Diagnosed a couple of years ago and up to now have avoided meds. I am quite active,walk alot and go the gym a couple of times a week. My last HbA1c was 6.7,and the nurse said I would have to go on meds. over 7,whichis what I am trying to avoid. My morning blood sugar between 7am. and say 8.30am is between 7and 8. If I take it after that time it rises between 8 and 9,and sometimes over as the morning goes on as I dont tend to eat till lunchtime,usually a sandwich of somesort or a piece of chicken. Mid afternoon my blood sugar is between 7-8,diminishing to usually between 5-6 before evening meal at about 6.30pm. If I go for a walk before evening meal my blood sugar reading is 4.5-4.7. Any thoughts or advice would be most welcome. Tony.
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Any advice
- Thread starter tshirley
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sugarless sue
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Welcome to the Forum Tony,
Can you tell us what an average days food would be. Maybe we can advise you on anything that may be raising your blood sugar levels.
The probable reason why your Bg levels are high in the morning is because you are missing breakfast. You tend to 'liver dump' if you don't eat as the liver has to keep supplying you with glucose to keep your energy levels up.
You should try testing just before a meal and then two hours after a meal to get a good overview of your bg levels.
Here is the basic information that Ken and I give to new Diabetics. I hope it helps you to understand a bit about your Diabetes.
Can you tell us what an average days food would be. Maybe we can advise you on anything that may be raising your blood sugar levels.
The probable reason why your Bg levels are high in the morning is because you are missing breakfast. You tend to 'liver dump' if you don't eat as the liver has to keep supplying you with glucose to keep your energy levels up.
You should try testing just before a meal and then two hours after a meal to get a good overview of your bg levels.
Here is the basic information that Ken and I give to new Diabetics. I hope it helps you to understand a bit about your Diabetes.
Here is the advice we usually give to newly diagnosed diabetics. We hope that these few ideas gained through experience help you to gain control and give you some understanding of Diabetes. This forum doesn't always follow the recommended dietary advice, you have to work out what works for you as we are all different.
It's not just 'sugars' you need to avoid, diabetes is an inability to process glucose properly. Carbohydrate converts, in the body, to glucose. So it makes sense to reduce the amount of carbohydrate that you eat which includes sugars.
This is NOT a low carb diet suggestion, just a reduction in your intake of carbohydrate. You have to decide yourself how much of a reduction will keep your blood glucose levels in control.
The main carbs to avoid OR reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, pasta, rice, starchy root veg and also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.
If you are on Insulin you may find that reducing the carb intake also means that you can reduce your dose of insulin. This can help you to keep weight gain down as Insulin tends to make you put on weight and eventually cause insulin resistance. This should be done slowly so as not to cause hypos.
The way to find out how different foods affect you is to do regular daily testing and keep a food diary for a couple of weeks. If you test just before eating, then two hours after eating, you will see the effect of certain foods on your blood glucose levels. Some foods, which are slow acting carbohydrates, are absorbed more slowly so you may need to test three or even four hours later to see the effect that these have on your blood glucose levels.
Buy yourself a carb counter book (you can get these on-line) and you will be able to work out how much carbs you are eating, when you test, the reading two hours after should be roughly the same as the before eating reading, if it is then that meal was fine, if it isn’t then you need to check what you have eaten and think about reducing the portion size of carbs.
When you are buying products check the total carbohydrate content, this includes the sugar content. Do not just go by the amount of sugar on the packaging as this is misleading to a diabetic.
As for a tester, try asking the nurse/doctor and explain that you want to be proactive in managing your own diabetes and therefore need to test so that you can see just how foods affect your blood sugar levels. Hopefully this will work ! Sometimes they are not keen to give Type 2’s the strips on prescription, (in the UK) but you can but try!!
If you are an Insulin user in theory you should have no problem getting test strips.
The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l........(Type 1 & 2)
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.....( Type 2)
2hrs after meals....... no more than 9 mmol/l ......(Type 1)
If you are able to keep the post meal numbers lower, so much the better.
It also helps if you can do 30 minutes moderate exercise a day. It doesn't have to be strenuous.
The above is just general advice and it is recommended that you discuss with your HCP before making any changes. You can also ask questions on the forum on anything that is not clear.
Sue/Ken.
