I have a major problem

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Some may remember a few weeks ago i was about to sell all my gear, well on Thursday i was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes how severe i don't know until all the tests are done, for now it's tablets and blood tests, i don;t want to give up brewing or drinking, are there others on here in a similar situation if so what do you brew and how do you mange your alcohol intake
 
Sorry to hear that, if you dont mind could you tell us what symptoms you had that made you go to the doctor.
 
Hi @Rodcx500z . Join the club. I was diagnosed about six years ago. If you can get on a DESMOND course do it! @DocAnna will know all about it I’m sure. I’m diet controlled. Gave up sugar in tea and coffee. Watched ALL my carb intake. Still have cake daily but not spuds or a full portion of rice or pasta. One pint of home brew five days a week with the occasional bonus suits me. If you’re overweight get that sorted first. I shed a stone over six months and kept/keep it off. Get tested every year and no probs, no drugs. The only symptom I had was tiredness. Good luck acheers.
 
I am sure with control Rod you will be ok but maybe have to choose your drinking to quality rather than quantity.
better to have a really nice beer you can savour rather than quaffing loads so your brewing style may have to adapt athumb..
 
I'm sorry to hear that. I've been T2 diabetic for 15 years. I still brew
But make very dry beers. And only
drink max 1 liter 2x500ml bottles.at any time.Also have given up all sugar products.After some experiments with my medication included Insulin
I'm now on 1tablet per day Linagliptin.
And my diabetes is well controlled
I wish you well on your diabetic journey small changes can make a big difference.
 
Mate, you will get this sorted.
Like the others have said, ban the sugar, we all eat too much. And possibly too little good fat.

Is you fancy some reading on the subject there are some very good books.

Keep grinning and start mashing at 61c 👍🏻
 
My wife is type 2 and it took a while to figure out exactly what she can eat. It turns out that all carbs (not just sugar) are problematic and you’ll find them in places that might not occur to you like milk.

We had to reduce my wife’s carbs to about 30g/day which isn’t a lot. A glass of milk for example is 12g of carbs. If you use milk switch to lacto-free, it tastes the same and has half the carbs. Use something like Almond sugar-free milk where you can, there are no carbs in that. If you only have 30g of carbs a day you may find yourself lacking energy - you need to increase protein, this will be your source of energy on low-carb. Protein drinks and bars can help but keep and eye on carbs, some of these protein bars are high in carbs. I make my own protein drinks for my wife.

You need to monitor your blood glucose so buy yourself a tester (Amazon have them) and if you don’t have one a blood pressure monitor might be helpful because they will likely put you on blood-pressure medication (this sent my wife’s blood pressure too low which is why we bought the blood pressure monitor).

The default medication is Metformin which tends to loosen your bowels, if this impacts on your life too much Trulicity is a weekly injection that you apply yourself (just hold against your belly and press the “trigger”). It’s not as effective as metformin and will probably take your digestion in the other direction but you can at least enjoy a day out!

I helped my wife by preparing her meals and by monitoring her carbs and blood-glucose so if you have any questions on these just give me a shout. We did get her T2D under control and she is now medication free (it took a year) but we still have to watch the carbs and blood glucose to maintain.

In terms of drinks you’re good with highly attenuated drinks. Prosecco is about 1g/glass, dry white or red wines about 2g, spirits are fine because they have no carbs but any mixers you use need to be sugar-free. If you’re going for beers, again the more highly attenuated the better.

This might all sound a bit daunting but it’s a concentration of stuff that took us a while to understand, hopefully it can help you get there more quickly.

Good luck Rod.
 
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the great thing for me was that alcohol is not a carbohydrate so not dangerous for diabetics, I also brew dry and find that after 2 or 3 mugs of ale my sugars are far better than if I don't have a beer, not sure why that is but it happens every time.
 
Cheers H a lot of great info there , i am waiting for an appointment with nurse doctor did give me the drug you mention to start with just waiting for boots to get their **** in gear, much appreciated H

Do your own research bud, you might very easily be able to control this with diet and not be dependent on meds. Protein and fat are important. A good multivit wouldn't hurt either.

You will crack this.
 
Some good advise coming your way Rod I know of many that control diet and with meds excercise etc and live pretty normal lives.
You will still be able to brew and drink just change how you brew and what you brew with the advise being given.
I remember in the old days my brother in law just drank Pils Lager as it was then but many more options when you brew it yourself
 
Hi Rodders, big hugs and sorry you're going through that.

My hubby is also T2D. His social anxiety is so bad that he won't even go and get his metformin, and they've thrown him off the appointments list for eye tests etc because he never turns up. He was diagnosed at aged 18 when he had lumps on the back of his legs that were 'exploding'. His mum was T1D so I'm guessing it can be partially hereditary.

Ever since I introduced him to keto though, he can keep his blood sugar at a pretty normal level with food. He tries not to drink during the week (sometimes does though) and just have a few beers at the weekend.

I would say the biggest thing is to read all the food labels. Your body treats carbs / sugar the same, no matter if it's a chocolate bar or some fruit.

You can't just go from 200g carbs a day to 20g though like my hubby, or you'll feel horrendous for about a week until you adjust. Do it in stages if that is your plan. Essentially if you do this you're putting your body in starvation mode - it's not a bad thing, it's just training your body to burn fat (the fat from food and your own fat) for energy instead of sugar. I remember the first time I tried proper strict keto with 20g of carbs, after about 12 hours I wanted to kill someone and I was so angry - that's not like me at all. I did it the wrong way though, done properly and you'll feel the best you've ever felt after the first week. If you don't want to go that low, you'll find you feel much better on say 50g a day.

Your friends food wise are meats, fish, cheese, eggs, even small amounts of mayo and butter. All these have very little carbs. Watch the 'low fat' options because they're normally rammed with sugar. Too much saturated fat can be a problem though as it can cause low mood and depression. Most veggies are ok but watch the fruit. You don't have to eat boring things on low carb, and especially if you like to cook. One of my favourite breakfasts is scrambled egg, cherry tomatoes and avocado. So yummy. There are several yummy recipe websites that we like to use - if you would like the names of them just say the word.

If you don't already, you could get a food tracker app on your phone or pc to help you see your total carbs / fat / protein / calories for the day.

Hopefully you'll do well on less carbs. Once you get used to it you'll probably feel much better and have less inflammation in your body. Carbs are seriously addictive, they make you swell up, and feel sluggish and horrible.

One more thing - do you use Brewfather to plan your beer recipes? It will tell you how many carbs are in your finished beer per 100ml, once you've entered your FG. Then you know how many you can have.

Oh and more protein and less carbs usually means less fibre, so you'll want to counteract that somehow, if you're anything like me and need TNT every time you go 🤣

Hopefully this will be a blessing in disguise for you. The cavemen had the right idea food wise 🤣

xx
 
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Thanks for all the advice i really do appreciate it, i havn't seen anybody yet, i went the docs Friday and they had a proper emergency on their hands, the doc rang me later had a chat and prescribed metformin to start for 6 weeks then more blood tests and arranged a meet with db nurse, i do use brewfather Tess so will check on my brews latest one is a kolsch which is nearly read to keg, i will post progress as i go, once again thank for all your kind words and help 😍
 
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