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Diet modifications

M

Mscmhs1

Active Member
Hey guys.

I’ve started posting a little over the last week or so and am quite new to the whole type 2 diagnosis and beginning to feel more comfortable with sharing.

My most recent HbA1c was 51 so whilst high it is manageable with exercise and changes in diet. I’m not on medication.

But this is where it gets difficult.

I’ve been using the Libre 2 as part of a free trial for just around 4 days and have seen some shocking things already. For example I’m only within zone around 30% of the time.

I average around 9.2 but it has been as high as 15. But what I have learned (not that I was completely naive to it beforehand) is that I eat too late in the evenings which peaks to around 12/13mmol. But then I’ve been drinking red wine - frequently a full bottle. Add that together with the unhealthy food and of course it will spike to those levels and particularly that these habits are pretty consistent!

I’ve also noticed that this is causing the dawn phenomenon as my levels are around 7/8/9 upon waking but within 20 mins are at 12 without even having has so much as a coffee!

Today, an hour after waking I had a coffee (with sugar) and an apple. My BG rose to 13.2.

So I guess this is a long-winded way of asking what replacements people have used to support a better diet.

I’ve noticed that even small amounts of carbs (I had a very small bag of mini cheddar yesterday and again my BG still shot through the roof).

I don’t want to think that this is the end of everything I enjoy, but even small amounts are detrimental.

How to strike a healthy balance? Also which sugar replacements are best?
 
Sugar replacements are personal. I won't have xylitol in the house as it is toxit to fur babies.

Forget about dp for now. It's usually the last number to come down.

Concentrate on getting your numbers down. Take a reading before you eat and again 2 hours after the first bite. If the rise is over 2mmol then you ate too many carbs.

Read the link in my signature. Stay away from fruit.
 
I drink coffee with cream and it doesn't need sweetening.
I find that two proper meals a day are all I need. when in a hurry I might have a slice of meat from the previous days dinner and a tomato, but steak and mushrooms with other things from the fridge, or fish with a big salad, or sausages, eggs, liver, bacon in some combination all set me up for the day. Another fast meal is scrambled eggs, cheese and a sliced tomato on top.
You can make cheesy crisps by toasting little mounds of grated cheese until they melt.
 
It's just a thought, but for the purposes of getting to grips with your diet, I would use finger pricks to test your blood before and after eating. Finger pricks are real time whereas the libre lags behind 15 to 20 minutes. Use along side the libre by all means.
 
Can you explain what you mean here?
I would have thought the Libre was better because it spots the peak whenever it occurs rather than assuming it is 2 hours after eating.
My understanding is the target is to minimise spiking regardless of when that spike occurs so I am confused by your mention of the lag.

@Mscmhs1 be aware that the Libre is most accurate between 4 and 8 mol/l. When you go outside this range, the reading become unreliable.
As someone with T1, this means I always test with finger pricks when I am higher. Correcting a 15 with insulin could be dangerous if it is really a 10. I know insulin is not a consideration for you but Libre may not be a good judge of blood sugars if you are higher than the range. All you know is that you are peaking and when but I would never rely on the sensor to correctly tell be by how much if the numbers were higher.
I am sure this is disappointing to read but Libre was designed for identifying time in range and lows rather than the extent of highs.
 
Thank you for the comments so far! They’re very useful. To he honest, I tried Libre due to the offer of the free trial. I have done finger pricking before. However, I actually feel that for me personally, it might be better to make conscious decisions to improve diet etc without pricking or scanning. It almost comes obsessive and quite alarming.

Between my last test and the one before I’d gone down from 54-47 so know it’s something I can do but then I slipped and inevitably it went back up.

Just need to be more mindful of that.
 
Testing doesn't have to be forever. Once you have got your blood under control, there is no point in testing before and after eating bacon and eggs, because there are no carbs to speak of. Test unfamiliar foods though.

@In Response it's easy to forget the lag. Swipe and eat, swipe again. I find the libre invaluable for trends, I don't always believe it. Chuck steroids into the mix where you have to estimate when they kick in to correct and it's a really fun time.
 
Yeah, so with the sensor, you can see what causes you to spike. Sorry, but you need to eliminate those from your diet.

You may be able to relax a bit after you get near a normal range and add in exercise. But this requires a lifestyle change.
 
xfieldok said:
In Response it's easy to forget the lag
Click to expand...
But, if you are trying to spot whether certain foods spike too high, I don’t understand what difference the lag makes. A high spike caused by certain foods (or activity) is a high spike whether it occurs 1 hour after eating or 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Sorry for the questions, I am trying to understand the relevance of the lag with regard to trends and identifying spikes.
 
I just don't find the libre accurate enough when trying to nail the numbers. I hit a 12 today thanks to the steroids, it doesn't appear on the graph.
 
 
Noting that drinking wine or other alcohol will delay any response to food, and can bring a peak down to a trough very quickly.
However you pay for that later when the alcohol wears off and your BG shoots up again.
This can happen overnight if you eat and drink in the late evening.
 
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