I am new and desperate to help a friend who is depressed about getting Type 2 diabetes. They see it as a death sentence and she was terrified when she heard she eventually could lose a limb.
Finding practical non conflicting advice is so hard. Please let me know what helped your readings reduce once you started.
My favourite so far is 30 min power walks 3- 5 times a week. Any others?
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ZuperNev
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Reduction in the total intake of food , avoiding junk food , moderate physical activity , taking nutrient balanced food , with herbs like Ashwagandha , aloevera , Brahmi and thulasi totally arrests the threat .
First of all Type 2 diabetes is not a death sentence and unless your friend doesn't keep her levels under control they won't lose limbs either!
I was diagnosed nearly 5 years ago and since then, with diet (although I've not lost much) and exercise my levels are now within the normal range. Some people extol the benefits of all sorts of diets - low carb high fat (LCHF), Blood sugar diet (as recommended by Michael Moseley) and 5:2 etc. However, I do none of those and make sure that I eat very little processed food, cut back on my carbs to an average of 150g per day (plus up to 45g per day for snacks/treats if needed). I eat only when hungry on a scale of 6 and drink plenty of water - because half the time we're thirsty and not hungry.
I exercise daily, doesn't need to be high impact but I do Body Blade and dog walking and as I have arthritis I do some specific exercises to help my knees.
Always check with the GP or diabetic team that your friend is with about any changes in diet/exercise but try to get her on the xperthealth.org.uk course that will give her all the information she needs on what to eat and how to deal with her portion size etc. Plus she should go onto the Diabetes.org.uk website for brilliant educational information and support.
Her uncle had diabetes and lost his foot. Her mum died young (early 50's) from a Diabetic episode. She believed she would be fine going to the gym regular with her vice being the odd bottle of wine so not to hit 30 and this happens has shocked her!
The websites look interesting but is there one thing you found that reduced your blood scores regularly? Did the power walks help for 30 mins, like many have found, took them out of the diabetic range or not?
Sorry to hear about your arthritis. What do you take and what helps with that otherwise? Her mum got that before she died too.
She will be going to her GP regular but hates the idea of insulin injections and medications if it gets worse. Do you only have to monitor your diet?
Any exercise is good when you're diabetic plus keeping control of carbs. Tell your friend that she must educate herself about her Diabetes, in a lot of cases it's ignorance of the complications. Keeping carbs down, reduce intake of processed foods and ignore the"of which sugars" on labels, it's the full carb nos. that counts.
There are good support groups on Facebook too.
I'm on metformin and statins and a tablet for my blood pressure but everything is now in the normal range. It's all a question of being sensible, learning about it and not letting the Diabetes control you, you have to learn to control it.
I hope your friend doesn't panic and comes to terms with it. She's lucky to have you looking out for her.
Thanks very much for your kindness and great advice.
So much conflicting advice out there and you know the adverts and lifestyle stories always say eat something or drink something sugary to get over Diabetic blood sugar lows and that's all carbs?
She doesn't have any blood pressure issues yet but scared that like her Uncle and Mum these things are inevitable. Glad that exercise is still important as she feels her trips to the gym haven't stopped the problem.
She was trying to be healthy and just panicking that it is just she is on the same road as her family regardless with Metformin, Insulin and Statins as her future and the other pills she remembers in the cupboard.
It just seems more younger people are getting it too.
Just trying to find what really works and hopefully easy to adopt. No more pills.
Type 2 diabetics on diet or metformin only don't have hypos as such. We do sometimes get some hypo like symptoms when our blood glucose may have dropped a bit, but because we are still making insulin our bodies soon counteract it and brings it back up very quickly.
Lowering carbs is the best way and yes, if someone has a full blown hypo they do need to have a sugary drink but your friend will have this all explained to her, should she ever go onto insulin or one of the tablets that can result in hypos.
Just make sure she goes and speaks to her diabetic team about getting on an educational course.
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