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Porridge, what are the for and against thoughts

Groundgripper

Well-Known Member
Messages
60
Location
Hampshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Busy towns and cities, heavy traffic, noisy people, rubbishy televison or radio shows, rap music.
I have just porridge for breakfast every day, nothing else, soaked in milk, and cooked in the microwave, with just a splash more milk on top and a pinch of salt, really just a pinch, I was born and brought up in Scotland, and although I have lived in England for 50 years I still have my porridge this way, I started just taking porridge a long while before being diagnosed as type 2, as I wanted to drop my cholesterol level from 6.9/7.5 down to something far better, it is now 5.1.
My morning BGS is usually no more than 7.0 mmol rising to approx 8 within an hour after breakfast, and then recently to 5.5 a couple of hours later.
Any informed thoughts on the above, would be most welcome.
 
I'd be quite interested in your 2 hour post porridge reading.. but certainly wouldn't recommend eating it at all from my own perspective.
I skip breakfast and only have lunch and dinner extending my overnight fast for some extra hours to reduce blood glucose and not trigger insulin spikes. For me this has proved most effective.
I also would not be worried about cholesterol levels. But that is another story..
 
I used to have the same as you every day but now just have a bowl occasionally on a particularly cold morning. I know many don't ever have it as for some it can push up the blood sugars. However, I find it keeps me full for ages and a warm tummy!
 
It does seem that your intolerance to oats, milk is good.
You can cope with that breakfast.
If all your meals get that reading then your Hba1c should be getting better.

I used to have porridge before I got diagnosed. It wasn't until I discovered through testing that I found I was intolerant to oats.
I have always since childhood been lactose intolerant.

Keep testing, keep asking, and don't forget to keep a food diary.
 

Sorry, I did not make a clear enough entry with regards my post porridge reading, I`ve got a dumb keyboard! , my 2 hour post porridge reading is the 5.5 mmol one.
Since being diagnosed, my sugar/carbohydrate intake has plummeted to approx - not a lot. I have actually been quite pleasantly surprised by the porridge thing, my next food is usually about anywhere between midday to after 1 pm depending on my work load, and where I am on the base where I work, that meal is very light too, natural Greek yoghurt with some cinnamon and chopped apple, and also shredded cheese/ tomato/ cucumber/pepper and some sliced ham, and with a cup of tea.
 
May I ask, is this proper porridge oats that actually need cooking or the highly refined stuff that is a powder?
 

I don`t have a gall bladder, so a lot of the cake type things, pastries and certain breads, and soft centre sweets may have gone down but did not stay there, so I gave up on those quite a while ago, the porridge I find I can hold onto, it gives me enough to start the day, and I don`t become sleepy or feel bloated with it, and I am just getting used to a slightly higher fat content milk, as I always had fully skimmed until recently, now working my way back to standard milk bit by bit, on semi skimmed now, but still wary of full fat and cream, as I had some bad episodes with them
 
Guzzler said:
May I ask, is this proper porridge oats that actually need cooking or the highly refined stuff that is a powder?
Click to expand...

Proper porridge, my Scots ancestry would not allow for anything else, although I do now have a Hampshire accent, lost my Scots one years ago, I tried the ready break and instant oats, did not stay down, like eating gruel.
 
Groundgripper said:
Proper porridge, my Scots ancestry would not allow for anything else, although I do now have a Hampshire accent, lost my Scots one years ago, I tried the ready break and instant oats, did not stay down, like eating gruel.
Click to expand...
As has been said, test before you eat then two hours later to see the real impact. It would also be interesting to see a reading at the two and a half and three hour marks.

By the way, no real need to be afraid of using too much salt, when we give up the highly processed foods we need to replace that lost sodium.
 

I did actually carry out a series of those readings today, as I was outside on the airfield and wanted to see if there was any effect on me due to the chill factor, the pre breakfast (07.00 hours) was 6.9 mmol rising to 8.4 by (08.15 hours)
then falling by (10.00 hours )after breakfast to 5.5,
My lunch time (13.15 hours) pre meal reading was 5.3 rising to 8.2 at (14.20 hours) then by mid afternoon (15.30 hours) had dropped to 6.4 mmol
 

Very interesting. As an aside, if you were being quite physically active and it was quite cold this may have had a beneficial affect. What was your lunch? A rise of almost 3mmol then fall to a difference of roughly 1mmol suggests there may have been something carby there but that your body compensated fairly well.
 
Groundgripper said:
I don`t have a gall bladder, so a lot of the cake type things, pastries and certain breads, and soft centre sweets may have gone down but did not stay there,
Click to expand...
That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with having a gall bladder. It may very well be the case for you, but just to let people who have theirs removed know, there are plenty of people who can eat anything they wish without a gall bladder.
 
Everybody's different. Some can handle porridge while others can't. I'm one of the lucky ones and have porridge perhaps 2 to 4 times per week. Generally, my waking BG is around 5 and moves up to mid 6s after about an hour and is well on the way down after 2 hours and back to low 5s by 3. I have to stipulate that I have only 50g of true rolled oats. The ones that you soak overnight. The highly processed ones are a disaster. Combined with the milk it makes my breakfast carbs under 30g with a low GI. It is personal as my mother is unable to do this but there are things that she has that I can't. That's the value of testing.
Glenn
 

Lunch was sliced ham, shredded cucumber, chopped tomato, shredded red pepper, and some grated cheese,and yes there was a touch of carbohydrate, all wrapped in a wholemeal very thin tortilla, followed by coffee with a touch of skimmed milk.
 

I absolutely adore the rough basic non processed porridge oats, the type that as they go cold you can actually slice and eat like a bread pudding, sad person that I am, must be my upbringing.
 
Antje77 said:
That doesn't necessarily have anything to do with having a gall bladder. It may very well be the case for you, but just to let people who have theirs removed know, there are plenty of people who can eat anything they wish without a gall bladder.
Click to expand...

I quite agree, however my own experience is that I have had a long term problem with certain types of pastries, creamy items, fats, and ice creams, as well as soft sweets and also some types of canned soups and cereals, they are not going to stay down, and that problem was present before my Gall Bladder was removed, and got worse afterwards, I have had Helicobacter Pylori infections which turned into ulcers, and am thankfully now free of those, and also suffered back, neck and intestinal injuries whilst in the forces back in the 1970s
 
From your numbers, you're one of the lucky ones who's system can cope with porridge, I really miss my bowl for breakfast sometimes, porridge oats, water and thick enough to fill a pothole
 
lessci said:
From your numbers, you're one of the lucky ones who's system can cope with porridge, I really miss my bowl for breakfast sometimes, porridge oats, water and thick enough to fill a pothole
Click to expand...

In the morning, I will hold my bowl up in a quiet toast to you and the others who can no longer indulge in the sacred porridge ritual, I honestly do feel a bit guilty now.
 

I grind my porridge in a coffee grinder as I like a smoother texture or I have ready break when I can find it. I also add ground cinnamon and freshly minced ginger - sooo delicious I mix it with low calorie blackcurrant squash diluted with carbonated water, microwave it for 90 seconds then stir in a teaspoon of peanut butter or ground almonds, then microwave again for a further 30 seconds, stir well and serve with milk. It regulates my blood sugar so well I can't manage without it - I am Type 3c. I grew up in Scotland too and my recipe is a bit of a departure from the normal plain with salt but hey, it is delicious and the added cinnamon and ginger really aid digestion and make it even more of a superfood - so why not.
 

You make me feel so completely inadequate, I would probably have to get up before I went to bed to do all that you do with porridge, my basic two scoops with milk left to soak overnight then nuked for two and a half minutes in the morning as I in a bleary state, give the birds dog food, the cat parrot food, and the dogs a banana, before slurping my case hardened porridge whilst attempting to physically turn the pages on the paper by swiping them in kindle fashion.
 
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