Blood sugars all over the place

Bread is a bad one - for me at least. Burgen do a lo(ish) carb loaf with Soya and Linseed. Some get on well with it, some don't.

White bread should be avoided -try this experiment (from school days!): Put a square of white bread in your mouth for a couple of minutes. Your saliva will start to break down the carbs in the bread until it tastes super sweet - evidence that white bread should not be eaten if you are trying to cut down your carbs...

Spag bol (one of my old favs!) should be avoided, too. Pasta has a similar effect on BG as white bread. Not good. Eat the Bol sauce to your hearys content, though! Somepeople use strips of courgette in place of pasta. If you've got a nice sauce (Bol/carbonara, etc...) you'll hardly taste the courgette...

When I was diagnosed, I treated it as if I was allergic to carbs and sugar but not sure which ones!! Ah-ha, a cunnning plan, no?! I cut all 'visible carbs'i.e., potatoes, pasta,rice,bread and sugary things. Then I slowly introduced 1 thing with each meal, testing each time. I found this gave me a baseline of foods that I could merrily shove down my throat without too much worry. I then expanded and experimented. My first hbac1 was 6.5 after being in the 20's when first diagnosed, so this approach definitely worked for me. Good luck with your new low carb plan

LinTay said:

Hi
Can you point me in the right direction re how many carbs a day I should aim for?
Is brown bread better than my loved white? Is there a low carb bread out there? Sorry for all of the questions but I really have to do something and I am worried and at a loss.

Click to expand...

Hi Lin.
I could tell you how many carbs I consume each day which is between 40 - 50g at the moment. That works well for me and fits in with my lifestyle.

As to what YOU should aim for, well, probably a lot less than you were or are at present. Work out your present carb consumption, try to half that at first, you may be able to get even lower ?

Personally I find very small quantities of Bread, Brown or White......one slice perhaps not a problem but others avoid bread all together. There are low carb breads which you could find by Google etc.......some are quite expensive. Hopefully somebody who uses the stuff might tell you. I always prefer normal foods, just lowish carb and in very small portions. Less hassle looking for things or seeking alternative Veg etc. Works for me.

I know you are not knewly diagnosed but have read of the Advice To Newly Diagnosed Diabetic's that Sue and I post around here. That is a basic guide, then take a read of the advice for those that wish to low carb. That lot should help you get your head round things.

Basic Advice
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=16224&p=148283#p148283

Guide to low carbing
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=7215#p64246

Lin.
Many members are told they don't need to test.........it is sheer folly !! It is about time these HCP's realised that WE have to control our own Diabetes and that what we need from them is support and a better understanding of the condition. Spouting from policies and text books is not what we need.
We all need practical, sound advice from experience........that is what we try to give on this Forum. Listen to the members, use your own brain and do what is best for YOU. That is what works.

If you do not test after meals you have no way of knowing what effect certain foods will have on your Bg levels. Once you see what the readings are you will then know which foods you can tolerate and what to avoid. You don't have to test for ever, just enough until you gain good control....then things can slack off. The HbA1c test is only an indicator which will show if your control is getting better or worse. Frequent daily testing is a must when trying to gain control.

See if you can persuade the Nurse that she is misguided and needs to see how people gain good, sometimes excellent control. Point her in the direction of this website.........maybe the people here can educate her ??? :twisted:

I have to endorse what Cugila posted, testing post-meal is an absolute must to get an idea of what the foods are doing to your blood glucose.

The response to carbohydrates varies enormously and it seems to be fairly individual with some foods spiking for some people more than others. I've just done a detailed set of tests for a fortnight and discovered all kinds of things that caused my BG to spike, and by controlling that, I've kept my levels right down.

But perhaps the most important part is that it puts you in control. Once you know what causes the spikes, you don't need to have them. I was originally told to test first thing in the morning and last thing at night, which frankly doesn't tell you much about what is happening. So over the last fortnight I've tested before, one hour after and two hours after a meal. That gives you excellent information.

Even the HbA1c test only gives a picture of the glucose that binds to your haemoglobin and that's really an average particularly over the last few weeks to a month or so. You can't bring down the average unless you know what causes the peaks and it's the peaks that largely cause the secondary complications.

I think once you've got the results of post-meal testing, you are so much more in control and it ought to be the very first thing diabetics are encouraged to do.