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Still not sure what's good following bs tests after meals

chinta

chinta

Well-Known Member
Messages
101
Location
Normandy, France
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I've been diagnosed for 3 weeks now and after initially being totally confused by so many conflicting views on how to manage diabetes I have settled on the lchf diet because it seemed to me the one I could most easily stick to. I decided to do lots of blood tests to determine which foods were best for me and my fingers are getting sore with doing so. However, my question is, what exactly am I looking for? I've read on here not to worry too much about the fbs results, which is good because they tend to be my higher ones. But why shouldn't I worry about these? Then I read today that the important reading is the 2 hour post prandial reading. Why? My fbs this morning was 10.7 (down from 21.9). I ate a pear and an hour later it was 15.3, 2 hours later it was 16.7. I think I should stop eating pears! However, if, 2 hours later it had come back down to say 11, would that mean that I should avoid eating pears or, as it was only high for an hour or so, then it would be OK? What should I ideally be looking for in these readings? And what kind of increase is acceptable and for how long after eating? I presume almost any carb is going to increase my bs to some degree)
 
Hi chinta, good to read you are trying the low carb high fat way of eating. Pears are not really in the low carb bracket ..try berries with full fat cream or full fat yogurt ... Far better .. What level of carbs have you set yourself to .. I find 20 to 30g of carbs a day are good for me. Do remember that no carb is a good carb ... So as for testing ..your first thing in the morning test is a little deceiving.. As your liver can dump extra sugar in your system to help you get moving in the mornings .. If you test just before eating and then 2 hours after eating .. Try to aim for no more than a 2.0 raise in your BS .. As time goes on you get to know the food you can eat without the big 1 hour spikes .. But for now just look at the 2 hour number .. It helps if you make note of what you are eating and the before and after reading .. This can be used for reference to sort out what's good for you ...

Edit to add.. I see on another thread you have a little weight to loose .. This will happen on the low carb diet .. But you must remember to throw away the low fat foods and replace them with full fat foods ..I lost 5 stone in 18 months with my LCHF way of eating .. Got my life back and feel brillent .. If lunch is a problem for you the how about a little fresh salad with full fat mayonnaise made with olive oil .. Watercress is a great energey booster ..
 
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To add to enclaves good advice, keep a food diary, so you can keep a record of what you eat and what your readings are. That way you can spot patterns and have evidence of what you are doing is working. And more importantly, what not to eat, like pears!

Low carb does work!
 
I've done myself a spreadsheet on Excel to keep a record of weight loss, bs levels before and after eating and what I've eaten. The two worst readings I've had have been an increase of 5 after having coffee and two digestive biscuits and likewise the 4.6 increase after eating a pear, which in fact went up to a 6.0 increase after 2 hours. It only increased by 2.0 after eating two clementines though! I haven't been counting carbs but as I've been trying to avoid them as much as possible I hope I'm sticking to less than 30g a day. The slie of toast at breakfast is 17g.

I absolutely dream of losing 5 stone. It's what I would feel happy with. I could probably do with losing around 8 stones but then I haven't been that weight since I was 26 and I'm 56 now. Losing 5 stones would take me back to the what I weighed at 36, so I'd be pretty pleased with that.
 
O dear .. you must start reading labels a single digestive biscuit contains 10g of carbs .. x20 =20g add your bread this morning = 17 together is 37g of carbs already and thats over my daily allowance by 17 !!!!

So if you wanting to kick start by stopping ALL fruit, bread, biscuits, cakes, pasta, rice, anything made with flour, potatoes, carrots, peas, beetroot, parsnips ... If you go online to a home shopping supermarket its easy to plan meals and count the carbs as they list the carb content for almost all the foods they sell.

You can do this .... but you must be carbohydrate aware ... they are in everything .. so pick the lowest ones like collie flower ..cucumber ..leafy vegetables .. add the fat part with coconut oil .. olive oil .. full fat foods .. if you eat full fat your body is not needing to store fat ...simple ..but scary !!!!!

If you have a slice of cheese on your toast in the morning its better than plain toast for handling the carbs ..

Nutrition
Nutrition
Typical Values 100g contains Each biscuit (15.5g) contains
Energy 2064kJ (493kcal) 320kJ (76kcal)
Protein 6.7g 1.0g
Carbohydrate 64.6g 10.0g
Sugars 18.8g 2.9g
Fat 22.3g 3.4g
Saturates 10.0g 1.5g
Fibre 3.5g 0.5g
Salt 1.0g 0.2g
*Reference intake of an average adult (8400 kJ / 2000 kcal) - -
 
Fruit is very difficult for diabetics, and especially in the mornings (for me anyway). Our insulin resistance is usually at its worst in the mornings so best to keep fruit to a bare minimum and eat it later in the day AS PART OF A MEAL rather than on its own. Try lower carb fruit such as berries or a very small apple as a pudding with either double cream or full fat yogurt.

Your levels are still too high, as you must know, but are improving, so you are doing something right., but post meal spikes of above 2 are not acceptable.

You really must start counting your carbs. The book (and app) Carbs & Cals available from Amazon is a wonderful resource to help you with this. You can learn from this that a rather small pear is 10g and a small clementine is 5g, and 1 single digestive biscuit is 11g.

Keeping an excel sheet is an excellent way of learning. I keep one myself, even after nearly 2 years of self monitoring.
 
Enclave said:
O dear .. you must start reading labels a single digestive biscuit contains 10g of carbs .. x20 =20g add your bread this morning = 17 together is 37g of carbs already and thats over my daily allowance by 17 !!!!

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Click to expand...
I do read the labels, I was just being naughty with the digestives but didn't realise what a dramatic effect it would have! Didn't have toast AND biscuits, one or the other.

What I still don't understand is that if you don't take the reading one hour after eating how do you know that there hasn't been a big spike that has come back down by 2 hours?
 
Hi @chinta.
When some people start their testing regime, they do check after 1hr. and 2hrs. Once you get the hang of what is causing the spikes at 1hr. then they are the foods to eat a smaller portion of or cut out altogether. You will find that there will be foods that you can eat that do not spike at 1hr.
The cost of strips, if you are providing your own is the problem for a lot of people and they have to rely on the 2hr reading.
It gradually becomes second nature and you know what you can and cannot get away with.
There are other factors that will influence your readings, some medications, exercise or lack of, infections, stress. You might be able to eat a slice of toast one day but then the next time you try the reading may be higher due to stress. so you need to add stress to the food diary.

You might have had a different reading if you had eaten some cheese with the pear.


Hope this helps.
 
I got a codefree meter so the strips are pretty reasonable at £7.99 for 50 when it's you're health that you're managing. I live in France so don't have to pay for anything relating to my diabetes but like the UK doctors don't like the meters so I've had to buy my own but I think it's a small price to pay.

I'm going to make a chilli tonight from mince, one onion, a tin of tomatoes, a red pepper, a green pepper and a tin of kidney beans. I think the kidney beans are the only thing with many carbs, the tin conains 48g but I will only have about 1/4 of the chilli so around 12g. I will have this topped with grated cheddar and my husband will get to have a jacket potato with his!! I shall be interested to see what efect the kidney beans have on my bs.
 
Interesting. That article says 22g per 100g; my tin says 12g per 100g!!! The thing is, I also have diverticulosis so need to have fibre - my pears were a good source but we've seen what they've done to my blood sugar!! I shall test the beans out tonight, probably pick a few out of my portion now!
 
chinta said:
Interesting. That article says 22g per 100g; my tin says 12g per 100g!!! The thing is, I also have diverticulosis so need to have fibre - my pears were a good source but we've seen what they've done to my blood sugar!! I shall test the beans out tonight, probably pick a few out of my portion now!
Click to expand...

and don't forget the tinned tomatoes. Some aren't very carb frendly. I can eat cherry toms (about 5 or 6) but not tinned.
Many of us add Flaxseed or similar to our food to obtain the extra fibre. Milled (ground) flax with yogurt or in stews etc. is excellent. Also loads of vegetables.
 
chinta said:
I've done myself a spreadsheet on Excel to keep a record of weight loss, bs levels before and after eating and what I've eaten. The two worst readings I've had have been an increase of 5 after having coffee and two digestive biscuits and likewise the 4.6 increase after eating a pear, which in fact went up to a 6.0 increase after 2 hours. It only increased by 2.0 after eating two clementines though! I haven't been counting carbs but as I've been trying to avoid them as much as possible I hope I'm sticking to less than 30g a day. The slie of toast at breakfast is 17g.

I absolutely dream of losing 5 stone. It's what I would feel happy with. I could probably do with losing around 8 stones but then I haven't been that weight since I was 26 and I'm 56 now. Losing 5 stones would take me back to the what I weighed at 36, so I'd be pretty pleased with that.
Click to expand...
Have a look at the app I have built, referenced in my siggy, that allows you to record bg , weight, waist, bp, carb, and plot them all together with lots of calculations
 
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