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Type 2's: What was your fasting blood glucose in a morning?

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pavlosn said:
@Rose28

As already stated in @beatdise's earlier reply this involves using your meter, by taking counts before and after meals, to teach yourself what food to avoid completely and what quantities of other food you should stick to in order to meet certain predetermined glucose level targets.

In effect you are using feedback from your meter to make better choices in your next meal selection thus learning from past mistakes.

And since this is an exercise in achieving target glucose levels and carbs are the main contributors to glucose rises, in practice this is a way to learn how much of different carbs your body can manage.

What should those target be:

NICE sets target levels for t2 diabetics not on insulin or other hypo inducing meds as 4-7 mmol before meals and less than 8,5mmol two hours after meals.

If trying to work down to these levels from a higher starting point, you can expect to need a few weeks or so to achieve it.

In the meantime concentrate on the rule of thumb that your 2 hour after meal counts should not be more than 2 mmol higher than your corresponding count before the meal in question. If you find that the after meal count is more than two mmol higher than the before meal then your meal had too many carbs in it and you should have a smaller portion of whatever carb rich food it contained, the next time you have the same carb rich food. Keeping a food diary helps truck this.

Once you hit this 2mmol target consistently you should see that your before meal counts also reduce, hopefully all the way to the recommended levels and even beyond.

Once you have achieved the levels for t2 diabetics, you may like many on this site, like to lower your levels further to the non-diabetic range ie less than 6 before a meal and less than 7,8 two hours after a meal.

There is no really set amount of carbs one should start with, but I have seen 150g of carbs per day, often mentioned as a convenient starting point from which to adjust according to your readings.

Reducing carbs in order to control glucose is all very well but that involves reducing calories. This is good if you have excess weight to shed but not so good if you don't or if you find that you feel too hungry in order to stick with the reduced carb diet. What do you do? You get the missing calories from a food source that is not rich in carbs such as non starchy vegetables or in many people's opinion healthy fats. The other option would be to increase protein but that is believed to increase the risk of kidney problems.

I hope the above is useful to you.

Pavlos
Click to expand...
Beautifully put!
 
pavlosn said:
@Rose28

As already stated in @beatdise's earlier reply this involves using your meter, by taking counts before and after meals, to teach yourself what food to avoid completely and what quantities of other food you should stick to in order to meet certain predetermined glucose level targets.

In effect you are using feedback from your meter to make better choices in your next meal selection thus learning from past mistakes.

And since this is an exercise in achieving target glucose levels and carbs are the main contributors to glucose rises, in practice this is a way to learn how much of different carbs your body can manage.

What should those target be:

NICE sets target levels for t2 diabetics not on insulin or other hypo inducing meds as 4-7 mmol before meals and less than 8,5mmol two hours after meals.

If trying to work down to these levels from a higher starting point, you can expect to need a few weeks or so to achieve it.

In the meantime concentrate on the rule of thumb that your 2 hour after meal counts should not be more than 2 mmol higher than your corresponding count before the meal in question. If you find that the after meal count is more than two mmol higher than the before meal then your meal had too many carbs in it and you should have a smaller portion of whatever carb rich food it contained, the next time you have the same carb rich food. Keeping a food diary helps truck this.

Once you hit this 2mmol target consistently you should see that your before meal counts also reduce, hopefully all the way to the recommended levels and even beyond.

Once you have achieved the levels for t2 diabetics, you may like many on this site, like to lower your levels further to the non-diabetic range ie less than 6 before a meal and less than 7,8 two hours after a meal.

There is no really set amount of carbs one should start with, but I have seen 150g of carbs per day, often mentioned as a convenient starting point from which to adjust according to your readings.

Reducing carbs in order to control glucose is all very well but that involves reducing calories. This is good if you have excess weight to shed but not so good if you don't or if you find that you feel too hungry in order to stick with the reduced carb diet. What do you do? You get the missing calories from a food source that is not rich in carbs such as non starchy vegetables or in many people's opinion healthy fats. The other option would be to increase protein but that is believed to increase the risk of kidney problems.

I hope the above is useful to you.

Pavlos
Click to expand...


Thank you... I'm so very grateful for this :):):)

I've saved this post on the iPad as I'm sure I'll be reading it again and again.
I've been keeping a food diary and bs recordings but they were just recordings to me.
As from today I'll follow the above advice.

All of you folks on here are truly amazing and I'm so grateful for everyone's kindness. :happy:
 
beatdise said:
Hi Rose I am a relative newby. I have been trying to follow the 'eat to your meter' which basically to me means eat only those things that will give you the Blood Sugar readings that you seek within certain target ranges. There is an element of experimentation whist you get to understand which foods have the biggest and lowest impact on your meter readings. Low carbs, or smaller portions, increased proteins and or higher fats. Whatever foods together give you your desired results. I now know pretty much which foods affect my numbers and that helps me to keep CONTROL most of the time. I am sure colleagues will explain much better than I have done but that,s I how I have interpreted it.
Click to expand...

Thank you for explaining this... It makes perfect sense now :):)
 
cold ethyl said:
Just reading the info page on this site and it isn't actually licensed in England as a sole treatment , supposedly to be taken with Metformin in those who can't tolerate the likes of Glicazide. Though I know @kimbo1962 is only on it. It does apparently aid weight loss as excess glucose excreted so those calories lost. Why do you particularly want to take it?
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Yes,I am only on forxiga as I couldn't tolerate metformin. I was told it was new and when I had such excellent results in October at my review my dn was keen to feedback with it being new. I knew the way it worked forcing the glucose out in our urine should drop my levels but never thought of it in a weight loss way, I don't know if forxiga alone would have given me the loss, I think it's the strict lchf combined with it?
For me, it's been excellent- I remain on it until my next review in April at least.
 
kimbo1962 said:
5.6 this morning - which I was surprised but pleased with as I had an awful night with a rather upset tummy, not much sleep and feel rather off today! There is a bug around apparently and could explain why I've felt a bit off certain foods last couple of days that normally I love! Had gone to bed on 4.8 so about my normal of late. Had lots to do today but staying in now- tomorrow I have an 8.30am gp appointment regarding my middle of the night episodes of the last few week/pottasium query then an interview at midday......need to be back on form pdq !! Lots to catch up on here with too.....
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Just noticed your HbA1c at diagnosis - much lower than mine but you were put on medication immediately. Thinking about it as a type - my fasting glucose was normal so maybe that was the factor in not going down the medication route.
 
vit90 said:
Just noticed your HbA1c at diagnosis - much lower than mine but you were put on medication immediately. Thinking about it as a type - my fasting glucose was normal so maybe that was the factor in not going down the medication route.
Click to expand...
Yes, my hba1c at diagnosis was relatively low, have wondered if it was early days- but then looking back and compared to how I feel now it explains a lot over the years so I could have been type 2 for a long time not knowing. I think my nurse practitioner who gave me the news was following routine and gave me metformin with the usual carb advice as per nice guidelines and sent me away in a fog of what now? ??
 
Rose28 said:
Thank you... I'm so very grateful for this :):):)

I've saved this post on the iPad as I'm sure I'll be reading it again and again.
I've been keeping a food diary and bs recordings but they were just recordings to me.
As from today I'll follow the above advice.

All of you folks on here are truly amazing and I'm so grateful for everyone's kindness. :happy:
Click to expand...
I you are not certain about something just ask.

If you think it would be useful to get input/suggestions by members on how you could improve just post a typical day's meals together with your relevant counts.

Pavlos
 
Brilliant advice Pavlos. I too just eat to my meter. Thereby I have two lists. One for foods that I can eat and a list for foods I shouldn't. I test just before the meal and hope to achieve a below 6 reading and then two hours after, hoping to achieve a less than +2. Now I know what foods L can & can't eat. So I now only to test for foods that don't appear on either lists.
 
sanguine said:
Is that the same tub/batch @Bluetit1802 ?
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It's the same batch, and part way through a tub. It was the previous tub I didn't like. This one started OK then deteriorated :( it clearly isn't the strips in this tub because bedtime last night, fasting today, and post breakfast levels I have double checked against my Accu Chek. There are no significant differences. So obviously, it is me! Must try harder.
 
Sable_Jan said:
Don't blame you :) with what you are used to eating I'm guessing you will find it hard to be really "bad" anyhow. I'm afraid I was naughty during the night. Had more of my mince pies but worst of all a Snicker bar around 3am. Dog had me up a lot again but she DID empty half her water bowl in one go before bed....
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We all have odd moments of weakness..mine last night was some Tiramisu. My all time fave...had a low carb meal but suddenly got my Christmas head on....now I'm at target weight I tolerate carbs better than before...but there is a price to.pay...once I give in a bit and have carbs. Although tiramisu not awful as its marscapone and I had mine with cream...didn't dare test. My fasting was a bit higher this morning...
My gp is a type 2. And he follows a lchf diet ( I'm so lucky ) has warned me this week that my recent low readings in the day. Average 5.1 are too low...he has researched in depth and apparently readings below normal can be as harmful as high readings..I checked this with my Endo dr friend and he wholeheartedly agrees so I must find a balance once again with carbs..not losing anymore weight but not wanting carb cravings to re surface....
 
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alliebee said:
We all have odd moments of weakness..mine last night was some Tiramisu. My all time fave...had a low carb meal but suddenly got my Christmas head on....now I'm at target weight I tolerate carbs better than before...but there is a price to.pay...once I give in a bit and have carbs. Although tiramisu not awful as its marscapone and I had mine with cream...didn't dare test. My fasting was a bit higher this morning...
My gp is a type 2. And he follows a lchf diet ( I'm so lucky ) has warned me this week that my recent low readings in the day. Average 5.1 are too low...he has researched in depth and apparently readings below normal can be as harmful as high readings..I checked this with my Endo dr friend and he wholeheartedly agrees so I much find a balance once again with carbs..not losing anymore weight but not wanting carb cravings to re surface....
Click to expand...

What sort of day time levels/averages do they recommend as ideal?
 
alliebee said:
So I had an experiment today. Bacon eggs and wait for it. A slice of fried bread!!!...pre breakfast. 6.1. After 7.3. .that will do nicely
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Adrian will be after you! Maybe it will take the heat off me ;) One or two others have also mentioned fried bread doesn't do much in the way of raising levels. It certainly doesn't with me (half a slice of white). Must be the fat.
 
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