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I’ve drastically reduced my sugar intake following a recent type 2 diabetes diagnosis. But has it all been worth it?
I related in this post my diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. I also outlined what I was going to do about it, in addition to the medication that I’m now obliged to take, in order to manage the condition.
November 2024
I wrote the post in December 2024, but the actual diagnosis and medication started in October/November, along with my changes in diet and exercise regime.
To recap, I had a sugar level reading of 98 in October, it should be 45 or less. In fact, for type 2 diabetics, it should be 42 or lower (the test used is Haemoglobin A1c).
I was prescribed Metformin to start with, but following another blood test that returned a reading of 42, I had a slight amendment with the addition of Dapagliflozin (and a reduction in Metformin).
Wave goodbye to joy
It might seem to be obvious, but the object of cutting out sugar is not to completely cut out ALL sugar, but to reduce (greatly) the amount of “known” sugar that I was consuming. By “known” sugar, I mean things like sweets, chocolate, cakes, (non-diet) fizzy drinks etc. and of course actual sugar (as in the granulated kind I’d put in tea or coffee).
That’s all the easy stuff to cut out, as you just don’t eat them. No sugar in tea or coffee (or at all), no sweets (as in non-diet ones) or Cadbury’s chocolate, or Mr. Kipling’s cakes.
And that is about 90% of the joy of life just gone overnight! 😒
No more biscuits with tea, no more ice creams in the evenings. No more Battenburg, no more cream slices or cream apple turnovers.
No more joy.
Boo hoo
OK, so it’s not nice not having any sugar in tea, or being able to eat a cake, but it’s absolutely necessary in order to reduce my sugar levels. Otherwise something nasty could happen. That is indeed incentive enough to stick with it!
Hidden sugars
So that’s all the obvious stuff sorted, what about the hidden sugars, i.e. the sugar that’s present in most foods nowadays?
I wanted to reduce my sugar intake by as much as I could. That meant looking at labels on tins, jars, packets and taking note of just how much sugar is in them. Things like jam, marmalade and biscuits are obviously high in sugar, but so is peanut butter, certain brands/flavours of crisps and bread. Yes, bread.
You would think a jam sandwich would be out of the question because of the jam, but there’s also sugars in bread as well (especially white bread) which all adds up.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Some soups (tomato in particular) contain a fair amount of sugar, as do some cereals (not just obvious ones like Frosties) and yoghurt (once marketed as “healthy”).
The only option is to read the labels before you buy (or eat). If it has additional sugars, don’t eat it.
No added sugar
Some products (like the fizzy pop I used to like) are marketed with words like “contains no added sugar”, which although that sounds great – it even sounds healthy-ish – can be somewhat misleading. Just because there’s no sugar added to it doesn’t mean to say it’s low in sugar to start with. Read the label!
Low/no sugar alternatives
Some products (particularly nowadays) may have a legitimate no added sugar alternative. For example, Heinz make baked beans in no added sugar tomato sauce. Whilst there are less beans in a tin, they do taste reasonable.
Some products substitute chemical sweetener substitutes for sugar. Things like aspartame and saccharin I’ve found it best to avoid at all costs: mainly because they’re a) artificial and b) they taste horrible.
Recently however, naturally derived sweeteners have been introduced to certain sugar-free products. Stevia and xylitol are plant-based sweeteners that are used in chewing gums, cakes and even chocolate. They don’t taste as bad as aspartame and saccharin, either!
But be careful what you wish for!
Some sugar substitutes come with their own set of caveats. Sorbitol for example – if a reasonable amount is consumed – can have a laxative effect. As some people have reported when eating an entire packet of Werther’s sugar free sweets.
It doesn’t present any challenges for me, however. Yes, I have Werther’s sugar free sweets amongst others, and I have some on a daily basis. But it’s not about the sweets, it’s all about portion control.
Portion control
It may seem perfectly obvious, but it’s not just about what you eat, it’s about how much of it you eat! I’d quite happily chomp my way through a whole chocolate bar without batting an eyelid. That sort of thing had to stop now, and that’s a habit, more than anything else. A habit that requires willpower and a bit of substitution. For example, instead of biscuits or cake for tea, have an apple. Instead of a pile of roast potatoes with Sunday roast, cut those right down by at least half.
Joyless.
The cost of no sugar
Far be it for me to be cynical(!), but much like vegetarians and vegans, manufacturers have cottoned on to the fact that it’s a fairly niche market and can price their sugar free goods how they please. OK, not so much now for vegetarians and vegans (but it used to be!) but things like specifically marketed sugar free or less sugar goods are quite expensive. And some of them don’t taste all that good either! There is a modicum of joy to be had from some of the diabetes orientated products, but that joy comes at a cost: whether that be financial, or bathroom orientated.
I found that the best options are to not bother with the diabetically marketed goods. Just read product labels and exhibit moderation or better still abstinence. Joyless.
The diabetes was not the only issue
OK, so the main and most urgent requirement for treatment was the type 2 diabetes. But it was also discovered that I had a slightly raised blood pressure to go with it. Not deathly, but enough to raise an eyebrow in the Doctor’s surgery. The decision was made to treat the diabetes first and then concentrate on the blood pressure at a later date.
By treat, I assumed use medicine. I didn’t want to pile more pills on top of what I was already taking, so that was what prompted the other bit of the lifestyle revamp: the exercise regime.
Exercise
I’d cut out sugar as much as I could and by default it reduced my extra salt intake. Only by the fact that some of the sugary stuff I used to eat had higher salt levels to go with it: cutting those out reduced salt too.
So I decided to do some walking on a regular basis. I have never in my life enjoyed any form of exercise (walking included), but walking seemed to be the least horrendous of anything else I could do. Hence the start of the 2.72 (currently) daily walk.
The aches and the pains
Did I mention the aches and pains? I don’t think I did. From just before I turned 60, I started having some aches and pains when moving. I’d be fine if I stayed doing one activity such as sitting or standing, but if I transitioned between the two i.e. got up to go somewhere, my whole body: joints in particular, would ache or hurt for a short while until they got used to standing up (or sitting down!).
Over time, it has become worse. By 62 years old (just before the diabetes diagnosis), If I had been sitting for a period longer than 30 minutes, I could not stand up straight for a couple of minutes before my back would allow me to! It’s the same with standing up: after a period of time walking or standing, bending down is very achy and hurt inducing. Once I managed it though, the aches and pains disappear until the next 30 (ish) minutes of same-position activity.
It’s the hands
It is my hands that are the main pain in the arse though. I’ve lost the ability somehow to grip like I used to and to co-ordinate like I used to. That means extra clumsiness mainly: knocking cups over, not quite being on target when putting crockery away etc. It didn’t take long to recognise that though, so some compensation has to be made when doing things like washing up, cooking or sawing wood. Easy enough to be careful, but I do have to think about it!
The hands hurt, too. Not stabby hurt, but achy hurt. They’re OK once they get used to performing a task (like typing), but if I’m watching something on TV for example, and my hands have been in one position for a few minutes, moving them hurts. Only for a short while, but they hurt nonetheless.
I’ve been managing all that through careful use of painkillers, forecasting what I need to do and over compensation, mainly.
The exercise
Has it helped? I hear no-one ask. Now that’s a difficult question. Difficult, because I don’t really know whether it’s helped or not! Let me explain…
If I go for a walk, my joints hurt (mainly hips and ankles). That bit has never improved by much, although if I miss a walk or two (I do six days a week, but sometimes am busy doing other things, so may miss one) it’s as if I’ve never been on a walk ever.
I have noticed that the problematic knee joint I had (did I mention that? No?) has improved as has the aching ankles I would get on occasion. Whether that’s a direct effect of the walking or as a result of the other side effect of eating less sugar: the weight loss.
Weight loss
At last a “benefit”! And it’s purely a side effect of eating much less sugar and probably the exercise as well. Over the course of nine months, I’ve lost 21 kilos, or just short of three and a half stone. This is without even trying and (believe it or not) even noticing. For a while, anyway.
A "benefit" (in inverted commas) because that's what we're led to believe: less weight is supposedly a healthier way of living. I was perfectly happy being "overweight", my only complaint was having difficulty bending over sometimes. Ah.
I noticed because I wanted to wear some “nice” shorts for a walk into town. This must have been around late May/early June (2025). The “nice” shorts I had didn’t fit. They were a bit big, much like the “nice” trousers I’d worn previously. I’d compensated for that by using a leather belt that I’d had to pierce more holes in (that should have given it away, but I carried on oblivious of the fact I had to pierce more than one hole in the belt!). Eventually, I noticed that the shorts and the trousers didn’t fit by a long way: six inches in fact.
I’d gone from a 42″ waist to a 36″ waist without really noticing!
How could I not notice?
Because my normal attire consists of elasticated waist trousers (and shorts) and big tee shirts. I haven’t had to wear “nice” trousers for quite a while – most of my trips out have been wearing elasticated goods.
And that’s why, when I put a pair of “nice” trousers on, I could almost get two of me in there! OK, slight exaggeration, but they are 4-6 inches bigger than I need them to be.
So here we are
So here I am at the moment (September 2025). No ice cream, cream or sugary goods. My only bit of joy is a McDonalds once a month when I go and pick up my prescription for the diabetes tablets. Yes, the irony of that is not lost on the new, thinner me.
Has it all been worth it? Well, health wise: yes, of course. My Haemoglobin A1c level is now at 38: 4 below to top allowed level for a type 2 diabetic. My blood pressure has dropped down by a fair old bit (but we’re not there just yet) and I’ve lost all that weight.
None of which detracts from the fact it remains joyless. 😁
