T2 diabetes tips and tricks

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
Just taking a look at this thread because I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic earlier this year. Having got through the worst of the Covid crisis, GP’s, or more accurately GP Nurses, have again started men over 50 (I am nearly 62) annual MOT’s and a blood test revealed I have a HbA1c score of 44. Pre-diabetic scores range from 41 to 47.
Xyla Heath care on behalf of NHS do really good courses to help get the level below 41.

Yes, we know about Starches and Sugars, being Carbohydrates, exercise, weight problems and that the pancreas doesn’t work quite so well as we get older.

But what really struck and immediately rang alarm bells with me personally, was how importantly Stress levels are in the body’s ability to control Glucose levels.

Further research has enabled me to spot many other symptoms associated with this exact Stress problem: Tiredness, withdrawal from wanting to socialise with friends, lack of motivation and irritability.

I suffered a very stressful 2021 and this has undoubtedly effected me long term. HbA1c tests relate to what has happened to your body over the last 3 months and can only be done every 3 months.

Christ knows what my HbA1c test would have been during 2021?
I knew nothing about any of this until my MOT in February this year.

It appears that just a few simple alterations in diet and exercise can easily bring levels down below 41.
Very gladly, I see how important they now believe managing Stress can affect it too and that the course also includes sessions on mindfulness to help combat the problem.


In the 70’s and 80’s, the fashion was to reduce Fat in our diets. Yet we have seen a 3 fold increase in Obesity!
Unfortunately, many replaced fat with Carbs and processed ready meals and carbonated high sugar fizzy drinks. That is the problem.

Portion sizes are also important as well as the proportion on a plate of Carbs : Protein : Veg/salad.
Farmers tend to have big hands, which helps and the Carbs section on a plate should be a palm of your hand size and about a quarter of the plate. As with the Protein, but the Veg/salad size being half a plate. (You could increase the Protein in favour of the Veg/salad a bit, but keep the Carbs down!)

For those of you with Type 2 diabetes, I send my sympathies and hopes that you can at least reduce or reverse your levels. Don’t forget the Stress bit!
Take care all.
I wonder how many older people (well men) have destroyed their health, by continuing in a job they have found stressful, and then been forced to give up by the health problems induced by the stress, but having impaired health too, rather than change job or give up in good time.
 

melted welly

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
DD9.
There’s a lot to be said for a simple diet. Anything that you buy ready-made will have “stuff” in it - ‘….ates, ‘….ites, ‘…ides, that’s there to prolong shelf life and ward off fungal and bacterial activity. Our guts are full of bacteria, should we consume food with additives designed to disrupt bacteria and upset our guts?

Was in a shop with father in law a while ago, where he buys all his spices etc for his curry obsession. , Indian chap that owned it had loads of stuff I’d never heard of and he reckoned bitter melon had an effect on type 2 diabetes, dunno why, we didn’t really understand one another, but he was quite adamant.

Googled it:

How It Affects Diabetes. Bitter melon has several chemicals that seem to act like insulin and help to lower blood sugar levels. Some studies suggest that they do this by causing more glucose to enter the cells, and then helping your body process it and store it in the liver, muscles, and fat.
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
Have had results back for HbA1C test today seems to be 117 🤔 other than been in very red bold writing not sure what the hell it means.
)
Probably best to talk to your GP or GP’s nurse about it.
They’ll probably contact you anyway. Don’t panic and take their advice whatever it is.
If you are Type 2 Diabetic, don’t let anybody try to tell you it isn’t reversible - It is.

It is also very important to remember that an HbA1c test tells you what your situation was 3 months ago. Not today or any days between 3 months ago and today.
So what ever actions you take, do not test again for at least 3 months (preferably longer) to see what effect any changes have made.

Also that Diabetes is caused by lack of effective insulin, usually as a result of us getting older and the pancreas not being as good as when we were young.

There are 2 things that reduce insulin effectiveness:
1. High Carbohydrates in food is 60% of the cause. Try to reduce levels of Carb intake and when you do eat them, chose ones that are digested as slowly as possible (Low GI index), Like Baked Potatoes instead of Pasta.
Stop eating cereals for breakfast and eat bacon and eggs instead. Whole fruits instead of fruit juice, brown seeded bread instead of white bread. Try to limit any bread and alcohol intake.
2. The stress hormone Cortisol instantly effects insulin effectiveness and is 40% of the cause of Diabetes. So there is an irony here, insofar as if you stress about it, it makes the situation even worse!

Try to increase your exercise levels to make your muscle cells want to use up more carb energy.
Statins might have a reverse effect here because they can cause muscle aching. They also reduce the wrong (Good, HDL) type of cholesterol rather than the ones that need reducing (LDL type).
But remember DON’T PANIC!
 
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sidjon

Member
Location
EXMOOR
Probably best to talk to your GP or GP’s nurse about it.
The’ll probably contact you anyway. Don’t panic and take their advice whatever it is.
If you are Type 2 Diabetic, don’t let anybody try to tell you it isn’t reversible - It is.

It is also very important to remember that an HbA1c test tells you what your situation was 3 months ago. Not today or any days between 3 months ago and today.
So what ever actions you take, do not test again for at least 3 months (preferably longer) to see what effect any changes have made.

Also that Diabetes is caused by lack of effective insulin, usually as a result of us getting older and the pancreas not being as good as when we were young.

There are 2 things that reduce insulin effectiveness:
1. High Carbohydrates in food is 60% of the cause. Try to reduce levels of Carb intake and when you do eat them, chose ones that are digested as slowly as possible (Low GI index), Like Baked Potatoes instead of Pasta.
Stop eating cereals for breakfast and eat bacon and eggs instead. Whole fruits instead of fruit juice, brown seeded bread instead of white bread. Try to limit any bread and alcohol intake.
2. The stress hormone Cortisol instantly effects insulin effectiveness and is 40% of the cause of Diabetes. So there is an irony here, insofar as if you stress about it, it makes the situation even worse!

Try to increase your exercise levels to make your muscle cells want to use up more carb energy.
Statins might have a reverse effect here because they can cause muscle aching. They also reduce the wrong (Good, HDL) type of cholesterol rather than the ones that need reducing (LDL type).
But remember DON’T PANIC!

Thanks, seeing doc on Friday, family has high numbers of type1 ( which everyone seems to find during their forties, am 46) , but also some type2, don't drink, eat fruit, but eat cake like it's going out of fashion, very stress after loss of daughter last year. Will definitely look at diet, thanks for the information @Two Tone
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
I think Michael Mosley's book on the five two diet, and also his fast 800 diet talks about T2 diabetes. He was pre diabetic, and after his intermittent fasting diet, put it into remission. His wife who is a GP was amazed, as the "usual" advice she gave her patients never had that result. There is a good YouTube channel, low carb down under that has a lot of good diet advice, and look up Dr Gary Fettke he has a lot of interesting things to say about diabetes too.
 

Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
I think a lot of the usual NHS dietary advice, is somewhat outdated (it takes a long time for a big organisation like that to change it's views!).

I saw something the other day, that said T1 diabetes seems to be related to gluten intake of the mother (a Danish study), I have no idea what the follow up to that study will be, but I guess plant breeders have increased Gluten content in wheat to improve it's use for food manufacturers.
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
Thanks, seeing doc on Friday, family has high numbers of type1 ( which everyone seems to find during their forties, am 46) , but also some type2, don't drink, eat fruit, but eat cake like it's going out of fashion, very stress after loss of daughter last year. Will definitely look at diet, thanks for the information @Two Tone
Hope all goes well for you.
Type 1 is the complete opposite of type 2 Diabetes, being too much rather than too insulin. Type 1 usually effects younger rather older and type 2 effects older rather than younger. Hb1Ac high scores means Type 2.
46 is between young and old in my book.

Stress is an almighty 40% cause of Type 2 (as well as cake 60%!).
I had an extremely stressful 2021 (though by the sounds of it not as stressful as you) which I believe caused my Hb1Ac score to suggest I am pre-Diabetic. I am 62years old.
During the Summer this year, I suffered a mild Heart attack. It happened due to a build up of plaque in one of my heart arteries, turning into Calcium.
When I asked the Surgeon what caused it, him knowing that I was pre-diabetic, he mentioned that they can do the most amazing things in surgery. But the one thing they cannot cut out of us is stress, because they don’t know what it looks like! Stress, though awful while you are suffering from it, will come back to haunt us when we think we have got over it.

Take care and remember, DON’T PANIC.
 
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Ffermer Bach

Member
Livestock Farmer
I have also read that insulin or blood sugar response to food is very individual, could be related to each individuals gut micro biome, which makes dietary advice quite an individual thing (having said that, there are some broad brush rules, less carbs, less sugar etc). There is an Israeli company that looks at gut microbes and writes an individual diet plan (based on a machine learning algorithm) but unfortunately it is only available in Israel and the USA at the moment.
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
I have also read that insulin or blood sugar response to food is very individual, could be related to each individuals gut micro biome, which makes dietary advice quite an individual thing (having said that, there are some broad brush rules, less carbs, less sugar etc). There is an Israeli company that looks at gut microbes and writes an individual diet plan (based on a machine learning algorithm) but unfortunately it is only available in Israel and the USA at the moment.
There is now a lot of new evidence coming out of the USA re statins, suggesting they are over used and causing a doubling of Dementia.
I mentioned this to my Cardiac Rehab centre and they said “Ah yes, but that is in the USA and you have to pay for medicines there.”

I said, that this is the whole point: The longer they can keep you alive, the more they earn from you!
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
Probably best to talk to your GP or GP’s nurse about it.
They’ll probably contact you anyway. Don’t panic and take their advice whatever it is.
If you are Type 2 Diabetic, don’t let anybody try to tell you it isn’t reversible - It is.

It is also very important to remember that an HbA1c test tells you what your situation was 3 months ago. Not today or any days between 3 months ago and today.
So what ever actions you take, do not test again for at least 3 months (preferably longer) to see what effect any changes have made.

Also that Diabetes is caused by lack of effective insulin, usually as a result of us getting older and the pancreas not being as good as when we were young.

There are 2 things that reduce insulin effectiveness:
1. High Carbohydrates in food is 60% of the cause. Try to reduce levels of Carb intake and when you do eat them, chose ones that are digested as slowly as possible (Low GI index), Like Baked Potatoes instead of Pasta.
Stop eating cereals for breakfast and eat bacon and eggs instead. Whole fruits instead of fruit juice, brown seeded bread instead of white bread. Try to limit any bread and alcohol intake.
2. The stress hormone Cortisol instantly effects insulin effectiveness and is 40% of the cause of Diabetes. So there is an irony here, insofar as if you stress about it, it makes the situation even worse!

Try to increase your exercise levels to make your muscle cells want to use up more carb energy.
Statins might have a reverse effect here because they can cause muscle aching. They also reduce the wrong (Good, HDL) type of cholesterol rather than the ones that need reducing (LDL type).
But remember DON’T PANIC!
A little muddled on the statins, HDL and LDL, but that’s irrelevant anyway. And lack of effective insulin is actually insulin resistance. Your body’s cells have gradually become resistant to your own insulin over many years. Small point but very important as it’s not lack of insulin.
Decent summary though otherwise. Eat more fat, don’t be scared of it in spite of what some medical people will tell you.
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
A little muddled on the statins, HDL and LDL, but that’s irrelevant anyway. And lack of effective insulin is actually insulin resistance. Your body’s cells have gradually become resistant to your own insulin over many years. Small point but very important as it’s not lack of insulin.
Decent summary though otherwise. Eat more fat, don’t be scared of it in spite of what some medical people will tell you.
I stand corrected. You are absolutely correct.
It is Insulin resistance, not lack of.
Thank you

PS, It does sound confusing but as I understand it, LDL cholesterol is the ‘less good’ one, not the HDL.
Which is opposite to what most of us would think. Though both are actually good,
I found this useful
 
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Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
Plenty of thin people end up with T2.
Xyla Heath and Well-being are doing very good courses online and face-to-face, re Diabetes.
I’ve been doing the face-to-face group meetings.
More than half of them on it are stick-thin!

They want to take our weights as evidence that we attend each meeting, so that the NHS will pay them.
It makes me laugh at how thin and light-weight many of them are.
IMO, they could do with eating as much cake as possible to look a respectable weight!
 

DaveGrohl

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Cumbria
I stand corrected. You are absolutely correct.
It is Insulin resistance, not lack of.
Thank you

PS, It does sound confusing but as I understand it, LDL cholesterol is the bad one, not the HDL.
Which is opposite to what most of us would think.
I found this useful
I was just looking for a Stan Ekberg video on Youtube to suggest viewing as it happens. He has an "odd" style which I really like when it comes to explaining things for those new to these subjects. He allows time for the viewer to take in what he’s saying. This is the one about explaining T2 diabetes:

Dr Stan Ekberg - Your doctor is wrong about insulin resistance

For some reason, my ipad won’t let me post Youtube videos directly, hence you’ll have to type it in yourself @sidjon

As you say @Two Tone , T2 diabetes can be reversed and is being reversed more and more around the world now that some doctors have investigated for themselves and not accepted what they were told in med school many years ago. Dr Kraft was fixing T2 in 1972 FFS with low carb diets. Just shows how fekked up health messages have become.


Edit; saying LDL is "bad" is actually wrong, that is becoming clear these days. LDL just is. It‘s when LDL becomes damaged that the problems start. Statins don’t actually do anything to fix the damaged LDL they just mask the problem by reducing levels of undamaged LDL particles which is no help whatsover, which is why statins don‘t actually improve anything. They only help in the case of men of a certain age (who have already had a heart-attack) because of their anti-inflammatory effects. But the whole statin conversation has little to do with T2 diabetes, other than the fact that too much blood sugar causes damage to LDL particles which is incidental when it comes to T2.
 
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