Forbidden Fruits !

RosieLKH

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That sounds like a good reading to me. I'm sure others will be along soon who know much more about pre-diabetes than I do.
 
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sanguine

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As previously mentioned my doctor has said I am prediabetic, I have just done my first test, 2 hours after lunch, 5.8 mmo/l, trouble is, I have no idea what that reading means.

That's very good, just within normal levels for before eating, and well within the 7.8 that would be considered a normal maximum for after eating. To put in context though, you should test immediately before eating as well to see what the rise is.
 
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Teabags

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That's very good, just within normal levels for before eating, and well within the 7.8 that would be considered a normal maximum for after eating. To put in context though, you should test immediately before eating as well to see what the rise is.

Thanks for that information, much appreciated. I am going to do a test in the morning before eating, then 2 hours after eating. From what I can gather there are a lot of variables that will effect the readings, I expect it takes time and many tests to build up a picture of exactly where you are on the BG/Diabetic spectrum. Thanks again.
 
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sanguine

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That's quite right, and it's the trends that are important. Individual readings could be out by up to +10% or even occasionally +20% due to the inherent meter accuracy.
 
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Teabags

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My first fasting test done this morning 4.1 which I think is good, I will do another test later, not sure how long to leave after a meal before taking the test, i have seen both 2 hours and three hours mentioned. However, repeated the test 2 hours after eating, and the first one gave a reading of 3.3 I immediately did another test and the reading was 3.8. Why has the reading dropped after eating, I thought it would have risen, and why is there such a gap between the 2 test results taken at the same time. It makes me wonder how accurate the SD Codefree monitor is.
 

Bluetit1802

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@Teabags No meters are accurate. There is a 10 to 20% tolerance. We could test 10 times in a minute, same finger, different fingers, and all 10 readings could be different, often by a significant amount. Accuracy isn't that important for those of us simply testing out what food does to us, it is trends we are looking for, although it would be nice if they were accurate!!

When you test is down to you. If you are testing new foods or just starting to test foods, test immediately before you eat and then at 1hour and 2hours after starting to eat. If the 2 hour reading is still going up, try again at 2 and a half hours and keep going until you see it going back down again. Different foods and combinations of foods will "peak" at different times. Don't panic if the 1 hour reading is higher than you would like. For most of us it is the 2 hour reading that is more important, and if it is dropping at 2 hours, all is well.

Your numbers are excellent by the way. Well jealous!
 
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SJC

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@Teabags No meters are accurate. There is a 10 to 20% tolerance. We could test 10 times in a minute, same finger, different fingers, and all 10 readings could be different, often by a significant amount. Accuracy isn't that important for those of us simply testing out what food does to us, it is trends we are looking for, although it would be nice if they were accurate!!

When you test is down to you. If you are testing new foods or just starting to test foods, test immediately before you eat and then at 1hour and 2hours after starting to eat. If the 2 hour reading is still going up, try again at 2 and a half hours and keep going until you see it going back down again. Different foods and combinations of foods will "peak" at different times. Don't panic if the 1 hour reading is higher than you would like. For most of us it is the 2 hour reading that is more important, and if it is dropping at 2 hours, all is well.

Your numbers are excellent by the way. Well jealous!

Some foods take longer than others though to show up a legitimate BG reading don't they? This I found out recently. I had been thinking that my Indian currys were great as after two hours I was only going up by 1. something. Then I saw how fat can slow it all down and I took readings after 3 hours to find it had gone up by another 1. something. It wasn't until a 3 and a half hour reading that I started to see a slow climb down...and it was slow.
 
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Teabags

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Some foods take longer than others though to show up a legitimate BG reading don't they? This I found out recently. I had been thinking that my Indian currys were great as after two hours I was only going up by 1. something. Then I saw how fat can slow it all down and I took readings after 3 hours to find it had gone up by another 1. something. It wasn't until a 3 and a half hour reading that I started to see a slow climb down...and it was slow.

The time thing is really interesting, so you really do need to do lots of tests on all of the different foods and food combinations that you eat, I suppose I am trying to run before I can walk, but your reply is a real help in understanding BG, just glad I have the full set of fingers and thumbs.
 

SJC

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The time thing is really interesting, so you really do need to do lots of tests on all of the different foods and food combinations that you eat, I suppose I am trying to run before I can walk, but your reply is a real help in understanding BG, just glad I have the full set of fingers and thumbs.

Test, test, test! Bit of a bind but worth it to find out what you personally can tolerate well and what you can't. My fasting BG is always in the low 4s in the mornings if I don't have any supper. If I have supper it's anything up to 5.3 in a morning. Both are fine of course but what a difference a Finn crispbread with a bit of peanut butter on makes.
 
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Malcolm.Smith

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"HbA1c level of 42.0 mmol/mol" !!!!!! good lord! I didn't know readings went that high!. When doing your blood tests you should be looking at readings between 4.5 - 7.5 max. I freak out if i hit 13! and yes Bananas aren't the best thing to eat. Theres a reason the tour de france riders eat them during their races. They're packed full of sugar but are also slow burning so you have to keep a close eye on your blood sugar for a long time after eating one.
Natural sugars are better for you but they're still sugar at the end of the day so I would limit your intake. Not saying don't eat fruit but just maybe not as much as your saying your eating. They are natures sweeties after all. If you lead an active lifestyle try nuts instead they're not as full of carbs as fruit so they shouldn't effect your blood levels as much.

Hope this is of some help to you

All the best.
 
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Teabags

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"HbA1c level of 42.0 mmol/mol" !!!!!! good lord! I didn't know readings went that high!. When doing your blood tests you should be looking at readings between 4.5 - 7.5 max. I freak out if i hit 13! and yes Bananas aren't the best thing to eat. Theres a reason the tour de france riders eat them during their races. They're packed full of sugar but are also slow burning so you have to keep a close eye on your blood sugar for a long time after eating one.
Natural sugars are better for you but they're still sugar at the end of the day so I would limit your intake. Not saying don't eat fruit but just maybe not as much as your saying your eating. They are natures sweeties after all. If you lead an active lifestyle try nuts instead they're not as full of carbs as fruit so they shouldn't effect your blood levels as much.

Hope this is of some help to you

All the best.

Thank you for your post. On the blood test I had done at the doctors the HbA1c level was expressed as 42.0 I looked this up on the web and have copied it below, as can be seen they show both the higher type of reading, (as per my doctors results), along with the ones we use in brackets. It really makes a confusing issue even more confusing. On the basis of the doctors results of 42.0 shown for me, I am just outside the non-diabetic range of 20 - 41.

Targets for HbA1c are as follows:

  • For people without diabetes, the range is 20-41 mmol/mol
    (4-5.9%)
  • For people with diabetes, an HbA1c level of 48 mmol/mol
    (6.5%)
    is considered good control, although some people may prefer their numbers to be closer to that of non-diabetics
  • For people at greater risk of hypoglycemia (lower than normal blood sugar), a target HbA1c of 59 mmol/mol (7.5%) to reduce the risk of hypos
 
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Bluetit1802

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"HbA1c level of 42.0 mmol/mol" !!!!!! good lord! I didn't know readings went that high!. When doing your blood tests you should be looking at readings between 4.5 - 7.5 max. I freak out if i hit 13! and yes Bananas aren't the best thing to eat. Theres a reason the tour de france riders eat them during their races. They're packed full of sugar but are also slow burning so you have to keep a close eye on your blood sugar for a long time after eating one.
Natural sugars are better for you but they're still sugar at the end of the day so I would limit your intake. Not saying don't eat fruit but just maybe not as much as your saying your eating. They are natures sweeties after all. If you lead an active lifestyle try nuts instead they're not as full of carbs as fruit so they shouldn't effect your blood levels as much.

Hope this is of some help to you

All the best.


Malcolm, You are getting confused between two different measurement units. mmol/mmol and mmol/l. Adding to this confusion, there is also the DCCT % and also the completely different measurements the Americans and some other countries use. :confused:
 

this is too difficult

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"HbA1c level of 42.0 mmol/mol" !!!!!! good lord! I didn't know readings went that high!. When doing your blood tests you should be looking at readings between 4.5 - 7.5 max. I freak out if i hit 13! and yes Bananas aren't the best thing to eat. Theres a reason the tour de france riders eat them during their races. They're packed full of sugar but are also slow burning so you have to keep a close eye on your blood sugar for a long time after eating one.
Natural sugars are better for you but they're still sugar at the end of the day so I would limit your intake. Not saying don't eat fruit but just maybe not as much as your saying your eating. They are natures sweeties after all. If you lead an active lifestyle try nuts instead they're not as full of carbs as fruit so they shouldn't effect your blood levels as much.

Hope this is of some help to you

All the best.
mine was 67:confused:
My first fasting test done this morning 4.1 which I think is good, I will do another test later, not sure how long to leave after a meal before taking the test, i have seen both 2 hours and three hours mentioned. However, repeated the test 2 hours after eating, and the first one gave a reading of 3.3 I immediately did another test and the reading was 3.8. Why has the reading dropped after eating, I thought it would have risen, and why is there such a gap between the 2 test results taken at the same time. It makes me wonder how accurate the SD Codefree monitor is.
Those are very low non diabetic type results.
My code free always reads pretty well 1.0 below all my other meters,
 
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Teabags

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The more people on the forum kindly answer my questions, the more questions I have. Started the day with 4.1, before evening meal 4.4, tested an hour after the meal and it was 8.2, 2 hours after meal 7.8 and 2.5 hours after 6.8. Is the time it takes to reduce to acceptable levels the most import thing, or is the height of the spike after eating more important???? Hope I have not confused you because I am confused.
 

this is too difficult

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The more people on the forum kindly answer my questions, the more questions I have. Started the day with 4.1, before evening meal 4.4, tested an hour after the meal and it was 8.2, 2 hours after meal 7.8 and 2.5 hours after 6.8. Is the time it takes to reduce to acceptable levels the most import thing, or is the height of the spike after eating more important???? Hope I have not confused you because I am confused.
Bit of both really.
What did you eat?
 

SJC

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That sounds like quite a lot of fruit and I would imagine the couscous won't have helped. I am a bit of a novice though :( xx
 
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Bluetit1802

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The more people on the forum kindly answer my questions, the more questions I have. Started the day with 4.1, before evening meal 4.4, tested an hour after the meal and it was 8.2, 2 hours after meal 7.8 and 2.5 hours after 6.8. Is the time it takes to reduce to acceptable levels the most import thing, or is the height of the spike after eating more important???? Hope I have not confused you because I am confused.


At least to begin with it is best to keep any peak to under 7.8. Once that target is reached you can aim to lower it even further. Your fruit choices weren't too good. Best to stick to fruit that grows in the UK rather than tropical fruit until you have tried and tested some of the tropical ones, and any fruit should be consumed in moderation. Berries seem to be best. The cheese flan? Was that with normal pastry? I eat mushy peas because they are good for you (home made marrowfat ones that is, not tinned or shop bought) but again, moderation is the key and you need to test them. Not sure about couscous as I never eat it.

Your readings in the 4's are excellent, but that meal seems to have let you down a bit. It's all a steep learning curve and takes a long time to manage. Keep asking questions.
 
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