Diabetes is like a thumb print, unique to a person.
The treatment therefore should be individual to that specific person. This includes food and lifestyle.
My aim is to work together with you to find out what food and lifestyle choices can help achieve your diabetes goals.
Who can benefit from the service:
Pre-diabetes:
Explore how to delay or reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes through lifestyle changes.
Type 2 diabetes (adults only)
Remission for people living with type 2 diabetes.
Show moreRemission is when a person with type 2 diabetes has healthy blood glucose. Their HbA1c will be less than 48mmol/mol for the long-term, without taking any diabetes medications. Studies showed that this can be achieved through weight loss and is more likely with people who were recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
In some areas in the UK, there are type 2 diabetes remission programmes available through the NHS. You can ask you GP surgery if they can support you with this.
show lessCarbohydrates and diabetes
Show moreWe can explore specific foods related to your diabetes like carbohydrates including slow-release carbohydrate that are broken down slower, meal patterns or meal and snack options that will keep you full for longer.
Show lessFood and your heart health.
Show moreHigh cholesterol (fat in the blood) and blood pressure are inked with heart disease, stroke but also kidney and eye problems.
The good news is these complications are not inevitable. You can dramatically reduce your risk by keeping your blood glucose levels, blood pressure and blood cholesterol close to your agreed target goals. You can do this by going to all your health appointments, taking medication as prescribed, keeping active, eating healthily and stop smoking if you are smoking. There are many food choices that are linked with lowering cholesterol and blood pressure. We can explore this further if this is a concern for you.
Show lessYour weight goal
Show moreLosing weight can help with your diabetes and reduce your risk of serious complications like heart disease and stroke. If you have type 2 diabetes, losing weight could even mean going into diabetes remission. However, weight loss could be a symptom of long-term high blood glucose levels and you might find this happens when you have a higher than recommended HbA1c. Why do some people with a raised HbA1c lose weight unintentionally and are losing weight not good for our health? People with a raised HbA1c could lose weight unintentionally because the body is unable to use the glucose in the blood, due to a lack of insulin. Therefore, the body cannot use glucose for energy and needs to use a different energy source- fat. This is not a healthy way of losing weight. As we know, high blood glucose levels in the long-term, could lead to serious diabetes complications. Some people might find, as their diabetes improves, their weight increases. This is good news if you want to gain weight, but not if you want to lose weight. If you do not want to gain weight, a realistic goal could be to try and keep your weight stable while you are trying to improve your blood glucose levels. If you want to lose weight, you might need to make more changes to your food choices. We can explore your weight goals and identify strategies to help you achieve them.
show lessExplore if food and lifestyle choices can help you feel less tired.
Show moreWhen your blood glucose levels (sugar in your blood) are high, your body will try to get rid of some of the blood glucose by flushing it away. Therefore, you might find that you are passing more urine than usual. This will lead to feeling thirstier, having a dry mouth, headaches and drinking more fluids. When your blood glucose levels are high, you might struggle with infections especially, urinary infection or thrush. Some people feel tired, have blurred vision or unexplained weight loss.
Some people feel no different or some might contribute these symptoms to being older, their busy lifestyle or other illnesses. If these symptoms are caused by your diabetes, they should go away as your blood glucose levels improve. Food and activity can have a big impact with helping improve diabetes. Some people might also need to take certain diabetes medication. We can explore together how food and activity can benefit you.
Help with your daily blood glucose levels.
Show morePeople taking certain medicines like insulin or sulphonylureas (gliclazide) will be asked to do finger-prick tests or use continuous glucose monitoring. To help with your overall health, you want to keep your blood glucose levels at a healthy level without causing too many lower readings (hypoglycaemia) or higher readings ( hyperglycaemia)
One way to help keep your blood glucose stable, is through food choices. This does not mean you have to eat the same food every day but keeping the amount of
carbohydrates the same. Activity can also have an impact on your blood glucose levels. We can explore how food and activity fits in your daily routine and work on strategies to help reduce erratic blood glucose levels.
Show lessLifestyle choices to help toward achieving your HbA1c goal.
Show moreHbA1c is your average blood glucose level over the last two to three months. HbA1c can only be tested at your GP or hospital.
A high HbA1c is linked with diabetes complications in the long-term like heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, nerve and eye damage. Many people might need to take extra diabetes treatment to help them achieve their HbA1c goal. With new diabetes medication prescribed, it is always important to revisit food and lifestyle choices. If you feel you want to consider lifestyle changes too, we can explore this further.
Type 1 diabetes (adults only)
Carbohydrate counting refresher
Show moreWe all need a refresher from time to time. People who are on basal bolus insulin regimes might count carbohydrates. This helps them to take the correct amount of insulin to cover the carbohydrates they are going to eat.
If you have counted carbohydrates in the past, you might find you sometimes stop with this as you feel more confident with your carbohydrate portions. As time goes by, your carbohydrate portions and food choices might change. A carbohydrate refresher can help improve your blood glucose levels including reducing erratic blood glucose readings.
Show lessExplore food choices and your heart health.
Your weight goals
You should always continue your medications as prescribed by your health care team. This advice does not replace your diabetes team advice.