chilli con carne high blood sugar reading

[Trudy2410]

Been controlling my blood sugars really well with a LCHF diet, averaging between 5 and 6.5 for first thing in the morning and under 8 in the day 2 hours after meals. Made a chilli con carne tonight with lean beef, onions, tinned tomatoes red pepper and kidney beans. Topped it off with 2 teaspoons of soured cream. Tested 2 hours later and first reading was 28.4 so retested as thought it was a false reading and it was 14.9 which I found really confusing, why would it be so high? This meal does not seem high carb to me...... Surely a few kidney beans wouldn't raise my blood sugars that much. I have only been doing this just under 3 weeks so would appreciate some advice.

 

[sanguine]

It shouldn't go that high at all, I had a similar meal last night. Any carbs or sugar in your tinned tomatoes? Any specks of food on your fingers when you tested? You may need to scrub them hard!

 

[AndBreathe]

Been controlling my blood sugars really well with a LCHF diet, averaging between 5 and 6.5 for first thing in the morning and under 8 in the day 2 hours after meals. Made a chilli con carne tonight with lean beef, onions, tinned tomatoes red pepper and kidney beans. Topped it off with 2 teaspoons of soured cream. Tested 2 hours later and first reading was 28.4 so retested as thought it was a false reading and it was 14.9 which I found really confusing, why would it be so high? This meal does not seem high carb to me...... Surely a few kidney beans wouldn't raise my blood sugars that much. I have only been doing this just under 3 weeks so would appreciate some advice.

I had the same meal last night too (although @sanguine wasn't at my house ) and had a very small rise.

Did you use anything to thicken your chilli or did you use tomato puree at all? I'm just trying to think where there might have been hidden carbs. It might be worth looking up the brand of kidney beans, in case the brine contained sugar? Did you have anything to drink that might have contained sugar (ordinary squash, perhaps)?

Did you calculate the carbs in your dinner? I use myfitnesspal, and sometimes I can be surprised by how many carbs some recipes add up to, when they seem quite benign.

What are your bloods now?

 

[Trudy2410]

It shouldn't go that high at all, I had a similar meal last night. Any carbs or sugar in your tinned tomatoes? Any specks of food on your fingers when you tested? You may need to scrub them hard!

Checked the tinned tomatoes, and they were low carb. Haven't thought about washing hands, can that make such a big difference?

 

[Trudy2410]

Nope, shouldn't be anywhere near that high. I just had chilli con carne, something I eat regularly, and it was only 7 an hour later. I even have two desertspoons of brown rice.
I'm presuming you didn't have rice?

No rice, so can't see why it should be so high.

 

[sanguine]

Checked the tinned tomatoes, and they were low carb. Haven't thought about washing hands, can that make such a big difference?

Oh yes.

 

[douglas99]

Juice from the onion, or the pepper, or anything else you've touched.

 

[Trudy2410]

Just ret

I had the same meal last night too (although @sanguine wasn't at my house ) and had a very small rise.

Did you use anything to thicken your chilli or did you use tomato puree at all? I'm just trying to think where there might have been hidden carbs. It might be worth looking up the brand of kidney beans, in case the brine contained sugar? Did you have anything to drink that might have contained sugar (ordinary squash, perhaps)?

Did you calculate the carbs in your dinner? I use myfitnesspal, and sometimes I can be surprised by how many carbs some recipes add up to, when they seem quite benign.

What are your bloods now?

Just retested after washing my hands and got a 4.2 which is over 3 hours after the chilli. The chilli did not have tomato purée, the liquid was drained off the kidney beans and just water to drink. Yes I use fitness pal all the time at the moment to record exactly every thing I eat. Perhaps I had something on my hands which messed up the readings, have you ever had this happen?

 

[AndBreathe]

Just ret

Just retested after washing my hands and got a 4.2 which is over 3 hours after the chilli. The chilli did not have tomato purée, the liquid was drained off the kidney beans and just water to drink. Yes I use fitness pal all the time at the moment to record exactly every thing I eat. Perhaps I had something on my hands which messed up the readings, have you ever had this happen?

I think we've all had that we've all had that (heart attack) at least once.

Welcome to the emotional roller coaster that is diabetes.

 

[Moosepig]

Just ret

Just retested after washing my hands and got a 4.2 which is over 3 hours after the chilli. The chilli did not have tomato purée, the liquid was drained off the kidney beans and just water to drink. Yes I use fitness pal all the time at the moment to record exactly every thing I eat. Perhaps I had something on my hands which messed up the readings, have you ever had this happen?

please can someone tell me what Fitness Pal is and how to get hold of it please? I'm type two, controlled with metformin SR and Sitaglyptin

 

[Trudy2410]

please can someone tell me what Fitness Pal is and how to get hold of it please? I'm type two, controlled with metformin SR and Sitaglyptin

My fitness pal is an app that you can download for free. It's fantastic as you can record all your food and it calculates carbs, fat etc and you can also record exercise. I know exactly how many carbs I am eating each day.

 

[AndBreathe]

please can someone tell me what Fitness Pal is and how to get hold of it please? I'm type two, controlled with metformin SR and Sitaglyptin

myfitnesspal is a website, smart phone and tablet app, which allows you to track what you eat, exercise and so on. It's in the App Store for Apple, Google Play for Android or on myfitnesspal.com . It's free.

 

[nigelho]

Been controlling my blood sugars really well with a LCHF diet, averaging between 5 and 6.5 for first thing in the morning and under 8 in the day 2 hours after meals. Made a chilli con carne tonight with lean beef, onions, tinned tomatoes red pepper and kidney beans. Topped it off with 2 teaspoons of soured cream. Tested 2 hours later and first reading was 28.4 so retested as thought it was a false reading and it was 14.9 which I found really confusing, why would it be so high? This meal does not seem high carb to me...... Surely a few kidney beans wouldn't raise my blood sugars that much. I have only been doing this just under 3 weeks so would appreciate some advice.

All tinned veg have carbs in them. I always check the labels on whatever I use, where possible, and allow for the carbs in my insulin ratio. However, some food stuff does spike some diabetics and I don't do 2 hour testing unless I don't feel well. As per DAFNE I test after 4 hours as my insulin takes about 4 hours to work. You must never do any corrections if you prefer to do 2 hour testing as this can lead to you stacking your quick acting insulin causing hypos later in the day...as I found out after I did DAFNE.

 

[AndBreathe]

All tinned veg have carbs in them. I always check the labels on whatever I use, where possible, and allow for the carbs in my insulin ratio. However, some food stuff does spike some diabetics and I don't do 2 hour testing unless I don't feel well. As per DAFNE I test after 4 hours as my insulin takes about 4 hours to work. You must never do any corrections if you prefer to do 2 hour testing as this can lead to you stacking your quick acting insulin causing hypos later in the day...as I found out after I did DAFNE.

Nigelho, Trudy is a T2, who doesn't take insulin. For those of us with T2, our main tool in managing our diabetes is our diet. For us, that's what makes the major difference in our blood scores. On that basis, it is important for us to track our bloods to ensure the rises and falls in our blood glucose don't create too much of a roller coaster. Because true hypos for us are far less likely, and any hypo we experience is extremely unlikely to be medically dangerous, we are more concerned about capping the rises, as it's these that are believed to do the damage.

 

[Serena51]

I Have always rinsed tinned pulses really well before draining them and then using. That gloopy stuff they'e in just put me off and I think it would have a lot of starch in it.