Food & Dining Type 2 Diabetes

Discussion in 'Living Room' started by skater, 19th Jan, 2017.

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  1. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    As some of you know, I've had a weight issue for a long time. No matter what I have done in the past, it has always been extremely hard to shift the weight.

    Anyway....I had a hip replacement two years ago. It took me around 12 months before I was able to move around with no issues, and get back on my skates, so I decided that it was now time to tackle the next problem, which was my weight.

    So, armed with a bit of determination I set forth, but was not getting very good results, despite keeping my calorie intake low, eating what I thought was a clean, healthy diet with low carbs. I love fruit, and developed a craving for red grapes. I would eat an entire bag of them occasionally, and thought that was a great option, rather than snacking on other foods, when struck with a craving for a snack. Not long after this, I developed a bad case of hives in my hands, which broke out whenever I ate the red grapes. The doctor prescribed Prednisone for the hives & told me I was allergic to red grapes.

    By April, I had lost weight, but it wasn't a stellar amount (6kg), so when I was next at the doctor, I asked if perhaps I had a thyroid problem. This was just shortly after the hives incident. He took some blood & ran some tests which came back negative. The good news was that although the weight hadn't gone down as much as I'd hoped, my blood pressure was better & I could come off medication. Yay me! I was happy with that result & thought all was good, it was just my sluggish metabolism & I would either have to get used to being the size I was, or it would take a long time to see any real results.

    Moving forward, by early October, I was feeling a bit 'off'. Nothing really to grasp that you could say was wrong, except the need to have a few more 'nana naps' than usual. Then I got a massive case of hives, that just would not go, and a rash on my legs. Off to the doctor & more Prednisone, except that it wasn't working. I got more tired, and needed to rest constantly. Doctor took more blood tests & said come back in a couple of days. Then he rings me up & says COME BACK NOW! Off I go & he tells me that my blood is high, very high & to discontinue the Prednisone immediately as it can elevate blood levels. Come back in three days, so we can do more tests, after the Prednisone is out of my system to see what the real reading is.

    Anyway....I didn't make it to that next appointment. I woke in the early hours freezing cold. I was cuddling up to Hubby for warmth, while wearing two hoodies and I was shivering uncontrolably. I felt like I was dying! It was horrible. I ended up at the Emergency room of the Hospital & they took me in & ran a heap of tests. My blood sugar at this point was 24.2, maybe 24.4. I can't remember the exact figure, except that it had a 24 in front of it. Now.....at that point I didn't know a heap about blood sugar, but I knew that was way, way too high. I stayed there just about all day. They pumped bag after bag of liquid into me & gave me heaps of medication, all the while I just slept. They were very concerned that I just couldn't stay awake.

    I was at the hospital for around 12 hours all up. They told me I was diabetic and gave instructions, prescriptions & told me what to expect from my doctor & sent me on my way.

    Next day, I went back to the GP. He was very annoyed that I went to the hospital & said that I wasn't diabetic until HE said I was. He then let it slip that way back in APRIL, when I had the tests (and the hives) that my blood sugar was reading around 12. HELLO! WTF! He also said that the hives have nothing whatsoever to do with diabetes, and neither did the rash that I had. I still had both hands almost continually swollen from hives at this stage, as well as it randomly migrating to various other parts of the body. He told me to come back in a couple of days. When I went back, he admitted that I DID have diabetes, but the hospital hadn't given me the correct medication, so he was going to change it, and NO! I didn't need to see a diabetes educatot like the hospital advised because HE KNEW ALL THERE WAS TO KNOW ABOUT DIABETES, so I need not go anywhere else. He was quite rude, and very arrogant with me, especially when I questioned him about things. I have not been back to see him.

    I haven't been really happy about the choice in GP's since we moved here & was continually driving over 20 minutes to my previous GP for some time, but as he's getting on in age (70's), we both decided that we needed to just bite the bullet & get someone closer to home, hence the above waste of space of a DR. Anyway, hubby remembered that there was a new GP that had started up near the shopping centre & we tried there. He's only young. Very nice, respectful & soft spoken. He's working out of what used to be a dentist, but is now dental & doctor in the same place. His Dad is the dentist.

    I've been seeing this doctor since & he's been great. I told him that I was going to get rid of the diabetes & he said that he'd support me, but not to be disappointed, as I wasn't really 'that' big, so it could be heredity.

    As soon as I was diagnosed I hit up Dr Google. Not being happy with having diabetes, my first reaction was "no way am I having that". When I came out of hospital at the end of October my HbA1c was 8.2

    I discovered that there is a lot of conflicting advice out there. Information from most of the mainstream give you all similar advice to 'eat a healthy diet', but some of the stuff that I've been given is sponsored by companies like Sanitorium, who have a vested interest in eating their products, so I decided to ignore all the mainstream information & read extensively some of the emerging information on how to reverse diabetes.

    It took a while to get my act together. Start eating something & then find out that oops...that isn't that great after all. It's good, but there's better choices available. Anyway, as of yesterday, almost 3 months to the day, my HbA1c is now down to 5.2, and I've been able to drop a further 10kgs, which I'm really happy about.

    This isn't a post to brag about what I've done. I'm still a work in progress & going on a Cruise in a couple of weeks, I'm not sure how disciplined I will be, but this post is here to maybe help others that have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. Most doctors are busy treating the symptoms, and think that this is a progressive disease, but if you look at the cause of it, you may be able to do something about it. Obviously everybody's situation is different, and you need to get your doctor on board as well, but it can't do any harm in finding out if there is something that you can do to improve your situation.

    Most of my information has been via the internet, but I've got a few books here too, which are quite good, if anybody is interested in finding out about them.
     
  2. wombat777

    wombat777 Well-Known Member

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    Well done! Seems you've been on a tough road. Weight loss is not easy and it's great you're making some good progress.

    It is very much a mental thing in terms of flicking the motivation switch to keep doing the right things. That's my experience anyway.
     
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  3. 380

    380 Well-Known Member

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    Seems like you been thru a lot!

    As other said - loosing weight (5kg at times)

    Consuming less processed food
    Fruits before 3 pm
    Less carb at nights

    Few simple lifestyle change may be helpful too.

    Also try cinnamon powder - each time you consuming sugar rich food .
     
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  4. Westminster

    Westminster Tigress at Tiger Developments Business Member

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    I've been battling with it for 20yrs with insulin resistance trying not to become type II but the battle has been lost.
    I went off my Glucophage/Metformin this year to see if I could manage it myself for awhile with diet and exercise and gained 5kg so went back on it and now have to lose that weight again.
    I have heard good things about the 5+2 intermittent diet for Type II patients and the same Dr has now written a special 12week programme specifically aimed at Type II reversal for some people
    Playing with my diet/nutrition over all these years I have found the traditional Diabetes diet does little for me and artificial sweeteners are the devil. I'm best on low carb diet which is inherently low GI but without all the carbs.
    Dr Michael Mosely The 8 Week Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Mosley
     
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  5. Xenia

    Xenia Well-Known Member

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    Awesome story, it's amazing what is in our control.

    Congrstulstions for taking charge.
     
  6. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    I'm intermittent fasting. Keeping calorie intake around 800 per day, give or take as well as low carb & high fat. That sounds hard, but I actually haven't found it all that hard going.

    That book is one of the ones that I've got, and it's quite good. Another is The Obesity Code. Just started on that one.

    I've found that I'm not at all hungry either. Mostly been eating a huge omelette for lunch packed with mushrooms, tomato & baby spinach. This will then carry me though to dinner & so long as I'm eating at home, dinner is really easy. It's a bit trickier if we go out.

    I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes with the first born, and followed what they told me to do back then, which I think was the start of my problems. They had me on lots of carbs, and constantly eating. Blindly I followed, but was never able to really get rid of the weight afterwards as I was then insulin resistant.

    Another one that you might find interesting is That Sugar Book. I saw the film recently, and the amount of sugar that is loaded into everything is astonishing. Hubby is even on board as well, especially after seeing the film.
     
  7. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    Ummm.....I'm not eating sugar rich food.
     
  8. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    Yes, there is that mental thing.....but there's also finding the 'key' to unlock the ability to be able to do it. As I said earlier, I've tried hard, really hard, many times & nothing happens. This is working. I'm not sure how much further I'll be able to go, I've already lost 16kg now, and I'm 'normal' now, according to my doctor. I'm sure I surprised him, because one of the first things I said to him was "I'm going to get rid of this", and although supportive, the language was very much saying 'well don't beat yourself up too much if you don't'.
     
  9. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    Heaps of useful information there @skater, thanks for taking the time to share.

    If people are feeling not quite right they should see a good doctor. And if you are not happy with your doctor, try to find a better one!

    All the best with reversing your type 2. I really think it can be done
     
  10. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    Thankyou. Oh....I HAVE DONE IT! :D

    Although in saying that, I take my blood several times a day, to check how it's going & I'll be taking the Metformin with me on the Cruise....just in case. I did have another one, but was able to ditch that within weeks.
     
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  11. vbplease

    vbplease Well-Known Member

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    Well done for taking action and getting on top of it!

    It sounds like your previous gp was negligent in not diagnosing your diabetes as soon as he was aware? He sounds dangerous.. will spend any time/energy in holding him accountable? He may a risk to others?

    Have you been doing a bit of trial and error with different foods and checking your blood sugar? Seems like the best litmus test to me.. from looking at a few glycemic load tables I have my doubts and think that eating and testing would be the best way to find out..
     
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  12. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    Previous doctor was absolutely negligible.

    As for foods, I've got a few simple rules.
    No rice (no biggie, as I rarely eat it anyway)
    No pasta (as per rice)
    No potato (this one is hard. I love my spuds but I cheated the other day & had mashed potato, but substituted half with mashed cauliflower & couldn't tell the difference)
    No sugar, in any of it's forms (not as simple as it seems, since it's in everything)

    Other than that, it's pretty easy. Limited fruit & no bananas (not overly fond of them anyway) If having fruit I'll usually have berries or an apple. No breakfast, large omelette for lunch most days, as above & a small amount of meat with steamed veggies & I'm done. If I want anything more I'll have a small amount of unsweetened Greek yoghurt, or some nuts.

    The only difficulty I have is when out or entertaining. We have friends coming over on Australia Day. They are big people, and hate anything healthy. Unless they bring their own food, they are just going to have to put up with what I serve up, because I am not buying any crap for my cupboards anymore. But, in saying that, I've found a Gluten free, sugar free brownie recipe, so I'll see how I go with that one & hopefully they won't tell the difference.
     
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  13. Perthguy

    Perthguy Well-Known Member

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    Awesome! That's a great result
     
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  14. hammer

    hammer Well-Known Member

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    That is an amazing accomplishment. Seriously.

    With that diet the kilos will be coming off as well.

    Inspirational stuff. Thanks for sharing.
     
  15. Gockie

    Gockie Life is good ☺️ Premium Member

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    @skater... I just love your writing style.
    What a journey! So glad you found a way to reverse the diabetes.

    As an aside, I think we all need to lose the sugar in our diets.
     
  16. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    Thankyou

    Absolutely! It is scary how much is in everything you buy. And they call it all different things as well.

    For instance, I just picked up a bottle of Dick Smith Tomato Sauce. On the label it says that there are 4.9 grams of sugar per serve. There are 25, 20ml serves per bottle. That is 122.5 grams of sugar in the bottle. Since one teaspoon equals 4 grams, there are 30.6 teaspoons of sugar in the whole bottle.

    I've even looked for some cook books to give me some ideas for things that I can create without sugar. There's one out now by some woman, called 'I quit sugar' with tons of recipes that look great. It's not until you read the ingredient list that you find everything is sweetened with rice malt syrup, which is another form of sugar.

    I went to a screening of That Sugar Film, and it was amazing. This healthy guy decides that for two months (it might have been three, not sure) he would eat 40 teaspoons of sugar a day. The kicker is that he would do this eating nothing but 'healthy' foods & drinks. No lollies, cakes or bottles of coke.

    By the end of the experiment he had gained 10 kg, had developed ***** liver disease, had heart disease risks and was pre diabetic. All from eating what many people eat each & every day thinking they are eating a good balanced diet.
     
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  17. BKRinvesting

    BKRinvesting Well-Known Member

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    Agree to all of the above. Btw. Don't even bother with the "I quit sugar" cookbook - flavourless and overly ***** meals. Seems a cash grab to be honest. My wife was misdiagnosed with insulin resistance a couple of years ago - luckily it was a mistake by the GP. Learning about and exploring good natural food has been her hobby for years. I get to reap the benefit of course :D
    In terms of awesome recipes - my wife's (and my) current favourites are "green kitchen stories", "my new roots", "grown and gathered". Most of what we have made by these bloggers are awesome and a lot of them are low/no sugar.
     
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  18. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    It's not just over *****, it's completely fraudulent. Sure, there's no cane sugar but every sweet recipe calls for rice malt syrup.
     
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  19. Lacrim

    Lacrim Well-Known Member

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    Good on you skater for getting things under control. Have to say though, that cruising and controlling calories is not a good mix. Personally I think that's why people go on cruises ie to stuff themselves. It's going to take a lot of willpower.
     
  20. skater

    skater Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, the cruise was booked months ago, well before all this happened. Luckily I happen to actually LIKE things like salads and vegetables, and don't particularly like a lot of the 'bad' things, although I love fruit, which I've got to make sure I don't over indulge, and I love caramel & ice cream. I've been able to keep both those things under wraps here with some 'no added sugar' ice cream occasionally, and the odd sugar free lolly. Yes, I know the artificial sweeteners are no good either, but I don't think the rare treat hurts.

    I also really like chocolate, but I have a love/hate relationship with it. I can go for months without wanting it at all, & then I seem to want it all the time, but only for a really short period of time. I like chocolate cake, but often it's too rich for me, and a bite or two is enough. I've just got to remember not to eat something I shouldn't be eating unless it's something that I REALLY enjoy, & then only a small portion. Too much I've found that I eat things just because.....no real reason, really, and although the taste is OK, it's not something I really like that much.

    For instance....hot chips. If we go out for a meal, (not a fancy restaurant, club, pub style) a lot of the time the meal comes with hot chips. I like chips, but I shouldn't eat them. If I select to NOT have them, & hubby is eating them, then I want them. So, what I do is get the full meal & then selectively choose about 5 or 6 to eat & remove the rest from my plate. If they're not on my plate, I don't eat them. I like fat, soft chips & don't really like skinny crunchy ones, so I choose just a few, so that I don't feel like I'm missing out, knowing that previously, I'd have eaten the lot, even though I wouldn't be enjoying all of them.

    Does that make sense.