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Bananas

Hi @Oscarbromley ..
Plenty of tips here for potassium without the need for bananas, which can be a problem for carbs. The key point, though, is that managing and controlling your diabetes through exercise, diet and testing your Blood Glucose seems to be the best way forward for many people. For me, committing to an LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) lifestyle and testing 3-5 times a day seems to be working and you'll find that there is a wealth of info, relevant advice and positive support about LCHF on the forum ..

Not sure if you have received your welcome "pack" from @daisy1 but I have tagged her for you and I suggest that you read up on the Low Carb Program in the information that she will soon be sending you. You might also find the discussion on the Low Carb Diet forum helpful .. and the following Diet Doctor websites ...
Low Carb Intro and Information
Low Carbs in 60 Seconds

I note that you are testing but finding it expensive .. it is a top priority that you test daily so the following websites might help:
https://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/
for the SD Codefree meter, which costs £12.98 (you don't pay VAT) or:
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-blood-glucose-meter/
who distribute the TEE 2 meter, which is free.
I have both for comparative purposes and I have never found any significant difference between them. Unless you are prescribed test strips by your doctor (unlikely), the costs of testing comes down to the ongoing charges for test strips and lancets. I'm testing 3-5 times a day which works out at around £10 to £12 per month for either of the two packages above but, more importantly, I now know what my BG levels are .. and I can now manage them
Hope this helps
 
@Oscarbromley

Hello Oscar and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it interesting and useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:
  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates
Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.
  • Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  • Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
 


To get your daily potassium from a banana you'd have eat 11! Try a potassium tablet instead
 
CDudley said:
To get your daily potassium from a banana you'd have eat 11! Try a potassium tablet instead
Click to expand...

@CDudley - How much potassium does the tablet you refer to? Which brand is it?

AFAIK, most potassium tablets are usually limited to 99mg of potassium per tablet. So, you would need to take 45 tablets to reach your RDA. There are some tablets that have 200mg of potassium. You could ask the doctor to give you a prescription for "Slow K" if your potassium levels are very low - but this is only for a short term/quick fix - not a long term solution.
 
If you can eat a banana and you BG levels are ok then no reason to stop it. My husband has eaten bananas every day for at least the last 50 years the only fruit he likes. Before diabetes it was about three or four a day now he has one after his main meal every day and it does not spike him
 
My potassium levels are bang in the middle of the standard range.

I haven't had any bananas since diagnosis
I don't take supplements

I get it from eating salmon, fish, beef, chicken, lambs liver, mushrooms and many other foods.
 

This may sound silly, but surely when your sugar goes up eating say a banana, just because BG level has not come down, from say 10 mins to 2 hours, maybe it may take a little longer, but would come down never the less?
 

5 Times a day seem's a little excessive.Surely depending how long you have been diabetic, would you not have a good idea what would affect your sugar levels regarding food by now. I would understand if you were trying a new food that you would test... Surely we must get to a point where if we keep a diary and stick to the foods that we know are safe for us,we can test just a couple of times a day?
 
derry60 said:
This may sound silly, but surely when your sugar goes up eating say a banana, just because BG level has not come down, from say 10 mins to 2 hours, maybe it may take a little longer, but would come down never the less?
Click to expand...
Possibly so but having a level of 10 is certainly not doing you any good for 1 hours or 10 hours.. far better not to eat the banana and stay lower in the first place.
 


A small not to ripe banana is fine so long as you count it in your overall diet plan, it contains some needed other itemns like
fiber, potassium, and vitamin C, yes like most fruits they do have sugar, but the other stuff is also good for you so just becarful but I would say do not stop them.

The NHS and other groups do think a small banana not to yellow is fine

Adice taken from years of being a diabetic and lots of NHS and other courses taken, the secret is moderation
 
bulkbiker said:
Possibly so but having a level of 10 is certainly not doing you any good for 1 hours or 10 hours.. far better not to eat the banana and stay lower in the first place.
Click to expand...

Goodness yes have to agree with you there. Best to just keep away from them. I have been eating berries as suggested on this forum. Raspberries, Blackberries, Strawberries and kiwi fruit, passion fruit and Apricots. I read that if we want a banana is to eat it while still a little green, less likely for sugar spike, but you know your body and obviously is not good for all. The thing that I worry about is when autumn comes and the fresh berries are harder to find. I know that we can purchase frozen berries but not so keen on those or tinned. Just had a thought..I know that we are supposed to keep away from smoothies, I have a magic chef blender, and you can put frozen berries in with a little stevia with a fruit yogurt and just pulse, not blend. I wonder if that would be ok to eat?. It is like eating ice cream. I thought that as you pulse the berries it would not affect our sugar levels. Frozen berries are pretty tart. Oh I also add Ice cubes.
 

I find frozen berries spike me. It could be because as they defrost they go a bit mushy, or at least raspberries do. You would have to test blended fruit as this is akin to fruit juice, much worse than the actual fresh fruit. I find you can always obtain raspberries and strawberries out f season these days. They aren't as nice, but added to cream or full fat plain yogurt are fine.
 
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