Blood Sugar

Hi Norsema.

Can you tell us what exactly your diet consists of at the moment. Details please of a typical day.

Your levels are very high. As a Type 2 you should try to aim for the following Bg levels (NICE 2009)
Fasting (waking)................between 4 - 7 mmol/l.
2 hrs after meals...............no more than 8.5 mmol/l.

If you can get those post meal levels lower then so much the better.

Norseman said:
Breakfast - half pint of tomato juice followed by wholemeal cereal or toast
Lunch - generally fish or chicken with veg, and rice or pasta
Evening meal - sandwich of some sort.
Thats it. Basically, one meal and two snacks.
Fasting reading is 15 - 17. Reading before lunch [and taking metformin] 24 - 25. Evening 23
Because of cardiac problems, I take a whole bag of other medications also.[/quote]

Hi Norseman.

You could be a carbon copy of me ! That is the sort of diet I followed for years, the dieticians advice to me for a 'healthy' diet. Looks OK, doesn't it ? I followed that till 2004 getting progressively more complications and ever larger. That culminated in a triple bypass. Out from Hospital vowing to stay fit I followed the same dietary advice. I did that for more years. Result....I was a wreck, Bg levels in the stratosphere, obese at 19.5 stone. Everything was a nightmare and I thought I was living on borrowed time. Then January this year after 'lurking' for a while I set about getting control of my Diabetes, without the 'helpful' advice of the dietician.

I reviewed everything I ate or drank and found that the foods such as you list above were toxic to my system. Those sort of carby foods I just could not tolerate. Sent my Bg levels rocketing. So, sorting that out I began to see marked improvements in my Bg levels, then I took it a step further and reduced all my carb consumption and started to follow a low GI/GL diet, which meant portion sizes were much reduced, even to the point of having meals off a side plate. It all works for me, as I too take other meds for the Cardio condition. I was on the same sort of meds as you, all max doses.

Result, I have now lost nearly 5 stone, Bg levels were reduced to near non diabetic numbers, HbA1c down to normal level, and all Chol, HDL,LDL and Trig's near enough normal. Fitter, healthier, livelier. Diabetic Medications apart from my Byetta stopped completely....All that just because I changed my diet ! It's worth looking at.

One other thing is that some medications taken for other conditions can seriously affect your Bg numbers as I have recently found to my cost. I have struggled to control my Bg levels because of a medication for an unrelated condition. Finally managing to get back on track, after nearly 4 weeks so hopefully my numbers etc will not be too bad next HbA1c.

Hi Norseman.

I don't quite understand what you mean by 'diet type foods' ? Surely any food that you eat has to be part of your diet ? I eat all fresh produce, nothing processed, fruit, veg so it should all be pretty healthy. A great diet for anybody. Can you explain please.

I understand now.

I never touch anything like that. It is all down to reducing the carbohydrates and making sure that portion sizes are managed well. Rice, Pasta, Juices, Potato Breads, Cereals and certain starchy veg are all the foods which can affect your Bg levels. The stuff that you would have thought was healthy......It 'aint always so !

I had to drastically reduce them before my BG numbers came tumbling down and many of the problems I did have were reversed. Check out the quantity of carbs you consume at a meal.

I endorese what Ken has said
It's the starches that need watching.
sucrose[table sugar] is 50% glucose
Starch is 100% glucose. Chemically that is. so for every 10g of sugar you eat, you get 5 grams of glucose into your system For every 10g of starch you get 10g glucose into your system. So you can see why you need to be careful
Hana