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Need help with after meal readings!

bassamaklan

Well-Known Member
Messages
216
Location
Yemen
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Good morning members,

I am from Yemen and newly T2 diagnosed on 18/11/2017 (H1AC 9%), my weight was 95KG and height is 178cm. I have been told by my doctor to start with Mitformin 850mg which I stopped using 1 week after. The reason was when I started following this website, reading about controlling diabetes and how to reverse it.
I have started a program to lose weight and to control my diet in order to improve my readings and the summary was as follows:
  • No medications
  • reduced weight to 80.5KG until today.
  • H1AC was 6.6% on 10/2/2018.
  • fasting levels avg 90-100 mg/dl.
  • 2 hours after breakfast is managed to be under 130mg/dl
  • 2 hours after lunch avg 140-160mg/dl
  • Moderate Carb diet : between 160g to 220g daily
  • Reduce meals portion to almost half without affecting my health.
  • moderate exercises (Plank for 2 minutes per session and 10 minutes on elliptical device)
Problems
  • can't get to lower my carbs intake because most of foods suggested can't be found in Yemen or they are expensive (except salad).
  • my 1 hour readings after lunch might reach 200mg/dl before coming back to the average mentioned above. I tried to fix this issue by changing lunch time to 12-13pm but it didn't give me that much improvement.
  • High Fat meal only delayed the peak to 3 to 4 hours after the meal.
  • If I try to reduce my carb intake or the portion during the lunch, I start feeling hungry 2 hours after.
  • I can't rely on any doctors here since they only care on how to increase your meds dosage without giving you advice regarding how to control diabetes.
I really got a lot of useful information from this community in order to reach this level of control, but I don't know how to make further improvements.
I do appreciate your help on this matter.
 
@bassamaklan

Hello 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 like and someone will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

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.
 
By chance do you know anyone else who is diabetic where you live? I was able to touch base with a few in my area and it helped me with eating and etc.
Secondly for exercise, it's recommended that everyone get at least 150 min of cardio a week diabetic or not. And at least 2 sessions of strength training to keep our bones healthy.
Thirdly! Congrats on your recent HbA1c
 
Hey @bassamaklan, good job thus far on working towards better control! If you are feeling hungry, perhaps you could increase your fat intake as that does make you feel more sated and should carry you longer into the afternoon before your next meal....it must be difficult to try and figure out what to eat.....what about nuts, full fat yogurt, cheeses? Do look at the dietdoctor.com site as you may find some vegetarian recipes that would work for you as well as those with meat....if that is of interest to you. Also, perhaps you could eat half of your carby food, like 1/2 a pita or one spoonful of rice, etc. or whatever your carbs are. But do try and increase that fat intake and you may find that your carb intake naturally starts to decrease.

All the best in your endeavors and welcome! If you find in the end that you do need the Metformin, it is NOT a failure on your part - plenty of us NEED to take it to maintain good control of our diabetes.....everyone is different in what they need....DON"T compare yourself to anyone else as we are all unique in how our bodies respond to foods, exercise, medication.....Blessings/L
 
Wow you have done amazingly well in a short period of time. And you are on track to really get on top of things. You are testing constantly to see how your body reacts to different foods at different times. I'm doing the same as i was only diagnosed in December. I was offered meds but asked if I could try diet and exercise first which has worked well. It's sad there is not a special program we can go on which promotes what we have found on this website. Hopefully one day.
 
NoCrbs4Me said:
It seems to me that you need to reduce your carb intake more. Unfortunately I can’t help you with regards to the cost.
Click to expand...
regarding reducing carbs it seems a little difficult since one our food culture depends mainly on bread, but I will try to do my best.
 
I am glad that you did the same. Actually, reading a lot in this website gave me a lot confidence that I can achieve these results, but I still hope for more.
 
Thank you for your warm words and I will try my best.
 
Actually, most of people I know are on meds and they tried to convince me several times that I will go on mexs eventually. No one is believing that diabetes might be go on remission
 
bassamaklan said:
Actually, most of people I know are on meds and they tried to convince me several times that I will go on mexs eventually. No one is believing that diabetes might be go on remission
Click to expand...
Remission is the goal of any type two diabetic! at least in my book. I was fortunate to have an older brother with type two, I guess it kinda runs in my family, and he's been in the game for 15 years and is presently on no medication and his A1C's been bouncing back and forth between 5 to 5.8 pending on the season (summer/winter)

Are these people you know in your age group? I was able to meet a few in my city who are only a year or two older than me and they've helped with my diet and nutrition.
 
bassamaklan said:
I am glad that you did the same. Actually, reading a lot in this website gave me a lot confidence that I can achieve these results, but I still hope for more.
Click to expand...
Me too. For me although it sounds very wrong the diagnosis was a blessing in disguise! I feel great.
 
Well, they are older than me 10 years and more. I have to mention that my older sister and father are diabetics and I convinced my sister to cut down her medication 1 pill mitformin daily and concentrate on diet improvement and it started to get good results.

Till now I couldn't find anyone with age range that is near to me in order to coordinate with them.
 
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