Diabetes Type 2 Support Group
Type 2 Diabetes is a condition in which the body either does not produce enough insulin or does not make efficient use of it. Insulin is a hormone needed to convert food into glucose, a sugar that the body uses for energy. Without enough insulin, glucose can accumulate in the blood, and can cause serious health problems such as heart disease and strokes and organ damage...
Being in the 60s is a little too low also...
I was diagnosed in 2006 but not put on insulin - just oral medication (Metformin). I was coached by a nutritionist for a year on dietary and exercise habits that would improve not only my diabetes but my overall health. At first my fasting readings averaged around 140 and during the day I was all over the map.
I wasn't an angel about food and exercise - I'm still not - but I did try to gradually incorporate healthier habits into a way of life. Over the last 5 plus years my numbers have gone down and down and now I am enjoying normal and stable blood sugar control and I feel so much better both mentally and physically. My doctor just approved of my wish to get off Metformin at least for a time to see how I do without it.
Although you may be able to get off insulin or medication and you may be able to maintain normal numbers, you are never really "cured". You need to keep monitoring the numbers and practicing better health habits or you will slip back into a diabetic condition in which damage occurs in all systems and you may experience some of the really serious complications of diabetes.
I don't think that you should feel like you have a life sentence of "strict" dietary restrictions, but you do need to develop better self care habits as a way of life.
Regular sodas? One 12 oz Coca Cola has about 40 carb grams. Even worse, most US coca cola is made with High Fructose Corn Syrup, essentially poison to a diabetic. I suspect most here are trying to limit carbs at a single meal to less than what is found in one can of regular soda.