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Carbs and Blood level on waking

H

heavensoul

Member
Hi All

I hope you can answer this question for me.
The doctor told me to eat slow release carbs. Erm, What are slow release carbs?
Also after testing last week (My first week on strips ) my levels are on waking up: Mon 7.8 and Tue 7.5 and wed 7.1 and thurs 7.3 fri 6.8 Sat 8.0 Sunday 9.9 is this good Or do I need to get them lower?
 
Re: Carbs

Carbohydrates are classified according to their glucose response or glycemic index ( GI).
The GI is simply a ranking of carbohydrate foods based on their direct effect on blood glucose levels. The GI measures how fast the carbohydrate of a particular food is converted to glucose and enters the blood stream.

So that a food that is labelled low GI ( green) is a slow release food. Amber (medium) and red (high) will increase your BG levels faster.

I would suggest you get a copy of the Collins gem GI or GL book that will explain things more clearly.

He could also mean the starchy carbohydrates such as bread , potatoes, pasta and rice. We advise people not to eat these in any great quantity as they convert 100% to glucose in the blood which as well as raising the blood sugar levels also keeps you from losing weight.
 
As a T2 the 2009 NICE guideline Bg levels you should aim for at the moment are these.
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 numbers down then so much the better.

As you get the hang of carbs and diet you will find that your levels will come down.
Test before a meal and then two hours after to see what effect that meal has had on your blood sugars. Keep a food diary for a week and you will build up a picture of which foods are good and which are bad.
 
Hi.

As far as I am concerned, yes it can. I use a low GI/GL diet together with a drastic reduction of all carbohydrates. It has worked very well for me. Other's may well advise a different approach.

That's just my opinion.
 
Diabetes is an inability to metabolise carbohydrate properly so the main aim is to reduce carbohydrate intake to keep blood sugar levels down.

Which diet you settle for depends very much on what suits you, because what suits one person does not always suit another.

Many find the low GI/GL diet works well for them while others concentrate on just lowering the carb intake until it keeps their blood sugar levels at the rates ,or lower, quoted above.
 
I have chosen 2 books to order from Amazon:

The 7 Day GL Diet and The Insulin Resistance Diet (Because the doctor told me I am insulin resistant}

Will these help?
 
Anything which helps you better understand the processes and the methods has to be of help.

Whether we agree with everything in them is another matter ! Never read either so cannot really say. I did all my research and trials on the net and by reading medical books. Then came here and listened to the excellent advice on here. Made my own choices and that was it really. Trial and error will tell you if it is right.
 
I used a low GI diet for a short while, but that has not had the impact on my blood sugar that eating a low carb diet has had :shock: :shock: :shock:

What is labeled as insulin resistant today may be diagnosed as diabetic tomorrow. They have to draw the line somewhere :? A lot of the lines were drawn in the USA to prevent people from being excluded from health insurance rather than anything to do with their actual health needs. They have been reducing the figures uses to qualify for a formal in recent years :| :roll:

To understand your blood sugar - which you need to do if you are insulin resistant - I suggest you visit http://www.bloodsugar101.com this is all the stuff that the doctors don't tell you :shock: If you don't get to grips with your blood sugar now, your next blood test may be a positively diabetic result.

There is a lot of great support and advice here. It has helped me to turn my diabetes around. I have not felt so well for years :D
 
I'll second (third? fourth?) the advice above - try to read up about type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance if you can. The books you've ordered should help, this site will help, and the link Spiral gave you will help - then get on Google and get hunting (and ask questions here!)

In my opinion, your number one priority should be to remove as much "processed" carbohydrate from your diet as you can. This includes anything that man has thinkered with - so it's anything like sugar and sugar-containing foods; bread; pasta; pies; crisps; fizzy drinks; things like that. Instead, eat more real food - things that grow in the ground or hang from trees or run around or swim or fly. These foods tend to be both lower in carbs and have lower GI and GL and will help your blood sugars no end. Try to eat some meat, fish or eggs (i.e. a good source of protein) at every meal along with some veggies. And don't be scared of eating a bit of fat too.

That's a simple way to make some great changes to your diet while you read up a bit more and learn the ropes, so to speak ("simple", not "easy" - it might take some willpower!) From there you can tinker with things and see what works best for you; many people find they need to consciously lower their carb intake quite a lot to get good control, others need to be strict about eating low GI and low GL foods, some people do both.

The great thing about all this is that, although you've had some probably alarming news, you CAN make massive improvements quite quickly just by improving your diet. There are loads of stories on here from people who've done just that.

Good luck with it, do post back with more questions or to tell us how you get on.

Cheers,
Nick.
 
I was told I am diabetic last week. Does that mean I am not insulin resistant any more?
the doctor told me to eat sloe release carbs but not to cut them out. Have been told to see the diabetes nurse from now on. I think I have worn my doctor out LOL.
 
Hi HS.

Insulin resistance quite simply means that you have a decreased response to Insulin produced in your body. As a type 2 your body is not producing enough to deal with any glucose that is in your body. Consequently your Bg levels will rise. That is why you are a Diabetic.

As for your Dr's advice. Have a look around here and read the success stories of low and non-low carb dieters. Then make your own mind up as to what is the best thing to do. Personally, I would REDUCE the carbs by at least half.

Do you know what your daily intake of carbs is ? What are your Bg levels throughout the day ?
 
In a 'normal body' insulin is released which enables glucose to be transported into the cells to use for energy. If the cells in your body can't use this insulin effectiviely, failing to take up and utilize the glucose, this is called insulin resistance. In an attempt to overcome this and to keep glucose levels in the blood down the body (the pancreas) produces more and more insulin, but eventually can't keep up and the glucose levels in the blood rise to diabetic levels. This initially happens after meals, and then eventually in the fasting state too. Diabetes is diagnosed when the blood glucose levels are 7mmol or above in the fasting state (or rise very high after taking glucose). So with type 2 there is insulin resistance and insufficient insulin production to overcome this.
This simple animation describes what is happening (the type 2 bit doesn't start until about 5 minutes)http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to...betes/What_is_diabetes/Diabetes-and-the-body/
As to the slow carbs, have a look at this website which describes how the glycaemic index works. The newsletter which you can access from the main page contains lots of useful info and recipes.
http://www.glycemicindex.com/
But diet is not the only means of of controlling diabetes, exercise is also important since it increases insulin sensitivity.
 
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