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Blood sugar creeping up

S

strange famous

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17
I dont know if anyone else has had an experience like this?

I was diagnosed about a year ago as Type 2 diabetic, and my blood sugar was about 15-18 at the time. For the first couple of months I took insulin and metformin (2 tablets twice a day), but am now just on metformin.

I normally take my blood sugar just in the morning, and evening and 6 months ago it was typically 5.7 or 5.8, and maybe 5.0 to 5,4 in the evening.

Now it is around 6.2 or occasionally higher in the morning (6.8 this morning, which is the highest I have ever seen) and 5.6 or 5.7 in the evening.

I try to have max 80 grams of carbs at each meal. I lost about 4 stone when I was first diagnosed, but I am still pretty overweight (19 stone, 5'10'')

_

I guess it is obvious for any health related reason I should lose more weight, but is 80g carbs too much per meal? It was what the dietitian told me when I was first diagnosed, and I stick to that pretty religiously, but should I am for lower? Should I look to change medication? Or do I have to just get used to their being some variation in blood sugar? The other thing they told me when I was diagnosed was not to get stressed about levels and not worry about anything between 4 and 7... but I do worry, and 6.8 is pretty closet to 7...
 
Many people on this forum control their blood sugars by going for a low carb approach - it can be very successful, leading to giving up all diabetic medicines and to considerable weight loss. Once you have adapted to it, it is easy and sustainable.
There are many arguments as to what constitutes "low carb", with the strictest definition being 30g PER DAY. Many would regard 80g as an absolute maximum for a day, not a meal.
What your dietician has advised you is the standard advice given to all, diabetic or not. However, there are very good arguments, which are gradually being accepted by doctors, but haven't made there way into the mantra of the lower levels of the health service, that diabetics should restrict their carbohydrate intake. After all, a diabetic IS someone who can't process sugars (carbs) effectively.
Why don't you try cutting down and see what effect it has. Good luck.
Sally
 
I just looked up what I would have to eat to achieve 80gms of carbs per meal. I looked up the foods I have on my own home made menu. It looks as if I would have to eat a plate of chips and rice and that is not good.

In short, in my opinion, 80gms of carbs per meal is a pretty large overdose for a diabetic. I wonder how many meals you have a day.
 
I only moderately low carb and I still try and keep my main meal at under 50g and my other 2 meals about 20-30g max. This still allows me to have a small portion of potatoes, pasta, rice etc or a slice of bread so doesn't seem too restrictive. You also need to watch out for hidden carbs, I found it surprising how high some sauces were. As many have found out the only way to know is to test before and 2 hours after a meal, that way you will find out just what you can tolerate.
 
The dietician was pretty stupid to suggest 80 gm per meal for a diabetic even if it's a max. Many of us find that we need to stay well below 200gm/day and many target 150gm/day or much less. So, set yourself a daily target of, perhaps, 150gm and see how you go. BTW you don't have to have carbs with every meal despite the 'experts' saying you need to.
 
I was told diabetic or not that I needed the RDA for carbs and this is........300g

jim
 
RDA is 300g, its no wonder that the news is full of stories of people being obese.

Before I started looking into controlling my diabetes I was having roughly between 220 and 250g a day (worked out retrospectively, at the time I didn't care) and that is probably the main reason why I now have so many stones to loose.
 
3 meals a day. I wouldnt say that I have 80g of carbs every meal, just that I try to never go over that.

Breakfast I think normally about 60g (3 weetabix, skimmed milk, and an anti-cholestral drink, Lunch about 50g (2 brown bread sandwiches, a handful of mange tout), dinner I guess normally 40-80g (I dont have a lot of rice or paste as was advised to avoid these, I tend to eat ready meals because I'm not much a cook and these are the only things I feel like I can be certain what the carb value is).

Maybe I need to start aiming for 50g a meal and see if that helps?

I still find being ill quite stressful, and I get nervous literally EVERY time I test my blood sugar.
 
I couldn't tolerate that much carb. Do you need to have weetabix at all, let alone three of them? Skimmed milk also contains added sugar. What about having bacon and egg with mushrooms and tomatoes for breakfast, or Greek yoghurt with a few berries? At lunch try the sandwiches without the bread (!) - cheese, salami, a bit of houmous, avocado? Even with ready meals you don't have to eat the rice and pasta, replace them with veg.
 
Unfortunately I have found that they only way to know if a food affects me is to test, however I have managed to get into a mind set where I am actually eager to test after a meal to see if I have managed to keep it below 8 (some say 7.8 but I prefer round numbers).

It sounds stupid but it seems that different pasta shapes effect me differently, Tagliatelle I can manage quite well, but penne sends me high, tortalini is totally off the menu, partly I would guess that what they fill it with is also high in carbs.

Its just a case of checking after each meal and noting down what you ate and how much it put you up, I agree that you might be surprised at how much something like weetabix affects you, or you might be alright, everyone is different.

Sorry for pushing something that stress you but for me it really has helped.
 
I am a little confused. You were advised to avoid rice and pasta but you have 2 brown bread sandwiches for lunch. All of those things are converted to glucose when eaten so what's the difference?

I think your dietitian needs adjusting.
 
From what I was told, avoid things like white bread, white rice... for carbs have more "wholemeal" type things.

before dinner my bs was 5.3, which is more normal to what it usually is. I am going to try setting max level of 50g per meal rather than 80 and see if that makes things better.
 
If you want to lose more weight I would suggest taking carbs out of your diet altogether. You will get enough from the fresh veg you eat and if you add a little fat say in Greek yoghurt. That will be enough. Reduce your plate size as well!
If you carry on the way you are you will not lose the weight you desire to.
I was on a similar diet to you as I thought that the diet recommended by the DN would help me lose weight. It didn't ! Until I started very low carbing did I start to lose weight sufficiently to please my consultant who along with this site has helped me brilliantly!
 
strange famous said:
From what I was told, avoid things like white bread, white rice... for carbs have more "wholemeal" type things.
Click to expand...

So much dietary advice for diabetics is flawed. By and large, carbs are carbs, and for diabetics carbs are equivalent to sugar. Some can tolerate a little, others not. I would restrict your carbs to no more than 30g per meal at most, 20g if you can, and see where that takes you.
 

I remember that the wholegrain/wholemeal advice used to be handed out to people to "make them regular". It has entered the tribal memory as being good for everything. It is not good for diabetics.

Flour and sugar become glucose no matter what colour they start out. I read a comment by a doctor recently that flour has a higher GI than table sugar. I can add that if your sandwich was made of sugar instead of bread .............well that would be quite a lot of sugar.
 
Well as i said I'm not an expert - but the dietitian I spoke to said that on the whole you shouldnt eat a lot of bread - but brown was better than white because the carbs were more "complex" and your digestive system would therefore release the energy from them more slowly.

I've made an effort to cut down to 50g max per meal in any case.

The strange thing is that 2 days after my AM blood sugar was 6.8 it was 5.3 - which is the lowest Ive had in the morning for a while. Last night when I went to bed it was 4.2 (which seems too low?) and this morning it was 5.9.

I guess I do need to get used to a bit of variation, but definitely going to try and lower the carbs to see if this brings the averages down too.
 
There is a website called diet doctor. It is a health blogg run by dr Andreas Eenfeldt who is a doctor in Sweden specialising in obesity and diabetes. He advocates low carb more fat. I have lost 3 stone 2lbs since ?January. Here is the link
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
 
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