Hi there, TennMark!

First of all, don't worry, you have come to the right place because people here do care and they will answer your questions. The two biggest things that you can do to help your diabetes are diet and exercise! There are foods to avoid, of course, sugars, white bread, white rice, pasta-but if you can find it Greenfields pasta has a special product in it where your blood sugars are not affected too badly. You are allowed fruits and veggies! with fruits, your blood sugar may spike up but will come down fairly quickly. You will have to learn how to read the food labels and look for the carbs. Per meal, you should have 35-45 grams of carbs at each of your 3 meals and for snacks you can have 15-20 grams of carbs. Avoid fried foods even for your meats, try to broil them or roast them. If you have a chance, you should try out the Diabetes Education Center in your area, your family doctor should be able to get you into the class and it is well worth it.

Exercise is really important, try to get between 30-60 minutes a day and a combination of aerobic exercise and weight training is best! Did your doctor give you any medications? Did he get you set up with a test meter? Testing your blood glucose is a very wise move to make, that way, you can tell if what you ate affected your blood glucose. We are all different and different things affect us all differently. I test my blood when I wake up, before lunch, before dinner and then before bed. Many people check on waking then 2 hours after each meal. The reason why you wait 2 hours after eating is to get rid of the effects of food that make you spike.

I also have a website that you are free to join if you want, it lets you keep your logs for blood glucose, weight, blood pressure, a food log, an exercise log, a sleep log and we are adding more stuff as we go along. The site is FREE to join and is at http://pcmdr.ca and yes, I am Canadian!

Any questions that you have, please feel free to ask! And, don't worry, we will all help you. Welcome aboard!!!

lary

I will give you a condensed version of what I eat. Basically for breakfast I have 2 carb servings, 1 oz of protein or 1 egg, 8 oz of milk and 1 fruit. Lunch and supper are both the same with the exception of milk, 8 oz at lunch, not at supper. For the rest of the meal it is also unlimited veggies, 1 fruit, 2 oz of protein and 2 carb servings. I also have a snack around 10 in the evening which is 8 oz milk, 1 carb serving and 1 protein serving. This totals roughly 1600 calories, which is probably too little for you, maybe add more meat. And please get to a nutritionist! Then you will come away with a very clear idea of what to eat. oh, the way I count carbs is basically 15 grams of carbohydrate is 1 carb serving, and I do drink V8, low sodium only, and maybe a half cup total daily to swallow all my meds with. Hope that helped.

Hi, pick up a copy of the Calorie King, that is what I use.

Also here is a Site that might interest you.

http://www.livestrong.com/type-2-diabetes-food-list/

TennMark....do not worry we can help guide you into this journey.

Basically it is a matter of eating healthy and smart, as nosty said watch the 'white' foods since the starches are processed differently and can cause higher spikes.. you can eat fruits and of course lots of veggies but watch corn and carrots they tend to spike some people much more so than others....learn to bake or broil, not fried (the fat in the fried items not healthy)

I use the site loseit.com. and there are many calory/carb books in the book stores to help.many of us use various sites, so just a matter of finding one that helps you...sparkle is another one.........also ask your doctor to refer you to a dietician.

sugars are part of carbs....(they are called simple sugars, carbs are complex sugars) so your main goal is to watch carbs, and if losing weight you need to watch calories...Portion control is a main issue also...don't think low in carbs I can eat more since now it is double the carbs.

most of us try to aim for about 30-45 carbs per meals and about 15-20 for a light snack if needed.

do worry we have all been there, so tel yourself you can do this and you will do this, for yourself and then for your family

talk to us often

Thank you all for the answers but I did any one herd of the Nutrasystem for Diabetes ????

I have..but you can do your own meals cheaper, I spend 2 days a month cooking for 6-8 weeks meals..gotta weigh them..LOL it does work.

I have checked some of that out,and their meals but the one thing that concerns me with any of these type of programs is they do not teach you to do so for yourself. And of course the expense. Some of the meals have higher carb content than I am comfortable with so you have to watch out for that. This diease is life long, can you keep up that expense? A healthy diaet and exercise will do the same result

TennMark, every Sunday, I always cook about a weeks worth of meals. I store them in the freezer, then the night before I take one out to defrost. While it warms up, I'll either make a salad or cook some fresh vegetables. Sometimes when I'm not in the mood for cooking, I also have Healthy Choice dinners on hand. Just be careful of the carbs. Like lary says, exercise is important too. I walk daily for about 1.5 to 2 miles daily, and yoga or maybe aerobics for about 30-40 mins. Maybe that'll help for you too.

Thanks for all the input..
I have a copy of Calory King and it does have alot of information , I desided not to do Nutrasystem and learn how to feed myself , with my wonderful wife helping me of corce..lol I will start smoking more meats and grilling the vegies.. Now the exersize I need to be careful I have Myasthinia Gravis and working out is not good to do for me but keeping busy is, kinda strange but it seems to work for me.

you would be surprised what they consider exercise at times, but you are up and moving and that is what counts.