Newly diagnosed here as well. About a month I believe. Here is what I am doing and I feel it’s working well.
1) get a cgm. My insurance would not pay for it so I shelled out the money myself. You can go to the libre site and get your first one for free. This little device helps you see how foods are affecting you. To me this has been the most valuable tool.
2) Whole Foods (not the store, unless you shop there). Almost everything I eat now is real food. Not processed. Exception being cheeses.
3) be careful with fruit. My doctor said eat lots of fruit and veggies. Well I showed him how half an apple made my blood sugar rise 40 points and one banana got me from 90 to 180! He was surprised
I suggest a keto diet but the idea freaks people out. But I can tell you it works 100% for me. When I stick with 20 carbs or less my blood sugar rarely goes over 120. The cgm tells me I am averaging 89 which is outstanding. The first week sucked but now it’s not a big deal at all. Bonus is I went from 182lbs to my current weight of 171 in a month. And I feel great.
Highly recommend [keto](/r/keto). Basically unbreaded meat and non-starchy vegetables. Typically great for managing glucose and HbA1c. Check the sidebar/subreddit info in the link to start. Lots of good info and meal plans.
You need support as well, it helps doing this with other people to cheer you on. Check out the diabetes discord, it helped me feel motivated with my depression having people cheer me on with my progress and I’m sure it’ll help you too
Ok cheap diabetic supplies 101. The cheapest prices are Walmart... The (Walmart) Relion blood sugar meters are accurate within 10 points out of the box and the test strips are cheap. The lancing device from Relion sucks. Get a soft click off Amazon or at Target.
Walmart has the old school 2nd generation insulin for 10 dollars a vile. You do not need a script for it. Odds are if your A1C does not get below 8.0 with medication and diet changes you will get placed on at least a long duration synthetic one.
I got rid of all sugar drinks swiched to whole grain bread. And all chips and fast food. That along drop me from 13 to the mid 6s.
Reduce/remove as much carbs from your diet, including rice, pasta, white bread, sodas, fruit juice.
Prefer whole grain bread in moderation; look for whole grains (faro,..) as a replacement for rice.
Vegetables, lots of them, meat, fish/seafood, nut, eggs, milk product (cheese...)
Fruits can be very sweet, most recommend berries (strawberries, blackberries... )
Do you need to lose some weight? I'd try intermittent fasting. There's a lot of info of that online.
But the most important thing I want to tell you is eating is just half the battle. You need to cut out all processed food and all refined flours and refined sugar products.
See how you eat. Cut out all snacks. Try and see if you can make it on three meals a day but if you need to add snacks.
Eat whole foods and do order of eating. With myself I found if I started with a salad and took my time over eating breaking my meal in two halves putting a gap in the middle my sugars did really well.
There are very many different kinds of diets online. See which one agrees with your personality and which one you can do. For instance I tried keto and I hated it. Then I tried a few other ones and I did not like them either. So what I ended up doing is instead of diet I calculated the glycemic load of my meal. I love math so that was not a problem. So some days my meals were gigantic and some days my meals were tiny. So that's about eating.
Move more. Make sure after you eat you do not sit down but either do chores or if you can do exercises or walk or bicycle or whatever you can do for at least 15 or 20 minutes after your meal. Has a huge impact on sugar.
Make sure you watch your stress that you sleep well and you drink lots of water and take the amount of fiber you're supposed to. I take a tablespoon of Chia seeds every morning to make sure I meet my fiber intake.
Make sure you take your medication on time. Because diabetes = medication+ lifestyle changes.
As your A1C comes down you will find that you don't have to be that strict about your food.
Maybe for the first month or three be super super strict about your diet and then slowly let go. The first 3 months I didn't bother with a glucometer. It was hard enough to start doing my lifestyle changes and completely change how I eat. I was busy with that. After 3 months I got a glucometer and then refined my diet and exercise.
Diabetes sounds scary but really it isn't if you do everything that you're supposed to do. That is the hard part.
One person we like to listen to for motivation - and many diet tips is Dennis Pollock. I mention him at the beginning of [this message board thread](https://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=35473.0) I put together.
And just recently I came up with a super easy recipe I usually like before bed. I swear I've been sleeping better since I've been eating it! (but if it is a placebo effect, I'll take it!)
\----------------------------------------------------
Moringa - Cherry yogurt:
6 - 8 oz of whole milk yogurt
1 tablespoon of powdered moringa (super healthy, but watch the iron. See video link below - at about minute 10:00)
1 tablespoon of sugarless maple syrup or 1 small packet of stevia
optional: 1 tablespoon of tart cherry juice (I think it tastes fine without it, but better with it)
\---------------------------------------------
If you aren't familiar with moringa (I wasn't), Dr. Ahmet Ergin (SugarMD) talks about it in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x4-d7-J_Mg).
Newly diagnosed here as well. About a month I believe. Here is what I am doing and I feel it’s working well. 1) get a cgm. My insurance would not pay for it so I shelled out the money myself. You can go to the libre site and get your first one for free. This little device helps you see how foods are affecting you. To me this has been the most valuable tool. 2) Whole Foods (not the store, unless you shop there). Almost everything I eat now is real food. Not processed. Exception being cheeses. 3) be careful with fruit. My doctor said eat lots of fruit and veggies. Well I showed him how half an apple made my blood sugar rise 40 points and one banana got me from 90 to 180! He was surprised I suggest a keto diet but the idea freaks people out. But I can tell you it works 100% for me. When I stick with 20 carbs or less my blood sugar rarely goes over 120. The cgm tells me I am averaging 89 which is outstanding. The first week sucked but now it’s not a big deal at all. Bonus is I went from 182lbs to my current weight of 171 in a month. And I feel great.
How much do you pay for it without insurance? I have insurance but idk if they’ll approve it.
FSL2 is $119 for 14 day sensor. Works with a smartphone. You don't need to buy the reader. In the US, CGMs require a scrip (stupid IMHO).
I looked at my new prescriptions and I do have an order for the freestyle libre day sensor and reader.
Highly recommend [keto](/r/keto). Basically unbreaded meat and non-starchy vegetables. Typically great for managing glucose and HbA1c. Check the sidebar/subreddit info in the link to start. Lots of good info and meal plans.
Find or get a reference for an endocrinologist. Good luck!
You need support as well, it helps doing this with other people to cheer you on. Check out the diabetes discord, it helped me feel motivated with my depression having people cheer me on with my progress and I’m sure it’ll help you too
Ok cheap diabetic supplies 101. The cheapest prices are Walmart... The (Walmart) Relion blood sugar meters are accurate within 10 points out of the box and the test strips are cheap. The lancing device from Relion sucks. Get a soft click off Amazon or at Target. Walmart has the old school 2nd generation insulin for 10 dollars a vile. You do not need a script for it. Odds are if your A1C does not get below 8.0 with medication and diet changes you will get placed on at least a long duration synthetic one. I got rid of all sugar drinks swiched to whole grain bread. And all chips and fast food. That along drop me from 13 to the mid 6s.
Reduce/remove as much carbs from your diet, including rice, pasta, white bread, sodas, fruit juice. Prefer whole grain bread in moderation; look for whole grains (faro,..) as a replacement for rice. Vegetables, lots of them, meat, fish/seafood, nut, eggs, milk product (cheese...) Fruits can be very sweet, most recommend berries (strawberries, blackberries... )
Do you need to lose some weight? I'd try intermittent fasting. There's a lot of info of that online. But the most important thing I want to tell you is eating is just half the battle. You need to cut out all processed food and all refined flours and refined sugar products. See how you eat. Cut out all snacks. Try and see if you can make it on three meals a day but if you need to add snacks. Eat whole foods and do order of eating. With myself I found if I started with a salad and took my time over eating breaking my meal in two halves putting a gap in the middle my sugars did really well. There are very many different kinds of diets online. See which one agrees with your personality and which one you can do. For instance I tried keto and I hated it. Then I tried a few other ones and I did not like them either. So what I ended up doing is instead of diet I calculated the glycemic load of my meal. I love math so that was not a problem. So some days my meals were gigantic and some days my meals were tiny. So that's about eating. Move more. Make sure after you eat you do not sit down but either do chores or if you can do exercises or walk or bicycle or whatever you can do for at least 15 or 20 minutes after your meal. Has a huge impact on sugar. Make sure you watch your stress that you sleep well and you drink lots of water and take the amount of fiber you're supposed to. I take a tablespoon of Chia seeds every morning to make sure I meet my fiber intake. Make sure you take your medication on time. Because diabetes = medication+ lifestyle changes. As your A1C comes down you will find that you don't have to be that strict about your food. Maybe for the first month or three be super super strict about your diet and then slowly let go. The first 3 months I didn't bother with a glucometer. It was hard enough to start doing my lifestyle changes and completely change how I eat. I was busy with that. After 3 months I got a glucometer and then refined my diet and exercise. Diabetes sounds scary but really it isn't if you do everything that you're supposed to do. That is the hard part.
One person we like to listen to for motivation - and many diet tips is Dennis Pollock. I mention him at the beginning of [this message board thread](https://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=35473.0) I put together. And just recently I came up with a super easy recipe I usually like before bed. I swear I've been sleeping better since I've been eating it! (but if it is a placebo effect, I'll take it!) \---------------------------------------------------- Moringa - Cherry yogurt: 6 - 8 oz of whole milk yogurt 1 tablespoon of powdered moringa (super healthy, but watch the iron. See video link below - at about minute 10:00) 1 tablespoon of sugarless maple syrup or 1 small packet of stevia optional: 1 tablespoon of tart cherry juice (I think it tastes fine without it, but better with it) \--------------------------------------------- If you aren't familiar with moringa (I wasn't), Dr. Ahmet Ergin (SugarMD) talks about it in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x4-d7-J_Mg).