I'm concerned

[Farlife05]

I have been eating poorly for along time and have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes almost 11 years ago but I've been eating healthy recently keeping my stress down I eat very healthy portions of healthy food every 3-4 hours but Everytime I check my Blood it first read 312 last night at 10pm then 298 at 12:30 I stayed up untill 5 because I do sleep late so I only sipped warm water all night then I woke up and checked and it read 251 it didn't go down much understandably but I had a healthy meal for breakfast/Lunch only one slice of toast with 4 tablespoons of black bleans from a can I soaked with half of a small avocado and One egg and two slices of Ham! And 4 hours later it reads 276! So I'm in this dilemma of reading high numbers and eating healthy but when it's time to eat I still get these high readings! Sometimes discourge me from eating but I will have something because that's not healthy either! Any tips will be appreciated....Thanks in advance by the way I don't smoke or drink at all!

 

[ixi1429]

Hi,

I am only recently diagnosed myself but Bread & beans is not a good idea. Both tend to be high in carbs.

I had a pretty healthy diet before being diagnosed, it just was not healthy for a T2. I'm tagging @daisy1 who will post some good advise. Daisy - If I have this wrong as a newbie, apologies and please correct me.

 

[Farlife05]

Ok I get the bread not being good I'll cut that out but the beans I heard were great for lowering blood sugar and making the blood sugar breakdown slowly due to it's potassium! Avocado is also good and I had the one egg with ham for protein! And I just had half a small bowl of steel cut Oats with only water & 3-4 oz of milk with cinnamon no sugar or anything! Then for dinner I will have A good salad with Salmon which I heard was also good! I believe in having a positive attitude and learning from experience and healing with out pills!

 

[Resurgam]

I eat twice a day, early and late. No potatoes, no grains, small servings of peas and beans.
The bread and porridge would not be on my menu.
There are no foods which lower BG. All carbohydrates break down into sugar, so I keep to foods which are 10 percent carbs or less.

 

[Farlife05]

Ok I have a question I always see that going without eating will make your sugar spike because of the liver dumping glucose into the blood stream right! It sounds right but if you think about it if the liver is full of it and it releases it into our bloodstream then wouldn't eating every 3-4 hours be bad too!

I'm asking because I have fasted when I was a member of a church the first time ever I lasted 19 hours 2nd time The full 24 hours I'm always confused with this because eating that many times to not get your sugar spiked sounds bad but also not eating sounds bad too! For example I didn't eat since 10:30 last night went the whole night sipping warm water because I usually do better during the day but I consume 1500 calories most nights between 11-3am which is unthinkable! Do no more of that I did do the math cutting out meals late at night in 3months will help me lose just over 30lbs just cutting out that meal at night! Sounds simple we'll see we all at one point have struggled with something that plagued us...So far it's that and I'm doing alright so far will just have to sleep early!

 

[NewTD2]

I have been eating poorly for along time and have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes almost 11 years ago but I've been eating healthy recently keeping my stress down I eat very healthy portions of healthy food every 3-4 hours but Everytime I check my Blood it first read 312 last night at 10pm then 298 at 12:30 I stayed up untill 5 because I do sleep late so I only sipped warm water all night then I woke up and checked and it read 251 it didn't go down much understandably but I had a healthy meal for breakfast/Lunch only one slice of toast with 4 tablespoons of black bleans from a can I soaked with half of a small avocado and One egg and two slices of Ham! And 4 hours later it reads 276! So I'm in this dilemma of reading high numbers and eating healthy but when it's time to eat I still get these high readings! Sometimes discourge me from eating but I will have something because that's not healthy either! Any tips will be appreciated....Thanks in advance by the way I don't smoke or drink at all!

Ok I have a question I always see that going without eating will make your sugar spike because of the liver dumping glucose into the blood stream right! It sounds right but if you think about it if the liver is full of it and it releases it into our bloodstream then wouldn't eating every 3-4 hours be bad too!

I'm asking because I have fasted when I was a member of a church the first time ever I lasted 19 hours 2nd time The full 24 hours I'm always confused with this because eating that many times to not get your sugar spiked sounds bad but also not eating sounds bad too! For example I didn't eat since 10:30 last night went the whole night sipping warm water because I usually do better during the day but I consume 1500 calories most nights between 11-3am which is unthinkable! Do no more of that I did do the math cutting out meals late at night in 3months will help me lose just over 30lbs just cutting out that meal at night! Sounds simple we'll see we all at one point have struggled with something that plagued us...So far it's that and I'm doing alright so far will just have to sleep early!

Try this -

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods#foodlist

 

[Farlife05]

I eat twice a day, early and late. No potatoes, no grains, small servings of peas and beans.
The bread and porridge would not be on my menu.
There are no foods which lower BG. All carbohydrates break down into sugar, so I keep to foods which are 10 percent carbs or less.

Would you agree that eating healthy lean meat and fish or protein and fiber combat the diabetes since there is virtually no sugar and small portions as well? What I mean is having had the experience if fasting 24 hrs does make it easy to skip a couple meals but what is the right ratio because most will say to eat atleast every 5-6 hrs or eat every 3 hrs? I really don't think fasting one meal a day will be crazy but how do we really know? I can have a low blood glucose reading for not eating maybe 10hrs but eating anything even non carbs will spike that to make it worse and over time doesn't sound smart!

 

[paulus1]

what are you meaning by high fibre from what

 

[CherryAA]

Hi @Farlife05
it looks to me that you would benefit from a bit of research and a step change in your diet and plan.
You need to be eating proteins and fats in normal sized meals cooked with some flavour - herbs spices sat, pepper, using things like butter, cream, olive oil. Stopwprrying about ifis " lean"or not and avoid anything which says "LOw fat" or is in a package and marked " healthy "- low fat, cholesterol lowering etc.

Stage 1 - reduce the level of carbohyrdrates in all of your meals. eat nothing that has more than 10g per 100g of carbohyrdates. preferably eat only natural foods - look at the graphic I attach and try to eat the meals you do eat like that.

Stage 2 - try to leave longer gaps between meals - and try to make those meals during the day time until you are only eating three meals per day with no snacks in between

Stage 3 - see if you can start to leave the time you do not eat overnight to be longer and longer - ideally up to at least 12 hours- so instead of a breakfast, have maybe a coffee with some cream.

You should find that overall you stop being so hungry and you stop worrying about food quite so much because without the carbohydrate food no longer rules your mind so much.

If you need to lose a lot of weight, then try to keep each of your three meals quite small, maybe by using a smaller plate - but the main thing that will help you in that goal is making sure that if you do snack it is snacking from something high in protein or fat, not carbohydrate. You should find the urge to snack starts to reduce.
As you do this read up from the low carb program here, which you can join, and look at dietdoctor.com then read up from

If you want to find out about fasting the Dr Jason Fung is the man to study

Dr Jason Fung - who lectures on his website https://idmprogram.com/



You will soon get the hang of what eating to this different way of life is.

 

[daisy1]

@Farlife05

Hello and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it useful and informative. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will 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 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. Most of these are 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
  
  
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
  

 

[Mandi05]

Try this -

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/foods#foodlist

NewTD2 thanks for the link. It’s helpful to newbies like me

 

[Resurgam]

Do not fast and then eat lean meat - the essential foods are protein and fats - without the essential fatty acids your brain and nervous system are not able to function well and other vital systems are affected too.
Carbs are the way to be hungry, you eat them, insulin is released, the glucose is stowed away in cells and muscles 'for later' blood glucose drops, so you feel hungry and if you eat carbs the same thing happens over and over again.

 

[NewTD2]

NewTD2 thanks for the link. It’s helpful to newbies like me

We can also chat privately

 

[Mandi05]

We can also chat privately

Okay

 

[Dmcc0]

There are no foods which lower BG. All carbohydrates break down into sugar, so I keep to foods which are 10 percent carbs or less.

I've seen a few folks say they stick to foods that are less than a certain percentage of carbs, but surely the total carbs is more important than the percentage?
For example, I was checking the labels on a ready meal in a supermarket the other day and it was around 9g carbs per 100g. So going by your <10% rule it seems OK. However, the pack size was 400g so the total carbs were nearly 40g. For someone low-carbing that seems pretty high.

 

[Lynnzhealth]

Hi,cheat.

I am only recently diagnosed myself but Bread & beans is not a good idea. Both tend to be high in carbs.
I had a pretty healthy diet before being diagnosed, it just was not healthy for a T2. I'm tagging @daisy1 who will post some good advise. Daisy - If I have this wrong as a newbie, apologies and please correct me.

I have found that if I eat bread or starchy veggies, beans, etc. that my blood glucose rockets. So, I have given up all grains, sugars, starchy veggies, beans, legumes, etc. since being diagnosed T2 March 2017. I began the Keto lifestyle and it was the best move I made. My A1C is now in the normal range and my BG only spikes if I have grains or other starchy foods.

 

[davidjb]

I have been eating poorly for along time and have been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes almost 11 years ago but I've been eating healthy recently keeping my stress down I eat very healthy portions of healthy food every 3-4 hours but Everytime I check my Blood it first read 312 last night at 10pm then 298 at 12:30 I stayed up untill 5 because I do sleep late so I only sipped warm water all night then I woke up and checked and it read 251 it didn't go down much understandably but I had a healthy meal for breakfast/Lunch only one slice of toast with 4 tablespoons of black bleans from a can I soaked with half of a small avocado and One egg and two slices of Ham! And 4 hours later it reads 276! So I'm in this dilemma of reading high numbers and eating healthy but when it's time to eat I still get these high readings! Sometimes discourge me from eating but I will have something because that's not healthy either! Any tips will be appreciated....Thanks in advance by the way I don't smoke or drink at all!

There is some good advice here but may I suggest that the meter and/or test strips you are using may be faulty, or in need of re-calibrating, and giving untrue readings. Why not try a different testing kit first to confirm if it is you or the meter. Good luck and keep positive.

 

[Oldvatr]

I eat twice a day, early and late. No potatoes, no grains, small servings of peas and beans.
The bread and porridge would not be on my menu.
There are no foods which lower BG. All carbohydrates break down into sugar, so I keep to foods which are 10 percent carbs or less.

Protein also turns into glucose but at a slower rate than carbs. Both add to raising blood sugars. Canned fruit and veg tend to have added sugar or syrup or sugar alcohols: it is better to use dried ones soaked in water then you know what goes into it.

I personally can tolerate a small helping of porridge oats, but remember that milk also contains carbs, The diet you are currently using would be considered healthy for a non diabetic, but you may benefit from lookin at one of the Low Carb diets such as Paleo or Pioppi (the one I am using myself) or the Mediterranean diet. You have not declared any medications, which makes it difficult to give advice.

 

[Resurgam]

I've seen a few folks say they stick to foods that are less than a certain percentage of carbs, but surely the total carbs is more important than the percentage?
For example, I was checking the labels on a ready meal in a supermarket the other day and it was around 9g carbs per 100g. So going by your <10% rule it seems OK. However, the pack size was 400g so the total carbs were nearly 40g. For someone low-carbing that seems pretty high.

Ah - it depends on the definition of food - something in a plastic tray or pot heated up in a microwave fails on several levels

 

[Resurgam]

Protein also turns into glucose but at a slower rate than carbs. Both add to raising blood sugars. Canned fruit and veg tend to have added sugar or syrup or sugar alcohols: it is better to use dried ones soaked in water then you know what goes into it.

I personally can tolerate a small helping of porridge oats, but remember that milk also contains carbs, The diet you are currently using would be considered healthy for a non diabetic, but you may benefit from lookin at one of the Low Carb diets such as Paleo or Pioppi (the one I am using myself) or the Mediterranean diet. You have not declared any medications, which makes it difficult to give advice.

Dried fruit tends to be very high in sugar, as it is fully ripened in the sun as it dries out - so perhaps best avoided or used in very small amounts.