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Help - Porridge and sugar levels

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paulandbez

Active Member
Messages
34
Please can anyone advise? Some background info before I come to my question. At 9pm last night my blood reading was 7.4. I then had 1 Ryvita with peanut butter. At 8.20am this morning my blood reading was 9.3. I then had 50grams (unprepared) porridge and a black coffee with (at the most) a quarter of a teaspoon of sugar. I added oat milk to make the porridge. An hour later my reading was 13.3. A further one hour (so 2 hours total) the trading was 12.6. Any thoughts? Even though porridge is low to medium on the glycemic index I wonder if it's a case that it doesn't suit everyone? Could it be that I'm not pushing out as much insulin? I'm confused because I hear that porridge or oats are great for diabetes.
By the way, my morning fasting readings were never brilliant, even if I don't have any supper. But they seem to be a little higher just lately.
I take one Metformin 500mg am and one pm.
Thanks in anticipation of your advice.
 
Oats, and oat milk are best avoided. The better 'milk' choice is either coconut or Almond milk.
 
Porridge and oats spike my blood sugar levels dreadfully.

As does pasta and rice
 
Porridge and oats are carbs, and as such generally not good for type 2 diabetics. Try bacon and eggs, or plain Greek yogurt with a few berries and see what that does.
 
I have said this many times, that I was advised to have healthy porridge for breakfast for over ten years and a healthy baked spud for lunch, and meat, New spuds and veg for dinner.

This is not healthy for me, if your blood glucose levels are similar to mine, when eating porridge, you will have insulin resistance and a first phase limited insulin response. Which means that finding what is healthy for you is something you may decide to discover.

A balanced healthy low carb diet that is tailored to be healthy for you is recommended. It has worked for so many including myself.

Porridge for breakfast was how I was diagnosed. And if I didn't go low carb, I don't think that I would be here now!!
 
I tried to keep porridge in my lifestyle dietary choices, even dropping to 40 grams (may have been 30). Along with other simultaneously measures my A1c dropped by 3 points when I got rid of the oats.

By observation, the best controlled Type 2's on this site do not have oats at all.
 
paulandbez said:
porridge is low to medium on the glycemic index
Click to expand...

Personally I haven't found the glycemic index to be very useful when deciding what to eat. It may take a little time for your body to extract the sugar from your porridge ( %60 carbs ) but eventually all those carbs will raise your levels and probably keep them high for some time. I find that checking the nutritional data and choosing foods with less than %10 carbs, preferably under %5 helps me avoid any nasty surprises
 
If you're a T2, you can mainly throw things like GI overboard. If you're on insulin you might need to know whether you have to split a dose, but for T2's without insulin basals and bolusses, a carb is a carb is a carb, and you'll have to process it sooner or later. I wonder where you read oats are good for type 2 diabetics, because there's very few people here who'd make that claim. The bulk on this forum use a low carb way of eating, and that, for the most part, (save for the lucky few who can manage them still), avoid them.

Good on you for using your meter, and no, it doesn't mean you're not making enough insulin. You're likely making plenty, your body is just insensitive to the stuff... https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ might help some.
 
Much as I loved multi-grain porridge made with almond milk it did me no favours. Having that much carbohydrate at breakfast time set off carb cravings for the rest of the day. If I have something like a cheese and chive omelette instead, no cravings and stable blood glucose. I do miss the idea of porridge though!
 
I can probably guess where you heard that "porridge or oats are good for diabetes". In my opinion they are bad for T2s. Porridge, sugar, and oat milk would take my readings high, and keep them high. They are (full of) carbohydrates, and whatever the GI is makes absolutely no difference to me - there could be a slowing down of absorption but it's so slight I can't tell. There's nothing funny going on - if I ate what you ate high figures wouldn't be a surprise. If I want low blood sugar I stay off carbs.
 
Porridge, in any shape or form , is high in carbs and probably best avoided by anyone trying to manage diabetes largely by diet. I’m labelled as T2 (might be T3C) but am now insulin controlled. My usual breakfast is a serving of instant porridge made with milk and it is 35g CHO and this takes quite a large dose of insulin to avoid my BG going too high.
There’s lots of scope for tasty low carb breakfasts and you’ll find plenty of suggestions on here.
Bon appetite!!
 
I really appreciate everyone's comments. I guess it goes to show that for diabetics that just because something is supposedly healthy it's not good for a diabetic.
You've all helped me to sadly give porridge the sack.
I also want to say that this is a great community. Thanks again for your help.
 


Having to choose between porridge or bacon and eggs... hmmmm
 
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