Hello
@Janedent , nice to meet you!
I can't give you yesterday's numbers, alas, because I haven't tested regularly in years... But as a ballpark, I'd say I'm hovering between 4.5 and 6.5 every day. The highest levels are usually in the morning, due to dawn phenomenon, the rest of the time it's fours and fives. I hate to do this to you, but can you please list exactly what foods you're eating right now? Because I have to say, with the general description, I would've expected higher blood sugars than that odd 9... Colour me fascinated! Also, just checking, are you feeling alright? No muscle weakness, fatigue and the like? Because this is not the kind of diet I'd go for personally, as deficiencies are right around the corner (especially if you're on metformin, B12 would be problematic) and it's hard to control blood sugars on a plant based diet, though some do it here, but far as I know, not in combination with low fat... Are you on any medications at the moment, or going diet-only? This is what I'm doing, (including foods with faces, sorry) for comparison:
https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html I think you'll be quite horrified by it, just as I am by what you're doing, haha! Seriously though... We might be able to learn from one another. We get quite a few vegans/vegetarians in here and I rarely know what to tell them.
Anyway, again, welcome!
Jo
Hi Jo
Thanks for your figures. Sounds like we have different approaches. Luckily both diets seem to work.
When I was first diagnosed with T2D, although I was one of the 10% who are not overweight, I did the weight loss thing (as per Dr Michael Mosley) and went on the low carb diet, but I was always hungry. I'm vegan anyway, so, fed up with feeling hungry, I decided to try Dr Neal Barnard's diet (I also read Mastering Diabetes, which is similar, so i kind of cherry pick from the 2). It's early days yet (day 48 to be precise), but I'm never hungry any more. And it's unusual to get a reading of 9, it's usually lower.
So, what do I eat?
For breakfast I always have (and LOVE) a huge bowl of overnight oats, with lots of berries (Tesco's summer fruits) from the freezer and Alpro soya yoghurt with coconut, on the top.
Lunch is usually soup or salad (and often both) or leftovers from last night's dinner. I make a big batch of vegetable soup once a week and it lasts a few days. I throw in any vegetables I find in the fridge, plus a lot of lentils, barley, beans, plus sometimes fake bacon or Linda McCartney sausages. Plus chilli and smoked paprika.
Evening meal is one of the following (always with LOADS of vegetables on the side):
Chickpea or lentil curry and brown rice (again, big batch lasts several days). With Alpro yoghurt with coconut.
Linda McCartney rosemary and onion bangers and mash with onions (fried in water, not oil - yes, it can be done!) and Bisto
Pasta (wholemeal) in tomato sauce (it was pasta that caused the 9 in my list - but it doesn't usually spike me, so it was a surprise)
Stir fry veg and noodles in soya sauce, ginger, chilli sauce, sometimes with tofu
Throughout the day, I eat several snacks, which are either:
Fruit salad with Alpro soya and coconut yoghurt (I eat loads of that)
Pumpernickel bread with banana and strawberries sliced on top (which I call 'fake cake')
Ryvita and humus.
Most evenings a gin and slimline tonic also makes an appearance....
I am a bit underweight (always been a bit thin) but feel very healthy and energetic. I'm not on meds.
Full disclosure: I do miss nuts! Also popadoms.
But, on the plus side, I've grown to love fruit (which I used to think was boring, till I discovered the simple trick of chopping it up and mashing in some Alpro yoghurt).
My 7, 14 and 30 day average scores on my BG monitor are 6.3, 6.5 and 6.6, but I know this is just a rough indication of how I'm doing. I'm really looking forward to my next Hb1Ac test. Then we will see how I'm really doing. I was 7.7% in Feb, so fingers crossed.
Anyway, sorry to ramble on. Food without faces is the future!
Jane