• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Getting readings below 5

B

Barry Holt

Well-Known Member
Messages
251
Location
Lancashire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Drivers who speed in built up areas
Try as I may I don't seem able to get my readings below (what is to me) the mystical 5 lunch was 2 rashers bacon 2 fried eggs and that was all but my readings are5.4 can anyone tell me if I am doing something wrong or is the state of my diabetes dropping it as low as it can ?
 
Barry my friend YOUR READINGS ARE IN THE NORMAL RANGE. Sorry for shouting but you do not need to be under 5 to be in the non-diabetic range. You are an absolute star and have achieved what others can only dream of. You HAVE already "got there" A huge well done my friend
 
5.4 mmol after meal is excellent. :D

But there's 2 things that I find will lower my readings below 5 mmol.
1. Fasting, usually this is a 16-18hr fast. Skip dinner or breakfast. That will bring it down to 4 mmol.
2. Drink a strong brew of raw puer tea. Within 3 hrs it will go from 12mmol to 4mmol. It works well for me. Your mileage may vary.
 
kokhongw said:
5.4 mmol after meal is excellent. :D

But there's 2 things that I find will lower my readings below 5 mmol.
1. Fasting, usually this is a 16-18hr fast. Skip dinner or breakfast. That will bring it down to 4 mmol.
2. Drink a strong brew of raw puer tea. Within 3 hrs it will go from 12mmol to 4mmol. It works well for me. Your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

That is amazing, if it works, then there is no need for drugs. How long does the effect last ?

How strong is a "strong brew". I don't have 12mmol, more like 5 to 6 average, so got to get a right dosage ...
 
MarcoRiveira said:
That is amazing, if it works, then there is no need for drugs. How long does the effect last ?

How strong is a "strong brew". I don't have 12mmol, more like 5 to 6 average, so got to get a right dosage ...
Click to expand...

Typically it would last a couple of hours before going back to my baseline of around 108mg.

A typical brew is usually about 5g of tea leaves. Which is steeped in 100ml for less than a minute. And often you can have up to 5 or more steeps. So a strong brew would be either to increase the amount of tea leaves eg 10g or longer steep.

Here is a sample reading after taking about 300ml of raw puer tea. During my first week I have tried many different Chinese herbs, ginseng, notoginseng, hawthorn, astragalus and various others without such remarkable effect.
12651035_1709956149248844_5513073186510466768_n.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Barry Holt said:
Try as I may I don't seem able to get my readings below (what is to me) the mystical 5 lunch was 2 rashers bacon 2 fried eggs and that was all but my readings are5.4 can anyone tell me if I am doing something wrong or is the state of my diabetes dropping it as low as it can ?
Click to expand...
Barry
They are great readings. I think you will find that one day they will just start to drop a little. keep doing what you are doing
Cheers
 
@Barry Holt I wish I was getting readings of 5.4. I thought the 'magic number' to aim for was 5.5. I am happy with anything under 7 tbh. And if you drive you shouldn't go under 5.
 
Barry Holt said:
Try as I may I don't seem able to get my readings below (what is to me) the mystical 5 lunch was 2 rashers bacon 2 fried eggs and that was all but my readings are5.4 can anyone tell me if I am doing something wrong or is the state of my diabetes dropping it as low as it can ?
Click to expand...

I normally feel terrible in the 4's.
I'm more than happy to stay in the 5's
 
Barry Holt said:
Try as I may I don't seem able to get my readings below (what is to me) the mystical 5 lunch was 2 rashers bacon 2 fried eggs and that was all but my readings are5.4 can anyone tell me if I am doing something wrong or is the state of my diabetes dropping it as low as it can ?
Click to expand...
Just out of idle curiosity what advantages do you think you'll get from further reduction in your levels, when you already appear to have managed "normal" figures anyway?

What was your last HbA1c?

Robbity
 
Good morning,it would appear that I am wrong in my thinking about testing results but my thinking was that in a lot of posted readings quite regularly readings well below 5 are posted and the impression I got was that this was the best place to aim for howeverI will rethink my results,just aside why is 5.5 the number to aim for (Prem51) all these different recommendations do seem a bit confusing,all I can do is carry on as I am.
 
@Barry Holt I don't know why 5.5 is the number to aim for, but I remember reading on here that this is the 'magic' number.
Anyway I'd be happy to get anything in the 5s, and I'm ok with anything under 7.
 
A fasting bg higher than 5.5 is considered to be higher than 'normal' I believe.

@Barry Holt

Might be worth you googling physiological insulin resistance.

Happens to those of us who strictly low carb, is perfectly normal, and now I understand it, it delights me.

I look on it as a safety buffer zone like a big cushion that stops me dipping into hypo-land. Of course, not everyone hypos but they still get this comfy cushion to sit on. :)

There is more evidence (and more mentions on the forum) nowadays suggesting that keeping bg steady with a nice small range is kinder on the body (for instance between 5-7 mmol/l) rather than bouncing about more - even if the numbers are lower (for instance within a 4-7 range). It is called standard deviation.

So it looks like you are doing fabulously. :)
 
Barry Holt said:
Good morning,it would appear that I am wrong in my thinking about testing results but my thinking was that in a lot of posted readings quite regularly readings well below 5 are posted and the impression I got was that this was the best place to aim for howeverI will rethink my results,just aside why is 5.5 the number to aim for (Prem51) all these different recommendations do seem a bit confusing,all I can do is carry on as I am.
Click to expand...

I think we are all different. My fasting readings vary quite a lot and are often in the 6's and even had a 7.6 last week, What is your HbA1c? My average fasting reading for the last 3 months was 5.9 yet my HbA1c came back as 33 so for me these readings must be OK. I do think sometimes that seeing others very low fasting reading readings make us feel that is what ours should be,
 
I read a link from a post on this site the other day suggesting that 6-6.5 is supposed to be the healthiest range, not sure why:sorry: , it couldn`t have impressed me that much though or I`m sure I would have remembered.
 
To the best of my memory Hda1c 6 months ago was 34 I'm due for next 6 monthly anytime now just waiting for letter from surgery . Readings from meter are 7,14,30 day averages are all 5.4 90 day average is 5.6 ?
 
Barry Holt said:
To the best of my memory Hda1c 6 months ago was 34 I'm due for next 6 monthly anytime now just waiting for letter from surgery . Readings from meter are 7,14,30 day averages are all 5.4 90 day average is 5.6 ?
Click to expand...

Those average readings are very good so hopefully another good HbA1c result. For me what I like is that I am often lower 2 hours after a meal than I was before, so very little spiking.
 
chri5 said:
I read a link from a post on this site the other day suggesting that 6-6.5 is supposed to be the healthiest range, not sure why:sorry: , it couldn`t have impressed me that much though or I`m sure I would have remembered.
Click to expand...
This depends on the type of diabetes, medication, how well controlled, etc... and most of all is a personal feel factor.
 
Perhaps obsession is creeping into it for me and I should back off cos if I just carry on doing what I'm doing I shouldn't be able to do myself much harm
 
Back
Top