i am 55yrs old and was told i have type 2 5/26/11. i am surprized how little info i have gotten up till now of how to manage it. i want to try diet and exersize first before meds. up until now i have been picking up info on the web.
new and freaking out
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Hi welcome,
most of use T2s find that restricting carbs not just sugar and exercise helps to control BG. You need a meeter and test your BG. test before you eat and after. To start you need to test every 1/2 hour to find when you spike (highest BG reading) after eating. the spike timing varies from person to person. anyway after you find your spike I try to never have my BG over 140.
So...
carbs raise BG, ALL carbs raise BG (whole wheat carbs raise BG so do FF)
gentle or easy exercise lowers BG. hard exercise (weight lifting) can raise BG.
most of use T2s find that restricting carbs not just sugar and exercise helps to control BG. You need a meeter and test your BG. test before you eat and after. To start you need to test every 1/2 hour to find when you spike (highest BG reading) after eating. the spike timing varies from person to person. anyway after you find your spike I try to never have my BG over 140.
So...
carbs raise BG, ALL carbs raise BG (whole wheat carbs raise BG so do FF)
gentle or easy exercise lowers BG. hard exercise (weight lifting) can raise BG.
Hi from another Ohioan. I was dx'd when I was 56, 4 years ago. One of the best resources I have found besides online forums is Blood Sugar 101
It has really helped me put things into perspective. There are many things that cause diabetes but once you have it your main goal is to keep bgs as normal as possible. Normal bgs are 70-100 or thereabouts. Whatever you can do to keep bgs in those range, the healthier you will be. I tried diet alone and couldn't get my bgs low enough. I chose to go on metformin and now take the maximum dose- 2550 mg. I also use a low carb diet around 15-20 carbs per meal, much less at breakfast. I have given up all flour, rice, potatoes, pasta, fruit, crackers, cereal and starch veggies. If you do this you should be able to lower bgs. Let your BG meter be your best friend.
It has really helped me put things into perspective. There are many things that cause diabetes but once you have it your main goal is to keep bgs as normal as possible. Normal bgs are 70-100 or thereabouts. Whatever you can do to keep bgs in those range, the healthier you will be. I tried diet alone and couldn't get my bgs low enough. I chose to go on metformin and now take the maximum dose- 2550 mg. I also use a low carb diet around 15-20 carbs per meal, much less at breakfast. I have given up all flour, rice, potatoes, pasta, fruit, crackers, cereal and starch veggies. If you do this you should be able to lower bgs. Let your BG meter be your best friend.
one thing that got me scratching my head is when i talked to the dietition about cutting carbs and useing more protein she said i shouldn't. that was are first meet so i'm going to go over things with her a little better on our next meet. maybe i misunderstood her.
thanks.
i think i'll be glad i found this site.
thanks.
i think i'll be glad i found this site.
I'm glad you found us too, Tracker. And don't take it personally if the dietitian insists you need carbs. My guess is, she's just like 99.9% of all docs/dieticians/diabetes educators/nutritionists in the world who are not diabetic themselves & have not a clue about what carbs do to our blood sugars. They continue preaching the book-learning they were taught & the ADA party line which is way OUTTA line, unless the goal is to keep us running high so they can sell us more meds. That sounds sarcastic, but it's the only thing that makes any sense at all, when the diet they recommend absolutely raises blood sugar. (getting off my soapbox . . .
)Just take care & visit us often . . . so glad to have you with us!
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You probably understood her fine. She's simply wrong. Of course, she's only repeating what she was taught, which was also wrong.
low-carb lifestyle with healthy fats, protein and daily exercise are the best things for a diabetic.
G
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·welcome Tracker I'm sure you will find this a great place for support and info. I've seen a dietitian several times too and when I explained I get a hypo in less than 2 hours after eating a jacket potato and some corn, she told me that I need to increase my quantity of carbs. I didn't agree with that, instead I've figured for now that vegetable carbs don't seem to work for me. I also have a stomach condition going on which makes managing BGLs harder. But really all you need to do is learn what works for you and what doesn't... test your BGLs regularly throughout the day to figure things out. We're all different. Keep us posted on how you're doing.
I'm sure you will find this a great place for support and info. I've seen a dietitian several times too and when I explained I get a hypo in less than 2 hours after eating a jacket potato and some corn, she told me that I need to increase my quantity of carbs. I didn't agree with that, instead I've figured for now that vegetable carbs don't seem to work for me. I also have a stomach condition going on which makes managing BGLs harder. But really all you need to do is learn what works for you and what doesn't... test your BGLs regularly throughout the day to figure things out. We're all different. Keep us posted on how you're doing.one thing that i have seen most everywhere iv'e gone on this site is ''low carb diet'', which makes sense to me. the more posts i read though the more this diabetes thing panics me. i am picking up a lot of info and thats good, but i'm also seeing that diabetes is much more dangerous than i thought. i talked the Dr into letting me try diet and exersize for 3 months to see what i can do before concidering meds, i hope that was a good decision.
one thing that made me try this is that i had no real symptoms. i just wish i knew my personal health threat level for now and also in the future.
one thing that made me try this is that i had no real symptoms. i just wish i knew my personal health threat level for now and also in the future.
Many of us tried diet and exercise to see if that would help. For me it was not enough to get normal bgs . I think what a lot of us have found is Dieticians and Doctors don't always give the best diet info. The general medical consenus for diabetics is that it is better to be high than low. So they give us diets that keep our bgs much higher than they need be. A lot of us have just ignored the dieticians advice and experimented until we found something that worked. It is possible to have bgs of normal people if you follow a low carb diet and take meds and exercise. The ADA recomends an HbA1c of 7% for good control. Many of us feel that is way too high since normal people range from 4%-5.5%
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