How long will it take for diet to impact blood sugars?

Hi and welcome,

Those levels you report seem OK to me. What is wrong with being between 5.8 to 7 after meals? Our morning fasting numbers are unreliable because other factors affect it (dawn phenomenon, too little sleep, disturbed sleep, too much sleep, stress and so on). These morning numbers are normally the last to come down and, to be honest, in my opinion not worth worrying about. It is the rise from before eating to after (2 hours) that matters.

However, I do agree you need to be careful with your diet and perhaps a visit to your GP to get an official diagnosis with an HbA1c test?

If a low carb diet is done properly you should see improved levels very quickly (other than fasting). The fewer carbs you eat the lower the post meal levels will be. Try not to get obsessed about fasting levels and concentrate on the rise after eating.

I don't know a lot about gestational diabetes diets or what they entail, or what medication you were given for this, but ryvita isn't normally a wise choice for an unmedicated Type 2 diabetic, although your 6.4 was fine depending on which level you started at. How many grams of carbs are you eating each day? Have you reduced the worst culprits such as bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, flour, breakfast cereals and most fruits?

I will tag @daisy1 who has an excellent post full of useful information for newcomers.

Crispbread isn't low carb, I'm afraid.
How many carbs per day are you aiming to eat?
You can certainly eat for comfort, as when you are doing low carb the calories seem to have far less impact, so there is always something you can eat when doing low carb but it is the quality of the foods you chose which leads to weightloss.
I have found that I needed to eat more fat to lose weight - strawberries and cream seem to have done the trick. However, grains, potatoes and high sugar fruits are not on the menu.
I am just planning lunch, boiled eggs, cheese, green salad, coleslaw and tomato. Lower in carbs than a couple of crispbreads, and much nicer, to my way of thinking.

Below 7 is good - normal range.
If you can keep your levels at about 7 max, and eat low carb so your insulin levels are probably going to go down, then you will be getting the control back.
We all have our own requirements, and our metabolisms are dynamic systems anyway.
I have been eating low carb for a very long time and have had to remind myself 'that was then, this is now' as I am struggling a bit with weightloss, an uphill battle when there is excess insulin being produced.
For me the main element is checking blood glucose levels and correlating highs with what I have eaten, but I was not eating enough fat, from what I could work out, and introducing the strawberries and cream has corresponded with losing weight. I stopped the strawberries last week and did not lose weight, this week I bought them again, and am down again.

Please, as I said in my earlier post, try not to stress about fasting levels, especially ones in the 5s. Personally, I see 4s at other times of the day, but have never had a 4 fasting.

It does seem a bit odd that you see a rise of 1.4 after the lunch you described. Are you sure there were no hidden carbs in that meal - salad dressing for example, a drink, or some form of exercise within that 2 hours?

Keep a food diary including portion sizes and include everything that went in that meal. Test before and 2 hours after first bite and record these levels alongside then look for patterns and tweak your meals accordingly. A rise of above 2mmol/l isn't good. Ideally it should be under 1.5mmol/l. The fewer the carbs the lower it should be.

@Evin

Hello Evin and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

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 well over 235,000 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

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.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

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 blood glucose 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.

Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. They're all free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
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From what I see in your meal are a few things that COULD raise me

Protein can convert to bs so how much chicken did you have ?
Portion sizes matter.
If there's not enough fat in the meal you can rise higher and faster. Can you try putting some avocado on the salad? The fat and fiber will help slow the rise.

Because both carbs and protein, to a lesser degree, raise bs many of us eat low carb ( mostly above ground veggies) MODERATE amounts of protein ( .8-1 g per kg LEAN body mass ) and fill the rest in with healthy fats. Avocado, olive oil, nuts in moderation, mayo, olives. Many eat cheese and dairy but many do not. I limit mine to small amounts of cheese occasionally. No cream, milk, yogurt but I'm a bit lactose intolerant. It also makes me insulin resistance. I don't see a bs spike but I don't come back down so my next meal raises me even higher.

Your gestational diabetes diet might not be the one for you now. You might just have to swap a few foods for others or find the portions that work. Perhaps just have the egg in that salad or half the chicken breast and add avocado for fat and fiber. Creamy dressings are usually lower carb than vinegars. Balsamic can be very high in sugar. We need to read all labels.

Hope this helps

Vinegar is very very low carb - unless it isn't just vinegar of course, but an oil and vinegar dressing is something I don't even bother to add it into the calculations.
I don't calculate in proteins either - I have never found any difference in the blood glucose readings as long as I eat enough fat. I suspect that people are just so brainwashed by the low fat mantra that they don't add fat, and it is slowing weightloss.

Proteins never affect me meal by meal with post meal levels. I eat a lot of protein - I always have and have made no effort to reduce it. The only time I MAY see an effect is the following day on my fasting level, and that isn't often and not by enough to concern me. I often wonder if the protein issue is more of a T1 problem than a T2 problem.

I do think protein is more type 1. But it goes to show it does require insulin. On a vlc diet I think a type 2 COULD see the effects. I used to eat loads more protein than I do now. I'm sure more than I needed. As my diabetes was progressing ( unbeknownst to me) I was noticing protein ( and to be fair, everything) was raising me. And it doesn't always show up right away but more hours later. Then requires more insulin at future meals and sometimes for a few days

Plain vinegar of course has no ( or few) carbs but the flavored ones do. I just use olive oil and sea salt as a dressing. If out and about I will dabble in the Parmesan peppercorn!!!

Evin said:

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and found when frantically googling pre-diabetes!
I had gestational diabetes last year, had my baby in Oct and got the all clear in Jan.
From March to May I piled on nearly 2 stone due to comfort eating (we had a death in the family). About 3 weeks ago I got my head out of the sand and decided to knock the bad eating on the head and I tested my blood sugars to find I'm pre-diabetic.
Fasting levels are between 5.6 to 5.8. After meals I'm between 5.8 to 7. The lowest I managed during the day was 4.8 after an hour walking.
Today 2 hours after some ryvita nd peanut butter I was 6.4. This snack was fine for me during gestational diabetes.

I'm getting quite obsessed with this now and quite upset about it as well.

I've been back on my gestational diabetes low carb diet for 2 and a half weeks now but I'm not seeing any improvements.
This diet is very strict especially in comparison to my dad's diet who is type 2.

I guess I'm looking for some light at the end of this tunnel. Can I turn this around and how long will it take?!

Thanks.

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Your levels seem spot on ?

Please see a doctor and get tested. Not sure if it is helpful to diagnose yourself.

If you sre really worried you need to see a doctor. A fasting blood test is the only way to get an accurate diagnosis. They will measure your HbA1c which is a long term marker of how your body deals with sugar. I am not a doctor but everything I have read indicates normal sugar levels should be between 4 and 7.

Hi
I am really surprised by your post, I understand you had gestational diabetes and have obviously had to cope with that then a newbaby. But your levels are way in target it's not like your getting readings over 10 2 hours after eating so seems to me you are worrying over nothing. Also was it you that diagnosed yourself a prediabetic or your doctor?

I find it very frustrating to read this post I was pregnant when they realised I had a problem with my sugar, turned out I was Type 1....
I believe it has been mentioned several times but you being stressed is having an impact on your sugar.