Newly Diagnosed

Welcome to HealingWell, cesgab. Wow! You've seen a significant change in your blood sugar in only two weeks!! That's great!

You're young and can certainly live to a ripe old age with your diabetes/blood sugar under control. Please read the two stickies at the top of our Diabetes forum for information about food, etc.

Diet and exercise is really the key to your good health - to everyone's, actually - and there's no reason for your wife to worry. Knowing what is good and normal blood sugar is important for you. Keeping a food journal and your blood sugar about 2 hours after eating will help you know how you react to the food you eat.

In short, the more carbs (potatoes, bread, rice, corn, anything made with flour and sugar) you eat, the higher your blood sugar will go, cut way back on them. Life is more important than a waffle.

If you had continued to live with blood sugar out of control in the 300's and higher, there would probably have been some organ damage eventually, so keeping normal or near-normal levels is very important.

Eat lots of vegetables (except potatoes), greens, salads, protein like meat, chicken and fish (not breaded), some low-fat dairy.

If you are overweight, changing your eating plan will also help you lose weight, and losing weight will help control blood sugar even better and help with cholesterol.

As your blood sugar is lower, you will cut back on medication and this is why keeping a daily food/blood sugar journal is important.

You will be fine and I'm glad you found us!

I'm reassuring you because I know that you can control your blood sugar and bring it down to normal levels. You are still young. And I believe you have the motivation; you have a wife and you want children and to be there for them. That's a lot of motivation!
First of all, here is a website with lots of information about diabetes: http://www.bloodsugar101.com/

(I can't make hot links on my laptop when I use Chrome but I can do this when I use Internet Explorer on our PC.)

Type 2 diabetes is on my mother's side of the family. Unfortunately there were no personal blood sugar meters years ago when my grandmother and mother were alive. Today we know what our blood sugar is in 5 seconds, so we know what foods and drinks make our blood sugar rise.

As I said in my other posts, carbohydrates will make your blood sugar rise. So will pain (if you hurt yourself or have an accident), stress (emotional and physical), some other medications (so if you are on other prescriptions, you need to check their side effects on blood sugar), and also exercise for a short time and then your blood sugar will go down. Exercise is great for diabetes because it makes the body use up the glucose running around in your system. It doesn't have to be marathon running either. Walking at a nice pace for just 20 minutes a day will help control the blood sugar and it will also help control blood pressure and cholesterol and make your heart stronger. This is an activity you can do alone or with your wife or friend or dog!

Building more muscle is helpful - for women as well as men. You don't need to spend money on a gym membership to lift weights. You can buy hand weights at Target or you can fill a milk container with water and lift that.

I know that changing your eating style might be difficult because it was tricky for me but I did it. Here is another website that features a lot of recipes as well as discussions about food and diet: http://forum.lowcarber.org/index.php?

Unfortunately, this will be a life-long change for you because your body will always have problems metabolizing carbohydrates. Even as you lose weight and get normal blood sugar (with or without medication), you will still be affected by carbs. As long as you either cut way down on them or just don't eat them at all, you'll be able to control your blood sugar. Medication can help, of course. However, I do not think it is wise to depend on medication to control your blood sugar and eat anything you want.

Eating a variety of vegetables and some fruit and some protein will keep you healthy. I also eat about a handful of mixed nuts, or a small piece of cheese, or artificially sweetened yogurt for a snack.

You will be ok! Read those websites for lots of information so you can feel in control of your health!

[img]/community/emoticons/yeah.gif[/img]

I understand that she is worried for you and for the future. Have her learn about this just as you are doing. In fact, show her these posts! She needs to learn that with a change in diet and some added exercise, that you (and she) will have healthy normal lives with your children. In fact, I would even suggest that you would have a healthier life than maybe others you know.

This has been my case. I only was prescribed a blood sugar meter when I was in my 50's but I know that my blood sugar was elevated way before that because every year my annual exam showed high blood sugar. However, I had NO idea what to do about it and all my doctor told me was to follow a 'heart healthy' diet which did nothing for diabetes. Then, I found this website and another member suggested that I buy "Diabetes Solution" by Dr. Richard Bernstein. He is a type 1 diabetic who is also a medical doctor. This is the book that changed my life because it taught me what affects our blood sugar and that is exactly what I am telling you here: simply that carbs will raise your blood sugar as will being overweight and sedentary.

Yes, there can be serious health problems with uncontrolled diabetes, just as with any uncontrolled health problem. The point is that this was caught early before you have suffered these complications.

I think it's a great idea for you and your wife to understand that eating natural food is healthier and will control your diabetes. Processed food, prepared food in boxes have a lot of added salt and sugar: read the packages. These added ingredients will not help anyone's health.

This was dinner on our table last night: roasted chicken with wine, garlic and rosemary, mushrooms stuffed with onions, broccoli and cheddar cheese, green beans sauteed with walnuts. The cheese was about two tablespoons. My husband had rice which I didn't eat. And and little side salad of baby spinach leaves with cucumbers and radishes with olive oil and lemon juice and some parmesan cheese. The only salt in the meal was whatever was in the two cheeses. I used a little butter to saute the beans with olive oil.

Eating in restaurants takes a little adjustment: eat a hamburger with a fork and knife, not on a bun (McDonald's doesn't even look look twice when I order it without a bun.), substitute mixed vegetables for a potato at another restaurant, etc. At a Japanese restaurant that our kids like, I substitute a double order of veggies instead of the rice.

Sit down with your wife and have fun planning out a week's menu and go look online for recipes and then go shopping. Then, plan on a daily walk together.

The more research she does the worst it gets because of the statistics it gives. It's true some of the things I've read with her it's practically giving me 10 years before I have kidney failure and loose my eye sight. Thankfully I went to get my eyes checked and everything was good. Dr said I have no neurapathy.

Thank you I will certainly do that because so far everyone around us has been telling us what gets her stressed out.