Blood sugar levels.... Questions??

[annem]

Hi,

I'm new here and trying to help my husband to deal with his diabetes. He has been Type 2 for around 4 years but recently has been put on more medication and given a meter to take his BS readings, which he has been doing for about a week now.

I understand that his levels will fluctuate, they have been averaging around 6 - 7, but today he went right up to 10 we are making a real effort with diet, hasn't eaten anything really different and can't understand why the level has gone up like this. He takes readings at the same time each day... before breakfast & dinner.

Is it quite normal for levels to go up in this way? He is seeing his nurse again in about 4 weeks, but this has worried him.

I know its early days but would appreciate any advice about these meter readings.

Would it make a difference with doing exercise? He played football just prior to taking the reading.

Last... but not least, can anyone recommend a good recipe book that I could get to help with diet?

Many thanks in advance,

Anne

 

[sugarless sue]

Here is the advice we give to new type2's. You will note it says to test before and two hours after a meal. This is the only way you will find out what the food he is eating is doing to his blood sugar levels.
Probably the reason his blood sugar levels were higher after football is that his liver ' dumped ' glucose into his system due to the exercise.

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.

The main carbs to avoid or reduce are the complex or starchy carbohydrates such a bread, potatoes, pasta and rice also any flour based products. The starchy carbs all convert 100% to glucose in the body and raise the blood sugar levels significantly.

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.

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 !!

As a Type 2 the latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Bg levels are as follows:
Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l.
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

 

[annem]

Thank you for your reply... just after I posted I came across the thread for newbies... very helpful!
Interesting too about the exercise.
Some good reading here, wished I had found it before.

Anne

 

[Synonym]

Hi Anne

Check out the recipe thread on the Food forum where there are lots of different ideas. 8)