Help with Eating to my Meter.

[Bluetit1802]

I guess i am looking for a bread that i can eat occasionally too.

There are low carb breads you can try. Burgen is one and is sold in most major supermarkets. Then there is Hi-Lo (Waitrose) and LivLife (Sainsburys). There are others. I have the Burgen because the slices are normal size, but I only have half a slice at a time (toasted)

 

[bulkbiker]

this was a low carb meal.

Your meal contained about 60g of carbs.
I would say that for you at the moment that is way too much (because of your sugar spike not because I am an ultra low carb advocate although I am) .
The spike was probably lowered by the fat content but also extended by the fat content .

If you can find 97% meat sausages they would be better and have them with bacon and eggs.
Mushrooms are way better than beans as well as tasting nicer and if you need tomato flavour then try a grilled or fried one.
It looks very much as if going even lower carb would help you more at the moment.

 

[Oldvatr]

Hi Oldvatr thank you for your help. Gotta say gluconeognesis is one complicated state of affairs. Since i began testing my blood with the meter i have never been lower than 4.9 and i am mostlly in the 5's. In the meal in question there was fat in the sausages and the cream, plus the oil in frying. would that be so high? I am a bit confused too about the strawberries and cream, loads of people on here seem to swear by it as fat being good and strawberrys in smallish portions low carb. Btw what is the name of the sausages you buy nowadays in Aldi?

Yes there was recent reports that natural fats are generally no longer the bad guys, and that Omega3 oils are better than Omega 6 oils, Sat fat does not = lardy tum in fact the opposite when used with keto dieting. So the cream is ok, but the effect of fat in general is to slow digestion down, so spikes happen later and longer than expected. This makes life for people bolussing for meals a tad difficult since the protein bump happens a lot later, and some find that things like pizza need a second adjustment on MDI. I am not an insulin user, so I can see my 4hr PP go higher than my 2hrPP, but there is not much I can do about it since I am not so able to do aerobic exercises at my age. If my 4 hr PP is higher than my pre meal, then I do an investigation to try to fathom out why that happened, Sometimes my premeal starts higher for some reason (missing or delayed meds say or a snack) or too much protein in the evening meal. If all three are high then its smack paw time. I use two meters in parallel, so I can detect a misread.

I steer clear of the Aldi budget sausages and go for the butchers choice ones. Their chipolatas are very good for my sugars. However, the ones you used seem to be ok.

 

[Oldvatr]

There are low carb breads you can try. Burgen is one and is sold in most major supermarkets. Then there is Hi-Lo (Waitrose) and LivLife (Sainsburys). There are others. I have the Burgen because the slices are normal size, but I only have half a slice at a time (toasted)

I am lucky in that I have recovered some of my insulin response, and can handle some bread now. I use a multiseeded loaf (not wholemeal per se since these tend to have had the good bits processed out of the flour, and act like white bread) and for me the Aldi batch loaf fills the gap nicely in terms of my response to it, and also in price. The Hovis 5 seeded load is a reasonable alternative for me. Sadly the Lidl protein rolls look like they have been phased out now.

I use a ready made bread not just for convenience, but it constitutes a good source of fibre and roughage that keeps me regular, and it also has the fortified vitamins and minerals as required by UK law. As I am on metformin, then the addition of the fat soluble B vits is esssential and so the only vit I need to supplement is B12 (but I eat meat so it is not a major issue either)

 

[Morpheus5575]

Your meal contained about 60g of carbs.
I would say that for you at the moment that is way too much (because of your sugar spike not because I am an ultra low carb advocate although I am) .
The spike was probably lowered by the fat content but also extended by the fat content .

If you can find 97% meat sausages they would be better and have them with bacon and eggs.
Mushrooms are way better than beans as well as tasting nicer and if you need tomato flavour then try a grilled or fried one.
It looks very much as if going even lower carb would help you more at the moment.

Hi bulkbiker
Thank you for your comments,i honestly though i could squeeze in a few extra carbs here and there un-noticed! Anyway i followed the advice of another member (There Is No Spoon) here who said to try that meal again without the beans and the bap. So yesterday i rattled out: 2 fried eggs, 2 bacon rashers,3 small 70% meat sausages (can't find find 97% around here) 1 tomato grilled and 4 medium mushrooms. And had to try 1 slice of toast (Gallaghers hi protein hi fibre which has 7.4g carbs)

Before i sat down to eat my BG was 5.7, two hours later my BG was 6.6 and two hours after that i was 4.8. I was positively dancing around the place. I have been having highish (for me) numbers lately and that depresses me hugely.

I have gotten hold of a lifestyle libre which lasts two weeks. I bought it without the reader, just the Sensor and the applicator. And i have the app on my phone now so hopefully that will work when i get set up. I am on warfarin so i want to make sure my INR level is low-ish before installing the sensor,in case of bleeding. I hope to try out lots of different food that i would normally have, good and bad. My intention will be to remove the really bad stuff and identify the good and the so-so.

Are there any tutorials on here for a mission like this? I have a link that Indy51very kindly put up for me, and it is very good and well appreciated. I would like to check out others if possible. So i should be on the freestyle band wagon in a day or two.

 

[bulkbiker]

Hi @Morpheus5575
I'm afraid I can't help much with the libre as I've never used one. But as you can see a lower carb meal has a more beneficial blood sugar result. Nice one!

 

[Morpheus5575]

Hi @Morpheus5575
I'm afraid I can't help much with the libre as I've never used one. But as you can see a lower carb meal has a more beneficial blood sugar result. Nice one!

Yes i have been discovering that there is lots and lots of delicious healthy food out there,i am slowly losing my craving for Black Forest gateau,Apple Tart & cream (my favorite) Ice Creams etc and enjoying the alternatives.

 

[Morpheus5575]

There are low carb breads you can try. Burgen is one and is sold in most major supermarkets. Then there is Hi-Lo (Waitrose) and LivLife (Sainsburys). There are others. I have the Burgen because the slices are normal size, but I only have half a slice at a time (toasted)

Hi Bluetit1802
Are you in the UK? I live in Ireland and i have not not seen any of those breads here yet. I have read here about Burgen and it seems to be very popular. I have searched the bread shelves in all the big supermarkets here and the best one i can find is by an Irish bakery Gallaghers. It is high fibre 3.2g per slice,high protein 4.3g per slice and the carbs are 7.4 0f which sugars .7g. So to my untrained eye it looks ok. I seem to be able to tolerate it one or two slices at a time. I have a freestyle Libre which i will have working in a day or two and i will be testing breads as well all foods i used to eat to root out the baddies. dont think i could manage without bread, i bake it at home all the time, i love experimenting with different soda breads,but sadly they contain a pint of Buttermilk per loaf and thats not good. But i also do a yeast loaf that uses water and 100% Extra Course Stoneground Wholemeal flour, that would be a lot less carby and i can't wait to test drive it.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hi Bluetit1802
Are you in the UK? I live in Ireland and i have not not seen any of those breads here yet. I have read here about Burgen and it seems to be very popular. I have searched the bread shelves in all the big supermarkets here and the best one i can find is by an Irish bakery Gallaghers. It is high fibre 3.2g per slice,high protein 4.3g per slice and the carbs are 7.4 0f which sugars .7g. So to my untrained eye it looks ok. I seem to be able to tolerate it one or two slices at a time. I have a freestyle Libre which i will have working in a day or two and i will be testing breads as well all foods i used to eat to root out the baddies. dont think i could manage without bread, i bake it at home all the time, i love experimenting with different soda breads,but sadly they contain a pint of Buttermilk per loaf and thats not good. But i also do a yeast loaf that uses water and 100% Extra Course Stoneground Wholemeal flour, that would be a lot less carby and i can't wait to test drive it.

If you find one that doesn't make your levels rise, then stick to it. The Libre will help you a lot because it will show what is happening in between finger prick tests. I have the reader, which I find great, so can't help you with the method you are using.

 

[Alexandra100]

I can see my 4hr PP go higher than my 2hrPP

Could this be due to gastroparesis / delayed stomach emptying? I think it is in my case, and Dr Bernstein says gastroparesis is a very common complication from having high bgs over a period of time. He also says it can be reversed with normal bgs, but will likely take years. I am living in hopes!

 

[Oldvatr]

Could this be due to gastroparesis / delayed stomach emptying? I think it is in my case, and Dr Bernstein says gastroparesis is a very common complication from having high bgs over a period of time. He also says it can be reversed with normal bgs, but will likely take years. I am living in hopes!

I do not suffer that, and this is only an occasional effect I see, and is usually due to to fat digestion slowing things down, But reports I have read about metabolism say that protein takes longer to digest than carbs and anyway the process of gluoneogenesis takes time too since it is not very efficient. It also tends to be more pronounced at night since that is when proteins get used for cell repair rather than energy, as is relevant to my diet regime.

It may also be due to the 4hrPP that I take occurs after I have had my nightime meds, which includes a PPI, a med designed to reduce stomach acidity, and this would slow things down a bit I suspect.