Making sense of my readings

[studio95]

Hello all.

As mentioned on my previous thread I started testing for the first time since diagnosis this week and would just like get some feedback on the results to see where I am currently at and gain a greater understanding of what I am recording.

So here goes.

Tuesday was a bad day as I was on the road with work and ate very poorly and had no exercise

Fasting = 5.5
Food eaten = 1 x banana 2 x black coffee
Before Lunch = 6.8
Food eaten = buffet style lunch (egg may roll\ sausage\half pork pie - cherry bakewell sponge)
2hrs after lunch = 9.1
Before evening meal = 7.3
Food eaten = Chicken & veg pie, oven chips, gravy
2hrs after = 9.1

Wed

Fasting = 6.5
Food eaten = Juiced Greens for breakfast
20 min cycle to work
2hrs after = 8.0
Before Lunch = 6.1
Food eaten = tin tomato soup small amount wholemeal bread
2hrs after lunch = 9.6
20 min cycle home
Before evening meal = 4.6
Food eaten = chicken curry small portion brown rice
2hrs after = 5.8

Thur
Fasting = 6.0
Food eaten = Juiced Greens for breakfast
20 min cycle to work
2hrs after = 6.1
Before Lunch = 5.1
Food eaten = tin tomato soup small amount wholemeal bread
2hrs after lunch = 8.5
Mid afternoon 1 x Twix (couldn't resist & needed a afternoon pick me up)
20 min cycle home
Before evening meal = 4.1
Food eaten = Chicken Hotpot with green beans and broccoli
2hrs after = 5.7

Any Comments on this would be very welcome..

 

[Bluetit1802]

You are getting some hefty spikes there, mostly your lunches, so I suggest you have a good think about them. Try to keep all your rises less than 2mmol/l.

Pastry is not a wise choice at all, but you had pies twice on Tuesday, and the tomato soup if tinned will be full of carbs, not to mention the chips and gravy. I would forget the soup unless it is homemade. If you must have fruit, avoid bananas and other tropical fruits. Stick to berries or half an apple.

 

[studio95]

yeah Tuesday was a bit of a one off, wasn't in control of the food on offer so just wrote the day off. Soup unless home made is now off the menu as are bananas. Hopefully I will be able to rein it in some more next week

 

[Bluetit1802]

You will get there because you are using your meter to learn. It is all trial and error, especially to begin with, because you are learning. You did have some very good readings, too, so well done for those.

I personally aim for under 6 fasting (preferably lower), under 5.5 pre-meal, no more than a 1.5mmol/l spike at 2 hours, and around 5.3 at bedtime.. You may find it useful to set your own targets at an achievable level. Then when you hit them regularly, lower them a little.

 

[studio95]

This is the first time since diagnosis that I have a, come to accept my condition and b, taken proactive action to deal with it. Clearly I needed to do a before I could think about b.

Should I be concerned about such a drop in my afternoon results at 4.1 & 4.6 ?

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

My comment is cut down on the carbs. But you knew that.

 

[Mike d]

You will get there because you are using your meter to learn. It is all trial and error, especially to begin with, because you are learning. You did have some very good readings, too, so well done for those.

I personally aim for under 6 fasting (preferably lower), under 5.5 pre-meal, no more than a 1.5mmol/l spike at 2 hours, and around 5.3 at bedtime.. You may find it useful to set your own targets at an achievable level. Then when you hit them regularly, lower them a little.

Like to know how the juiced greens (and resultant numbers) differed between WED and THU. That is odd.

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

This is the first time since diagnosis that I have a, come to accept my condition and b, taken proactive action to deal with it. Clearly I needed to do a before I could think about b.

Should I be concerned about such a drop in my afternoon results at 4.1 & 4.6 ?

Well, if you are insulin resistant and you eat lots of carbs your beta cells will pump out lots of insulin, assuming they still work fairly well. Since the insulin will still do it's job, elbeit slowly due to the insulin resistance, eventually it will drop your blood sugar lower than normal. If you reduce the carbs you may not have lower readings like that. But I could be wrong.

 

[Bluetit1802]

This is the first time since diagnosis that I have a, come to accept my condition and b, taken proactive action to deal with it. Clearly I needed to do a before I could think about b.

Should I be concerned about such a drop in my afternoon results at 4.1 & 4.6 ?

Not unless you felt ill. They are normal readings for a non-diabetic. It is possibly your cycle ride home that is helping with this drop, and also our insulin resistance improves as the day progresses, so our pre-dinner readings are usually the lowest we see. I frequently see 4's before dinner, but never at any other time.

 

[studio95]

Like to know how the juiced greens (and resultant numbers) differed between WED and THU. That is odd.

yes I thought that. I did make a conscious effort to cycle a little harder this morning.. maybe I worked a little harder than it felt

 

[studio95]

Not unless you felt ill. They are normal readings for a non-diabetic. It is possibly your cycle ride home that is helping with this drop, and also our insulin resistance improves as the day progresses, so our pre-dinner readings are usually the lowest we see. I frequently see 4's before dinner, but never at any other time.

No didn't feel i'll, actually felt really good after my ride home. Perhaps I should throw a 30 min cycle ride at lunchtime into the mix..

 

[studio95]

I have noticed that on occasion, actually Tues & Wed's of this week in particular I have become overwhelmingly tired and had a nap for a hour immediately after my evening meal. I am right in saying that this is my body's reaction to the carbs?

I so wish I had joined this forum earlier. The only advice I had from my GP on carbs was switch to wholemeal for all I could but to carry on eating them.

 

[jack412]

blood testing numbers to aim for

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php

 

[Ruth B]

I only found this forum several years after diagnosis and like you the advise I had received from the DN was to continue to eat carbs but go onto wholemeal alternatives (which I have never really liked). Finding the forum earlier would not have helped me as at the time I didn't want to admit to having diabetes and no matter what I was told wouldn't have changed what I ate. Then something changed, I didn't want to keep on the slow decline and made my mind up to do something, that was when I ended up here.

Take it one day at a time and you will see an improvement, I think you are already well on the way to understanding how to tackle the situation.

To reiterate what others have said, things that stand out are pies, sponge, roll, and chips, maybe more surprisingly, watch the tinned soup and the gravy, Bread may also be a problem to you it seems to be a bit of a various one for us, I am lucky a couple of thin slices of bread doesn't sent me too high, particularly if packed with plenty of filling and is my only carbs for the meal, bread rolls are off the menu as that is too much bread compared to the amount of filling.

On a good note it looks like you might be alright with a small portion of rice just watch that the quantity doesn't creep up.

We are all different, and the only way to be sure what effects us is to vary the meals by one item and re-test to find out what was causing the spike, and what quantities we can manage.

 

[studio95]

Thank you Ruth,

Having now come to terms with it myself I an now able to do something positive about it. I think the hardest thing for me to give up will be the fresh orange juice which I just love but is most defiantly a no no..

Long term plans are to loose the belly fat and to increase the amount of cycling which will certainly help things.

I am really pleased this morning. Woke up to a 5.5, had my normal juiced greens, even threw in a kiwi this time and 2hrs after I was 6.1.

I have ditched the soup for lunch today and have gone for some Ryvita with light phili and some ham so will see how that goes..

 

[Ruth B]

Contrary to what we have often been told, you might find you do better with the full fat Philli not the light unless you prefer the taste. The extra fat helps you feel full longer and it is now thought that fat intake isn't as closely related to cholesterol level as previously.

I've started to include butter and cream in my diet and increased the amount of cheese I eat and my cholesterol had dropped last review (I am due another late Dec or Jan so I will know more then) my weight has also dropped from cutting down on the carbs even though I am eating more fat.

 

[studio95]

I too have started adding butter to my diet, cant eat too much cheese as I am a bit dairy intolerant. No about to have lunch so my readings at 2pm will be interesting.

 

[studio95]

Well fancy that.. my test before lunch was 5.9 and then two hours after was 6.0...

 

[Ruth B]

Congratulations, its a nice feeling to be able to see the results straight away isn't it.

 

[studio95]

Just in from my cycle home at it is now 3.9 which is the lowest result all week..