omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocketed

[the east man]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

I have porridge every morning and I have no problem with my BG spiking. I eat the orignal individual sachets from Scotts porridge oats, with semi skimmed milk and nothing else.
can I just ask a quick question? When you read the nutrition information on food packaging, and its says something like, 20g of carbs of which 0g are sugar, is that good for us, or is it leading us into a false sense of security? :?

 

[cugila]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

When you read the nutrition information on food packaging, and its says something like, 20g of carbs of which 0g are sugar, is that good for us, or is it leading us into a false sense of security? :?

Always count TOTAL Carbs.....to look at sugars only is very misleading to a Diabetic. The total carb figure includes any sugars. As to good or bad....depends on your own tolerance of carbs. 20g for me would be about a meal's worth at the moment, for others it could be way too many.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

I haven't tried Burgen bread, but I find I can also manage just one slice of a multi-grain loaf from the supermarket beginning with T :wink: , made into a sandwich with cheese and/or ham and some salad.

Thats interesting Viv, I have been eating Burgen sarnies for lunch on and off for a few years now but on a visit to the MIL's the xmas before last and with no Burgen in sight I risked a Tsssco rustic multi grain bread sarny and found it almost as good as Burgen but not quite so I am now happy to buy the small loaf (smaller slices) Tsssco's rustic multi grain on occasion They give no nutritional info with it though as they are baked in store but I believe the whole grains must help make it very low GI.

 

[Lauraann]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

gave the porridge a miss this morning and had 'T'' own multigrain farmhouse batch, 2 small slices, blood sugars went from 8.6 to 12.5, can anyone tell me what my waking sugars ideally should be and also what I am aiming for 1 or 2 hours after meals, been diabetic for 8 years and still feel overwhelmed by all the info about. Also was told have meals 4-5 hours apart, with no snacks, but had toast at 7.30 and now hungry, would it be okay to have plain low fat yoghurt with cinnamon sprinkled on it as a snack, :?

 

[viviennem]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

The National Institute for Clinical Health (NICE) guidelines give blood glucose targets for Type 2s as:

4 - 7 mmol/l fasting/before meals.
less than 8.5 mmol/l 2 hours after eating.

They're in the 'Info for the Newly Diagnosed' that one of the montors sent you earlier.

Two slices of bread may be too much. Try just one. What did you have with it? How long after eating did you test? But carbohydrate can leave you feeling hungrier than eating protein and fat, and you end up craving more carbohydrate. Plain low-fat yoghurt should be okay - check the label.

As for high morning blood sugars, this could well be something called the 'Dawn Phenomenon', where your liver starts giving you glucose as you come close to waking up, to get you ready to start the day. A lot of people get this, including me! There's lots of info on here about it - do a search.

Can I recommend keeping a food diary for a week and working out just how many carbs you eat in a day? You'll soon see where you may be overdoing the carbs. The standard NHS diet is much too high in carbohydrate for many diabetics - including me :wink:

Viv

 

[Lauraann]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

The National Institute for Clinical Health (NICE) guidelines give blood glucose targets for Type 2s as:

4 - 7 mmol/l fasting/before meals.
less than 8.5 mmol/l 2 hours after eating.

They're in the 'Info for the Newly Diagnosed' that one of the montors sent you earlier.

Two slices of bread may be too much. Try just one. What did you have with it? How long after eating did you test? But carbohydrate can leave you feeling hungrier than eating protein and fat, and you end up craving more carbohydrate. Plain low-fat yoghurt should be okay - check the label.

As for high morning blood sugars, this could well be something called the 'Dawn Phenomenon', where your liver starts giving you glucose as you come close to waking up, to get you ready to start the day. A lot of people get this, including me! There's lots of info on here about it - do a search.

Can I recommend keeping a food diary for a week and working out just how many carbs you eat in a day? You'll soon see where you may be overdoing the carbs. The standard NHS diet is much too high in carbohydrate for many diabetics - including me :wink:

Viv

thanks for that, I only had light olive spread on it and the slices were tiny, my dietician said aim for 80-120 carbs per day which I thought might be too high, the carbs i had this morning were 26 carbs, have been keeping a diary for a few weeks, going to be hard to replace them as suaully have sandwich for lunch, but have just received my order of low carb wraps, bread etc to help me on my way

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

Hi Lauraann, I find I appear more insulin resistant in the mornings when I can manage no more than a small 17g to 20g portion of Cornflakes which is about 18g of carbs, in fact I often just have half a red grapefruit which delivers only about 6g of carbs. But (yawn) we are all different and you need to find out what you are able to eat and stay within the NICE recommendations.

I know many diabetics on low carb diets eat egg and bacon or a mushroom omelette and if no bread is eaten with this breakfasts there are very low carb indeed.

I personally dont like to eat too much at breakfast, never have, but if I don't have anything then muy levels go up higher than if I just have the half grapefruit

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

Er, ps. I see you are on sitagliptin, am I right in thinking it gets the pancreas to produce insulin when carbs are present? It might be worth changing the timings of when you take your meds and when you eat, as if you take your meds just before you eat as I do the carbs may be hitting your system before the sitagliptin can do its thing, just a thought

 

[Lauraann]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

Er, ps. I see you are on sitagliptin, am I right in thinking it gets the pancreas to produce insulin when carbs are present? It might be worth changing the timings of when you take your meds and when you eat, as if you take your meds just before you eat as I do the carbs may be hitting your system before the sitagliptin can do its thing, just a thought

hello

I take 2 metformin tablets with my sitagliptin just before I eat in the morning, is this right or should I try it at a different time

 

[viviennem]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

Hi Lauraann

If you aim for the low side of your 80g - 120g per day you should be fine. Stick to it for a while and keep testing! It takes a short time for the results to show. Your dietitian sounds more clued up than some (though some are great - before someone shouts at me!)

As for porridge - if you have cream with it instead of skimmed milk it will take longer to spike your BGs, and cream has fewer carbs than milk (more fat). You can sweeten with a little Splenda if you prefer - 0.5g carb per teaspoon, I think. Might be worth trying a small serving, just in case.

My practice nurse, who is 50, says that when she was working in hospitals with diabetics they (the diabetics) always had cream with their porridge for breakfast. Presumably to slow down the spike. Everyone else had milk. That must have been about 25 years ago.

One of my all-time favourite foods is/was porridge with cream and dark Muscavado sugar. I'll put that on my 'experiment' list, after the fish-and-chips, to try after my next blood tests. I think I know what will happen, though :shock: - such a shame! Not that I ate it very often, but just the thing on a cold morning.

The Wolfhounds loved it too!

Viv

 

[cugila]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

hello
I take 2 metformin tablets with my sitagliptin just before I eat in the morning, is this right or should I try it at a different time

You should take all your prescription drugs at the times your GP/DSN instruct you, or discuss first.

They may want you to do certain things which nobody here is aware of. What is right for one person may not be correct for you.

 

[Lauraann]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

hello
I take 2 metformin tablets with my sitagliptin just before I eat in the morning, is this right or should I try it at a different time

You should take all your prescription drugs at the times your GP/DSN instruct you, or discuss first.

They may want you to do certain things which nobody here is aware of. What is right for one person may not be correct for you.

to be honest I was never advised at what time to take the sitagliptin and it doesn't state in my prescription

 

[sugarless sue]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

I would contact the GP or the Pharmacist to find out.

 

[honeybear10]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

Lakeland do a nifty little egg boiler. I know that some deride it say that you can boil an egg with just a saucepan and some water - but I find that having this little gadget makes all the difference to whether or not I can be bothered.

You can put between 1 - 7 eggs in and decide on soft, medium or hard boiled. It doesn't turn off automatically - but makes a noice to waken the dead when your eggs are ready.

(Link removed. Google for information)

 

[Ardbeg]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

Usually have weetabix but have been advised to have plain porridge instead, blood sugars 9.2 on waking and 2 hours after breakfast are now 16.4, never been this high ever, any advice please as thought porridge is the best breakfast to have if diabetic

Try sprinkling cinammon powder over it. That's what I do, it tastes delicious ans has certainly taken the "edge" of my sugar spikes. I also drink a glass of Tesco own brand pink grapefruit juice (not from concentrate) every morning - but I am diet only; I believe grapefruit is to be avoided if you are on meds - statins in particular.

A better breakfast choice for you might be Lizi's Original Granola. Again, it's available from Tesco at around £3.50 per bag.

Hope this is of use to you Laura Ann.

 

[Cowboyjim]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

More thoughts on this... what if you ate the porridge over say half an hour... yes, OK it would be cold but... would this have less of an effect because the carbs are spread over time rather than stuffing it all in at once? But then hurried brekkies are all the rage for rushed commuters...

Second, I read that oats are good for ones cholesterol... you pays your money... advise me on that one HCP!

If you were to eat two rashers of bacon instead of porridge n fruit they would tut tut a lot methinks!

Can't win! 8)

 

[159redbus]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

:shock: i always have porridge
the little portion size with semi skimmed milk
didnt no they where bad
its back to toast with a bit of marmalade from tomorrow or a crisp bread
im sick of being a diabetic (20 years)

 

[alaska]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

I have greek yoghurt mixed with wheatbran and nuts/seed. Occasionally I'll add some fruit, berries or kiwi for instance.

The wheatbran is 40% carbs but:

1. I only add a couple of tablespoons
2. it's got a good fibre content, which also helps to lower the glycaemic effect

 

[gbswales]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

I generally only test before meals and as long as I am in the range 4-7 I have not worried about spiking just after a meal as long as it was down in time for the next one - I am on insulin with meals and so adjust my insulin if the pre-meal level goes up. The hospital always seem happy with my HBA1C which varies around 6.9 - 8.0 - however I know that I hit the odd double figures from time to time but always manage to adjust the average. I have the added problem of having had chronic pancreatitis a few years ago so have been told my insuline production is erratic because only about half my pancreas functions - should I be worried about the spike after some foods as i thought keeping the overall level down was the main aim.? This means that the same starting level of say 4-5 in the morning with exactly the same food (weetabix) can lead to anything from 6.0 to as high as 11.0 by mid morning without any difference in activity.

The HBA1C level now is seen as an achievement as it was well into double figures in the early days and nearer 30 when first diagnosed

 

[Tony B]

Re: omg just started having porridge and blood sugars rocket

Good morning

i use to porridge with a muller light yougart on, but my BG went sky high, though it was best for me, you know slow release carbs etc.

but i now have a hard boiled egg or poached/fryed with bacon , since ive dropped off the carbo's my BG levels have dropped, started my second week at the Gym 4 times a week !

my BG after a cardio work out for 40 minutes is 3.6 and sometimes lower, it gotta be

1. reduce carb intake, no bread, pasta, potatoes and not cakes !
2. start or increase your cardio work out for at least 3 times a week no less that 30 minutes, which should have a 5 minute warm up streching 10 - 12 secs then cool down 5 mins with streaching of 15 - 20 secs

I have reduced my table intake of Sitogoliptil at night because my BG levels were out of control, now waking with 6-7 BG, my next target is to get rid of my Gliclazide or reduce intake.

its only been one and a half weeks, my belt is on its last notch, and my cloths feel loose.

just gotta keep on, long term health is the target as i get older, 52 this year and im dam sure im gonna feel better and defo look better that my 114kg frame.

My message is keep on and dont loose trake of your goal, if one day you have a bad day, dont let it despare you, dont beat your self up, just re focus and get back on track..

T2 Tone