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Glucose home test
- Thread starter Maddiemo1
- Start Date
xyzzy
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Hi Maddie
I would recommend that you do stop eating foods that give you unsafe levels after two hours. It will be eating those things and going unsafe that will in the end take you from pre diabetic, which in most people can be a reversible condition, to fully diabetic where you will have done permanent and irreversible damage to to insulin production systems.
The guidelines state you should aim to be below 7.8 after two hours and between 4 and 7 at all other times.
Even though as fully diabetic I have that irreversible damage then I can still get those safe levels my strictly adhering to the right kinds of foods. The general rules I use are to cut out completely most sources of sugar so cakes, biscuits, non diet versions of soft drinks, sugar in tea and coffee, pure fruit juices and restrict fruit as that also has a lot of sugar in it. Next and just as importantly I cut right down on starchy foods so rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, cereals and other products made from flour. As I have that permanent damage I really do mean cut down so for example my meter tells me I am only tolerant to a couple level tablespoons of rice, a similar amount of pasta, one slice of wholemeal bread... so cut down for me is nigh on cut out. As a prediabetic you should find that your tolerance to those starchy foods is higher so just cut them down until you start getting two hour readings under 8 ish.
Another way of upping your tolerance to those starchy foods is to lose weight if of course you need to. Being overweight stops the insulin you produce from working properly and its insulin that keeps levels low. If you lose weight the insulin you produce will work better and will be able to control your blood levels as it is intended to. The problem is that if you continue to keep your levels running too high the high levels actually damage the cells that produce insulin so the whole thing spirals out of control and is why you end up as diabetic. Those insulin producing cells never grow back, rather like if you chop your arm off, which is why even though I can control levels by diet I have lost a lot of insulin production capability which I can never get back.
Hope that helps but keep asking questions if it you need to.
I would recommend that you do stop eating foods that give you unsafe levels after two hours. It will be eating those things and going unsafe that will in the end take you from pre diabetic, which in most people can be a reversible condition, to fully diabetic where you will have done permanent and irreversible damage to to insulin production systems.
The guidelines state you should aim to be below 7.8 after two hours and between 4 and 7 at all other times.
Even though as fully diabetic I have that irreversible damage then I can still get those safe levels my strictly adhering to the right kinds of foods. The general rules I use are to cut out completely most sources of sugar so cakes, biscuits, non diet versions of soft drinks, sugar in tea and coffee, pure fruit juices and restrict fruit as that also has a lot of sugar in it. Next and just as importantly I cut right down on starchy foods so rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, cereals and other products made from flour. As I have that permanent damage I really do mean cut down so for example my meter tells me I am only tolerant to a couple level tablespoons of rice, a similar amount of pasta, one slice of wholemeal bread... so cut down for me is nigh on cut out. As a prediabetic you should find that your tolerance to those starchy foods is higher so just cut them down until you start getting two hour readings under 8 ish.
Another way of upping your tolerance to those starchy foods is to lose weight if of course you need to. Being overweight stops the insulin you produce from working properly and its insulin that keeps levels low. If you lose weight the insulin you produce will work better and will be able to control your blood levels as it is intended to. The problem is that if you continue to keep your levels running too high the high levels actually damage the cells that produce insulin so the whole thing spirals out of control and is why you end up as diabetic. Those insulin producing cells never grow back, rather like if you chop your arm off, which is why even though I can control levels by diet I have lost a lot of insulin production capability which I can never get back.
Hope that helps but keep asking questions if it you need to.
Hello. Thank you so much for the explanation very clear. Can you tell me for instance what you have for breakfast or other meals? I don't eat bread as I am wheat intolerant but I do eat potatoes but I prefer sweet potatoes. I would be very interested in your diet.
Thanks again
Maddie
Thanks again
Maddie
xyzzy
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,950
- Type of diabetes
- Other
- Treatment type
- Diet only
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- Undeserving authority figures of all kinds and idiots.
Maddie
The whole area of what is a good diet for diabetics is probably why this forum exists especially for T2 diabetics. The issue is many of us feel the NHS guidance on diet is wrong for example it will tell you to base your meals around starchy carbohydrates the very ones I've told you I've cut down on or out! I've found it useful to take a wider view and use a combination of dietary advice that I would be given if I were a patient is Sweden or America where that recognition that telling diabetics to eat "starch" is wrong is well established.
It all boils down to this. The carbohydrates we eat are what cause rapid changes in blood levels which the insulin we then produce control. Sugar is just a form of refined carbohydrate and is especially dangerous to diabetics because it acts very quickly to raise levels. Other sources of carbohydrates are the starchy foods I've mentioned previously and they nearly act as fast as plain sugar so to me and a lot of other members on the forum telling a diabetic to eat a diet consisting of half carbohydrates which is what is said in the UK is tantamount to telling an alcoholic to drink bottles of vodka.
If you cut a large portion of carbohydrates out of your diet then you obviously need to replace with other food stuffs or else you'll just be starving all the while. The recommendation is to replace with extra cheese, eggs, meat, fish and especially vegetables. Vegetables that grow above ground are best although most of us get away with carrots. Now that is the controversial bit as you are explictly replacing carbohydrate with more fat which is thought to be bad. In reality it isn't so long as you replace with safe fats. I have been doing this low carbohydrate high fat stuff for a while now and not only do I now have the blood levels of a healthy non diabetic person I also have perfectly normal cholesterol levels in fact they've got significantly better eating a high fat diet. I've also lost 4 stone in weight eating that high fat diet as well.
The danger is not to kid yourself that you can get away with heating both a high carb and a high fat diet as that will send you to a early grave. If you are not diabetic then a normal high carb low fat diet may well be fine but once you start to see the symptoms of diabetes swap the other way round so do low carb high fat. Like I say DO NOT do high carb high fat or it will kill you.
As to the kind of things I eat
Breakfast: plain FULL FAT Greek yoghurt with a few berries (strawberries, rasperries etc.) mixed in. I buy the frozen packets of berries and the big tubs of Greek yoghurt. Alternatively do a cheese omelette or similar or even my favourite bacon, fried eggs and mushrooms. I use a minimal amount of olive oil, just enough so things don't stick. Other members use lard!
Lunch: I work from home so I may again do omlette or bacon and egg but if I was out to work I'd probably do a sandwich made with Burgen Soya bread (get it from any supermarket) with a salad and meat or sea food content. Again maybe follow with a small tub of full fat yoghurt.
Dinner: Lots of veg + cheese sauce, chicken, fish. Just no potatoes, no rice, no pasta. Like I say as prediabetic the "no" maybe "less" for you but that's what you're meter will tell you. Indian takeaways are fine I do a dry curry or the classic chicken tikka mossala then add extra chicken tikka starter, mushroom bhaji, spinach bhaji, small onion bhaji a couple of level tablespoons of pilau fried rice. No Nan bread as that's a killer. Again bombay potatoes are out for me but you should "restrict". Classic roast dinner again mostly fine except for the spuds and be careful of the cornflower in gravy. Roast potatoes are the safest for diabetics mashed potato is impossible as the mashing process releases all the starch.
Heres a couple of really useful links to give you an idea of overall "style"
http://blogg.passagen.se/dahlqvistannika/?anchor=my_lowcarb_dietary_programe_in
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
Should say I do all of this with my GP's full support as he's one of the progressive ones.
Again any question just ask.
The whole area of what is a good diet for diabetics is probably why this forum exists especially for T2 diabetics. The issue is many of us feel the NHS guidance on diet is wrong for example it will tell you to base your meals around starchy carbohydrates the very ones I've told you I've cut down on or out! I've found it useful to take a wider view and use a combination of dietary advice that I would be given if I were a patient is Sweden or America where that recognition that telling diabetics to eat "starch" is wrong is well established.
It all boils down to this. The carbohydrates we eat are what cause rapid changes in blood levels which the insulin we then produce control. Sugar is just a form of refined carbohydrate and is especially dangerous to diabetics because it acts very quickly to raise levels. Other sources of carbohydrates are the starchy foods I've mentioned previously and they nearly act as fast as plain sugar so to me and a lot of other members on the forum telling a diabetic to eat a diet consisting of half carbohydrates which is what is said in the UK is tantamount to telling an alcoholic to drink bottles of vodka.
If you cut a large portion of carbohydrates out of your diet then you obviously need to replace with other food stuffs or else you'll just be starving all the while. The recommendation is to replace with extra cheese, eggs, meat, fish and especially vegetables. Vegetables that grow above ground are best although most of us get away with carrots. Now that is the controversial bit as you are explictly replacing carbohydrate with more fat which is thought to be bad. In reality it isn't so long as you replace with safe fats. I have been doing this low carbohydrate high fat stuff for a while now and not only do I now have the blood levels of a healthy non diabetic person I also have perfectly normal cholesterol levels in fact they've got significantly better eating a high fat diet. I've also lost 4 stone in weight eating that high fat diet as well.
The danger is not to kid yourself that you can get away with heating both a high carb and a high fat diet as that will send you to a early grave. If you are not diabetic then a normal high carb low fat diet may well be fine but once you start to see the symptoms of diabetes swap the other way round so do low carb high fat. Like I say DO NOT do high carb high fat or it will kill you.
As to the kind of things I eat
Breakfast: plain FULL FAT Greek yoghurt with a few berries (strawberries, rasperries etc.) mixed in. I buy the frozen packets of berries and the big tubs of Greek yoghurt. Alternatively do a cheese omelette or similar or even my favourite bacon, fried eggs and mushrooms. I use a minimal amount of olive oil, just enough so things don't stick. Other members use lard!
Lunch: I work from home so I may again do omlette or bacon and egg but if I was out to work I'd probably do a sandwich made with Burgen Soya bread (get it from any supermarket) with a salad and meat or sea food content. Again maybe follow with a small tub of full fat yoghurt.
Dinner: Lots of veg + cheese sauce, chicken, fish. Just no potatoes, no rice, no pasta. Like I say as prediabetic the "no" maybe "less" for you but that's what you're meter will tell you. Indian takeaways are fine I do a dry curry or the classic chicken tikka mossala then add extra chicken tikka starter, mushroom bhaji, spinach bhaji, small onion bhaji a couple of level tablespoons of pilau fried rice. No Nan bread as that's a killer. Again bombay potatoes are out for me but you should "restrict". Classic roast dinner again mostly fine except for the spuds and be careful of the cornflower in gravy. Roast potatoes are the safest for diabetics mashed potato is impossible as the mashing process releases all the starch.
Heres a couple of really useful links to give you an idea of overall "style"
http://blogg.passagen.se/dahlqvistannika/?anchor=my_lowcarb_dietary_programe_in
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
Should say I do all of this with my GP's full support as he's one of the progressive ones.
Again any question just ask.
daisy1
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Hi Maddie and welcome to the forum 
This is the information which we give to new members and I'm sure you will find it helpful. If after reading this you still have some questions, just go ahead and ask and someone will have an answer for you.
This is the information which we give to new members and I'm sure you will find it helpful. If after reading this you still have some questions, just go ahead and ask and someone will have an answer for you.
