Diabetes help needed please.

It’s not a picture chart but it might help. link

Do you keep snacks in their boxes/original packaging? If so, the serving size and nutrition info would be listed on there. Did they have him go to a diabetes education class? That would be a good way to learn about what to look for, which snacks are "safer" and so on.

I would also just remove all junk food - and show him how to read the carbohydrate content on packages. Could even circle it with a sharpie

What does he like to snack on?

I think you are on the right track - a lot of people try to go cold turkey with "only sugar free foods!" - put down those cookies! I think your best bet is to identify how much of his favorite foods he can eat at once. For me, banning a food makes me want one thing - the food you banned. It works a lot better for me to identify a snack as X# of net carbs (typically up to 15). So for a snack I can have (for instance) 2 oreo cookies, a snack sized bag of chips, a CarbMaster yogurt with lots of whipped cream, or all the cheese cubes and shrimp I want.

3 cups of popcorn IS filling, but no butter.

Exactly. My husband and I took the nutrition class together and with the help of a book that had carb counts for everything, he learned how big a portion he could eat and what foods he could not. In the beginning I would say something but soon learned it was his journey. Does he eat sweets- yes but only one cookie and nothing after 8.

This is a journey your husband will need to take. Educate yourself to be able to discuss the foods he can and can’t eat. The hardest part is learning just exactly what a serving is compared to what the box says.

So, instead of a chart, my idea would be to highlight the carbs and protein on each package/box. That way the info is easy to find at a glance. I also like to look for snacks that have a good carb/protein ratio. Greek yogurt (the one I like has 20g carbs and 10g protein) protein bars, nuts. Its also easier when the majority of the snacks are diabetic friendly. My husband and I split the shopping duties, so I appreciate it when he shops with my needs in mind.

Something that we found incredibly helpful was to put the snacks into snack bags to show exactly what a service size is. In the beginning we wrote carb count on the bag, now we just keep the back of that part of the packaging.

It was truly surprising what snacks were okay and which ones turned out to be not worth it.

Maybe a sticker (I'm thinking something like a garage sale sticker?) with the carb count written on it?  I know on WW some people do that and put the points value on the item.  

I've got the "drink lots of water" thing down.  I am never without my insulated mug of ice water and drink during the night too!  Darn, I just purchased some pasta from Costco recently.  I rarely ate pasta, but saw this butternut squash pasta sauce that looked good so I bought it and the pack of pasta that contains 6 types. Oh well.  Is spaghetti squash vegetable ok?  I could give away the dried pasta and use the sauce on the squash instead.  My Fitbit died several months ago and I haven't replaced it.  I am also with Kaiser and will look into what classes are offered.  I have been wanting to go walking in the harbor, but keep finding other things that need doing.  I will prioritize it now instead of trying to fit it in after everything else is done.  My little dog will appreciate the walks. Thank you for all the information.  

Question.  Why avoid the medication?  Are the side effects bad?  I already take a ton of pills, (chronic pain, thyroid, bone loss, asthma, fibromyalgia meds, calcium, and several vitamins) so I wouldn't mind one more.

my DH wanted to avoid the medication (he just doesn't like taking pills/medicine) and he did with diet and exercise for several years - and then he had a few years where he played ostrich -but he is on medication now. He did have some GI side effects when starting and again when increasing the dose but they went away as his body adjusted.

I've been on medication from the get-go - probably because I stayed pre-diabetic for about a decade using the diet/exercise method-ish. I'm now on 3 different medications. One of them (Metformin) did have some GI side effects early on but cleared up after a couple of weeks. It has impacted my absorption of B-12 though (happens to about 20% of people on it). Another didn't have any side effects. My newest one - leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I've had some GI stuff for about a week after starting and again after increasing the dose. It's also impacting my appetite - which is a positive effect imo.

Diabetes is a progressive disease and one generally does end up on medication at some point but some people can manage it early on without any.

I see that I will have a lot to learn. My initial thought when I saw the blood work report was Oh No! I WILL reverse this if I can. I freely admit that I am overweight and the heaviest I have ever been. Will losing weight have a positive effect on diabetes? I made it worse over quarantine by being so sedentary. I'm happy to know that I can use pasta in moderation. Although I really like spaghetti squash. It isn't that I can eat more of it, it is the crunchy texture that I like. I look forward to taking the classes to learn what I can do and how many carbs are allowed per meal or per day. I could never eat a potato or bread again and be fine with that. Well, I would miss sweet potato over the holidays.

Tomorrow will be an entirely new focus for me. I will make myself a priority.