Not quite newly diagnosed, but...........

[atko]

Well, I'm back again, hoping to shed some light on the dark areas that I'm finding hard to find answers to. Please excuse me if the answers lie elsewhere in the forums, but I feel there is so much information spread all over different subjects and titles, its hard trying to come up with definitive answers.

I'm 6 weeks post diagnosis. Type 2. Blood sugars on day of chat with surgery nurse were 27 (following brekki of orange juice meusli and toast as mentioned in my original posting). Current meds, 1 x 500 metformin twice daily. Average mmol is now 6-7. Lowest 5.1, highest 13.6!

I'm now bordering on anal when wandering around the s/markets and really struggling with what is deemed to be "acceptable", not necessarily what the "guidelines" say.

I've tried to cut out all carbs (initially that is) to bring the level down and have sort of stuck with it, however there have been occasions where I have gone slightly off piste with varying results.

I had a slice of (rather divine) home made Bakewell tart on my partners birthday with a lovely coffee. Result? Hardly any movement on the bloods, and I mean HARDLY, as in 3 hours later (was on the beach so didnt have the chance/CBA to do test) test result was 5.1.

Lamb chilli with WHITE rice and nachos (evening meal in a very nice Mexican restaurant on same day as cake for birthday, I struggled finding something to choose that didn't have chips or salad, threw caution to the wind.......I was starving). Result? Hardly any movement again.

So the burning issues I have trouble dealing with are: What number on the mmol scale is "liveable" with ( I know it says 8 on the site)?
If I'm counting my daily carbs what is a realistic target figure? I've seen one on here that says hes happy at 150g/day, and in reality what does this mean? 150 carbs of which sugars are? 30 brekki, 40 lunch and 80 dinner?

On the plus side........... no added sugar Vimto is a brilliant find, zero carbs n'all, tesco no added sugar cream soda drink ALMOST kills that "I need something sweet" thing and tesco finest pork sausages with virtually no carbs and deffo kick ass against lidl's bratwurst!

So ladies and gents, over to you!

 

[GrantGam]

8mmol/L or lower would be a good place to start. As you're not using insulin you should really be aiming for as low a BG as possible, considering your risk of running into hypos on metformin is a lot less likley than an insulin user. Following the ranges outlined on this site is as good a place as any to start:

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes_care/blood-sugar-level-ranges.html

With daily carb intake, it's not so simple as setting a limit. The important thing is how high your BG spikes and how long it takes to return to your chosen range. There's as much importance with regards to what carbs you're eating as there is to the quantity. For example, if you set yourself a 200g daily limit - but all of those carbs are refined/simple sugars - you may end up with the 2 hour post meal BG looking good; but in the interim your BG sky rocketed into the teens. To counter this you can try two different approaches:

-Fat/protein content: it's good practice to eat carbs with fats and protein as the fats help to reduce the spiking action of your BG. I think protein has a similar effect.
-GI scale: this is basically a table of foods ranked by their direct effect on BG. The lower on the scale, the lesser you should find your BG spikes.

"of which sugars" part with regards to carbohydrates, just ignore that and focus on the total amount.

As with everything, balance and moderation is key. Don't forget to treat yourself from time to time

Hope this has answered some of your queries.

Grant

 

[urbanracer]

Hi @atko

Sugar is a carbohydrate. All carbs turn to glucose in the body so ignore the 'of which sugars', it doesn't matter to us.

If you've cut out virtually all carbs and got your average glucose levels down, then it may be that your body can tolerate a small binge, although testing at 3hrs means you will have missed any glucose spike. Recovering to 5.1 is pretty good though!

You must set your own realistic target figure. Eat what's right for YOU, we cannot tell you what to do. The government guideline is 260g per day. Some people on the forum are below 50 per day, that's their choice. Somewhere in this range is a figure that's right for you, but you'll have to test your bloods after eating to make sure that your levels aren't creeping up if you increase your carb intake.

Any help?

 

[Lamont D]

Ok, six weeks in and you are asking the sort of questions where you feel that having already done enough to get your start to a good enough levels, so let's be having the little treats and testing how my blood glucose levels and treat this this condition as if it's not serious.
You come across as quite intellectual and you must do quite a lot of reading, so use the intelligence to find out what would happen if you continue to not get good control of the situation you find yourself facing.
Can you ignore the threat of being unhealthy and continually feeling awful?


What I would advise is, discover the reason why control is necessary and find out what foods you can tolerate and those you can't, so that you avoid them or the amount that you can tolerate.
Keep a food diary and record religiously the readings and the food you eat.
Find out how to use your monitor the best way for you. Always test before, then one hour or two hours to see how that meal affects you.
Eliminate all they foods that affect your blood glucose levels.
Find low carb alternatives.
Exercise a little more, walking or swimming is great.
Moderate your amounts of food you eat.
Keep away from snacking, eat full fat foods rather than low fat or low GI carbs!
Eat fresh natural foods, not production foods.
There are healthier types of fast foods, mainly protein
Make your own soups, curry, stews, puds!
There is forums that give great advice, learn from them.
Read the success stories forum, see how others have done it.
Finally, this is not going to go away, how you approach it is important to your future health. Get control, then you can have your treats, if by then, you want them!

Best wishes.