Note to self - no more alpen

timgil said:

Everyone is different of course, but myself I love a bowl of porridge in the morning and the way I make it - it never spikes me. Sure it goes up - eating generally does that regardless - but not much or for long. I think the key is high quality ingredients with little processing. I always use pinhead (steelcut) oats and add cacao nibs and ground linseed and water - then put in the nucrawave for around 6-8 mins (watching that they dont boil over!) stiring frequently. They are more chewy than rolled oats and the cacao nibs add a bit of crunch.

Generally a healthy breakfast (I think) and as it is, doesn't spoke my sugars at all. Of course I do often add dried cranberries (small spike) or fresh blueberries (even smaller - more acceptable spike) so there are variations depending on what you need.

Having said that, of course Diabetes is not "one" disease and what works really well for one person may not work for others.

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Where do you buy those steel cut oats from?

acerimmer said:

Hi all,

Had a bowl of no added sugar Alpen. Before breakfast, my sugars were 10.6 mmol/l, 2 hours later 18.8

.

Learning curve but wondered if anyone else has had this type of reaction?

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I think know mine would have gone up to that level eating a high carb cereal such as Aspen with a 40 gram /100 gram serving.

Another product to leave on the display shelf...

acerimmer said:

What's celery lol

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Might be a good idea to look up fibre.
Seems each of us, could do with with a little more.

I THINK I get enough, but celery adds. As does CHIA seeds..might be worth looking into.

acerimmer said:

Thanks for the info. It's the first time I've had cereal in a while, missed having it. Will stick to just lower carb brekkie from now on.

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IF you really want .I get some from WHOLEFOODS supermarkets for wife.
Close on £5 a small packet, but 5gm per 100..I think

She likes, AND she's worth it.

jjraak said:

Mmhh...Alpen..sounds healthy don't it.
But not for me sadly.

Others covered it well, but I'd suggest you also measure out what IS considered a healthy portion by the "manufacturers" of such healthy foods.

Might be surprised it's little more then a
Mouse's droppings.:***:

..and then you still got to add milk..(full fat )...

As a fellow type 2...its
Egg n bacon.
Or scrambled egg n avocado
Or Greek yoghurt n blueberries,
Thats my breakfasts sorted.

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tastes like mouse droppings too IMO......come on....Alpen? you won't be missing much by binning it!!

acerimmer said:

What's celery lol

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Google "Chelsea Celery Song" you'll never think of it the same way LOL

Listlad said:

Where do you buy those steel cut oats from?

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Pinhead (steelcut) Oats:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B007CX5XXM

Also linseed and cacao nibs I get from:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DLTM4PK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004XJ7J2Q

Although I notice that the oats are not currently available from where I got them last time. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Buy-Whole-Foods-Online-Ltd/dp/B007CX5D9G seems a good alternative. I bought 5kg last time in December and still have about 1.5kg left.

I'm wondering whether to try Alpen as it was my routine before diagnosis - but it's a fair cost if I'm going to throw it away after one breakfast.
Very nice though.

My findings so far:

* Porridge - small rise, but you don't get many oats in one of those little sachets.
As a kid we used to used to make porridge with half a cup each of oats, water, milk.

* ASDA All-Bran (less sugar than Kellogs), 20g (half serving) with berries and cashew nuts - a little bigger

* Mini Shredded Wheat - Rollercoaster

I hope my kids can be persuaded to eat the remains of the box of mini shredded wheat.

Oddly the Diabetes UK guide to cereals lists Shredded Wheat as really good.
Alpen-No-Sugar's Glycemic Index looks good (50 for the no sugar version, and 65% carbs by mass)

Maybe a small bag is the same as the cost of a coffee in town or two.

All cereals contain grains of one sort or another.
All grains are high carbs and sugars.
All cereals will cause a spike depending on the amount you have in a portion.
The very first spike in the morning, is going to be a rollercoaster of your blood glucose levels all day.
All cereals are produced by manufacturing process that also contains hidden production sugars, additives and oils, such as palm oil, which are not very good for anyone.
Always as a prediabetic, avoid unnecessary carbs and cereals. That cause the high spikes.
There are alternatives.
Best wishes.

Lamont D said:

All cereals contain grains of one sort or another.
All grains are high carbs and sugars.
All cereals will cause a spike depending on the amount you have in a portion.
The very first spike in the morning, is going to be a rollercoaster of your blood glucose levels all day.
All cereals are produced by manufacturing process that also contains hidden production sugars, additives and oils, such as palm oil, which are not very good for anyone.
Always as a prediabetic, avoid unnecessary carbs and cereals. That cause the high spikes.
There are alternatives.
Best wishes.

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Thanks

I'm finding it stabilises quite well. What's fiddly is trying to understand whether that's because weight loss and diet change are helping improve my situation. I'd say my quiescent glucose is still high, but my average is down from that which apparently corresponds to my HB1AC. I'm achieving that through diet.

Things like cereals produce an under-damped response, but this combines with exercise which is an interesting study in itself! (I can take my sugar above 7 rock climbing, presumably a combination of high strength moves and not wanting to fall off!). The response to Shredded Wheat stabilises after one swing up to 9ish then down to 4ish, but I'm walking that off at the time. Porridge was somewhat better damped and smaller in peak with no down-swing. I had quorn, egg and salad for lunch after that with a small amount of cold boiled potato and can't really see it on the glucose readings - completely masked by the lunchtime walk.

I've had HB1AC (and before that Fasting Glucose) checked every year. I don't know whether that's my GP or my oncologist as I don't know who orders which tests. This diagnosis was a bit of a surprise as I'm not that large (BMI currently 25.5, peaked at just over 27 after falling off a bouldering wall stopped me running for a while late last year). GP sent a very strongly worded letter about lifestyle changes and referred me to Oviva which is something for another forum post some day I think.