Freshwell

[Beechnut]

Hello I'm newly diagnosed with prediabetes which has been a shock but it has made me look at my diet carefully. I've gained such a lot of information on this forum which has been really helpful to me. Reading around here I found out about the Freshwell low carb programme and I've watched the videos which explain it all very clearly. I've ordered their low carb manual and meal plans so I'll see how it goes. Currently continuing on low carb despite GP telling me to eat whole grains (I'm not) and I can see blood glucose staying fairly flat 4.5 fasting 4.9 1 hour after a breakfast of bacon eggs and mushrooms. As opposed to 4.3 to 7.8 after eating rye toast and eggs. Is it best to test 1 hour and 2 hours after eating? Not quite sure I understand that bit. Thanks

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hello I'm newly diagnosed with prediabetes which has been a shock but it has made me look at my diet carefully. I've gained such a lot of information on this forum which has been really helpful to me. Reading around here I found out about the Freshwell low carb programme and I've watched the videos which explain it all very clearly. I've ordered their low carb manual and meal plans so I'll see how it goes. Currently continuing on low carb despite GP telling me to eat whole grains (I'm not) and I can see blood glucose staying fairly flat 4.5 fasting 4.9 1 hour after a breakfast of bacon eggs and mushrooms. As opposed to 4.3 to 7.8 after eating rye toast and eggs. Is it best to test 1 hour and 2 hours after eating? Not quite sure I understand that bit. Thanks

Hello @Beechnut,

If you measure at an hour after the first bite, you're more likely to see the spike you get from a meal. Depending on what you've eaten, whether it was liquid, had fats and fibres etc, it can be faster or slower, but generally speaking, after about roughly an hour you'll see the peak. After two hours, you'll be able to gauge whether your body could cope with that peak. That's why most here advise to test after 2 hours. If your body knocked the mmol/l's back down to 2.0 mmol/l or less after those two hours, your body did a wonderful job and the meal is one you can cope with. It gives useful information, basically.

My GP keeps telling me that it's fine for me to have a piece of birthday cake. Riiiight. You do you, from the numbers you're showing, it's working.
Good luck,
Jo

 

[lovinglife]

The consensus is to test at first bite & 2 hours after first bite, this is how I do it, everyone including those without diabetes will have a rise in BG after food so testing at 1 hr doesn’t tell you much.

So I test at first bite & 2 hrs after, if I have a rise of less than 2 then what I’ve eaten is fine, though I prefer to be nearer where I started or no more than 1.5 - but that’s my personal target. Also it’s said that you should be no more than 7.8 at the 2 hr mark but my personal target for that is I’d rather a no more than 6

I’m 14 years into my journey so i would say it’s slightly different for you, My aim when going low carb was to work on the rise first then work on the 7.8 thing. Once I got the 2 hrs raise right, which in my opinion is the important number because you see if what you’ve eaten is a good option, then my other 2 hour after eating number came down naturally

Edited to make more sense

 

[Beechnut]

Thank you both the BS thing is the most confusing thing for me at the moment. My BS has gone down a lot since starting low carb is it a problem to consistently have below 5 readings? I used to be 5.5 on fasting and 7-11 after an hour then it would drop to about 6 after two hours. Now it's about 4.3 fasting, only 4.5 1 hour after eating, 4.3 after 2 hours. When is BS too low? Thanks

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Thank you both the BS thing is the most confusing thing for me at the moment. My BS has gone down a lot since starting low carb is it a problem to consistently have below 5 readings? I used to be 5.5 on fasting and 7-11 after an hour then it would drop to about 6 after two hours. Now it's about 4.3 fasting, only 4.5 1 hour after eating, 4.3 after 2 hours. When is BS too low? Thanks

That is nothing short of excellent! (Not to say amazing!) Too low would be 3.5 and under, that'd be hypo territory, but it's usually only a problem if you are on blood glucose lowering medication, like gliclazide or insulin. The rest of the time our livers tend to jump in with a little extra glucose to get numbers away from the hypo-range, it kind of sorts itself out.

You're knocking it out of the park!
Jo

 

[lovinglife]

Those are amazing results @Beechnut well done, it’s a great reflection of all your hard work. @JoKalsbeek advise above is good, if you feel in anyway shaky or unwell then test and see what your numbers are, if I hit 3.8 I do get hypo symptoms,

This is me personally so not saying it’s what you should do, but if I do have the occasional hypo, if I’m very near eating I do nothing and just have my meal, if I’m an hour or so off eating then I have a baby bel cheese or a small handful of nuts or a slice of ham or a hard boiled egg, This usually sorts me out. The reason I do this is my liver usually corrects my BG (like it should) then that can throw me into the mid 7s so I eat a little bit of something low carb to stop that dump from the liver

You are only pre diabetic I’m a fully paid up raging T2 so like I say it may be different for you and you may not need to do anything. We are all different and treat ourselves differently- it’s your diabetes, no one else’s and your early in your journey you will find out what works best for you when

But once again we’ll done

 

[Beechnut]

Oh thank you both that is so reassuring I've had friends say what I'm doing is dangerous and that scared me. I read that in some people this dramatic BS reaction to low carb is because when the body is used to producing high insulin levels to manage a higher carb diet it takes a while for it to balance out so there is still a lot of insulin in the blood when first starting a low carb diet but not much sugar.