• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Is this ok ?

C

clueless101

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I was diagnosed two months ago, results were 59. Great service from diabetic nurse and supportive of my decision not to take medication. Dr not so. Anyway I’ve lost 10lb and am following a very low carb diet. But have now got a monitor and am confused if readings are normal ( whatever that is)
In the morning before eating it’s usually 3 ish then goes up to 7-10 during day . I’ve only had it five days . Is the early morning one ok ?
 
Hi @clueless101 . What medication are you on for your diabetes? If it is Metformin, then 3ish is ok. If on any that can cause hypos you might need to check that, as you say you are on very low carb diet. How do you feel when you are at 3 ish?
Are you keeping records of what you are eating, and testing fasting level, then immediately before eating and two hours after? Going up to 10 seems a big fluctuation from 3ish fasting.
 
I am not on medication right now , I’ll make final decisions when I go back in November and my numbers are down sufficiently . I’ll definitely start keeping a record thank you
 
your levels rising from 3 ish to 7 - 10mmol during the day suggests that maybe your diet isn't as low carb as you think.
Can you give us an idea of what a typical day's food looks like, we may be able to help you tweek your diet a little
 
When in the day are you testing in relation to food. For example a 10 more than 2 hrs after eating is a bit high imo. The same an hour after is less unexpected. What food, and when, precedes the top end of what you’re seeing?

A non diabetic usually returns to a pre meal level after about 2hrs. So we aim to get close to that in an ideal world and be no more than 2mmol over our starting point for that food. If it’s higher then we didn’t cope with the carbs in that meal and need to adjust. It helps everything to avoiding snacking between meals as much as possible. Instead eat more filling meals.
 
catinahat said:
your levels rising from 3 ish to 7 - 10mmol during the day suggests that maybe your diet isn't as low carb as you think.
Can you give us an idea of what a typical day's food looks like, we may be able to help you tweek your diet a little
Click to expand...

Typical day
( note that I don’t eat eggs or porridge)
Shredded wheat with SS milk
Couple of plums or skinny bar
Mixed salad with cheese / meat
Tangerine or small handful of nuts
Homemade chilli no rice but with grated cheese
Coffee with cream and a high fibre low sugar biscuit
Or
Couple of chipolatas or bacon air fried
Wrap ( whole meal) with salad and chicken
Plums or skinny bar
Steak with onions mushrooms and peppers in air fryer
Berries and cream

Seems a lot of food but managed to loose 10lb so far
 
Perhaps the shredded wheat with skimmed milk, couple of plums or skinny bar, the berries, whole meal wrap, tangerine are spiking your bg. I know it would send me screaming to the hills! Seems a bit carby. Eggs are fine but the porridge would be a bad idea I think
 
Shredded wheat I'm guessing about 15g carbs per biscuit, milk 5g per 100ml
Tangerine, about 10g, a plum probably much the same
Low sugar biscuits usually have the same amount of carbs as normal biscuits,
so depending on the biscuit 6-10g
The skinny bar (checked the wife's stash) depending on which flavour between 7 & 12g
The wrap, they are usually somewhere around 30g, our bodies just see the carbs wholemeal or not.
Any beans in the chilli? Some people can manage them without too much trouble, personally they make my blood sugar rocket.
I would have thought that the main culprits are the Shredded wheat and the wrap, possibly the chilli if it contains beans
A teaspoon of sugar is roughly equivalent to 5g of carbs
so just 1 Shredded wheat would contain 3 teaspoons of sugar, 100ml of milk 1 teaspoon, tangerine 2 teaspoons, the wrap up to 6 teaspoons.
When you start seeing carbs as spoonfuls of sugar it becomes easier to understand where our high numbers come from
 
clueless101 said:
Oh goodness it’s harder than I thought.
I believed I was eating well, especially with things like kidney beans etc
Click to expand...
Have a look at these pages to help dietdoctor.com/low-carb and dietdoctor.com/diabetes

In a rough and ready summary

Eat
All meats and fish (plain not coated in anything you haven’t made yourself or checked carefully)
Most veg excluding potatoes and parsnip. Other root veg go easy on. Above ground just be careful of sweetcorn and peas.
Eggs
Full fat dairy is good. Anything low fat usually has had sugar or nasties added, check nutritional labels
Fruit has both carbs and fructose (which won’t show on a meter but adds fat to your liver in excess). Stick with berries mostly and avoid grapes and tropical stuff.
Herbs and spices are generally ok.
Nuts and seeds, including flours/meal/ground versions made from them
Sweeteners like erythritol or stevia

Avoid carbs as much as possible. Any colour any type. So it’s not just sugar to dodge - all carbs except fibre turn to glucose as they digest
sugar
grains (bread, flour, pastry, cereals, oats, pasta etc )
rice
Most fruits
fruit juices
sweeteners with bulking agents like maltodextrin or dextrose, maltitol for most of us.

Check
legumes - some of us are ok, others find them like kryptonite

I’m sure I’ve missed some stuff but this gives you the idea to get started with
 
@clueless101 Welcome.
You are already doing well by losing weight on a low carb diet. This is a good sign. You also got diagnosed with an HbA1c of 56. Many here, including myself, started at over 100, so there is a realistic hope that you willl be able to achieve values below 48 (diabetes diagnosis threshold) or 40 (diagnosis threshold for pre-diabetes).

What monitor are you using? I am asking as 3 in the morning seems low to me, but I let others confirm that this is ok. Maybe your meter is giving lower values than finger pricks. If you feel fine, it is likely ok.
We are all different, i.e. our sensitivity to carb varies a lot. The only way to find out is to measure consistently and log your data, first thing in the morning, before a meal and 2h after a meal. A rise of 2 mmol/l at 2 hours after eating is normal And then vary the food and find out what food does spike you (larger rise) and what not. Also don't fret about a single measurement. They have uncertainties, so repeat your measurements. What you need to look at are trends, are they going down or not. Your next Hb1Ac will tell you if you are on the right track. Best wishes on your journey.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top