Breakfasts. What can I eat?!

[te kaihau]

Besides wholemeal or rye bread/toast (for some strange reason that I hope can be explained...), whenever I eat carbohydrates in the morning, no matter how much insulin I inject, my blood sugar levels shoot through the roof! All kinds of cereals, muesli, porridge, potato salad, fruit... they're all poison for me for breakfast (but I'd have no trouble eating them later in the day). As you can imagine, I am getting tired of munching on bread morning after morning before leaving the house, so today I stubbornly thought "oh, what the heck? I will try this once more...", and cooked myself a small bowl of porridge. Bad mistake. My levels jumped to as high as 24 (!), and has hung around that level all day. I've felt like crying, wanting to kick diabetes right in the teeth if I could, wondering "should I just not eat ever again?". I do love food, but if I could create a world where we didn't have to eat... I wouldn't hesitate.

What am I to do for breakfasts? Avoid carbohydrates at all costs? I'll definitely not try porridge ever again... Do any other diabetics have this trouble? If so, what do you eat for breakfast?

In the past I have tried eating eggs every morning. For my diabetes, that was fine. Surprisingly not boring either, because you can put so many things with eggs, in an omelette, say! But I did worry about how many eggs I was eating... I have also tried running as soon as I've woken up, THEN eating "normal" breakfast (e.g. cereal) afterwards. No difference, my sugars would still go high. For over a decade of having diabetes, I've found no solution... besides bread!

I don't tend to think about it... but today, I had to ask myself all day: "WHY THE F*** DO I HAVE DIABETES?"

EDIT - Oh, and this is my first post. Hello everybody!

 

[Mike d]

Omelette, scrambled eggs, bacon and spinach. Standard for me every morning. May not agree with everyone (and yes, it takes about all of 15 minutes) but great protein .... LOTS of spinach leaves by the way. Does nothing to spike me at all but back to you to try and test.

I sure couldn't eat what you've been consuming and I reckon you know that Good luck

Mike

 

[staffsmatt]

It's probably dawn phenomena (basically your body releases hormones to wake you up and these can spike your blood sugar) I've found that if I inject straight after getting up (as in before your feet hit the floor when getting out of bed) with an insulin to carb ratio of 2:1 (2 units of quick acting for every 10g of carbs) + 2 units to deal with the dawn phenomena my levels tend to be ok... Although to be honest I do always have 3 rounds of Burgen bread (the low gi linseed and soya one) with peanut butter. Just find it easier if I always have the same thing! Oh I always inject this on in my stomach as well (supposed to go in quicker than legs).

Of course this is if your levels are fairly stable through the rest of the day, if not you might need to look at your basal insulin dose...

Hope that helps.

Matt

 

[pinewood]

I can beat the spike of porridge so long as I inject 30-45 minutes prior. On a usual day I'll wake up, inject, shower and get ready and then eat my porridge. My levels then gradually increase from 5 or 6 mmol to 7 or 8 mmol and then fall back down to 5 or 6 after an hour or two. However, if I inject 15 mins or less prior I spike to 12-14 mmol.

Have you tried injecting further in advance?

Edited - I'm in honeymoon period so maybe I won't be so lucky with the above approach later down the line...

 

[fleurtess]

Omelette, scrambled eggs, bacon and spinach. Standard for me every morning. May not agree with everyone (and yes, it takes about all of 15 minutes) but great protein .... LOTS of spinach leaves by the way. Does nothing to spike me at all but back to you to try and test.

I sure couldn't eat what you've been consuming and I reckon you know that Good luck

Mike

I eat a bowl of quick microwave porridge. Take 6 units of insulin and I am fine until lunchtime. I inject my long acting insulin first. Have my porridge then take my novo rapid insulin. I find this helps me better than cereal

 

[LucySW]

Besides wholemeal or rye bread/toast (for some strange reason that I hope can be explained...), whenever I eat carbohydrates in the morning, no matter how much insulin I inject, my blood sugar levels shoot through the roof! All kinds of cereals, muesli, porridge, potato salad, fruit... they're all poison for me for breakfast (but I'd have no trouble eating them later in the day). As you can imagine, I am getting tired of munching on bread morning after morning before leaving the house, so today I stubbornly thought "oh, what the heck? I will try this once more...", and cooked myself a small bowl of porridge. Bad mistake. My levels jumped to as high as 24 (!), and has hung around that level all day. I've felt like crying, wanting to kick diabetes right in the teeth if I could, wondering "should I just not eat ever again?". I do love food, but if I could create a world where we didn't have to eat... I wouldn't hesitate.

What am I to do for breakfasts? Avoid carbohydrates at all costs? I'll definitely not try porridge ever again... Do any other diabetics have this trouble? If so, what do you eat for breakfast?

In the past I have tried eating eggs every morning. For my diabetes, that was fine. Surprisingly not boring either, because you can put so many things with eggs, in an omelette, say! But I did worry about how many eggs I was eating... I have also tried running as soon as I've woken up, THEN eating "normal" breakfast (e.g. cereal) afterwards. No difference, my sugars would still go high. For over a decade of having diabetes, I've found no solution... besides bread!

I don't tend to think about it... but today, I had to ask myself all day: "WHY THE F*** DO I HAVE DIABETES?"

EDIT - Oh, and this is my first post. Hello everybody!

I so sympathise, and I bet everyone else does too.

I go for eggs every morning. I vary how I cook them, season differently, add feta, eat a huge hunk of cucumber, add last night's leftover veg, couple of tomatoes - anything veg or proteiney you fancy.

At weekends, eggs and nice bacon, mushrooms - I would just junk the carbs in the morning. Dr B says we are most carb intolerant in the morning ( dawn phenomenon), and that's true for me. I can't even eat Greek yogurt, which so many like: it spikes me.

I wouldn't be scared of eating a lot of eggs. Do some up to date reading. I think they're in the clear now.

Of course you feel p***ed off.
Best of luck!

Lucy

 

[maryjey]

I make waffles or pancakes with protein powder. It's one egg, a scoop of protein powder, 1tbs of water and a pinch of baking powder. When ready top it with a bit of Greek yogurt. It's really good and I can eat it every day for months.

 

[azure]

My sugars are a pain in the morning too. I'm on a pump and the morning is my highest basal rate. I also find that if I have a late breakfast that can mess things up too.

But I do have cereal practically every day. I find a granola type works best, maybe because it has a bit of fat in. I usually mix that with some All Bran, and the fibre helps too. I have a total of 60g weight of cereal plus full fat milk. I do have to have a higher insulin to carbs ratio than later on in the day, but trial and error has taught me what dose to have, and now my blood sugars don't spike too much. Before breakfast, my blood sugar was 5.0 this morning and 2hrs after breakfast, it was 5.9.

I also inject a while before I eat breakfast to give the insulin a chance to get going.

I know porridge is supposed to be low GI but I find it puts my sugars up faster than my normal cereal.

 

[Daibell]

I do have a small portion of homemade museli each day together sometimes with eggs and bacon. Oats with cold milk is much better than 'stewed' oats (porridge) as the cells will have been broken down during cooking. Perhaps you are having too many carbs overall? No problem if your weight is stable but using insulin to cover high'ish carbs can lead to weight gain.

 

[te kaihau]

Thank you so much everyone for your replies! It's calming to know we're all in the same boat with this, and I'm not alone. : )

Well, it seems that eggs are the way to go! Back when I was in the habit of eating scrambled eggs or omelettes each morning, I tended to stick to the same old, same old: ham, tomatoes, onions and plenty of paprika spice and salt. No wonder that got boring quick. Time to get creative, and make it more interesting and varied! And even then when I'm feeling lazy, I can fall back on the reliable toast. At least there's an alternative, I guess! I've just never been a natural in the kitchen, but thanks for the suggestions Lucy!

With delaying food after injecting insulin (I'm on Humalog and Lantus by the way), I actually do this when eating toast to be safe. If I'm ever late for work, or forgetful and eat toast straight after injecting though, it doesn't cause any problems. There's just something magical about bread, that porridge, weet-bix, corn flakes etc. can't deliver!

 

[noblehead]

Many people are insulin resistant in a morning and less so as the day moves on, so if you have trouble with carbs in a morning try and avoid them or keep them to a minimum, try some of the suggestions mentioned above and see what your postprandial bg levels are like afterwards.

 

[te kaihau]

I do have a small portion of homemade museli each day together sometimes with eggs and bacon. Oats with cold milk is much better than 'stewed' oats (porridge) as the cells will have been broken down during cooking. Perhaps you are having too many carbs overall? No problem if your weight is stable but using insulin to cover high'ish carbs can lead to weight gain.

Even with small amounts of carbohydrates in the mornings, I'd go high! I have started to cut back on my carb intake in general though which has made my diabetes management 10 times easier. I'd always go high unless I had a very tiny amount on my plate, especially with potatoes. Pommes frites are a big no-no, and I usually don't go near rice or pasta if I can help it. I'd require a ridiculous amount of insulin otherwise... I now inject much less insulin, and running nearly everyday has probably helped towards this. The only carbohydrate I can trust is bread, but there's only so much you can do with bread, and eating a slice of bread with every meal probably isn't so healthy (for example tonight, I had a chicken curry, dunking bread into it).

 

[LaineyK]

I eat Cheerios for brekkie, they don't need much milk, unlike thirsty weetabix!! I put in 6 units for it, as I'm normally a little high in the morning.

 

[PatsyB]

I eat small shredded wheat in the morning after injecting 6 mix humalog then have two metformin my problem is after my dinner which i have at tea time....level goes high then ...sighs

 

[Diamattic]

Have you tried injecting so that there is a longer gap between injecting and eating ? I have found that in the mornings i have to inject 30 minutes or so before i eat, sometimes 40 if its a sugary cereal as they spike quickly.

My solution to this has been to skip breakfast on weekdays all together haha So far i haven't had a single spike!

 

[darrenh04]

I go for eggs one day then have Greek yoghurt with some nuts and a few berries the next.

 

[azure]

Even with small amounts of carbohydrates in the mornings, I'd go high! I have started to cut back on my carb intake in general though which has made my diabetes management 10 times easier. I'd always go high unless I had a very tiny amount on my plate, especially with potatoes. Pommes frites are a big no-no, and I usually don't go near rice or pasta if I can help it. I'd require a ridiculous amount of insulin otherwise... I now inject much less insulin, and running nearly everyday has probably helped towards this. The only carbohydrate I can trust is bread, but there's only so much you can do with bread, and eating a slice of bread with every meal probably isn't so healthy (for example tonight, I had a chicken curry, dunking bread into it).

Do you count carbs?

I've found accurate carb counting ( and yes, I weigh things) and allowing a bit extra insulin for times like the mornings when I'm prone to go high, means I can eat cereal, pasta, rice, etc. I don't have huge portions obviously, but I can eat them all.

 

[georgianakate]

Bacon... Everyday

 

[chl0ejasmine]

I'm having the same problem - I've tried having omelettes or scrambled egg but my levels still creep up - is it because I still need to give a few units or is it because I eat at 6:45-7 and not again til about 12:50

 

[Juicyj]

Yes I feel your pain, I too cannot take carbs in the morning, they send me sky high too. I eat omelettes with courgettes, ham, cheese and mix it up, add some chilli powder (for good effect!) or at weekends a treat (as a mum) is to make gluten free pancakes with doves flour and bacon, I eat 2/3 they are very light and only need about 4 units of qa to cover this, would love to have maple syrup too but hey for a few moments of pleasure without will do !

Have you fasted to check your basal is working ? It may be causing you to spike