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7.5 after 1 hour: should I worry?

Cate1234

Cate1234

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
After a long day and missing lunch my blood glucose was 3.8 (felt absolutely awful). So I had what I thought was a healthy ish meal: one portion of chips (weighed out), a vegi burger on a brown warburtons thin ... But after an hour my blood sugar was 7.5. I've been keeping my levels under 6.9 since I was told I had prediabetes so this number was a shock. Could this purely be down to the chips or would my low blood sugar before I ate have had anything to do with it?
 
I have just been told by the consultant not to worry too much unless my readings are above 10 so with that I guess I wouldn't worry with a 7.5
 
I think i would want to know whether my bg was rising or falling.
- which would need more testing.

The trick with self bg testing is to be consistent.
Test as you start eating. Then test at a set time afterwards.
Individual readings are less important than trends over time, across days, and typical readings for foods you eat regularly.

A reading of 7.5 is no biggie.
But it represents a rise of 3.6 from your earlier reading. That is a bigger jump than is ideal.
The chip and bread combo, plus any carbs in the burger will have caused that.

But you dont know (without further testing) when your bg was at its highest. Maybe it was back to normal, at 2 hours (a good result), or maybe it was higher (not so good).

The trick is to be consistent in your testing, to record the results, and link those results to food.

You will quickly spot patterns and be able to tweak portion sizes and carb amounts to keep within your targets. Then it will become habitual. Then you probably wont need to test for anything except new foods.
 
7.4 after 2 hours, 6.0 after 3 hours and 5.2 after 4 hours. Hmhhhhh what can and can't be eaten is going to take some figuring out. I may not be happy with the numbers today but at least it each time I test with new meals it gives me more knowledge to make better choices in the future.
 
Thanks for the replies. I am new to this so I'm either eating too little or making strange choices with what I think will be OK. Early days for me so your assistance is proving invaluable. Cheers
 
Mixing two sorts of major carbs (such as potatoes and bread) is rarely a good idea. You may find, through testing, that you are OK with one or the other. On the other hand, you may not. It is all trial and error, so keep going. Record your food and your before and after levels alongside and look for patterns over a few weeks. Reduce your carb portion sizes accordingly, or avoid the major carbs altogether. Fill up with extra fats, protein, and vegetables.
 
You are off to a great start though, mapping out what works for your body, and what doesn't.

Something that I have found with my body, is that I have a good tolerance for a carb (say a potato) at one portion size, but there is an almost magic tipping point where the portion size gets too large. 2 small new potatoes might not register on my meter. but 3 or 4 and the reading rockets.

You may find that worth investigating for yourself. It would be a pity to abandon a food entirely, if you can still enjoy small portions of it.
 
Keeping a diabetes/food journal can be good for this - I love having a journal, makes it easier to track food and BG responses and patterns - the investigating part of noting food and the insulin/blood glucose response.

And it stops me driving Mr Svea completely mad, which I might if I discussed every detail that shows on my BG meter. (Which I would be inclined to do.)

There is some statistic somewhere too that includes journaling in 'good for lowering BG' numbers, which is why I mention it (and why I started doing it post-diagnosis.) And it's kind of fun! Oddly satisfying - tracking all the stuff, including emotions, in one place like that.
 
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