Feeling overwhelmed & afraid.

Alisonjane10 said:

I have no idea what to eat that won't spike my BG. Any kind of carbs sends my levels up.

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I think you've answered your question. Eat everything except foods with lots of carbs. Avoid sugar, rice, grains, starchy veg, as well as processed food. Eat fresh non-starchy veg, meat, fish, full fat non-flavoured yogurt, cheese, tree nuts.

Hi @Alisonjane10 & a late welcome to the forum.

Yes it will get better, but you need to cut the carbs the main ones being Potatoes Bread Pasta Rice Cereals and some fruits.

How is you BMI as if you are overweight this will have an effect on your BGs.

What are you eating and how and when are you testing?

Neil

Alisonjane10 said:

Hi Neil. I am eating a very low carb diet. Today I've eaten 1 slice of rye bread, small piece of cheese (size of a small matchbox,) 12 almonds, small bowl of porridge (half a portion,) plenty of water & that's it. I haven't got much of an appetite right now as I have flu. Usually in one day I have a slice of wholemeal toast, soup with 2 Hovis crackers, ham salad with coleslaw. Snacks are natural fat free or weight watchers yoghurt, almonds or cashew nuts, fruit such as prepared pineapple, mixed berries, pomegranate, pear, apple, orange. I would only have 2 snacks per day from the above list & no more than 2 pieces of fruit a day. Yet my BG is still high. I am overweight, but I'm working on that. I'm a "work in progress." My doctor has prescribed me Metformin 500mg twice a day & Gliclazide 160mg also twice a day. I'm testing before I take my medication at breakfast & dinner and at bedtime. I don't know what else to do. Any advice is gratefully received. Alison. X

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To be frank, that's not a "very" low carb diet. It's actually a very high carb diet, based on percent of calories from carb, fat and protein.

Alisonjane10 said:

Hi Neil. I am eating a very low carb diet. Today I've eaten 1 slice of rye bread, small piece of cheese (size of a small matchbox,) 12 almonds, small bowl of porridge (half a portion,) plenty of water & that's it. I haven't got much of an appetite right now as I have flu. Usually in one day I have a slice of wholemeal toast, soup with 2 Hovis crackers, ham salad with coleslaw. Snacks are natural fat free or weight watchers yoghurt, almonds or cashew nuts, fruit such as prepared pineapple, mixed berries, pomegranate, pear, apple, orange. I would only have 2 snacks per day from the above list & no more than 2 pieces of fruit a day. Yet my BG is still high. I am overweight, but I'm working on that. I'm a "work in progress." My doctor has prescribed me Metformin 500mg twice a day & Gliclazide 160mg also twice a day. I'm testing before I take my medication at breakfast & dinner and at bedtime. I don't know what else to do. Any advice is gratefully received. Alison. X

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Hi Alison,
Firstly, Having the flu could be contributing to higher blood sugars.

What you need to be doing is what most do on here, including myself, but you do not have to do it forever and that is Test just before you start to eat, then test (in the early stages) 1 hr after and then 2 hrs. From you original pre eating test the food you have eaten preferably should not move you more than 2mmol/L and on the 2 hr test after your meal it should have started to come down. This we all call eating to your meter.

Now you say that you have porridge, for some of us we cannot tolerate it at all, so you need to test to see what happens, if it spikes you more than 2mmol/L then you should cut it out. I have full fat yogurt berries sprinkled flaxseed and sm sprinkled granola. Or eggs and bacon Mushrooms omelette poached eggs scrambled eggs

Please check the carbohydrates in the Wholemeal bread , thats not 'of which is sugars' ignore that, it's the carbohydrate, lots here have the Bergen Bread, I think about 12carbs per slice or Hovis Seed sensations 13 carbs per slice. Sometime the wholemeal has more carbs than the white.

Is the soup home made as you may find the canned, has added sugar, carbohydrates. Check out the Hovis Crackers you may find that they are very high, I have 2 ryvita at 6 carbs each.

The nuts are OK, but some of the fruit is dubious, I am borderline diabetic, & I can only tolerate 1/2 an apple, Pineapple is so high in fructose and pears, oranges, (not sure about pomegranate) are not so good either, mixed fresh berries are OK but if cranberries they are very sweet, sultanas and raisins would also be out as very concentrated.

Now you have mentioned the Weight watchers Yogurt, you should change that for the full fat Greek yogurt.

You can have all the veg from which grows from above the ground, I manage swede, but you need to test any root veg. All the fish you want including the oily one like Salmon, Mackerel, fresh tuna,

What you have to do is test all your meals, if you get spiked then you either need to remove the offending food or reduce thew portion size. I don't need to test breakfast any more as I know exactly what would effect me, nor my lunches for that matter.

On here most are 'Low Carbohydrate High Fat' which initially is difficult to get you head round eating the fat but one of the government contracted dietitians a Trudi Deakin has just launched a book EAT FAT http://www.xperthealth.org.uk/low-carb-living the fact is most are losing weight on here eating LCHF the fat fills you up so you eat less and we are all ending up with lower cholesterol too.

Hope this helps a little, do not despair, have a look around the forum there is threads on LCHF and a forum.

Neil

Alisonjane10 said:

Hi
Blunt & to the point. Made me smile. Thank you for posting a reply. I'm slowly learning.
Alison.

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I hope you can learn faster than I did! Took me about a year to figure out that the healthy plate wasn't so healthy for me. But figuring that out has saved my life.

Alisonjane10 said:

Hi Neil

That's good advice. I'll use it to make better food choices & learn which foods effect me. I thought my diet was pretty good & low carb, but clearly not. I've just read the site advice page "Low carb dieting guide for beginners" posted by Rod. That's been an eye opener too. I want to be positive, and I know I have no option but to get on with it all whether I like it or not. So I'll try not to feel so low & learn how to cope better. Appreciate you taking the time to reply so comprehensively.

Alison.

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You can do it, you will be amazed how many foods you did not know you liked. You will lose weight easily as well.

Daunting at first but it gets a lot easier and quite frankly I have never felt so good.

Neil

Hi Alison, I'm so pleased I could help a little as one newcomer to another. Keep asking questions as there are a lot of wise, experienced old sages out there who can help you - I don't mean old like in geriatric!!