Confused.com

[Shevicks]

I was only diagnosed this week, and saw the DN yesterday who gave me a blood monitor. I thought I was doing ok. Yesterday, two hours after breakfast my reading was 7.2. I had the same breakfast today (no added sugar fruit and bran muesli), and today my reading was 9.8. How can the same meal have such a different effect, prior to eating my reading was 6.0?

The nurse did tell me only to test twice a day before breakfast and tea one day and before lunch and bedtime the next. She said if I do it too much, I will panic myself and cause problems with stress. I decided after reading on this site I needed to do more tests, have purchased some additional strips, and intend to test before and after each meal. Am I monitoring too much, am I expecting too much as I only started on the metformin yesterday?

Thanks in anticipation, Confused of Cheshire.

 

[Lisa65]

hiya, I am in a similar position to you having only been diagnosed the other week.

This is the info that Sue and/or Ken, the forum monitors usually give to new type 2's. I personally don't eat muesli or any grain based food at the moment, as i imagine even the "no added sugar" varieties are high in carbohydrates regardless. You may need to reduce your portion size if you normally have a big bowlful of it.

Finding out what you can or can't eat is an arduous process involving a lot of testing and sore fingers from all the pricking. But it's really the only way you will find out what foods suit you and how much of each one you can cope with, and start to get those levels stable.

Because I knew I would be testing a lot in the early stages I have also bought a load of extra strips off ebay to supplement the ones from the GP. You might also wish to do this, they tend to be about half price on there.

Good luck
Lisa

Welcome to the forum. here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics.This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different .

It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.

The main carbs to avoid or reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such a bread, potatoes, pasta and rice also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating then two hours after eating you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels.

Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.

When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.

As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.

It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.

 

[noblehead]

Shevicks,

You could try weighing your cereal and then record your blood glucose after, if you find your readings are high, cut back on your portion size. I and many other members use digital scales to weigh our food, its a important tool when calculating total carbs per meal, you could also get yourself a good carb counting book, I recommend 'The calorie carb and fat bible 2010', it lists most foodstuff and also includes a section on popular take-away foods and restaurants.

Nigel

 

[catherinecherub]

I was only diagnosed this week, and saw the DN yesterday who gave me a blood monitor. I thought I was doing ok. Yesterday, two hours after breakfast my reading was 7.2. I had the same breakfast today (no added sugar fruit and bran muesli), and today my reading was 9.8. How can the same meal have such a different effect, prior to eating my reading was 6.0?

The nurse did tell me only to test twice a day before breakfast and tea one day and before lunch and bedtime the next. She said if I do it too much, I will panic myself and cause problems with stress. I decided after reading on this site I needed to do more tests, have purchased some additional strips, and intend to test before and after each meal. Am I monitoring too much, am I expecting too much as I only started on the metformin yesterday?

Thanks in anticipation, Confused of Cheshire.

Good advice from the previous posters.

The meusili will contain dried fruits and this has a higher sugar level than fresh fruit.
As for the discrepancies on identical breakfasts, you could eat the same every day for a week and the readings may vary. Stress, apprehension about your levels, mood, exercise the previous day all play a part. Trial and error is the way forward and try to take a relaxed approach. You have only recently been diagnosed and it takes a while for everything to fall into place. Don't beat yourself up but take one day at a time.
Metformin takes a few days to kick in and it is not a miracle but will hopefully lower your levels slightly.

Lastly, your readings aren't too bad for a beginner, pat yourself on the back for being proactive.