New to Diabetes

[Jimboy]

I have just been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, at the age of 85, apparantly I am just over the figure that confirms this.
Would appreciate advice regarding diet, unfortunately I do like my cake/biscuit etc, so I think it will be hard.
For start what breakfast cereal would you suggest that is off the shelf in supermarkets. Also is cheese OK.

Thank for any replies

Although I am nearly 30 years younger than you, I got mine under control by severely cutting down on the sweets / cakes / biscuits. Not cut out altogether though. That will just lead to cravings.

It took about 6 - 7 weeks to kill my sweet tooth and I didn't find it too difficult. Nowadays, when I eat those things, I limit myself to a portion that contains 10g of sugar. Thats like 6 rich tea biscuits or 2 chocolate digestives. I have gone from 2 heaped spoonfuls of sugar in my tea to none at all. Just used a quarter of a teaspoon less each week until your tastebuds get used to it.

Everything else that I used to eat I still do. Pasta, rice, meat and dairy.

My breakfast cereal is from Aldi. Something a bit like Alpen but with chocolate chunks in it. I allow 15g of sugar for that so that amounts to about 50g of cereal. For your favourite cereal, just work out the portion size that equates to about 15g of sugar.

Cheese I eat without worrying about it as it has minimal amounts of sugar in it.

Diabetes UK is brilliant for everything Diabetes related but particularly for food stuff.
Also ask if your GP practice has a dietitian ours does, that can really help.
To answer your questions, cheese is low sugar/carb but very high us saturated fat, which can make insulin resistance worse.
First cereal proper porridge is good or something high fibre, low sugar like shredded wheat or a nutty, seedy muscle (not too much dried fruit). Adding protein at breakfast helps, greek yoghurt or eggs are good.

My dh and dad both are type 2 diagnosed in their 40s. One thing that's helped is staying away from processed food. Our foods theses days are full of e numbers, colourings and preservatives which our bodies don't need. Its might be case a reading a few label's. Example, tesco soft cheese contains much less ingredients than philadelphia. Both dh and dad stay clear of cereal. Might have porridge though. Breakfast for dh is eggs, baked beans or mushrooms. Try and make things homemade if you can. A homemade cake contains much less ingredients than shop bought.

I’d suggest putting the breakfast cereal back on the shelf and leaving it there. It’s carbs that raise blood sugar and all breakfast cereals are carbs. What about eggs or Greek yoghurt with berries?

This is crazy advice… 6 rich tea biscuits is 30-40 carbs, that’s as many carbs as a whole meal

You need between 225g and 325g of carbs a day. I lost 2 stone without trying just by cutting out sugary rubbish. My primary goal was to minimise the sugar. I'm not even pre-diabetic any more.

The OP asked for advice. I stated what I did. Their mileage may vary.

I don’t want to assume anything, but given your age, you may need to check you are getting enough protein. I think it is your weight multiplied by 1.2 to 1.5. So if you were 60 kg that would be a target amount of 72 to 90 g of protein per day. It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of sweet things, but if you do need to increase your protein then you’ll find that that fills you up more. But it is a bit more complex than I’m describing and it all depends on the circumstances that pushed you into two diabetes in the first place. In my case, I actually lost weight on intentionally, probably because I wasn’t getting enough protein. But that isn’t true for everyone.

So it would be well worth you getting in touch with Diabetes UK. Hopefully your GP had a proper discussion with you about your condition, and not just a general pep talk about having less sugar. If they can refer you to a dietician that would be brilliant, but I suspect there will be a waiting list.

advice for t2 diabetes is to keep under 130g carbs a day, because it’s all carbs that raise blood sugar not just sugar