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........aaaaand another one!

To your body currently 6 is low compared to your recent normal. With time it will come to realise that it is not low, and can safely go lower. It is starting to panic hence the symptoms to force you to eat. as unpleasant as it feels, if you can hold off a bit longer, it will speed up the learning.
 
Thanks... that make sense.
 
Ok, so a few more days in. Getting more of a handle on what I can and can't eat without much of a jump between pre and +2 hours.
A Tesco Finest cottage pie (45g carbs) jumped me up 4 points. Think any ready-meals are going to be a no-go.
A steam-fresh rice and veg to go with my chicken and mushrooms (33g) on Sunday also jumped me up 4 points. That was my last meal with significant carbs.
My bowl of Alpen was kicking me up by 5-6 points.

The only meal in the last week to contain significant carbs and NOT increase my BG by more than 2 points was sausage, mash and green beans - (estimated carbs for the mash was 45g) a 2 point jump. Though I perhaps need to try that again and see what it does. 2 readings at the extreme ranges of the stated margin of error could push that gap to near-4 points.

So I've changed my breakfast to an assortment of fresh berries with some cream. I did try Greek yogurt at first, but it did not taste very nice at all even with a sprinkle of Canderal Sugarly.

Lunch has generally been egg muffins with either bacon or a couple of sausages.
Today I had some Heinz chicken soup with a few croutons (22g) and some celery sticks, which pushed me up 2.2 points. I think next time I'll slice the celery and heat them with the soup, and lose the croutons.

My evening meals this week so far have been near-carb-free - the steamed mixed veg (inc carrots) last night were 14g, went up a point 2h later, not concerned.

Re: testing... when's the better time to test first thing?
I know about the dump on waking, generally I wake at 0630 on school days, and have my breakfast at 0730.. I test just before breakfast. Is that the best time to test from a "fasting reading" point of view? I'm averaging 8.2 for the pre-breakfast readings, but 7.1 for both pre-lunch and pre-dinner. Fairly limited data so far, so I don't know what it tells me...

I did manage a 5.6 this morning 2h after breakfast, having walked my daughter to school then a walk along the beach straight from there for an hour, 3.5 miles.


So still very much in the learning phase.
 
There are no rules about at which times to test.
Many people like to test before getting out of bd, or immediately after getting out of bed They say that it helps them see a trend.

Admittedly my DP is fairly strong (even still after over 3yrs in 'official remission' over 4yrs in unofficial remission), so for me that seems pointless and waste of both time and test strips.
I only ever (apart from a handful of times initially) test meals which after I was no longer hungry in a morning meant my tests were all after 12 noon. Perhaps I'm unusual since I had confidence that if I kept on getting good results from testing my meals i.e. all tests with less than a rise of 2.0 mmol and all tests showing less than 8.0 mmol - then my HbA1C would inevitably keep falling until it reached normal non-diabetic levels. Of course, I was correct in that - I don't claim to have an unusually fast decline in HbA1C (mine started from far too low for that), but I didn't care.

All I wanted was A). To be effectively functioning as non-diabetic both for reasons of diabetes symptoms & complications and also for heart health since I have history and family history of cardiovascular problems.
B). For it to be long term sustainable , since I don't plan on dying young - LOL I'm 73 in January !
 
I won't test quite so much after a few weeks and once I have a good run of data.

Having just done the school walk and done a bit of housework, I've got a case of the wobbles as mentioned in a previous post - did a quick check and I'm 5.4 (lowest yet) Decided to eat a couple of "rocky road bites " I had left over just to try and keep me honest, but assume it will take a while for my body to get used to lower BG levels.
 
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So here I am, six weeks later....

On the minus side, I have early signs of Macular Oedema, but that is stable ( did not get any worse between 2 sets of tests), so I'm hopeful that I can avoid needing any treatment for that now that my BG and BP (which was too high as well) are under control.

Weight wise, started off at 90kg, now at 83kg (12 to go to my target) and really starting to notice the difference comfort-wise. I am wondering if my insulin is now working a little better as a result...

My BG is generally 1-1.5 points lower before meals than it was at the start of December.

Monitoring-wise, been using prick tests from the start. keeping mostly below 8 mmol after I identified what was causing high BG, and changed my diet.

On Monday, I started with a Libre 2 and after the first 24 hours, the readings are closely matching prick tests, and also showing the odd interesting pattern. When I managed to spike my BG to 12 a couple of days ago (see below), I went to do the school run and my BG plummeted to around the 6 mark within half an hour. I was expecting a slower fall. Perhaps by walking briskly to the school, I simply burned the excess BG off?

Food-wise....
Finding about 180g of new potatoes with a decent-protein salad (meat or fish) keeps me honest and less than a 2 point rise, as does a similar amount of mash with sausages. 200g of chips with steak also didn't spike me more than a single mmol.

Definite no-go's are any crisps and snacks which are potato or grain-based - found even 30g of my favourite M&S cheese balls or bacon rasher snacks would send my BG into double figures. They seem to be the worst! Half a dozen QS chocolates just about sent me up to 8mmol briefly, so thats the absolute limit as a very occasional treat. There are quite a few things I really crave, and miss, but... needs must.

Have been able to get the HiLo branded bread locally now and again, which is ok and doesnt spike me, but can't find any other "heavily-reduced carbs" products in the shops to try. There are a few sources online, but not the same as going to a shop and buying it reasonably fresh. And VERY expensive. It left me wondering how those with Type 2 and on very limited budgets can eat sensibly to keep the BG down.....

I did attempt some roast potatoes with a home-made casserole this week.. spiked my BG to about 12 which I didn't quite expect - perhaps the casserole wasn't proteiny enough to offset the carbs. Won't be trying that stunt again!
Now that I have a CGM, and will probably self-fund another month, I can really check what spikes me and what doesn't.


A quick question for the medium term... at the moment I am losing around a KG a week, by diet and exercise (walking 3 miles most days).. at some point I will get down to my target weight.
If I lose much more than that, I'll be starting to resemble Starvin' Marvin.

What are others' experiences? - would I need to up carbs a little to maintain a certain weight? With the obvious danger that I'd start spiking my BG again?
 
I got down to 10st, at which point people said I looked ill. I didn't consciously change anything but it has crept up, over 2 years since by another 8 to 10 lbs. I assume because I'm maybe not as strict as I was, but I certainly didn't intentionally increase carbs.
There's a few people been on here worrying about losing too much, but I can’t remember reading of anyone not levelling out naturally.
 
If it helps with the affording low-carb food - most supermarkets do "offers" on meat which can be used for several quite different meals, and if one doesn't like to eat the same food flavour twice running, a freezer is useful for storing leftovers that can be made into soups and casseroles with lots of non-starchy vegetables. Anything with bones in - keep those bones for making bone broth. Frozen veg, is quite often cheaper than fresh, but buying fresh at a good price when it is available is worth doing as it can be prepped and then frozen until needed. Mushrooms add pzazz to any dish, and some supermarkets sell misshapes with these and other veg. Some key herbs and spices ring the changes for taste and not much is needed, or some herbs take happily to being grown indoors if we don't have a garden.
 
As I’ve just started “ pricking “ , Can you advise me on the following , Im lucky enough to be retired 83 , so make myself a proper coffee and eat a small croissant just dry , in order to take my many pills ,question should I do blood before that , then 2 hrs later .somtimes have breakfast sometimes not, or leave it and do before breakfast.As you can see a bit muddled , don’t do it everyday
 
A small croissant has quite a lot of carbs so it's likely to increase your blood glucose. I would test before your croissant and coffee, and two hours later to see how that croissant affects you.
 
I'd say @Antje77 is right.

However I'd suggest that that first tests early morning should be considered as one fbg AND one pre meal.... then do the post meal test
(As in keeping a log of the FBG separate.)

Reason is for me, on my early journey, I checked each meal, as others do, and quickly got my diet into better shape, so results usually at or below a 2mmol rise at the 2 hour marker .

But my FBG, ( and it's common that this is the last to go down,) was more resistant to change.

Almost like a small scared child, to timid to take that next step down in the scale of fbg levels until absolutely sure it was safe

So much so, it seemed to be at the start of a month, the 9's were dominant, before the middle of the month they gave way to a few 8's, and by end of month the 8's were dominant.

Repeated downwards over the next few months until low mid 5's were my normal level.

The morning fbg is, as a few mentioned, is a trend we are looking for.....so like for like each day for me.

Kettle on, use loo, wash hands, test .

Whatever morning ritual suits you best, just try to copy it each day.

As for fbg then breakfast, exactly as @Antje77 says, do your fbg, then test at 2 hours.

Even though the morning fig is likely the highest of the day (when testing) the 2mmol rise is still what you're looking for.

If you run kids to school, dash to shops or do a modicum of strenuous housework etc, THEN you have breakfast you should probably test on first bite, then 2 hours after to be sure of a proper result.

Someone mentioned about predicting your HBA1c by pinpricks...?

Not 100%, but while I don't use it now, the sugr app, once you input sufficient data (8 entries if I recall)
Guesstimates your next HBA1c.

Mine was only out a whole point or two when I checked after my blood test.

Might be worth a look for those interested or need motivation.


Good luck on your journey.
 
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Thank you all for your advise , tested throughout the day big differences from 7.7 to 9 .1 Which I don’t understand, but I guess if I continue for a while it will make more sense , hopefully ,very silly question what’s “ fBG”
 
FBG is fasting blood glucose. The purpose of all this testing at +2 hrs is to see how well you cope with the carbs in whatever it is you've eaten. If you want to see the peak BG rise, that will probably occur in the first hour after eating, and be well reduced by the end of the 2 hour period.

I'm attaching a constant glucose monitor graph from a non-diabetic person - you'll see the rises (marked with X) after food and falls very clearly.

There are some exceptions - eg people report that eating fats with carbs (the "pizza effect") can slow down carb absorption so that peak BG isn't reached until the third or fourth hour after eating. I've never seen this myself, but it seems to be fairly common.
 

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Thanks Kenny , I’m trying to test before and after , say for a week to see what’s happening ,so I don’t slip back up .
ive cut out the croissant this morning to see what difference is ( only heel Aldi ones , but can’t read the info on packet ,will get someone to help me later
another question I’ve got , is because I don’t eat many veggies, I’ve been eating either fresh fruit salad or frozen berry’s, are both a no no ,or one better than another.
 
While questions are always welcomed ...( how else can we learn )

I found this visual guide more than helpful when I started my journey.

Free to look , no need to join .

Visual low carb guides - Diet Doctor

Visual low carb guides Which vegetables are best on a low carb diet, can you have berries and which nuts have the fewest carbs? What should I choose to drink at a party? Check out our visual guides to low carb, which can help you make better choices!
www.dietdoctor.com
 
That’s an amazing guide! I don’t know why I haven’t seen it before. I am going to print each section, laminate them and have them on my kitchen bookshelf, right at hand. Thank you @jjraak
 
jjraak's link is highly recommended.

Most fruit is too high in sugars, especially fructose, for my normal daily carb intake. I eat a few berries occasionally - and I use both fresh and frozen
 
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