new to all this need lots of help please!!

[AMLOS]

Hi everyone!
So delighted to have found this forum! My husband has recently been diagnosed as DIABETIC :( !! With both of us being overweight the low carb diet seems the best to get control of his insulin levels and bring both our weight down to what it was when we met 8 yrs ago. being Irish too and loving potatoes rice and pasta this diet seems very daunting and a complete change for all of our family! HELP I honestly dont know where to start!
Thanks in advance for your replies and advice!
Ann

[Michaelk]

Hi there Ann and welcome. I'll tell you where I started. I decided on what low carb plan I wanted to "follow". Read as much as I could handle, bought the accompanying book, ie, New Atkins new you, and put it into practice.

I think informing yourself is the only way forward.

Best of luck, oh and I'm Irish too and I promise you that liking potatoes is not genetic. Yes, there is life after spuds :). Anyway over time you may be able to introduce small amounts of those foods you mentioned.

I'm not pushing Atkins diet on you, I just wanted to show you this. I printed this out and familiarised myself with it. I rarely look at it know but it helped at the start. http://www.atkins.com/Program/Carb-Counter.aspx

[JLx]

I'd say start with Blood Sugar 101, lots of good, practical information and advice on there. http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

Anyone following a low carb diet for diabetes will also want to read Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution.

Both urge diabetics to "eat to your meter" because we have individual reactions to foods that may not be entirely predictable based solely on carb content.

There's an Atkins diabetes book too but I haven't read it.

Eliminating sugar and wheat will go a long way towards improvement pretty quickly.

Once your husband's blood sugars are stabilized and some insulin sensitivity restored, he may be able to eat different foods later than at first.

If he is on certain meds (other than Metformin probably) and his doctor and "diabetes educators" are not on board with a low carb approach and therefore haven't taken into consideration that he might do that and it will work, be careful with the possibility of hypoglycemia in the meantime.

There is a Diabetes Forum here, but it's not very frequented. You may also want to check out the Diabetes Board at Low Carb Friends, as it is more active.

I was just diagnosed last year and it can be very daunting. The worst thing your husband (and you) can do is trust the conventional medicine approach. Self education is essential.