How often to test?

[Travelling Man]

I was diagnosed as Type 2 Diabetic 5 days ago when my blood sugar level was 649 mg/dL (highest recommended is 110 mg/dL).

My doc gave me a testing meter & kit & a lecture on what to & what not to eat etc & since then, I've managed to get the level down to about 350 and dropping but can someone tell me when & how often I should be testing please?

If it'll help, the Doc told me I should eat something about once every 2 1/2 hours.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Goodness! Eat once every 2 1/2 hours? Did he say why? That's not normal advice. You should let your blood glucose levels drop before eating again or you will be starting too high before your next meal pushes them up again, and I'm not convinced there is enough time in 2 1/2 hours. Personally, I have 3 meals a day, as evenly spaced as I can manage, and nothing between.

When you test is up to you, but if you want to learn which foods you can tolerate without increasing your levels too much, you should test immediately before you eat and again 2 hours after your first bite. Look at the rise and try to keep it down as low as possible. I don't know your measurement units, but in the UK we use mmol/l and it is best to keep any rise from before to after under 2 mmol/l (36mg) and preferably under 1.5mmol/. (27mg) More than that and there is something in that meal that needs avoiding or reducing in portion size.

You can also test before bed and first thing in the morning as soon as you get up (fasting) to keep an eye on your general levels.

May I ask what your doctor advised you to eat?

 

[donnellysdogs]

You should really try to have 3 meals a day and minimise snacks unless you have any digestive problems... Or other illnesses that require small snacks rather than 3 meals.

 

[Travelling Man]

I should first say I'm a Brit living in Portugal so there's always a degree of language barrier but my Doc said I need to eat 6 times per 24 hour period but always small servings or just something to nibble on & no large meals. - Subtract 8 sleeping hours from the 24 hour cycle, then divide by 6 & I need to eat something every 2.66 hours.

She said I can eat anything I like (in moderation) except sugar & to try to choose non white carbs whenever possible...... So for example, to eat brown rice or seedy bread rather than white rice or white bread etc. - I was also told that fruit or nuts are a better snack than crisps or crackers/water biscuits etc.

As for drink, she says plenty of water & soft drinks such as Coke Zero, no beer or sweet wines but dry red or white wine is OK & dry red is better than dry white

As for conversions from mmol/l to mg/dl: I was first tested at 649 mg/dl which the internet tells me equals 36.11 mmol/l

http://en.mte.cz/conversion.php?mmol=&mg=650&count_it=1

No idea if that's right though.

If anyone out there thinks I'm being given the wrong info, please do tell me?

 

[Libbaloo]

Hello,

I'm a relative newbie and pre-diabetic... but as carbs turn to sugar, the starchy foods need watching too...not just obvious sugars... and I have to watch my fruit intake too.. sticking to berries rather than the more exotic ones. Someone will soon be online with the welcome info to help you get on track.

It can feel rather overwhelming at first, but this forum is great to get into good patterns and choices.

I usually test on waking before I get out of bed and am also testing the impact of meals by testing immediately before and two hours afterwards to see how my Blood glucose is settling or if anything spikes it too high.

All the best

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hello again,

All carbs turn to glucose once inside the system. It doesn't matter what colour they are, although the brown varieties take a little longer to digest. It makes sense that we should reduce all carbs as extra glucose in the blood stream is not what we need. The starchy ones are the worst culprits - bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and cereals. We also need to be careful of fruits and milk.. So your doctor is not quite right.

The good news is you can eat dairy foods (butter, full fat yogurt, cheese, cream) as many eggs as you wish, olive oil, mayonnaise, bacon, any meat and fish especially oily fish, most vegetables that grow above ground, salads, a few tomatoes, mushrooms and lots of other things. You will soon learn which foods your body can tolerate (because we are all different in our tolerance levels) by testing as advised, before and after meals, and you will learn if you need to avoid a particular food or simply cut down the portion size. The secret is to reduce the carbs. If you do that, your levels should come right down.

Do spend some time reading round the forum, and ask as many questions as you wish.