Newly diagnosed with diabetes..need help?!?

Question

My sister has just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. She is 29 years old, 5 feet tall and about 230lbs. Her doctor has her on 1/2 a pill in the morning and the same at night (not sure of the name it's met___ something) her sugars are still high in the mornings at 9.5 and sometimes up to 13.5. I told her she is eating too many carbs and too much sugars in her fruits(she eats 4 or5 fruits a day)an exaple of what she eats is for dinner she had a pice of battered fish with french fries then diet soda and cheesies(cheese curls) then a fudgical then she had half a chocolate bar. sometimes she won't eat all day the eats all night long. What should she be eating? how many carbs per day? how many grams of sugars per day? how many of each food groups? what are some low sugar /low carb foods she can eat? I live about 8 hours away or I'd cook her meals for her. She has started exersizing 1/2 hour a day. What else can she do? how can I help? I am very concered for her!!

can you give me a sample menu with amouts of foods ?
plus keep in mind she dosn't have much money so it neds to be cheap!!
thank-you

I live in Canada where the way levels are mesured is different!
7.0 is average

Answer 1

The pill she is taking is Metformin.The eating habits she has are life threatening.First thing she need to do is empty out the pantry and fridge of junk food .second thing she has to know the normal range she should be in.For a diabetic person the range is 4.0-7.0 in fasting condition and 5.0-10.0 2 hrs after eating.If her sugar level was 9.5 and it was after eating that is fine but if it was more than 3-4 hrs after food than it is high.And 13 obviously is high.She is lucky to be in Canada because there are so many alternates for diabetics here.She can have a diabetic chocolate if she cannot resist it.Any food high in sugar or fat is bad for her.Not only carbs but even high fat food also raises bollsugar level.She can have steamed vegetables as much as she likes.But she has to watch out for glysemic index of the fruits.When she is doing her grocery she has to read the nutritional info label and especially watch out for starch.Making ur food at home is the best option because you know what u r putting into it and it is cost effective too.She has to eat more vegetables, leam meats,chicken and fish and controlled amount of Pasta and breads.Having cheeses is not a good idea though she does need calcium but that she can get from other dairy sources.Another good thing to do is to through out that cookie jar and get rid of all the refined sugar you have.She can buy a box of Splenda or Equal tabs as sugar alternate.She still need 1500 calories per day but good calories not from fried or sugary food.
Main thing to do is to monitor her sugar level periodically.Exercise is very important too because she has to loose all that extra weight if she wanna stay healthy.
Her dose for Metformin is gonna go up for sure tis is just starting dose tell her to change her diet then monitor her sugar and show the chart to her MD so that they can adjust her pills.
Make sure she understands the severity of this disease and gets serious on tackling it.Trust me some people they just change their life style and stay off any kind of meds forever.They do have Type II but they control it just by diet and regular exercise.
I'm sure by having such a caring sister like you will help her get better.
Hoping for the best.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

First and foremost don't worry - I've been a diabetic for years on insulin. When I was first diagnosed, my blood sugars were up in the 30's and I went into ketoacidosis which wasn't very pleasant. 10.5 and 15.5 are rather on the high side, maybe you are beyond the "just diet and exercise" stage, but discuss that with your doctor as he/she will be the one best suited to answer that question. When I was first detected my blood sugars where mid teens up to the 20's and I felt crap. Always tired. Don't take advice from people on here about what is likely to happen with your care. The diabetic nurse will fill you in on all that will happen and your GP will give you all the relevant advice necessary to you. Your acute pancreatitis could have been a catalyst to you developing type 2 diabetes, but again that is a wide open question, and on the whole generally doubtful. Good luck with all your care, and diabetes management. Edit: Be cautious about the advice from "Dr Frank" there is reasonable doubt to think that he is actually a GP. Your doctor is the best one to advise not some bogus trumped up wannabe like "Dr Frank"

Answer 5

Newly diagnosed Diabetes Mellitus II is a hard dx to deal with. But with type II diabetes there is hope and there has been a great deal of research on this subject so if your sister is willing to make great efforts to help herself, then diabtes can be controlled, even eliminated. First of all, she needs to make a commitment with her doctor and follow all of his instructions. Fixing diabetes is not an overnight process, in fact many people with type II DM will have for the rest of there lives and will die from its effects. Because your sister is overweight she has insulin resistance. Insulin helps break down sugars and also plays different roles in metabolism. Because this sugar is not broken down effectively it accumulates in her body and this is where and why the problems of DM II exist. In answer to your questions, the best thing she can do right now is see a nutritionist who can sit down with her and put her on a diabteic diet. She needs to cut out sugars to a great degree and exercise regularly. Why is she eating so much? she may have underlying issues, such as depression, poor self esteem or simply bordem. These issues should be addressed with her primary care doctor as well. Good Luck.

Answer 6

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I recommend you use the Type 2 Diabetes Destroyer to naturally reverse your diabetes.

Answer 7

You both need to take a diabetes education class.After that see a dietitian for an individual diet program.
Read everything that was written within the past five years and don't worry about the people who don't understand any levels except the US levels.
Example : Breakfast-one cup [ sorry about the us measurements] cooked oatmeal,half a cup blueberries, a bit of milk and coffee or tea.A huge glass of water is good too.
Mid Am-a very low cal , clear soup such as miso.Yummy.
Lunch :Salad with lean meat , fish or chicken,
Lots of veggies and a small amount of dressing.
One fresh fruit. Diet soda or water , coffee or tea.
Mid Pm-A glass of low fat milk and Graham crackers or cheese and crackers.
Dinner-Baked fish, meat or chicken, two veggies= 1 cup total, a diet fudgical and a couple of small cookies.
Before bed- 1 Cup milk or a banana.
Good luck.
Both take a walk after dinner.

Answer 8

My diabetes started after a very heavy regime of medications for an urgent illness. I was on metformin pills and the next step was going to be needles!!

I lost 50 lbs and my sugar is now normal. I did it by cutting out anything with sugar in it, eating tiny portions but unlimited plain salads and no candy, junk or pop. I stayed rigidly with three small meals a day and walked for about 45 mins.

My secret weapon was this: every time I saw or imagined any thing with sugar or high calories I imagined it with a hyperdermic syringe, sticking out of it, needle up, like a little cocktail umbrella...

Answer 9

Fruits have their own natural sugars so should be extremely reduced, deep fried foods will cause high colesterol. She should really follow the diabetic diets. If she can get her weight down she can also bring her sugars back to what they were. Eating a balanced diet with smaller portions and eating 3-7 small meals away. You have a right to be concerned for your sister, and she should be concerned for herself. She needs a dietician and weight loss program, the one thing she will not want to do is go on needles to control her sugars, she needs to really look at her eating habits and discover how to eat properly, with the right mix of the 4 food groups.

Answer 10

Your sister has diabetes type II which means that her pancreas still produces insulin but that she lacks an enzyme to transform the glucose into energy. She will have to take medication such as glibenclamide or tolbutamide or a dozen others which can perfectly control the situation and maintain het glucose level at 90-120 mg/ml blood.
She should diet, exercise and check her legs and feet for infections daily.