If you are type 2 diabetic and take medication for it, like Metformin or something similar, are you allowed to eat what you want, in regards to carbs and sugar?

Or do you still have to eat carb conscious ?

Absolutely not! To be healthy and get the diabetes in control, you must eat the proper balance of carbs, protein and fat. I believe 40/30/30 is the recommended proportion.

Short answer is for optimal health, yes you should still be carb conscious.

Some people do use their meds to eat what they want (hubby went through an unfortunate experimentation with this), and just let the doctor adjust their medications until they get their blood sugars under control, but this isn't a great idea for several reasons.

If you're not eating a fairly predictable diet, it's not going to be easy to get the blood sugar stabilized, you're likely to put yourself at risk for both low and blood sugar, which can be harmful in their own right.

Also, the medications aren't without side effects, especially at the higher doses, and you don't want to be taking any more medication than you have to. You'll be at your healthiest on the lowest effective doses of the meds. So watching your carbs, and overall diet can help you stay on the lowest levels of meds.

Furthermore, if you aren't able to get your blood sugar stabilized on the medications, your doctor is more likely going to want to go on some form of injectable - and on injectables you have to be very carb conscious, or again will face the health risks of low and high blood sugar.

I have to agree with what everyone has said so for, I have been diabetic for the last 9 years. I started out on metformin and then went to injections twice a day. I do keep track of how many carbohydrates and sugar that I consume everyday. I have also started on meridia which has helped decrease my appetite and to my surprise it has really worked, so I am hoping that this will help with my overall health.

Depends on how quick you want to be put on insulin. Ideally, metformin is for when diet and exercise isn't enough to control your bg. My husband's doctor explained to us that if you're diabetic, the disease will progress. Period. The care you take when choosing your foods and activities is what will influence how quick it progresses. Do nothing, not even meds, and keep a rotten diet, you may be living with severe effects and insulin in a few short years. Keep it minimal with good diet, exercise, and care in taking the meds you need, it could be as long as thirty or more years before you reach that point. Also, the severity of your diabetes when you get diagnosed has a big effect. My husband was barely over the threshold, but many others are halfway to the point of needing insulin before their diabetes is even caught. Of course you can't reverse that.

You can do wonders with diet , my diabetic son lost over 200 pounds by diet and exercise. His doctor has taken him off his diabetes meds.

I have done both; exercised, eatten right and taken meds. My sugars were steller and i felt fantastic. I have also hit speed bump and not taken care of myself. You will quickly learn by not eating right or exercising you'll feel like poo. It's amazing what even 3-4 days of walking for at least 30 mins can do for your body and your sugar! i recommend a diabetic education class, it was very helpful, esp if your new to it all!

Did anybody notice how old this thread is? I think Mugs has her problem resolved as she hasn't been back to post again.

hahaha I didn't even notice Ruth....

But for those of us who are new to Diabetes your words of wisdom are greatly appreciated!!!!!

Just wanted to say that I love your ticker line!

Eating carb conscious actually makes me feel a bit woozy- maybe low-blood sugar? On metformin, you can eat competely normally, as long as you eat while you take the pills to avoid stomach aches!

You're confusing carb-conscious with low-carb. Being carb-conscious, eating normally, or eating healthfully, and even eating a high-carb diet are not not mutually-exclusve terms.


Carb-conscious, just means that you're paying attention and choosing the carbohydrate level that is the healthiest for you - the level at which you feel the best and are able to maintain a stable, healthy blood sugar - that could be 50g of carbohydrates a day or it could be 300g. You can be carbconscious with carbs comprising 10% of your calories or 80%.

I'm very carb-conscious. Sometimes my diet is low-carb, but that has nothing to do with carb-consciousness. I am carb-conscious even when my diet isn't low carb. When I feel that woozy, low-blood sugar feeling I'm conscious of the fact that I need to eat and that the meal or snack should contain sufficient but not excessive carb content. Being carb-conscious means that I choose the appropriate level of carbs for my situation. I don't choose a candybar or a huge baked potato, when an apple or small baked potato would do, and I try to always remember to pair carbohydrates with protein to prevent blood-sugar spikes that tend to send my hunger into overdrive.

Pairing carbs with protein is the key!