Recently Diagnosed & New Members

[AdieRose]

I found out a month ago that I had T2 Diabetes.  I was so sad and embarrassed to find this out, but I am trying to see the bright side.  I need to lose weight, and this was a kick in the butt.  I have two little girls to live for and that is the best motivation ever.

I am probably going to be asking a lot of questions here.

I'll start with this one:

Is there anywhere online that I can print a simple food log/diary?  I basically just want one where I can write down my breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the carbs for each meal.  I did a google search, but the links I found were mostly dead or were logs that are too involved for me right now.

Thanks in advance!

Adrienne

[ktu136]

Hi Adrienne,

First, I have to say nothing to be embarassed about having diabetes. It happens in the best of families as a friend of mine would say.

Now, as to the log, I use a simple spiral bound notebook and make entries for each day. This gives me lots of room to enter meal info, how far and how fast I walked, my testing numbers, etc.  It works for me and I don't lose it in the clutter in my office.

Keep posting your questions or comments. A lot of good resorces here.

Gordon

[alan_s Honored Contributor]

---

AdieRose wrote:

I found out a month ago that I had T2 Diabetes.  I was so sad and embarrassed to find this out, but I am trying to see the bright side.  I need to lose weight, and this was a kick in the butt.  I have two little girls to live for and that is the best motivation ever.

I am probably going to be asking a lot of questions here.

I'll start with this one:

Is there anywhere online that I can print a simple food log/diary?  I basically just want one where I can write down my breakfast, lunch, dinner, and the carbs for each meal.  I did a google search, but the links I found were mostly dead or were logs that are too involved for me right now.

Thanks in advance!

Adrienne

---

G'day Adrienne. Welcome to the forum.

Let's get the embarrassment out of the way first. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Please read this (click on it): Type 2 Diabetes and the Shame Game

You need a little more than a food diary. You need to add some further information to your food log; specifically the effects that food has on your blood glucose levels.

Please read this to see what I mean: Getting Started

[SugarFrosted]

Hello & Welcome to the Forums, Adrienne. I'm so glad you've come here. You will find so much help here, from compassionate  people who know how you feel and have been where you are.

You have done nothing to be ashamed of.  Worrying or fretting about anything done before this moment will change none of what has happened  before now.  Move forward. 

When I was diagnosed, I started a diary that very day. It helped to write down my feelings and helped me keep track of what was happening. I looked for quite a while till I found a notebook I liked. I finally decided on, and use, a plain 5x7 spiral notebook for my log. It has a double pocket page in the front where I keep my glucose logbook. Everything gets written in it, what and when I eat, how many carbs, when and how much I exercise, times of glucose testing and results, the weather, my mood. It can be as personal to you as you want to make it.  It can be a diary, of what you did that day, how angry/frustrated you might have gotten, how happy/sad you might feel. Whatever.  It's up to you. In my case, I have created a sort of shorthand I use, a long list of abbreviations I use instead of writing frequently used words. The key for the abbreviations is in the front of my journal. You can create whatever shortcuts you need to make it easy on yourself. It is yours and for you.

Read everything. Ask lots of questions!

[donredbull]

When I was diagnosed I also was scared and embarrassed then I realized that I had nothing at all to be embarrassed about. And I was scared because I didn't know anything about T2. As for the food journal I also never did find one I like so I to just started a notebook so I could make it exactly the way I wanted it. Hope this helps .

Don

[LeadSinger]

Like Anna said, just a plain notebook will do, BUT along with the food listing keep track of the carbs too.  Carbs are what drive virtually all of us.  If you aren't, learn to eat to your meter (see the blogs by Alan_S and Lizzylou).  Keep your readings right beside the food.  That's a nice, easy way to track and see which foods are either no-nos or something to be very careful of by quantity.

[AdieRose]

Thank you all for the welcome and the advice!

I don't know why I never even thought of a notebook!  I have so many of them here and I love them.  Perfect use for one!

Yes, I am keeping track of carbs an using my meter and journaling.  I like lists and things like that, anyway, o this is not horrible for me.  I am also doing WW, which is a bit of a challenge but I am just in the leanring curve right now, so I trust it will get easier. 

I am eating a LOT more vegetables, but fewer fruits.  I need to figure this out, so I can get my points in and still keep control of my fruit carbs.  Fruit has no points in WW, so I could technically eat five a day, but I need to limit them for their carbs, so I can't fill up on them  Does that make sense?

I will definitely start reading the blogs posted and also read through may of the threads here.  I am really, REALLY wanting to learn as much as I can and it looks like you all are an amazing source of info!

[ffmaya]

---

AdieRose wrote:

Thank you all for the welcome and the advice!

I don't know why I never even thought of a notebook!  I have so many of them here and I love them.  Perfect use for one!

Yes, I am keeping track of carbs an using my meter and journaling.  I like lists and things like that, anyway, o this is not horrible for me.  I am also doing WW, which is a bit of a challenge but I am just in the leanring curve right now, so I trust it will get easier. 

I am eating a LOT more vegetables, but fewer fruits.  I need to figure this out, so I can get my points in and still keep control of my fruit carbs.  Fruit has no points in WW, so I could technically eat five a day, but I need to limit them for their carbs, so I can't fill up on them  Does that make sense?

I will definitely start reading the blogs posted and also read through may of the threads here.  I am really, REALLY wanting to learn as much as I can and it looks like you all are an amazing source of info!

---

Counting carbs is more important than counting WW points.  If you buy any WW foods, please note that they are actually very high in carbs.  Many people come here and are trying to get their numbers down with WW and then realize that points and/or calories are NOT as important as counting carbs, all carbs not just sugar.  When I was dx'd all I did was count carbs and eat to my meter and I dropped weight.  I did start exercise slowly and am now up to over an hour daily.  I also drafted an excel spreadsheet that keeps track of my foods, carbs, BG, exercise, etc.

Test before meals and then 1 and 2 hours after to see how you react to the foods.  That is why record keeping is so important. 

[AdieRose]

So, what about calories and fat?  I am finding that I am actually using fewer WW points by counting carbs.  I want to watch everything else, too.  Luckily, it's easier for me to make things and not use convenience foods because I cook for my family.  I did actually look at some of the WW frozen meals and put them right back on the shelf. 

[ffmaya]

---

AdieRose wrote:

So, what about calories and fat?  I am finding that I am actually using fewer WW points by counting carbs.  I want to watch everything else, too.  Luckily, it's easier for me to make things and not use convenience foods because I cook for my family.  I did actually look at some of the WW frozen meals and put them right back on the shelf. 

---

I did not watch calories or fat when I started and lost about 50lbs, though, as mentioned before, I did start to exercise.  Now that the weight loss has slowed, I do watch my calorie intake (I'm 5'4" and have somewhere around 1600-1800 calories) in addition to the carbs.  Once I realized how much impact exercise had on my BG, I was hooked.  If you have a difficult time with starting an exercise regimen, test before and after exercise to see the instant results.  One word of caution, your BG needs to be high enough to exercise.  Lizzylou, one of our members has a blog and the link is listed in her signature, it has a chart about where your BG should be for certain amounts of exercise.  The reason I bring this up is that if the BG is too low before exercise is started, BG will rise because the liver will dump glucose into your system.

I hope I didn't get you too confused.