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low blood sugar levels after eating carbohydrate snack

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AmyD

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My dad has type 2 diabetes and controls this with oral medication. He has quite a high carbohydrate daily intake and after testing his blood sugar level this morning after eating a biggish snack of two slices of toast (literally about 10 minutes later) the blood sugar level was 4.6. Is this good? surely it should have been higher. He has already eaten some fruit and weetabix this morning also! please help - thanks
 
I'm by no means a professional but here is some of my thoughts...

Do you know what he numbers where before eating? Were they too low?
Also, I tend to test two hours after eating which gives a better indication of what's happening.
If you test just 10 minutes after eating you aren't going to see the full effect of what has been eaten, unless it's something like fruit juice.
Nothing particularly wrong with two slices of toast in my book, different things happen for different people. But was it white or brown bread? Depending on the type of bread will depend on how quickly the sugar gets into the blood stream.
I certainly couldn't eat two slices of toast, wetabix and fruit in the morning, that would send me through the roof even with my meformin and gliclazade.... I could cope with just having one of that selection!

Not sure if any of that helps.
David
 
hi david, thanks for replying - we are trying to reduce his intake of food, but apparently he eats about 7 times a day and this sometimes consists of three portions of 2 slices of toast (at different times!) which cannot be good for him at all. He has put on quite a lot of weight which isnt a surprise. The bread he ate was 50/50 brand. We didnt test him before he ate, only after. I think we need to test in an hour or so then.

Can you recommend some other snacks, there are so many different varieties he can eat according to all the websites, do you think substituting the slices of toast for maybe a few crackers and cheese would suffice?

Appreciate any feedback! thanks again
 
Well, I'll tell you what I eat each day and some of the things I do to "snack" when I feel the need to in the evening. I don't have any snacks during the day.

Morning: 50g Jordans Country Crisp Chocolate ( a bit naughty as it puts me on the limit, but.., otherwise it's fruit 'n' fibre or bran flakes)
Lunch: small brown ham salad sandwich during the week; weekends tend to be something like a sausage or bacon sandwich or soup. Careful with sausages for hidden carbs - you need a high meat content to be safe.
Evening: varies, but a staple at the moment is salad with some cold meats and a jacket potato

Evening treats when I "need" - max one a night: Options Hot Chocolate drink, 5 jacobs high fibre cream crackers with marg (sometimes some cheese), 100g(max but usually 50g) peanuts... people will tell you other nuts are better but they're the only nuts I like.

My advice would be to make small changes rather than a radical reducution... much easier to maintain that way. Perhaps start by having one slice rather than two and see how it goes. I think your body gets used to the volume of food and complains when it doesn't get what it's used to, rather than complaining when you actually need food. I'm not saying it's easy path, but small steps at a time can make a big difference.

David
 
I'm losing weight and controlling blood sugar well by cutting back on bread. Instead of several slices to make sandwiches I have a wholemeal wrap, I put meat in it, pack it with loads of salad (44p a pack of seasonal salad in asda) then sprinkle some grated cheese on and fold it. It is cutting back as you need more than one slice of bread for a sandwich! Sometimes I have ryvita with chicken tikka on them-check labels as I guess some tikka may have sugar in the sauce, (yeah I don't make my own-a snack should be quick & easy after all).
 
For breakfast I usually have 2 slices of wholemeal or granary bread, toasted with either cheese melted under the grill (very filling) or home made cooked ham (too much sugar being added in the packet ham).

For lunch I have a salad with ham in it or a Spanish omelet or a (what I call) whatever is in the veggie drawer omelet.

For dinner I have a mixed salad, 3 baby new potatoes and a piece of oily fish, grilled not fried, or I make different home made chunky veg soups with either minced pork balls, sausages or chicken.

I always ask my butcher to mince up a lean piece of pork for me for the meatballs and I use a high meat sausage (don't use the cheapy sausages, too much cereal in them)

As snacks I usually have some fruit and some nuts handy that I throw into some Greek yogurt. I also make vanilla milk shakes with diabetes friendly vanilla ice cream and soy milk and sometimes I throw some strawberries or banana in too.
 
How old is your Dad ?
Really need to get him involved in his own care with your help.
and not just alter or order him what to eat

Before you alter anything you/He will need to test to see whats going on NOW!
Make a daily log of food eaten and BG levels before a meal then 2hr+

Then you can alter foods to deal with any high BG levels or Lows

Never know his Meds may be too strong thats why his eating all the time ?
You will never know until you start testing

Is he washing his hands before testing ?

Bob
 
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