'Acceptable' BS whilst on holiday

Try not to panic, just avoid what you have to, like when at home. DB doesn't get a holiday, it behaves the same way, day in and day out. Enjoy the rest of your holiday, skip the ice cream maybe.
I think the simple answer is that acceptance should be the same whether on holiday or not, if it's not good at home it's not good when on holiday.

John309 said:

So I'm freaking out a bit and thought I'd ask the forum this question. I'm type 2 on medication my last 3 AC1 been in the 6/6.5 region so I'd regard myself as well controlled.
I'm currently on holiday so normal routine out the window. I still make the gym for an hour a day, but just tested myself and hit a 12 which is 4 hours after eating! I can only imagine it's been the ice cream I had at lunch.
I'm going for a run, but wondering what level most people 'allow' themselves to get to whilst away for a week?

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well it is a very narrow path to walk the one we are on....

it is hard work to succeed and it is so easy to get high blood glucose......

I think it is a sometimes harder job than most jobs we do from nine to five...

maybe it is bearable if we decide how often we allow us self to cheat a Little..

I have decided that Christmas is my day of cheating.... and if I was on holidays once or twice a year , I´d probably allow myself 1-2 days of cheating there too... maybe only at one meal pro day.... but .... like someone said ;" it is not the days between Christmas and New Year that is the problem.... but all the days between New Year and Christmas that is the main problem"

of cause that depends upon how severe your diabetes has become... noone should get blind from eating icecream

I decided not to test, but just be fairly sensible and enjoy myself - had a couple of ice-creams, ate a few small but very tasty desserts in restaurants, ate croissants for breakfast every other day and kept very active, cycling all over the place and swimming and surfing. I found myself less tempted than perhaps I would have been if I been stricter to start with - there were times when I choose the low-carb option, cheese instead of pudding, salad with my steak, not frites, etc, but it was nice having the choice.

Holidays are an important chance to relax in lots of different ways. I didn't want to be on edge about my BG levels, just able to enjoy myself. Came home lighter, so it can't have been all bad.

My HbA1c has been below 6 for a while now, and I do it by very low carb and no diabetic meds, so have a slightly different situation from you.

A couple of weeks ago, we went on hol and I relaxed my carb control a lot (for me) although I still guesstimate that I kept below 100-120g carbs every day.

Two things made it acceptable (IMO)

- Firstly, we were walking a lot. Hours a day, and that knocked my baseline blood glucose down to the low 4s by reducing my insulin resistance.

- Secondly, I was wearing a Freestyle Libre, which meant that I could track and time my blood glucose rises and falls.

For the 6 days that I ate like this, I reached 8-9mmol/l for about an hour each day, and hit 12mmol/l on one day. The rest of the time I was in the 4.0-6.0 range.
By the 6th day, I was running out of steam, heavy limbed and feeling VERY glad to return to my comfortable very low carbing.

but the REALLY INTERESTING THING (for me) was that according to the Libre, my blood glucose average for the whole week was 6mmol/l.
That is still at the bottom of being Pre-diabetic! (my prick tests with my standard meter showed that this was an accurate Libre sensor, so I am confident these figures are as accurate as is reasonable to expect).

Yet I was still starting to feel grotty, presumably more because of the bg fluctuations, than because my bg was running higher than usual.

Plus (and I find this fascinating) a few days after we got home, I had a single nasty stabbing pain jab me in the sole of the right foot. I used to get them occasionally, before I adopted Low Carb High Fat, but they disappeared with my new lower low carb blood glucose levels. I now consider them to be the first signs of neuropathy, and the fact that a week of fluctuating blood glucose caused the stabbing to recur is a timely warning for me, don't you think? I am certainly taking it as one. The thought of experiencing that dreadful stabbing on a daily or continuous basis is a very strong motivation to keep me on the Very Low Carb straight and narrow!

So, as I said, a different situation from you, but an interesting comparison. In future, I intend to lapse my carb control when on holiday, but not on consecutive days, and only on days with lots of physical activity. I figure that will allow me to reach the end of the holiday without the sluggishness I had this time.

I relaxed myself this Summer while in France for 3 weeks, but still kept my eye on the ball. I was testing - my highest was maybe 10, FBG up to around 8s some days. Ate some bread, the odd macaron!

Personally if you work hard daily then I think you can allow yourself to relax on holiday. But I was walking a lot every day which kinda kept it in check.

Also, I think if you go on holiday, relax then get back on track its fine - my getting on track took about 4 weeks.

Its trying to find the balance between enjoying yourself and not overdoing it. If you're not gorging yourself at every meal ect while on holiday and you are eating sensibly most of the time the occasional spike wont do much harm. The question you have to ask yourself is how high is too high in your opinion as we all have that level that we dont like to go past.

I'm currently on holiday in Cornwall and have left my testing kit at home! I am still keeping an eye on what I eat and have a full English for breakfast but if there is no low carb option during the day I don't worry and have what is available.

Holiday is a time to relax and recharge, including your mental attitude towards diabetes https://type1bri.com/holidays-time-ease-off

Personally speaking, I keep the same target all the time (which is under 7.8 2 hours after eating as an absolute max) and don't allow myself any cheat days: the reason being I don't trust myself to get back on the wagon if I ever climb off it

As I am fortunate to be able to take longer holidays than average, I tend to make my eating "business as usual". Clearly, that's my personal choice, and not for everyone.

@John309 - When you tested so high, did you re-wash your hands and test again? I'm just wondering if, as you had clearly been handling contraband (said with a chuckle in my voice), you may have had something sweet on your finger; from the cone, wafer or just a bit of a dribble.

It's just a thought.

Clearly, you could repeat the exercise (purely in the interests of science, you understand) and see what you get next time.

Everyone slips up sometimes. I well remember drinking some chilled Ginger Ale, quite quickly in the heat, only to realise I had picked up a full sugar version. Oooops.

Whatever, don't let it ruin your holiday.

John309 said:

Thanks all, very comforting to know. I last saw 12 in the very early days before I got to grips with the lifestyle change. Thankfully in the mornings my fasting B/s haven't been above 8.5. Not great but something! It is a challenge to know when to 'relax', and I think I might just be the sort of person who mentally can't let myself slip!
Interesting comment about the washing the hands, I've never thought the food remnants could impact a test before!

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Contaminated fingers happens to most of us, at least once.

My general suggestion would be if you have a weirdly unexpected reading; higher or lower for that matter (although the lower ones are easier to take, as a rule ), that you wash your hands again, dry them then test again to verify or reassure yourself.