day average is a 96 so that equates to about a 5.0 A1C. We'll find out just how accurate my monitor is.

A little non-scale victory happened over the weekend. I tried on a shirt and had to put a large back and get a medium. I could have probably worn a small but the medium was just more comfortable (I like my clothes a little loose).

Be prepared for your A1c to be higher than your monitor might suggest - so get ready for 5.1, maybe even 5.2.

Nice going, especially the walking. If you were born in 1989 (?), you are doing yourself an enormous favor not only by sticking to a healthy plan, but also in accumulating knowledge at this (ahem) tender stage of your life.

Congrats OP on your amazing results! I was in a similar situation to you, Diagnosed T2D in Dec 2015. Walked out of the doc's office and started to change my life the next day. I have since lost 25kg (55 pounds) with a little ways to go - all through healthy low-carb eating, walking or jogging daily. My initial reading at fasting was 13 - last check which was about 6 weeks ago was at 5.2. I am thrilled and have accepted that I will need to be vigilant for the rest of my life.

I too am a type 2 diabetic. I've only done small tweaks to my diet. I have cut out added sugar and I do limit (but not eliminate) my carbs. I also added 30 minutes or more of walking on most days.
and 3 metformin tablets.

One book I found really helpful was Diabetes for Dummies-you know part of that series. Now I used the Canadian Version but I assume there is an american version as well..

Down 34 lbs. From obese to overweight and on my way to normal. Less than 2 lbs form my original goal weight-and I'll be setting another one 25 lbs lower and thats normal BMI.

cafeaulait7 wrote: »

And then check out the Glycemic Index. I eat fruit (not juices) and some grainy bread and do fine with them if their GI is low. Things like beans are excellent, even though they are carb heavy. They just digest differently, so it's really not like high carb from a cupcake.

^^^This. My mom was a T2D; and despite my warnings, she didn't understand Glycemic responses. She was convinced that as long as she could balance her blood sugar by injecting more insulin, she was fine. I tried to tell her that insulin creates problems, and she should aspire to use less. But what did I know, right? She was moderately active, and not terribly overweight, either - but she LOVED her sweets and foods loaded with simple (read high-glycemic) carbs.

14 years ago, she went blind, due to nerve damage. Then her kidneys started to fail, enough so that a hospital stay caused them to stop functioning completely - it was probably a good thing that her heart quit shortly thereafter, because she would have HATED to be on dialysis; and might have needed assisted living where they would NEVER give a diabetic a cinnamon roll for breakfast....

So to the OP - I realize this isn't "support" - but maybe a good scare will help, too.....