Got my first BG Monitor today, advice needed

[Emmasethy]

Hi,

I posted just before Christmas saying I was going to keep you guys updated with journey. Today I got my BG monitor from DN.

She explained the fasting numbers and said I only needed to test in morning and before dinner.

She explained that I could test certain foods after eating to see what foods will increase BG readings.

Done my first reading at 7pm which was 6 but reading 2 1/2 hours later was 15.7

I explained last time my sugars are high at the moment, which is why she has given me machine today to start testing.

My question is, are the after food readings as important as the fasting numbers, so for instance I know 15.7 is massive, but if it's within fasting range in morning, is this safe, or should I be alarmed that it said 15.7

Thanks in advance x

 

[Emmasethy]

Says I'm insulin dependent on too too, how do I change that, I didn't put that intentionally x

 

[Ronancastled]

What did you eat ?
Whatever it was never eat it again ?

Bet it was a nice healthy Weetabix & banana, or wholemeal toast ?

Good news is the 6 is great for a newly diagnosed diabetic. in fact it's only in the pre-diabetic zone.
School up on low carb & keep testing 2 hours after eating to see what you can tolerate.

 

[Emmasethy]

What did you eat ?
Whatever it was never eat it again ?

Bet it was a nice healthy Weetabix & banana, or wholemeal toast ?

Good news is the 6 is great for a newly diagnosed diabetic. in fact it's only in the pre-diabetic zone.
School up on low carb & keep testing 2 hours after eating to see what you can tolerate.

So not to worry about the high readings after eating, only if they continue to be high?

 

[MrsA2]

Fasting bg is usually the last to come down, so you can ignore that while you concentrate on getting levels down, then restart checking it when you are nearer normal (or you can test it everyday just to get into the habit, but the results aren't so important initially)

The vital ones are before each and every food and 2 hours after. Whatever your pre food reading you want to aim for a rise of no more than 2. So in the example above your starting at 6 was good, the rise to 15.7 was far too big and shows something(s) in that meal were far too carby for you.

What did you eat?
And don't worry or panic, diabetes is a slow condition, takes years to evolve and months or years to get on top of. Nothing will happen overnight, you have time to learn, and there is much to learn.

Nurse is just trying to keep her spend on strips down, you can ignore her for a couple of months while you learn what foods spike you.

 

[Ronancastled]

So not to worry about the high readings after eating, only if they continue to be high?

Sorry, I should have been more helpful.
Use your meter to see how different foods affect you.
The guidelines say you should be < 7.8 @ 2 hours after eating.
This is a bit rough as you could of woofed down a Mars bar in 3 mins or grazed over a 3 course meal for an hour.
So take something simple with a low number of carbs, say a single slice of toast, that'll be 15g of carbs, chuck in a cup of tea & we'll call it 20gs total with the milk. Test @ 2 hours & see what you get & report back.

The main aim with low carb eating is that it rewires your brain that has built up from years of glucose spikes & crashes.
Without glucose to fuel body functions your liver taps up fat stores instead, we call this weight loss.
With weight loss your insulin sensitivity increases, this can also be aided by exercise.
It's a win win win.

 

[Emmasethy]

Was a small nest of noodles, like pot noodle.packet size, but without the sachet, with some vegetable stock and some kidney beans and spinach.

Not new to being type 2, but new to high blood sugar as always managed to be in the prediabetes/remission range x thanks for the replies x

 

[catinahat]

My question is, are the after food readings as important as the fasting numbers, so for instance I know 15.7 is massive, but if it's within fasting range in morning, is this safe, or should I be alarmed that it said 15.7

The whole point of testing for us T2's is to find out which foods/meals cause our blood sugar levels to rise. The fasting numbers will be whatever they will be, there is not much we can do to influence them. What our food does to our levels however is something we can control. The meal that sent your levels from 6 to 15.7 had way too many carbs for your body to cope with. With a perfect meal after 2hrs you would be back to around 6, where you started but most of us allow ourselves a little leeway and like to keep any rise to no more than 2mmol.
Anything over that 2mmol and we will look at that meal to see what could be changed to make it acceptable or even cross it off our menu altogether.

 

[MrsA2]

Probably both the noodles and the beans...
Generally you need more protein and healthy fat to feel full and have good nutrition.

Tomorrow is another day

 

[Emmasethy]

Thanks for the replies x will def not be having again! X

 

[Ronancastled]

@Emmasethy
Edit see below: This post contains a serious error

Check the label on the back of the Pot Noodles.
It will show you Carbs per 100g serving.
Now find the weight of the product & work out the amount of carbs you consumed.

Here's one I googled so we'll use it as an example.

So there's 17.9g of carbs per 100g of product.
The product itself is only 90g.
So the total carbs you'd consume by eating one of these is 17.9 x 0.9 = 16.1g

Check your nutritional info label as it's bound to be different so redo the math.
So now you know that Xgs of carbs sent your BG to 15.7 @ 2.5 hours so adjust down accordingly.

It's a little more nuanced than that example but it's a good starting point.

 

[EllieM]

So there's 17.9g of carbs per 100g of product.
The product itself is only 90g.
So the total carbs you'd consume by eating one of these is 17.9 x 0.9 = 16.1g

I agree with your math but the picture says 54.7g per pot and 17.9g per prepared product. Not sure where the post weight of 90g comes from but I suspect the carb content might be per 100g after water is added?

 

[Emmasethy]

Thanks for this, will check this against future loads xx

 

[Ronancastled]

I agree with your math but the picture says 54.7g per pot and 17.9g per prepared product. Not sure where the post weight of 90g comes from but I suspect the carb content might be per 100g after water is added?

This is why folks I'll never be a teacher, great spot @EllieM

@Emmasethy I've fed you misinformation, I suppose it shows the complexity of this whole thing.
The 90g, under the barcode on the right hand image, may only be the dry weight of the product.
So the actual carbs, as pointed out above are 54.7g.

So the good news is because of my bad maths, I'm an engineer btw, you may have more wiggle room for carbs than I initially calculated.
Lets put this down as a great success & never speak of it again.

 

[Rachox]

Says I'm insulin dependent on too too, how do I change that, I didn't put that intentionally x

Sorry, this is a forum glitch but there is a way to solve this @Emmasethy , if you click on your profile pic top right of your screen, then click on ‘personal details’, next look at the list of ‘type of diabetes’. Type 2 is listed twice, if you select the type 2 you didn’t originally pick this should solve this problem. Hope that helps