6 months ago I had a fasting glucose test of 6.2 . I have some quite serious health problems, so was eager to get it down. I have been on a low carb, low sugar diet, and have lost over a stone. I have had another test today and it is 6.5. I am so gutted. Admittedly , I have been very stressed and haven't been sleeping well. I haven't been doing any exercise. I have also been eating a lot of fruit.....probably too much actually, but apart from that I have been eating way less sugar and carbs, so can't see why it has gone up. Am desperate not to become diabetic....with my other health issues it would be a disaster!!! Help and advice would be gratefully received....xx
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Blood sugar going up despite diet changes
- Thread starter missycat
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There is no Spoon
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Hi missycat,
I think you have answered your own question better than any of us could.
The solutions I'm sure you can figure out for yourself.
- Eat less fruit = lower blood sugar
- Excersise more = lower blood sugar and tires you out so should help with the sleep.
- meditate find a quiet spot to chill out = lower blood sugar and should help with sleep.
Bed is the best place in the world.
Whoops! Stress, lack of sleep, fruit all raise bg as you have found out. Get yourself some lavender pillow spray, stop buying fruit and have a cheese board for dessert. Try taking a 10 minute walk at lunchtime, go to a local park or anywhere you can breathe deeply a few times, give yourself a good talking to and start over again for the afternoon/evening. Get this under control while it is still a little monster.
Are you really comparing two fasting blood glucose finger prick tests 6 months apart and drawing conclusions from that? If so you aren't going to learn anything from those in isolation. Have you had an HbA1c test? If not then you should get one.
I in the past week eating a completely ketogenic diet have had FBG at 6.7 and 4.9 do I draw any conclusions from that ... no because I monitor it every day as well as taking other readings at different times. Although I know that the high was because I had a cold and the 4.9 was nicely low. Those two simple readings are very close anyway (so it could just be noise on the meter).
Sorry should have said hello and welcome and I'll tag @daisy1 for the very useful guide to Low Carb eating which will help you gain control of your sugars (without the fruit).
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Missycat - When you say you had a fasting glucose test, could you tell me why you had that done?
The reason I ask is fasting blood glucose tests are rarely used to guide a diabetes diagnosis. The more common test, if T2 is suspected, is an HbA1c test, which can be done fasting or not, but if a raft of tests are being done, it'll often be fasted. A fasting blood glucose test measures a snapshot of the blood glucose at the time of testing, whereas the HbA1c measures the blood glucose over a few weeks.
If the test was a true fasting blood test I wouldn't be unduly concerned as the number could be different on a different day, and a variance of 0.3 isn't overly large.
For anyone whose blood sugars can be a bit elevated, fruit is rarely their friend, in any sort of quantity.
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First, as has been said, cut drastically or cut out the fruit. There are no vitamins or minerals in fruits which cannot be had from veggies. Secondly, sugar is a carb and all carbs turn into glucose once you eat them so lowering the amount of carbs in your diet will positively impact your blood glucose levels. Fasting blood glucose levels can be notoriously slow to come down for some people even on a lower carb diet. Conentrate on your pre and post meal readings (this is assuming you are using a glucometer, if not then you should).
Welcome to the forum, have a wander around and keep asking questions.
Welcome to the forum, have a wander around and keep asking questions.
daisy1
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@missycat
Hello Missycat and welcome to the Forum
Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will 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:
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 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
Access to blood glucose test strips
The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:
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. Most of these are free.
Hello Missycat and welcome to the Forum
Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you like and someone will 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
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 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
- Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
- Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
- 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
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. Most of these are 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.
