Advice on food and after meal readings

[Gracie204]

Hi

About 18 months ago I had a blood test done and the doctor informed me that my blood glucose readings were a bit high.

I've always been into healthy eating, and I couldn't really comprehend how this had come about after a lifetime of salads, vegetables, wholemeal bread, etc, lots of supplements. With the occasional breakout of steak and chips and bars of chocolate, but not often.

However, I have been working at getting my blood glucose readings under control, and I must say it's not easy. When I dine out with friends it's hard choosing things that are low carb when there's wonderful food on offer. Really, the whole point of dining out is eating delicious food and trying out new tastes. And, of course, there's the social aspect to be enjoyed.

And forever planning and shopping and preparing foods that a diabetic can eat when all I want some days is to have just a simple sandwich.

But we're all in the same boat. If we want to stay healthy then we have to put the effort in.

Right, I'd like some thoughts about what I ate yesterday, and why my blood glucose rose so high after my evening meal.

Blood sugar reading on rising at 7.30am was 6.4

Breakfast: Two boiled eggs with one slice of HiLo bread.

BS reading two hours later was 6.9

Lunch: Chicken thigh, cabbage, leeks, cauliflower, gravy made with Bisto

BS reading two hours later 6.9

Evening meal: Salad with lots of baby leaf lettuce, three small plum tomatoes, cucumber, 3/4 thin slices of beetroot, small amount of chopped onion. and dressing of apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

With this (and I think this is the culprit) I ate a ready prepared Cod Fillet lightly dusted and seasoned with lemon and black pepper. 20 grams.

Two hours later my BS reading was 9.0!

So, I calculate that the amount of carbs I ate all day was round about 25 grams. Obviously, there were small amounts in the onion, tomato, etc. but these couldn't amount to many. Why did my blood glucose rise to 9?

Sorry for the rant earlier, when one sees what others have to go through being diabetic is easy in comparison!

Kind thoughts.

 

[Goonergal]

Hi @Gracie204 I’ve moved your post here.

 

[Gracie204]

Hi @Gracie204 I’ve moved your post here.

Hi Goonergal, Thank you so much for doing this for me, it's very much appreciated. Best wishes. Gracie204

 

[VashtiB]

Hi Gracie,

You may find that there are more carbs than you think in the tomato, beetroot and cucumber.. It may have been too many carbs in one meal. However, it could have been other things like exercise, stress, or many other things. I suggest that you should go through and calculate the carbs in the onion, beetroot, cucumber and tomato.

Other than that keep logging your food and testing until you find a pattern- maybe consider logging your emotional state since stress doesn't help.

Good luck

 

[Gracie204]

Hi Gracie,

You may find that there are more carbs than you think in the tomato, beetroot and cucumber.. It may have been too many carbs in one meal. However, it could have been other things like exercise, stress, or many other things. I suggest that you should go through and calculate the carbs in the onion, beetroot, cucumber and tomato.

Other than that keep logging your food and testing until you find a pattern- maybe consider logging your emotional state since stress doesn't help.

Good luck

Hi VashtiB

Thank you very much for you helpful reply. It's a minefield keeping track of these carbs! As you say, it's a question of logging food and testing.

Best wishes

 

[catinahat]

Hello @Gracie204
I think you are right to suspect the coated fish as the culprit. But a single reading really can't tell you much about what your meal did to your levels, even if it is 2 hours later.
As has already been mentioned there are lots of reasons for a high reading so the only way to be Shure it's your food is to take a reading immediately before you eat and again at 2 hours. It's the difference between the two numbers that teaches us what impact our meals have on our glucose levels.

 

[KK123]

Hi

About 18 months ago I had a blood test done and the doctor informed me that my blood glucose readings were a bit high.

I've always been into healthy eating, and I couldn't really comprehend how this had come about after a lifetime of salads, vegetables, wholemeal bread, etc, lots of supplements. With the occasional breakout of steak and chips and bars of chocolate, but not often.

However, I have been working at getting my blood glucose readings under control, and I must say it's not easy. When I dine out with friends it's hard choosing things that are low carb when there's wonderful food on offer. Really, the whole point of dining out is eating delicious food and trying out new tastes. And, of course, there's the social aspect to be enjoyed.

And forever planning and shopping and preparing foods that a diabetic can eat when all I want some days is to have just a simple sandwich.

But we're all in the same boat. If we want to stay healthy then we have to put the effort in.

Right, I'd like some thoughts about what I ate yesterday, and why my blood glucose rose so high after my evening meal.

Blood sugar reading on rising at 7.30am was 6.4

Breakfast: Two boiled eggs with one slice of HiLo bread.

BS reading two hours later was 6.9

Lunch: Chicken thigh, cabbage, leeks, cauliflower, gravy made with Bisto

BS reading two hours later 6.9

Evening meal: Salad with lots of baby leaf lettuce, three small plum tomatoes, cucumber, 3/4 thin slices of beetroot, small amount of chopped onion. and dressing of apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

With this (and I think this is the culprit) I ate a ready prepared Cod Fillet lightly dusted and seasoned with lemon and black pepper. 20 grams.

Two hours later my BS reading was 9.0!

So, I calculate that the amount of carbs I ate all day was round about 25 grams. Obviously, there were small amounts in the onion, tomato, etc. but these couldn't amount to many. Why did my blood glucose rise to 9?

Sorry for the rant earlier, when one sees what others have to go through being diabetic is easy in comparison!

Kind thoughts.

Hi there, do you know what your reading was before the evening meal? I note your reading after lunch was 6.9 so if it was roughly the same as that before your evening meal then your rise was a tad over the 'magic' 2mmol's which shows you coped well with the meal. I know your beetroot and cucumber has carbs in it but you would be really unlucky if that affected you that much and it would be a shame to cut them out if you love them (like I do to liven up a salad). As others have said it's all about the testing. x

 

[Gracie204]

Hello @Gracie204
I think you are right to suspect the coated fish as the culprit. But a single reading really can't tell you much about what your meal did to your levels, even if it is 2 hours later.
As has already been mentioned there are lots of reasons for a high reading so the only way to be Shure it's your food is to take a reading immediately before you eat and again at 2 hours. It's the difference between the two numbers that teaches us what impact our meals have on our glucose levels.

CatinHat

Thank you replying. An interesting point you make about testing my BS before a meal as well as two hours after. However, I think I'm going to avoid having the oven ready fish, but that tasty coating just seems to make fish more inviting. I was reading the other day on this website about using blitzed crispy pork scratchings as coatings for both meat and fish. I wonder how these would work out if fish was dipped in egg, then pork scratchings, then oven baked? Hmmm … perhaps not!

Best wishes.

 

[bulkbiker]

but that tasty coating just seems to make fish more inviting.

When I cook fish I usually bake it in the oven with a herb, garlic and chilli topping added to some melted butter to help the spreading. You could easily sprinkle some pork scratching crumb onto that as well..?

 

[Sarah69]

What was your high reading?

 

[Gracie204]

When I cook fish I usually bake it in the oven with a herb, garlic and chilli topping added to some melted butter to help the spreading. You could easily sprinkle some pork scratching crumb onto that as well..?

Hi bulkbiker - Really like the sound of the herb, garlic and chilli topping with melted butter. That's now on my 'next to try list'. It will certain liven up a portion of bland cod!

Many thanks.

 

[Gracie204]

What was your high reading?

Hi

It was 9.0 two hours after eating. Ideally, I'd like it to be in the 5's, but usually it is between 6 and 7. I'm not on any medication - not yet!

Thanks for replying.

 

[Resurgam]

I am puzzled by the 20 gm after the cod fillet - 20 gm of what?

 

[Gracie204]

I am puzzled by the 20 gm after the cod fillet - 20 gm of what?

My apologies, Resurgam, if I wasn't clear. On the back of the pack of two cod portions dusted with lemon and black pepper it listed one portion as containing 20 grams of carbs. And I couldn't understand why this relatively low amount of carbs could send my blood glucose levels to 9.0. And for my tea today at around 6.00pm I ate one slice of HiLo bread (about 5 grams of carbs), pate, cheese, three tiny plum tomatoes, and two hours later my blood glucose registered as 8.5. For lunch I had two lamb chops and a load of spinach, and two hours later BS was 7.0. I don't want to have to take medication if I can help it, and I am trying hard to restrict carbs in my diet.

Best wishes.

 

[Resurgam]

First I would really recommend avoiding foods which should be zero carbs and which have significant amounts of carbs added.
Secondly, I suspect that the entire 20 gms of carb in the serving of formerly just pure fish is in the form of a carb to which you are sensitive.
I recently experimented with bread, and found that 30 gm of carbs from a seeded bread roll caused a spike to over 10mmol/l when eaten with the same proteins and fats that 30 gm of carbs from veges would have left me in the region of 7 and a bit. I already knew that legumes will do the same thing, as I experimented years ago now. I was still avoiding bread and potatoes back then - with obvious justification.