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Diet and testing advice

M

Maggie75

Well-Known Member
Messages
147
Hello everyone,

I have a question about when I should be testing my blood glucose, all advice on here says 2 hours after eating but I've been watching a youtube video where the guy says you should be testing 1 hour after eating to get correct peak reading, now I'm confused!? Also when looking at the carb content on food packaging should I be subtracting the grams of fibre (again advice from the same youtube guy but he is in the US), this would obviously make a big difference to a lot of the higher fibre food in regards to carb count. I have to admit I haven't been testing for a while due to anxiety around needles (and pain - lol) but now want to see what different foods are doing, yesterday I had a roast chicken dinner with mashed potatoes (I know but had to know how bad it would be), pre-meal reading was 4.9 and 2 hour post dinner reading was 6.2 which I was absolutely delighted about. I have lost 19 pounds since being diagnosed in Nov/20 and still taking one metformin a day so don't know if that's making a difference. Thanks for any advice about this.

Maggie x
 
Ideally you would measure at 1 hour & again at 2 hours until you learn what various foods do to you.
If you find the cost of strip prohibitive then the 2 hour value will suffice.
That early 2 hour reading is very encouraging.
Non-diabetics spike too but are nearly always back in the normal zone 4-6mmol/L @ 2 hours.
 

US food labelling is different from that in the UK. If using Uk labels, the fibre is not included in the carb content, so there is no need to subtract it.

In the US, fibre is included in the carb content and does need to be subtracted - hence the American term ‘net carbs’.
 
Thanks so much for your replies, that's made it a lot clearer. Did my second test for dinner this evening - spaghetti bolognese (again I know but my curious nature needs to know what's going on when I eat these foods). Pre-meal blood glucose reading was 5.3 and 2 hours after eating it was 6.3! I'm stunned at that, especially with pasta. Think I may try the testing at 1 hour to see if there's any difference but I don't assume there would be? Or am I totally wrong in thinking that? I'm very happy with these results, hoping they translate in my 2nd HBA1C next month. Thanks again.

Maggie
 
The two hours after eating is not to find the peak, but how you reacted to the meal with a dash of how high it was in carbs.
You might very well be able to cope with higher carb foods now - I can too but I instantly start to gain weight so I go on avoiding them.
 
Hello again,

Well my theory has been thrown off a bit now, had ready brek for my first meal today, was a very late breakfast, pre meal level was 5.9, tested again after 1 hour and it was 10.3! Was shocked at the rise so tested again at 2 hours and it was down to 6.9. Now thinking maybe the other higher carb meals may not have been as ok as I thought initially. And I guess ready brek is off the menu? Sorry for all the questions about this, I'm very confused now, is it a good thing that my levels came down to a semi-decent level after the 2 hours? This was also after 1 metformin tablet immediately after eating. Thanks for any advice.

Maggie
 
Your body will react
Your body will react differently to different carbs, when you eat them, how much of them you eat and what you eat them with. It's all a learning curve. Personally mash and jacket spuds are a no go, the (very)occasional roastie or handful of chips I can get away with, tinned new potatoes are best for me. Pasta is a complete no go, rice a couple of tablespoons, it's just a case of trying and testing until you find what works for your body
 
One other issue potentially is that carbs can raise bloods and keep higher for longer. If I have something like fish and chips then I will have higher bloods well into the next morning for example.

The 5.9 to 6.9 rise 2 hours after food doesn't seem so bad though, recommended is usually a rise of 2 after food at most.

But I'm weirdly lucky, I am able to have a lot higher carbs in a day than some on the forums, we are all different
 
@Maggie75
Although foods, especially carb laden ones like ready brek and other cereals, can affect bg levels, so can
  • Sleep
  • Stress
  • Exercise
  • Medication
  • Alcohol
  • Fats
And I'm sure there's more. Its not an exact science but finger pricks are the best measure we have available. Remember its a marathon not a sprint, the learning curve is huge, few get it right all the time. Best we can all do is try and keep an eye on it nest we can.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice, this is definitely a learning experience for me but I know testing is going to be crucial despite what my diabetes nurse or dietitian says. Had very low carb dinner tonight of chicken wrapped in prosciutto with huge salad with mozzarella and walnuts, reading at 1 hour after meal was 4.7 and after 2 hours was 5.0! Big difference. I suppose my question is can I just test at 2 hours after eating even though that will be after my spike? And if the spike is high but then starts to fall is it still doing damage? Thanks again for all the advice.

Maggie
 
Spikes can vary depending on all the factors i listed above . The pre-eating and 2 hours will get most of them but not all, which is why the regular hba1cs are important
To see more of what is going on you could invest ina CGM a continuous glucose monitor, the most popular of which is the Libre.
I am thinking of getting one, but thats after 10 months of finding out what doesn't spike me, and I'm now looking to see how exercise and other factors affect me.
You are still at an early stage on the learning curve in what is a very inexact, very individual condition. Just as it has taken perhaps 10 years to develop it isn't going to suddenly deteriorate too much while you learn, if you stay low carbing
 
If you can manage it for a couple of weeks, pre meal and then 1 and 2 hour tests would give a good, but not exact, picture. Fatty foods like pizza for example take longer to get into the bloodstream.
There's also your needle phobia and possibly costs of the tests to consider. Each of us chooses our own route for us. I started with lots of tests but now, 10 months later only do one a day and when I try a new food
 
Ready Brek is made on an interesting machine. A large heated roller dips into a tray of processed starch, and carries what it picks up around and then comes into contact with a scraper which removes the layer of now cooked goo and it falls down a chute to be packed. The significant part of the way of making it is that it is highly processed, so the starch is easily available. I suspect that is why eating it caused a spike.
 
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