Diabetes Type 2 Support Group

hello all im here to read up and hopefully learn more about this my partner is type 2 he's 43 and overweight, not doing great at dieting, he works nights driving taxi's when he's bored he eats it's affecting his health badly, my mum also is overwieght and on 4 injections a day im afraid before long he too will be at that stage. i love him dearly and im not the nagging kind, so hopefully i'll get some insight here to help him, thankyou for listening x

It's good you aren't the nagging type because it is the worst thing you could do. That never helps, just makes the patient feel more inadequate. It is ultimately his decision to have a healthy lifestyle. You do need to encourage him, and possibly learn along with him about healthy choices for diabetes. If you prepare the food, then you have a big part in keeping him on track.

Let us know what you need to learn and we'll try to help. There is a "recipes" section in this forum that might be good for you to check out.

A good dietician is the best thing that happened to my diabetes. She has really turned me around and I am under good control. It would be good for you to go to these dietician appointments with him, so you can learn about how to prepare the meals.

Best wishes. violett

thanks violett i will check out those recipes and the dietician advice is a great idea we'll get on to that, it's great to know when things crop up i'll have a place to come for advice much appreciated

best wishes claire

Working night shift turns your day around. I did quite a bit o night shift when I was younger and realize it can be approached in a couple of different ways. You can sleep till sometime in the early afternoon and then get up and do things till time to get ready to go to work. Then when you get off work very shortly get ready to go to bed. On the other hand if he gets up in the early evening he might soon get ready for work and when he comes home in the early morning he could stay up a while before going to bed. I have done it both ways and either way and both worked well for me at different times. Ideally though, now as a diabetic I would aim for the middle ground if I were faced with working nights again. Get up late in the afternoon and stay up a couple to three hours after I got home in the morning. The reason I would specifically do it this way is to be able to eat a good meal and give it a couple of hours to digest before going to bed. I would be very particular of what I ate at this meal though. It needs to consist primarily of protein and and vegetables with little or no starches and sweet fruits. It could be an omelet with veggies such as chopped tomatoes, peppers and onions and maybe even a little cheese. Maybe a small glass of OJ, a couple of small pieces of fruit or a slice of toast with a teaspoon of perseveres would be ok but only one of those. That would be a good breakfast but on the other hand if he would rather have "dinner" a piece of broiled meat and some veggies with very little or no starch such as a half serving of rice, potatoes, noodles or even dried beans or corn. I would not serve him a dessert with this meal. What you want is a meal that costs him as many calories as possible to digest with as few carbohydrates as possible that oh so easily can turn to sugar and then fat while he sleeps.

Now don't get me wrong he does need carbohydrates, especially so he can lose weight but he needs to get them at a time when he is up and active in the "early" part of his day. Not only is snacking not that bad early in the day but is is the best thing for him. He needs small meals or health snacks that give him the energy to be active. Unless he likes to exercise in your place I would have a small meal or snack for him when he gets up along with a honey do list for when he is finished eating. I would also have healthy snacks for him to grab as he goes between tasks. If he is going to have "dinner" in the morning when he comes home and before he goes to bed then "lunch" in the late afternoon or evening can be a sandwich. If he truly would rather have dinner at night then you can be a little bit more liberal with starches at that meal than the one before he goes to bed. If he is doing a lot of his snacking at work at night then you probably want to make sure he takes a healthy snack to work with him and a lot of non food stuff to occupy his mind. Books, magazines, newspapers, crossword puzzle books or even hand held game machines would be great. Also things he could play on the tape player in the vehicle like books on tape or CD, educational or even foreign languages. I can understand it could be boring sitting in a vehicle alone most of the night. The thing would be to occupy him with other things beside eating. It probably would not take long for him to find more interesting pursuits because even eating gets boring after a while if you have nothing else to occupy your mind.

Dear Claire,

Hello and welcome to the Diabetes II support group.

There is a diabetes class that you & your husband can take. Most health insurance companies will pay for it if you have a referral from a doctor. Even if your health insurance won't pay for the class, it is inexpensive and well worth paying for.

There they teach you about diabetes, how to read a food label, how to plan a menu, how to develop an exercise plan approved by your doctor first, you learn about the different medications used to control high blood sugar and such. You'll get to talk with a dietitian, a podiatrist who teaches you how to take care of you feet and other health care professionals that can teach your husband (and you as a caregiver) tips on how to maintain a healthy blood glucose level.

Violett is correct. There is a recipe site you can look up on this form for diabetic recipes several of which Violett herself created. And of course, there is always your friends here at MDJ.

Good luck to both of you. Keep posting and let us know how you and your husband are doing.

Again welcome!

Hugs,

Kathleen

Losing weight is hard, I can definitely relate to that. ;D But, fortunately i had been losing some weight quite recently not much but hey it is a work in progress. The food cravings are hard to control, but since you can't monitor him 24/7, only he himself can do something to help fight his condition. Cheers and good luck.

Fallen Angel; my heart goes out to you. You are in a difficult situation. You can't control another person nor should you try and yet you can't enable them either. Of course, walking the path side by side is ideal. You living on a diabetics diet is a healthy thing to do. Learn it, live it and together the two of you can have a long and happy life. I will offer this thought: gastric bypass surgery has been know to reverse type II diabetes in about 85% of the people who get it. There is one huge caveat...the eating issues. If he eats for comfort or boredom, the surgery will be a waste of his time and health. But read up on it; they don't know why it works, but the theories are to do with the malabsorption and less intake. The major weight loss helps too. Again, if food is an issue that doesn't go away. Good luck to you both.

The sad truth is, until he is ready to face the facts and do what he needs to do you won't be able to change him. I knew I needed to lose weight, stop guzzling soda, quit all the junk food.... I didn't do it, I had some bad experiences and learned that if I don't take care of myself I feel really, really, awful physically. Then I saw some diabetic friends that didnt take care of themselves start losing toes, feet, and legs. I had to come to my own conviction about my disease, and then I just have to remind myself that it is all up to me.

Dear Fallenangel7,

I agree with jhat. There is only so much you can do. He's grown. He needs to start making some healthy choices, life style changes himself to see any improvement.

My heart goes out to ya girl. You do so much and try so hard...letting go, giving some tough love is very difficult but necessary.

Please keep us posted on how everything's going.

Hugs,

Kathleen