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Hi.

M

MathMel

Member
Messages
21
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
I'm from Australia (the Internet can be a great thing sometimes!) and not diagnosed but some concerning factors for insulin resistance type 2. Had more blood tests but not back to dr for another month maybe. I don't think given the 'standard' criteria I will be diagnosed but after a lot of reading I'm not happy with the percentage of my day that I'm higher than 6. And while I often will be below 8 2 hrs after meal I was sitting there for another 2 hrs without budging. There is family history and I'm overweight, eating too much candy, and not exercising. This path I'm on needs to change NOW. So I got my own meter and strips and already I have started changing my diet, figured out some of my favourite foods that are still ok with some modification, and cycling min 10km a day in my lounge room. I'm aiming for low carb and 45-60 min exercise. I've seen how much having candy on its own ( or with Coke) spikes and then just stays there until I have another meal and even then it often just screws it up for the day and night. Is the candy worth it? Nope. Morning is around 8-9 but on the day I did test it was about 6 (was almost lunch time). Maybe I should have gone on a worse day so it doesn't get swept aside. I've found so much useful info here and has definitely changed my bar on target BG. Thanks. Mel
 
You need to provide us your diet meal to meal and day to day and pronto. I take it you know the testing times? Those figures could do with some improvement but like your attitude. You have to get tough with this and if all newbies did what you are doing, it'd make for a much easier path in terms of advice to those who are lost..

Overall, the numbers are not that bad but I'll almost guarantee they're higher than they should be thanks to your foods. You can dump sweets (candy? ... what are you, American? ... joke there as I'm from OZ) and Coke but it's the other carbs you need to worry about

We're embarking on a path here. Stay the course, keep reading and don't fail to ask questions
 
Thanks. I'm mostly having bacon and eggs for breakfast. Lunch I'm still working on - any sandwiches are bad for me. Mostly rissoles / chicken & veggies. Dinner - chicken & veggies. I can have small sultana bran with milk. I've bought some healthy muesli so will try that tomorrow and see. I cooked risotto too today and it was max 7.6 then hovered between 6 and 6.8 for a few hours. But I'm glad it seems to be ok. Also I'm a bit sick and didn't exercise and anytime I haven't exercised its higher and if I exercise it can drop up to 6-8 lower (which caused a 3.4 the other day and I was really shaky and dizzy so had a juice but I think it would have come back on its own - it tends to fluctuate ok between 4 and 6). So it seems if I drop under 8 in two hours no problem according to health sites. But I'm concerned that it sat between 6 and 7 for 5 hours until I ate something else. Should I be? I'm snacking with cheese, tuna, nuts. I am also a bit worried that I have been on leave and then working from home for the last few weeks due to other issues so it's been easy to cook and test whenever I want (I cycled 10km) during one meeting! I also can't function enough to eat before I'm on the train at 6am so I'm hoping the muesli is ok because I can eat that when I get to work. But I'm going to have to force bfast because otherwise it can sit 8-10 until I get around to lunch. Yeah the straight sugar is a bit hard to kick so I was slowly dropping - now it's I can have some if eating next to a meal as that seems to blunt the spike. Which is limiting it a lot because I'm generally not hungry just after I've eaten. Big problem is if I don't eat something substantial like a sandwich as I'm going to bed I can't sleep at all (and I'm on all sorts of sleep meds so I should be out of it) and if I try ignore I end up feeling really off and like I need sugar instantly so I reach for what will act quickly. Also I tend to do things sometimes on Stilnox and sleep eating is a big one so I'm going to make them hard to get to. And I'm being a bit of a sook if I'm honest because I don't particularly like tuna cheese nuts eggs cereal and most of the food I'm seeing, or I have bad reactions to some too. But I went shopping today and now have a lunchbox and freezer packs and little containers to put nuts and cheese and tuna in etc. I am neutral on salad it just doesn't fill me up. I don't mind eating the same things over and over though so once I have a few options for eating out and at home for each meal I'll be ok. Is this normal that if my BG is 6-9 and doesn't budge til I eat - up to 8 hrs later? I think though the testing for me is concrete evidence of what is ok for me personally and what needs to go and just how effective exercise is - I'm a mathematician and I love data and I can see how I'm going to overtest but I think until it's all settled into a routine that's ok.
 
Is it possible to feel low when it's normal if you are mostly higher until you adjust. I'm wondering if that's my night time issue. Also I really think my numbers are much better than they truly would have been as I'd been reading and thinking about this for about a month before I got my meter and the day I got it it had an instant effect on my snacking for 2 reasons 1) suddenly I'm being monitored in black and white and 2) if I snack now that will ruin my whole curve for testing a particular food! So I think I need to keep food journal and min fasting morning and then random day fasting after its all settled to keep me on track. Sorry for the essay! I'll get more succinct hopefully. Maybe because I've been cooped up at home working from home! Back to the office Tues.
 
Hi MathMel. What some people do is keep a food diary, test your blood sugar before a meal, eat, then test 2 hours after and see what effect it had - that way you can see which foods give you "high".Liam1955.:)
 
@MathMel

Hello and welcome to the forum :) To help you to keep the diabetes away, here is the information, although you have not been diagnosed, we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful, in addition to the information other members have given you. Ask more questions and someone will be able to help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 150,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

LOW CARB PROGRAM:
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/low carb program


Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 
Thanks for the info and welcome. I've been reading a lot so am planning to mostly just have a break today. I'm sick and prob going back to bed. I've been testing waking, before and after meals and bedtime. What would be a normal value 2 hours after meals (non diabetic) - that's my target. I have done more testing i.e. Every 30 mins after each of the main foods I'm eating because one concern I had was that I have some digestive problems so was making sure I wasn't just having a delayed spike I wasn't catching. I knew I needed to be doing more structured and regular exercise but having the meter in black and white show how drastically it reduces it immediately is pretty hard to ignore. I have lost 3 kgs already in January with little effort and there's a long way to go on my changes. Imagine what could happen when I get into it! I guess I just want to set my own targets better than the typical standard that puts me just outside type 2 range as I might slack off if dr says it's ok off one FBG. I've been taking a good food diary but think this all might go kaput back in the office this week. Need to make it a priority which this is a good week to start given the project I'm on, and my boss goes on leave in February for about 6 weeks so I need a routine before then because I'll be the leader which will be busy and possibly stressful (I'm getting better at it but have not done for more than 1 week at a time before) so need to have exercise embedded so I don't turn to Coke/coffee/lollies during the day. I think my plan is to find some carbs that are ok for me (my risotto seems pretty good but I've added cheese and changed chicken/rice ratio a bit) for one meal and then be carb free the other too meals and snacks (well very very low carb ). I haven't tested any pasta but will be my test next weekend. I've heard there are low carb options. But might have to have a better veggie / pasta ratio and add cheese/bacon. Bacon seems to keep just about any meal low BG. Thanks again. I'll keep reading around the forum (can't believe I'm hearing a lot from Drs saying no point to testing type 2 - it's literally making me change what I'm eating, stop eating lollies, and make me exercise, I get that once I've figured it out I'll probably drop testing to a few times a day but especially for now it's the best thing. I know immediately if I've made bad choice rather than try figure it out every 3-6 months from hba1c, I'm not sure that will be valid for be because of chronically low iron but all my levels started coming up last tests so it might be enough). I love the iPad app!!!
 
The pasta will backfire so you can try it, but I reckon I can guess the result.
 
Thanks Mike for the heads up. I'm thinking that it will. Just want to see so I'm not unnecessarily cutting something out. I was surprised the risotto was ok. I tend to get really hungry without pasta/rice. Do you have any suggestions to replace? I had some trouble with kidneys and too much protein about a year ago but I think it was probably that when I stopped being vegetarian I went a little overboard. I also can only have small amounts of fish. I'm going to try fish again but not more than 1-2 times a week at first. Salads just make me hungry an hour later and then I snack. I could maybe try just stir-fry veggies and maybe have 2 smaller lunches. I think also not eating bfast means that although I don't feel hungry until lunch, when I do eat I then get really hungry. I'm going to try muesli and see if I can master poached eggs in the microwave at work. Most people get to work and have cereal there so I should try that. I think on the whole I haven't taken care of myself for a long time and just need to start making time for myself to do things that will take care of me. I was a full time carer for a girl I took in for about 8 years and I always ended up on the back of priorities list so have to mentally deal with it's ok for me to stop work for 5 mins to eat bfast. It's not my boss it's completely me. I also want to try a few different things like pasta and normal rice and potatoesso that if I'm out I know what the outcome will be if someone else has cooked and if it's not too much then it can be a sometimes food but if it's bad then I need to come up with plan B for those situations.
 
If you can get away with rice and pasta, you'll join the one in a million club :) Muesli would be another no no for me .... poached eggs are great but as the rule goes, try and test. Avocados are great for diabetics so don't discount them even for breakfast. Try toast at your own risk but again, your numbers aren't too bad ... you just need to experiment a bit and see what works, then stretch out .... a good fry up is a great start to the day. Mushrooms, spinach, eggs, bacon and you won't need lunch :)
 
Thanks. Any bread is out for me. Tried more grainy bread but it's gone. When I'm at home I have been frying eggs, bacon mushrooms and will add some other veggies next time. It's trying to find a bfast to eat at work or is 5 mins total. I'm thinking of making a quiche at beginning of week and then I could just grab a cold slice. I'm not sure how the milk would go in something like that - or to just do it on water. Might experiment tomorrow. I used to make omelettes on water. But cycled today and haven't eaten anything I shouldn't and I've been sick for 3 days which would normally be when I give myself excuses so I'm happy that I'm sticking to it and not accepting any excuses. Cycling took me longer but I just had some small breaks and did 10km.
 
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