Ooooh it seems to work! What's for brekkie tho?

The HCPs are not abut to admit they were wrong!
For breakfasts
How about scrambled eggs? 2 eggs about 2 mins in the microwave. Or crispy bacon cooked the night before, or whole milk yogurt with a few berries, or Read an Atkins diet book for ideas
Hana

terrierist said:

Am I right in saying then that as soon as I see summat spike my BG's it's not for me?

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That's exactly right - it's called Eating to your Meter.

Make a note of what your going to eat (be precise - measure portion size)
Take a reading
Eat
Wait 2 hrs
Take a reading

To start with you're aiming at a reading of below 7.8 after 2 hrs. If it's higher, then look at the carbs in what you've jut eaten and work out how you can reduce or eliminate them. You can use a carb counting book to help you predict good/bad foods (I use the Collins Gem Carb Counter), but everyone is different.

After a while you'll know how you react to certain foods and what you need to avoid.

Could there be any connection between doctors recommending food like shreaded wheat that spike BS and a lot of them no longer writing a prescription for test strips?

Breakfast suggestions - I have a 2-egg omelette cooked in butter almost every morning, sometimes with cheese or mushrooms. Sometimes I'll have bacon & egg; full English is okay, but leave out the beans, fried potatoes and bread!

Alternatively - go continental (except the croissant) with cold meats and cheese. You could prepare a plate of cherry toms, meat, cheese, cold sausage - read the labels for carb - strips of pepper, celery etc, put it in the fridge overnight, and grab a bite every time you pass next morning. The same in a plastic box will do for lunch.

I have been known to have cold chicken salad for breakfast - delicious! Fish too - tuna, smoked mackerel, salmon. Kippers are okay. Just think outside the box a little. I have also been known to have cold pork in cold ratatouille :shock: From the previous night - never occured to me to re-heat it. :lol: .

Protein and fat will keep you fuller for longer - my omelette lasts me at least 5 hours.

The Atkins Diet Revolution is good for low-carbing, even though it's written for weight loss. One I like even better is Atkins DIabetes Revolution, by Vernon & Eberstein. Available from all good bookshops, or second-hand eg on Amazon or e-bay.

Hope this helps!

Viv 8)

SouthernGeneral6512 said:

Could there be any connection between doctors recommending food like shreaded wheat that spike BS and a lot of them no longer writing a prescription for test strips?

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The 'official' NHS diabetes diet still recommends carbs at every meal. It seems to take them a while to catch up with present thinking and suggest alternatives :roll: .Having said that, we are all different; Sid Bonkers eats a small portion of carbs with every meal; Grazer can cope with carbs in the morning and eats a shredded wheat for breakfast - I haven't tried, I doubt if either SW or porridge would suit me. I can manage a small portion of granola (usually the one called 'Lizi's'), but a small portion (about 25g) and most certainly not every day. You can control your BGs with either portion control (like Sid) or by low-carbing, which I do. I still have to lose a lot of weight, and VLC works best for me for that.

Some people can tolerate more carbs than others; Grazer has had excellent results eating about 130g carb per day; I would be out of BG target range on that, and putting on weight.

As for test strips, I have heard various reasons for not giving us them -

a) testing will only make us depressed when we don't get the results we want (so recommend a diet that will give us the right results!)

b) you'll make your fingers sore (!)

c) there's no need - your 3-monthly HbA1c will give us enough info :roll:

and so on. The real reason is to save money, and some of them are honest enough to tell us so.

I am lucky; I get them. I ask for a tub of 50 every month. Now I know what I'm doing I don't test half as much as I used to, so occasionally I don't ask for a repeat, which keeps everybody sweet. I still like to do my morning fasting test - it sort of reminds me to eat properly for the day - and every now and again I'll do a full week's testing, just to keep an eye on how I'm doing. I also test if I eat a bit differently - eg after a granola breakfast, or if I have a sandwich for lunch (very occasionally!).

I think they are essential for the newly diagnosed, together with the information on how to use them properly and what to look for. Used correctly, they are an invaluable tool.

I should add that I am an exception in my practice. They give all their diabetics a meter and strips on prescription, but recommend that Type 2s should only test 2 or 3 times per week. They seem to accept that whatever I'm doing works, so they give me what I ask for.

VIv 8)

Perhaps I should just say to my doctor what a big help the test strips are to me surely she wouldn't refuse if I said that? Surely they should be encouraging us to be involved and proactive in this way but apparently not . :?

I have reduced my carbs but feel so tired (although I started the metformin at the same time so it may be that) perhaps you just get so used to carbs over the years that it takes your body time to adjust?

"They" say they want us to be pro-active and take control ourselves, but . . . :roll: . Try it; tell her you've found out that bread (or whatever) gives to a real high spike and you would like to test for (say) 3 months to really get control of your diet. Then maybe review the prescription after 3 months.

Probably by that time you'll have such good results she'll agree to let you continue. Keep lots of records of meal contents, BG levels etc so you have the evidence to back your request.

It can take a little time to adjust to a low carb diet. I didnt have any problems like that, or the bad breath and headaches which are supposed to be associated with Atkins. Are you drinking enough water? 2 litres a day is recommended. Keep at it - after about 2 weeks I got a real energy boost.

Viv 8)