Was Naughty but got away with it....?

[Helenababe]

Well, after behaving myself over Christmas I still managed to enjoy my meals. But, yesterday, I had one of those days when I was craving something sweet all day and getting ratty because of it.

Anyway, an hour after I'd had my tea, I gave in to my craving, and had a 'biggish' slice of Christmas cake. :shock: It was without the icing of course, but I tested before I had it and my BS was 6.4, then tested 70 minutes later to see the damage as we were going out, and my BS had gone down to 5.9!

I couldn't understand it, but then I realized I'd had my metformin an hour previous with my tea, and it dawned on me that perhaps the tabs work at their best around an hour after taking them....? Pity then I thought they can't be taken an hour before meals, because if they are doing their work on the insulin at this time, perhaps there wouldn't be any spikes after a meal, or only slightly.
After all, taking the tabs at the time of eating has always seemed pointless to me, as while the tabs take their time to dissolve, then start working on the insulin, the sugar has been merrily going into the bloodstream!

Pity they haven't developed something we 'can' take an hour before we eat.

Helena

 

[angieG]

Have you tried taking them before a meal at all, do they upset you?
I take my morning one when I get up but don't eat my breakfast until about 45minutes later with no side effects. I have also found if I take my evening one quite a while before I have a meal out it also helps stops the spikes.
When I first started after I was diagnosed I tried taking them both with my meals or just after but found they upset my stomach (not dashing to the toilet but felt stirred up and sickly).
Why not give it a try?
HTH
Angie

 

[Helenababe]

Oh... No I've never done that as I was told by my DN that you shouldn't take them on an empty stomach as it can cause problems.

Helena

 

[angieG]

My morning one I have with a Benecol yoghurt drink and never have any problems.
The afternoon one I sometimes have about 30 minutes before I eat (usually whilst I am cooking the meal) and I'm fine.
I have been doing this since November 2010, I did mention it to my Nurse and she just said take them whenever it suits you best.
Best wishes
Angie

 

[Helenababe]

Thanks Angie,

I'll have a word with my DN then next review, which is soon.

Helena

 

[Sindri]

For those of us controlling by diet the choice to have somthing is really difficult because we have no clue what it is doing to our blood sugars. Christmas has been exceptionally difficult and as my first Christmas with diabetes I had no clue really except to cut out all treats and goodies which then meant for me it wasn't really Christmas. My doctor refuses to provide strips for the meters as I am not on medication and don't need to monitor, his opinion is that apparently the yearly blood tests are enough.

So along came Christmas and of course I get chocolates and goodies surrounding me so I indulged a bit and I do mean "a bit" not a huge amount and then felt really yucky, all lethargic and no energy. I got chest pains and couldn't sleep which didn't help. I couldn't manage my exercise every day so ended up only exercising 5 days out of the 10 over the two week period.

Now that I'm back on my no processed food diet I'm feeling better again and the chest pain is gone, my energy levels are rising and I've managed to exercise for the past 2 days and I'm actually looking forward to my exercise this afternoon.

To me this is why every diabetic should be given the chance to monitor their own blood sugar levels so that they can see when and what makes the difference.

 

[Grazer]

So along came Christmas and of course I get chocolates and goodies surrounding me so I indulged a bit

It is tricky. I find that if you have just chocolate (dark better than milk, but even milk not too bad) in small amounts, then it's not too bad. The fat in the chocolate slows down the production of sugar by the liver. If you look on the tables, you'll see that even milk chocolate is fairly low GI. The problem comes when you eat soft centres (my faves were orange creams! Yum!) because they are pure sugar and send your BG soaring. After 3 chunks of milk chocolate I went to about 7 an hour later. After 3 orange creams it was 11.2, and hours later I was still 9. That was Christmas before last (my first). I Don't eat orange creams now! :cry:

 

[Sindri]

It is tricky. I find that if you have just chocolate (dark better than milk, but even milk not too bad) in small amounts, then it's not too bad. The fat in the chocolate slows down the production of sugar by the liver. If you look on the tables, you'll see that even milk chocolate is fairly low GI. The problem comes when you eat soft centres (my faves were orange creams! Yum!) because they are pure sugar and send your BG soaring. After 3 chunks of milk chocolate I went to about 7 an hour later. After 3 orange creams it was 11.2, and hours later I was still 9. That was Christmas before last (my first). I Don't eat orange creams now! :cry:

Therein lies the rub, I have no clue what any of them are doing to my blood sugar I am going to have to find something to cut out of my budget to find the money to get strips for the machine. I got given a free machine with 25 strips when I was newly diagnosed and I got a lot out of the results but I cant really afford to spend the money on strips atm unfortunately the family does still need to eat :lol:

 

[Grazer]

Therein lies the rub, I have no clue what any of them are doing to my blood sugar I am going to have to find something to cut out of my budget to find the money to get strips for the machine. I got given a free machine with 25 strips when I was newly diagnosed and I got a lot out of the results but I cant really afford to spend the money on strips atm unfortunately the family does still need to eat

Therein lies the rub. Tricky when you can't get strips. Safe for you to assume though that ANY chocolates with fillings are bad, ones that are "Just chocolate", or even better just chocolate with nuts (nuts lower the overall GI) are ok in small amounts.

 

[alliebee]

well I was good, DN, advice and had proper porrige oats today......

Yes well bg was 7.3 on waking and one and a half hours later was 15!!!!

its amazing what some foods do to each of us roblem:

 

[Helenababe]

Porridge also makes my BS go up to 15, so it was given the push.

Helena