Recently diagnosed...

Hi tulipgirl1 and Welcome!

Good for you in taking charge so quickly and getting those numbers down. Glad to hear you have some family support and experience to call on but "shame!" on the Doctors and Nurses who sent you on your way so poorly equipped.

The good news is that many of us (myself included) have found the wake up call of this diagnosis as motivation to go to lead an healthier life than before.

Gretchen Becker has an excellent book called "Type 2 Diabetes the first year" which I would recommend, and there is a wealth of information at Blood Sugar 101...

I'd suggest around 100g carbs per day as a reasonable starting point. Personally I am at about 30g per day... but I still eat a rich, varied and tasty diet.

Here is my usual spiel on diet (in this case it simply means "what I eat", as opposed to a drastic short-term weight-loss change)...

Real whole food, is the order of the day... preferably local and in-season, grown/reared on nutrient rich land... grass-fed beef and pastured chickens for example. This means eat whole (unprocessed, unpackaged, unadulterated, nitrate and preservative free) food, which includes a natural balance of fat, protein and carbohydrates (as well as vitamins, minerals etc...) ...there really is no need to be afraid of natural fat... it's gotten a bad rap.

Those of us with Diabetes need to pay particular attention to the foods which have the most effect on our Blood Glucose (BG) levels. There are obvious things to watch out for like candy, cola, cakes and sweets (these are high in refined/concentrated carbohydrates)... next in line are the "white" foods like bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, breakfast cereal... but even something assumed to be healthy like orange juice has about as much sugar as a cola... fat reduced milk can have an higher proportion of lactose (sugar), especially in low-fat products such as yogurts which may have High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) added to replace the fat... and so it goes on. That does not mean you need to feel deprived or hungry to eat this way, not by any means. You may even find you can work in an occasional family cake... for example. The keyword there being "occasional" as it used to be when our Grandparents baked cakes only for Birthdays etc... not everyday (muffins, donuts, pastries) for breakfast.

You may have heard the phrase "eat to your meter" and this deceptively simple message is very wise... test around your food (for example: before eating, then 1, 2 and 3 hours when trying new food) to figure out what works best for YOU.

Learn to read nutritional labels AND ingredient lists. Be aware of hidden "sugars" -- mostly ending with "ose" -- and starches (such as Maltodextrin) which also quickly break down into sugars.

Some ideas for snacks: nuts, cheese, dark chocolate (70% cocoa or higher), pork rinds/scratchings, cold (home cooked) meats, boiled eggs, peanut butter.

While we are encouraged to eat "so many servings of fruit and veg daily", many of these can spike our BGs so test, test test... for many of us, green leafy vegetables seem to work best... but you may also help reduce/slow the BG spike by mixing foods... for example: instead of eating an apple by itself, try just half the apple in slices with some peanut butter or cheese... or have a few berries with some cream.

I'd suggest that BG control be your primary aim... while minimising the need for insulin which is the major fat storage hormone -- reducing excess fat mass, improving cholesterol/lipids, hypertension etc... all these tend to improve with more normal BGs.

I am not big on setting unrealistic "exercise" goals... flogging yourself at the gym... unless you feel especially motivated to do so. I think you are better off with something sustainable in the long term. There are many health benefits of activity but I'm not convinced that losing weight is a major one. I do believe in building activity into your daily routine (rather than finding excuses for missing the gym)... take the stairs, park further away, get off the bus a stop earlier... go for a walk at lunchtime... take "smoke breaks" at work where you walk around the block instead. Physical activity can help with your BG numbers as it tends to lower Insulin Resistance (IR) , as well as using up glucose but as with food, it is advisable to test and see how it affects you.

tulipgirl1 said:

I was disgnosed with Type 2 last Monday, July 26. My sugar was 321. I was put on Metformin (500 mg twice a day). This is how I got diagnosed: I went to an urgent care clinic for a UTI, and they noticed sugar in my urine so they decided to test my blood sugar. The nurse came in and took my blood sugar, got the 321, and walked out the door. The doc stuck her head in the door, said "yep, you got it (meaning diabetes)" and left again. The nurse came back with my prescription for the metformin, a moniter, test strips, and lancets and sent me on my way. No one talked to me about anything! Both of my parents are nurses and diabetic, so I got a lot of info from them. My question right now is how many carbs should I eat in a day? I am 33 yrs old, 5'6" and overweight (by about 100 pounds, but I have lost 25 lbs so far and am still losing). I have really lowered my carbs, and my blood sugar was 137 this morning. What carb count should I aim for? Thanks!!!

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Hi tulipgirl and welcome to the forum

Kudos to you on wanting to get a grip on your health...and raspberries to the ER docs and nurses for not giving you any info!

I would make an appointment with your regular ASAP and get started on a good plan. Even better, an endocrinologist. Your doctor should be able to set you up with a certified diabetes educator or a dietitian to help get you sorted out.

The metformin they gave you is a gold standard drug for T2 diabetes. It rarely causes hypoglycemia since it does not directly act on the pancreas to stimulate insulin production. Instead it works to lower the insulin resistance that causes T2 diabetes. It does sometimes cause some GI upset in the beginning..but stick with it..the side effects usually pass fairly quickly. Most T2 diabetics make enough insulin (at least early in their disease). The problem is, they cannot use the insulin they make. Insulin sort of carries the blood glucose into the cells where it belongs. But in insulin resistance, something has gone wrong and the door is kind of locked, not letting the insulin in. So the glucose has no where to go, which leads to high concentrations of glucose in the blood. The insulin cant carry it in like its supposed to...so it does all it can do...it stores the glucose in fat cells, typically in the midsection. Thats why most T2 diabetics that you see tend to gain weight in the abdomen mostly.

A good starting point is to limit yourself to 30g carb for breakfast and 45 for lunch and dinner. If you must have a snack, no more than 15 grams. That is more carbs than a lot of diabetics can handle, but its a good starting point. You will hear many of us say "eat to your meter". What that means is this: test before a meal, then count your carbs, eat your meal...test again at least 2 hours after eating. Within 2 hours you should already be back down to around what your blood sugar was before you ate. If you are not...then you ate too many carbs. Lower your carb intake and try again until you get to where you need to be.

I recommend getting a carb counting book. A really good one is the Calorie King book...its cheap..around 9 dollars and very useful. I carry mine everywhere. They also have a web site, calorieking.com that has all the same information. It is important to control your carbs...that is the key to managing your blood sugar.

I have thrown a lot of info at you all at once so I will shut up now and let everyone else have a go at it...please ask all the questions you need. Someone is always ready with some good advice. This should at least get you started in the right direction until you can see your regular doc and a diabetes educator.

Welcome and let us know how you are doing!