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A few questions from a newbie: LCHF, BG testing & more. X

Alisonjane10

Alisonjane10

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England. (North East)
Type of diabetes
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Tablets (oral)
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Hello folks.
I'm newly diagnosed & still got sooooo much to learn. This forum & website is proving to be invaluable. Makes me feel less scared of this disorder. I'm trying the LCHF eating plan whilst trying to eat 50 carbs max a day. I'm adjusting to a different lifestyle as best I can & so far I'm enjoying the eating plan. Anyway, a couple of questions I'd like answered please:

1. When trying to establish which foods make your blood sugar spike, should you test 1 or 2 hours after eating?

2. If you're eating LCHF, where does the fat you're eating go? I know the science behind carbs & what happens to your body when you eat them, but I'm concerned about the high fat effect.

3. I have seen some members using mathematical calculations to work out how many grams of carbs, protein and fat they personally need daily to lose weight & maintain steady BG. It's calculated using weight & BMI I believe. Is this necessary? It's all getting a tad complicated.

All advice will be most gratefully received. I appreciate many of you have been where I am now & are very experienced. Thanks folks.

Alison. X
 
Alisonjane10 said:
Hello folks.
I'm newly diagnosed & still got sooooo much to learn. This forum & website is proving to be invaluable. Makes me feel less scared of this disorder. I'm trying the LCHF eating plan whilst trying to eat 50 carbs max a day. I'm adjusting to a different lifestyle as best I can & so far I'm enjoying the eating plan. Anyway, a couple of questions I'd like answered please:

1. When trying to establish which foods make your blood sugar spike, should you test 1 or 2 hours after eating?

2. If you're eating LCHF, where does the fat you're eating go? I know the science behind carbs & what happens to your body when you eat them, but I'm concerned about the high fat effect.

3. I have seen some members using mathematical calculations to work out how many grams of carbs, protein and fat they personally need daily to lose weight & maintain steady BG. It's calculated using weight & BMI I believe. Is this necessary? It's all getting a tad complicated.

All advice will be most gratefully received. I appreciate many of you have been where I am now & are very experienced. Thanks folks.

Alison. X
Click to expand...
Hi Alisonjane, welcome
1. I found it a good way when testing new foods to test frequently, sometimes every 30 min until back to baseline but generally every hour works fine. Depends on how curious you are I suppose. I find that some things gives a sharp, early spike while others can cause a slow rise several hours after eating.
2. It's used as energy. Don't worry.
3. You don't need to do much except checking carb content and BG. Eat until you are full then stop. It really is very easy.
You may need some extra salt and don't forget to drink water.
 
Alisonjane10 said:
Hello folks.
I'm newly diagnosed & still got sooooo much to learn. This forum & website is proving to be invaluable. Makes me feel less scared of this disorder. I'm trying the LCHF eating plan whilst trying to eat 50 carbs max a day. I'm adjusting to a different lifestyle as best I can & so far I'm enjoying the eating plan. Anyway, a couple of questions I'd like answered please:

1. When trying to establish which foods make your blood sugar spike, should you test 1 or 2 hours after eating?

2. If you're eating LCHF, where does the fat you're eating go? I know the science behind carbs & what happens to your body when you eat them, but I'm concerned about the high fat effect.

3. I have seen some members using mathematical calculations to work out how many grams of carbs, protein and fat they personally need daily to lose weight & maintain steady BG. It's calculated using weight & BMI I believe. Is this necessary? It's all getting a tad complicated.

All advice will be most gratefully received. I appreciate many of you have been where I am now & are very experienced. Thanks folks.

Alison. X
Click to expand...

@Totto has given sound advice there. Vis-a-vis testing, if your numbers are fairly high (as many are when starting to modify diet), then it could help control costs to start by testing before and two hourly. That might give you lots of loud signals to start with! If your numbers are high at 2 hours, what they are beforehand is all very nice, but really it means giving that food a rest, for a while at least. Once you have got rid of some of the biggies (in terms of spikes), you can begin finer tuning with the 1 hour tests.

Initially, there can be so much information coming at you from reading, testing, how you feel and lots of "helpful" feedback from random people who seem to suddenly be diet experts, it's good to concentrate on just a few things -initially.

If you are prescribed as many strips as you require, without question, and feel you can analyse the multi-level data, then jump in at the deep end, but if you're looking to test fasting, before eating, then twice after, plus before going to bed, that's roughly 11 strips a day, or a pot ever 4 or 5 days. It's up to you.
 
Alisonjane10 said:
Hello folks.
I'm newly diagnosed & still got sooooo much to learn. This forum & website is proving to be invaluable. Makes me feel less scared of this disorder. I'm trying the LCHF eating plan whilst trying to eat 50 carbs max a day. I'm adjusting to a different lifestyle as best I can & so far I'm enjoying the eating plan. Anyway, a couple of questions I'd like answered please:

1. When trying to establish which foods make your blood sugar spike, should you test 1 or 2 hours after eating?

2. If you're eating LCHF, where does the fat you're eating go? I know the science behind carbs & what happens to your body when you eat them, but I'm concerned about the high fat effect.

3. I have seen some members using mathematical calculations to work out how many grams of carbs, protein and fat they personally need daily to lose weight & maintain steady BG. It's calculated using weight & BMI I believe. Is this necessary? It's all getting a tad complicated.

All advice will be most gratefully received. I appreciate many of you have been where I am now & are very experienced. Thanks folks.

Alison. X
Click to expand...

@Totto has given sound advice there. Vis-a-vis testing, if your numbers are fairly high (as many are when starting to modify diet), then it could help control costs to start by testing before and two hourly. That might give you lots of loud signals to start with! If your numbers are high at 2 hours, what they are beforehand is all very nice, but really it means giving that food a rest, for a while at least. Once you have got rid of some of the biggies (in terms of spikes), you can begin finer tuning with the 1 hour tests.

Initially, there can be so much information coming at you from reading, testing, how you feel and lots of "helpful" feedback from random people who seem to suddenly be diet experts, it's good to concentrate on just a few things -initially.

If you are prescribed as many strips as you require, without question, and feel you can analyse the multi-level data, then jump in at the deep end, but if you're looking to test fasting, before eating, then twice after, plus before going to bed, that's roughly 11 strips a day, or a pot ever 4 or 5 days. It's up to you.
 
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