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Making sense of blood tests

O

Orangeteddy

Well-Known Member
Messages
111
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
So after 6 months I'm still checking what raises my blood sugar and what doesn't and I really wanted jacket potato to be on my 'can have' list. So I bit the sugar free bullet and had the first jacket potato in so long and as expected it will not be on that list but I'm trying to make sense of the blood test results.

Medium jacket potato with good dollop of butter and lashings of cheese. Yummy.

Before first bite 5.2

2 hours after 9.1 eek!

Further 90mins later 5.3

So clearly the 9.1 is not good but should I be concerned about that as another 90 mins and things seemed to good. Or is it not so good?

Edit - my title should have read Making sense of blood tests.
Edit - Took the liberty of sorting it out! - Urb'
 
That was a 4mmol rise. You should be aiming for 2mmol or less. So it looks like jacket spud is off the menu.... for now anyway.

My rule is to test the meal three times before deciding if it can go on my safe list but with a 4mmol rise I don't think I'd have tried again after the first go but you never know, you may be different.
 
Comfort yourself with the thought that that jacket potato contains a lovely amount of folates, vitamin C, vitami B6, magnesium, potassium, and other stuff.
 

Can't @Orangeteddy just eat a smaller jacket potato next time?
 
OrangeTeddy would be delighted to test another couple times just be sure...... but I think I know the answer. The smaller portion, i.e half is something I was considering as if successful it would give more and different options for work.

I don't suppose half would equate to a 2 point rise instead of 4?
 
Alison54321 said:
Can't @Orangeteddy just eat a smaller jacket potato next time?
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Aye, he could try that and see what reading s/he gets but would it be worth it? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of low carb/keto recipes out there to choose from. Most of them tastier and more filling (and filling for longer) than a jacket potato.
 
@Orangeteddy I ate a jacket potato with a cheese omelette and didn't see a big rise - I ate one with chicken curry and had a huge rise! Maybe try eating a smaller jacket with more fat? I need to add that I was eating out on both occasions and didn't have any other options and it was fairly soon after dx. I wouldn't eat one now I don't think............
 
I'm still checking what I can venture back to and just had a hankering for a jacket spud. I doubt I will bother again as seeing the evidence of the blood test is a great way to actually show me what's happening and a good motivator.
 

This is probably true, but as comfort foods go, the occasional jacket potato isn't too bad.
 
Orangeteddy said:
I'm still checking what I can venture back to and just had a hankering for a jacket spud. I doubt I will bother again as seeing the evidence of the blood test is a great way to actually show me what's happening and a good motivator.
Click to expand...

Orangrteddy - If your jacket potato meant the meal had significantly more carb that you've been used to eating, it could actually be a potentially false positive, if you know what I mean. If you google, "last meal effect" you might find some interesting stuff about how our bodies prepare (in terms of digestive enzyme prep and other stuff), based on our usual routine, and can be caught out if we vary enormously.

Sometimes another go, relatively soon after, will an improved (from the first experiment) result, but then again, it might not.

It is worth having a read of last meal effect though.
 
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I have read that people get a less of a rise with reheated potatoes. I have been thinking of baking a potato and sticking it in the fridge overnight. Nuke the next day.

Not going to try it until after my next HbA1c next month.
 
That would be any interesting experiment. I have found that I have a threshold amount for certain foods. For example I am ok with lentils if I keep below 50g dry weight. I don't eat jacket potatoes anymore but family members donate the skin from their potatoes, which is the part I really like.
 
xfieldok said:
I have read that people get a less of a rise with reheated potatoes. I have been thinking of baking a potato and sticking it in the fridge overnight. Nuke the next day.
Click to expand...
I do this, when I cannot get Spud Lites.

I cook a batch of smallish spuds in the nuker, then let them cool down before putting them in the fridge. I then reheat them whenever I want a spud with a meal.
 
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