natalie - i'm on msn discussing this exact thing with someone right now! how bizarre

if you can get to a bookshop, my FS recommended a book by prof Jennie Brand-Miller called "New Glucose Revolution" - has lots about eating habits etc - i've read most of it - has GI tables at the back

if you're looking to start now without books, google GI tables and look for low value food. some things to do that will help (and have helped me immensely with managing the dizzies i was getting!) - replace white food with non-white - it's a simple process and can help heaps as white food has simple carbs that are processed quickly, so your body processes the "sugar" hit really rapidly
potato is higher GI than sweet potato (go figure)
white bread - replace with multigrain (or at least whole meal) - if you can't stomach them, try low GI white bread - but multigrain is much better
white rice - replace with brown (or basmatti if it's labelled as low GI)
pasta - replace with wholemeal pasta
lean towards stone fruits rather than tropical fruit - banana is kinda mid range, but not great for you, tropical (pineapple, melons, kiwi, mango, pawpaw) are pretty high GI, stone fruits seem to be lower. but all fruit has lots of natural sugar, so should be eaten in moderation.

if you can avoid these foods and replace with high protein/low GI vegies, it's better again. i was advised having relatively high protein low carb meals is better, and if you can have high protein veg, it's HEAPS better than having a hit of meat

with the met - if it gives you grief (you'll likely get a nasty tum) and it's getting to you, speak up. there are at least three different met's i've been on - 500mg, 850mg - the 3*500 wasn't enough, 2*850 made me REALLY REALLY ill (like deathly ill) - so i told the doc i wanted something else - he put me on Dibex XR - an extended release tab - it's sooooooooooooo much gentler on the tum! i ended up still being on 3*500mg a day, but it had minimal side effects. in terms of avoidng the side effects (mainly cramping and the runs i found) - avoid fatty food is the biggest tip i can give - anything mildly fatty (even a fatty cut of meat that had been braised etc) would do me in for days. processed food would be horrible as well. keep it as fresh as you can, as simple as you can while you work it out. don't have three complex meals a day - have two simple meals, and one that is a bit different - if you react badly, you'll kinda know what has done it....

i also changed to flora pro-active marg - not sure if it was because of the met or not, but not long after i started on it, i started getting heartburn if i had toast, so i firstly eliminated all the toppings, then changed marg - the marg change did it for me

hope that helps!

if you can't get hold of the book, let me know - i've got it hear and can photocopy the GI tables as a minimum for you and post them off (or fax if you have access) - i know i had to order the book in from the local shop and it took a couple of weeks (was around this time of year) so i was frantically searching for stuff in the mean time!