A question about my confusion

[eddacker]

OK, new to forum, and I have some questions. Well, one question about reconciling many items; It all started when I got confused by terms:
Starchey foods, carbohydrates (slow/fast or good/bad), sugars, GI, cholesterol
and now I have these all mixed up in my head and it is not a pretty sight. I am sure if I continue to research I will figure it out, but any help is appreciated. TIA

I had heard the NHS line on diet: A diet based on starchy foods such as rice and pasta; with plenty of fruit and vegetables; some protein-rich foods such as meat, fish and lentils; some milk and dairy foods; and not too much fat, salt or sugar, will give you all the nutrients you need.

Like another poster, I was told testing was for T1 types, mostly. I was told to come in once a year and have my bloods done, "anything in the 7s we consider good" said my diabetic specialist as he released my back to my GP from the hospital that shall remain nameless. I was in the low 7s for three years and thought everything was right as rain.

Then I retired and started exercising so I could lose weight. Suddenly I am finding there is a little more to this T2 disease than taking your tablets and testing once a year.

My current situation is a low calorie diet, >5% fat, avoid things I like: pasta, bread, rice, chocolate and enjoy things I do like such as veggies, fruits, salmon, yoghurt and pulses. I am taking spirulina and a multivitamin along with my metformin. I am drinking lots of water, too. I lost a stone in 5 weeks, but last week, the sixth, things have leveled off.

Now I am paying attention to my BG again. I've gotten my meter out with some new strips and this morning I tested at 6.5 at noon I tested at 12.1, but it may have been only an hour after eating a turkey sandwich.
[RANT] Breads, I am so frustrated by bread, I cannot find a decent whole grain bread anywhere in Nottingham. In California it is found everywhere and I haven't lived in California for 9 years.[/RANT]

I am looking at the Bergen Breads compared to others and I could not see any difference. That was when I realised I was confused: hence the question.

 

[xyzzy]

Hi and welcome eddacker.

First thing I'd suggest is getting when you are testing sorted. What you should be aiming for is being under 8 two hours after eating and being between 4 and 7 at other times. The obvious thing is to test before and two hours after your main meal but when I started out I tested before and two hours after most meals until I got confident that what I was having for breakfast and lunch was safe.

As to your selection of foods then it sounds like you are on the right track so remove or at least drastically cut out all forms of pure sugar including pure fruit juices and then avoid starchy foods (rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, cereals and other flour based products). Avoid means different things to each of us and that is why your meter is important as you can use it to work out how much starchy food to avoid. I would say avoid is at least half and then swap what's left to brown versions of rice, brown or tri-colour pasta and yes Bergen bread. If you look at the carbohydrate content on the label of Burgen you will find it is usually somewhere between 11 & 14 depending on what type. This is a lot less than other breads.

One thing to note is that in the UK carbohydrate content on labels has already had fibre taken out unlike in the States where the carbohydrate content has to be adjusted for fibre content to get the "real" carb total. Also in the UK there is an "Of which sugars" value which as a diabetic you should totally ignore so just base carb content off the "Total carbohydrate" value as it is written on the label.

Getting levels into safety i.e. always below 8ish can take many weeks. From my initial diagnosis position with readings in the 20's it took me around 6 weeks of very low carbing to get levels consistently under 8. In that event the best advice is to try and keep your before meal reading roughly the same as your two hour after one. If they are showing a very large difference you may need to consider dropping your carbs even lower by analysing what you ate, spotting the carb source and either cutting it down or out the next time.

Good luck and keep asking questions

Steve