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BG all over

D

Defren

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,106
Hi, I am less than a week in from diagnosis, and as soon as I was diagnosed I hit a very low carb diet. I try to stay under 30g a day. My BG is all over from a low of 6.5 (first test with meter) to highs of 8.2. Last night I was naughty and had more carbs than usual and my fasting test this morning was 6.6. Is it possible to eat too few carbs? Or is it a very personal thing? I am wondering if perhaps for me 30g of carbs is a bit too low.
 
from what i have read 30g is a low target. I struggle at 100g
 
mistee71 said:
from what i have read 30g is a low target. I struggle at 100g
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I don't find it hard to be honest Mistee, but if it is possible I am eating too few, I can easily bump it up. I have stopped having all the things I like, but an odd naughty to keep the carbs up a little would be very welcome :mrgreen:
 
you do really well. Do you find it limits your choices?
 
mistee71 said:
you do really well. Do you find it limits your choices?
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It stops me having things I like. But I want to live as long as possible and with as few complications as possible so feel I have to bite the bullet. I was never a huge pasta fan so that's no hardship, I think the biggest issue for me is bread. I do have one slice of Burgen bread daily, but have a huge struggle with crumpets as I love those, hence the naughty last night. I did only have one, but apart from that, I am fine. I love salad and veg, so that probably makes it that much easier for me.
 
my weakness has always been crisps. I spent ages trying to find some that i could eat but failed. I try to follow a modified Atkins diet so i can eat a wide variety. The way i feel is having diabetes is a nasty thing on its own so having to live on a permanent diet that you dont enjoy makes me want to give up now. I dont know how long it will take me for it to feel like second nature.
 

Funny you should mention Atkins. I ordered some meal replacement shakes yesterday. I just want to try them and see if they help. At this point I am prepared to try everything, then once I have a routine that suits me, I will stick to it. All trial and error isn't it?
 
I agree. I came across this book THE ATKINS SHOPPING GUIDE a little while ago and think it's excellent. It even has phases in it from 1-4 meaning that you start on 1 for weight loss then slowly build to 4. 4 being the maintaining of your weight. It sort of becomes your bible and you can put in in your handbag.
 
Depends what you want to do...

It isn't necessary to go to less than 30g of carb a day to control your BG (I don't think - I could probably keep good control up to about 80g), but if you never want to spike at all, and get as near as possible to non-diabetic BG levels, you can manage on less than 30g a day.

You'll be in ketosis - which means that your body is burning fat for energy rather than sugar - but that isn't a bad thing. Some of the Paleo crowd think that it's our default human diet (because we didn't evolve eating a diet mainly based around refined carbohydrates). Steve Phinney and others think that, once you've adjusted over 3 weeks, that being in a keto-adapted state makes you more energetic and less subject to fatigue.

I love the fact that my BG never goes above 6mmol/l any more, and I can't wait to my next HbA1c.

At the end of the day, there are lots of Atkins dieters doing exactly what you are doing now, and there is no evidece that it is in anyway dangerous (and in my opinion, it's probably a lot better for you than feasting of refined carbohydrate).

Of course, do your own research and your mileage may vary, etc, etc, etc.
 

Thank you for the encouragement. Diabetes is such a mine field. At the moment I am going through the most dreadful fatigue. Not just tiredness but absolute exhaustion, it's horrible. Yesterday I slept for around 13 hours woke up and about an hour or so later could easily have gone to sleep again. I didn't but it's just so bad. I am hoping the low carbs will make it better.
 

I'm not technically doing Atkins, for example for lunch I had a ham and mushroom omelette, made with 2 eggs. but with the shakes only being 3g each, I am hoping they will make it easier to keep control.
 
I cant get on with shakes, i always feel like i haven't eaten however.. i watched a program the other day about food and excersise. They tested soldiers on who stayed feeling fuller the longest. There was 2 teams, one ate a proper normal meal of potatoes, meat and veg and had a cup of water. The other had exactley the same but blended into a soup using the cup of water then both teams went off for 2 hour playing hide and seek with there guns. When they came back a doctor scanned there stomaches. The team which ate the normal meal were hungry and the scan should there stomaches was empty but the other team were still feeling fine and still had food in them. After all that i forgot what i was going to say :lol: Maybe it was to simply say eat soup?
 

Sounds like a plan. I like soup too, but since diagnosis have not checked carb content in soup. If there are low carb soups, it would make a nice change at lunch time.
 
Heinz chicken soup has only 18g ( if I remember right) per tin.
I'm sure I read somewhere on here that it's one of the better ones to have.
I survived on it for about a week when I had a really sore throat and couldn't eat.
My BG levels were fine and I still lost weight.
 
How many tins of soup did you have in that week then?
 
Defren, as you're so newly diagnosed I wouldn't worry too much about your BGs being a bit erratic for the moment, as long as they're not shooting up too high. They should settle as you go on low-carbing. You may find that your morning fasting ones remain a bit high - this could be Dawn Phenomenon (do a search on here for that) when your liver gives you glucose to get you ready for the day. A small carb + fat snack at bedtime (eg 2 oatcakes, buter and cheese) helps some people with that.

The diet I follow is a Sticky Thread on here - Viv's Modified Atkins Diet . This is based on Atkins Induction phase, and is about 25g - 30g carb per day. If this is too low in carbs for you, get a Carb Counter book and add in extra Low GI carbs, preferably from vegetables and fruit, to get to the level you want to eat. Some people (eg Grazer) do very well on about 130g per day. Others, such as Sid Bonkers, eat small portions of carb with every meal and do very well on portion control. Different things suit different people.

You could always try going for 70g or even 100g of carb per day at present, and drop back down as your BG levels get more steady. By the way, your ham and mushroom omelette couldn't be more Atkins if you tried - except possibly for a bit of low-carb veg :lol:

I try to eat very low carb because I have a lot of weight to lose, as well as controlling my blood glucose levels. Actually, over the winter I've probably been nearer 50g per day than 30g, and sometimes up to 70g :shock: , but I shall drop back again as the weather improves. After more than a year of testing (though low-carbing for 2 years) my BG levels are almost always in the non-diabetic range, so it is possible. Slow and steady is the way - this is now a lifestyle, not a diet.

If things still haven't settled down in a couple of weeks, raise the subject again. Keep a food diary, test before and 2 hours after every meal, so you can keep a check on your progress. You'll get there!

Viv 8)
 
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