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Raised levels post exercise and pre breakfast.

H

HA3

Well-Known Member
Messages
228
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi, recently diagnosed with diabetes type 2. Only had one Ha1bc reading of 58 in feb. Going to the gym several times a week. Today's readings

wakeup 06.30am -7.4.
Before breakfast 08.00am - 9.3.
2hrs post breakfast 10.am -10.5. (READYBREK).
before lunch 12.30pm - 7.5.
2 hrs post lunch 14.30pm -6.4 (Homemade veg soup, chicken breast meat).
Then at 4pm had one slice of toast and went to gym.
post exercise 5pm - 9.5.
Before dinner 6pm - 10.4
1.5 hr post dinner 19.30pm - 9.2 (pork steak, veg omelette, half tin baked beans) -

So my questions are, is the one slice of toast before the gym raising my levels is it the exercise? Can I do anything to stop it going up after exercise? Can I do anything to stop my levels going up before breakfast? I cant face eating the minute I am out of bed! Do i need to get these levels down generally or are they reasonable? Sorry for all the questions. Any help appreciated. Thanks.
 
I suggest you look up 'dawn phenomenon' on Google. It will explain why you may have rising levels between wake up and pre breakfast. I get the same thing, but have noticed that the fewer carbs I eat the day before, the smaller my dawn phenomenon rise the next morning.

Ready Brek does terrible things to my blood glucose. It is too finely milled and has additives that make it very fast release carb. Would suggest swapping that breakfast for whole oat porridge (big, slow release oat flakes), or a protein breakfast like ham, eggs, bacon.

Baked beans often have a shocking amount of sugar in the (several teaspoons!). Unless you are using the sugarless varieties?

Interesting how steady and low the reading was after your soup/chicken lunch. Very low carb.

I can't believe that 1 slice of toast (approx 16g of carbs, if white bread) shot you up that high. However, exercise can cause glucose to be dumped into your bloodstream to feed your muscles. How hard did you work in the gym? The harder you work, the more fuel (glucose) gets dumped into the bloodstream to feed the muscles.

Michael Montignac suggests that if blood sugar is not fairly stable then excessive exercise may be disruptive to blood sugar levels. He suggests that blood sugar be controlled by diet for several months before introducing more than steady exercise (although worth noting that the Montignac diet is intended to reduce weight, not increase fitness!).

Hope this helps.
 
Hi, thanks for getting back to me. I had looked at dawn phenomenon but thought that caused levels to rise before I got up rather than after. I think I knew my readybrek would have to go! but hate porridge! Have eggs and bacon for breakie every sat/sun but just not feasible on work days. Tried allbran this morning but hard to tell as levels were 9.5 before eating (again 7.5 on waking) and 9.8 2 hrs later. May try the allbran for lunch one day and see what happens when my starting levels are lower? Had soup and 2 boiled eggs for lunch and had 6.8 before eating and 7.0 two hours after so definately sticking with the home made soup.

Not overdoing it at the gym, moderate exercise bike and treadmill mainly. Went again tonight (without the toast) and was 5.9 before going and 5.8 after so may have to do some readings before and after a slice of toast! really hoping I dont have to never eat bread again

any idea how to stop the morning rise? I tend to have dinner about 6pm and then don't usually eat til breakfast. Will have a couple of cups of tea with semi skimmed milk in the evening. Trying black tea but cant manage all of them black just yet. X
 
Yes, my dawn phenomenon starts when I wake up and seems to rise for about 60-90 mins. The more carbs I eat, the greater the rise the next morning, and after the sort of curry binge I had on Sunday night, it may take 3 days to settle down properly. You could try having a carb free evening meal and see if that helps, but in my experience it is fairly simple to control glucose levels on a meal by meal basis. Reducing the dawn phen is much slower and will be a work in progress for a long time.

Anyone agree with me when I speculate that keeping an eye on dawn phen may be a better gauge of blood glucose control than measuring the daily ups and downs? That is based on my own observations, so I may be talking complete b*ll*cks!

Wheat and rice seem to provoke worse glucose/dawn reactions, in me, than potatoes or parsnips, so it may be a grain thing. I miss bread too.

One of my favourite breakfasts is 2 slices of ham and 2 slices of leerdammer cheese. It is great. You can stand at the fridge, grab the slices, roll them onto a cheese/ham roll and eat them without a plate. Instant convenience + slow release energy that lasts 4 hours.

And how about a handful of nuts pre-exercise, instead of bread? Carbs and protein and unprocessed fat all together, slower release than the bread, and very convenient to carry and store. If you want to get snazzy about it, there's a wee peanut snack called a bounce peanut protein blast ball (Amazon have it), 200 cals of divine peanutty slow release.
 
I don't eat breakfast due to DP as my sugars go up and stay up until dinner time if I didn't correct. Before the pump and when I still ate breakfast ( before I knew about DP) I would be in the high teens reaching the 20s and not having a clue how.

Now I low carb the DP seems to be much "easier" (ha) to control. Eating to head it off still does not work for me. And I'm still making mistakes.

I find that diabetes requires maths skills, a scientific way of thinking and being skilled in the black arts (stopping short of selling your soul).



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Hi all, thanks for your replies. Still fairly new to this so learning all the time. I think I shoukd concentrate on controlling levels per meal for now and see if that overall brings down my morning levels.

Brunneria, I have had totally carb free evening meals and at the moment that does not seem to have an effect on my morning levels.

indy51 - I am trying I have cut out all rice and pasta, most potatoes and most bread. Seem to have lunch sorted now with my homemade soup and either chicken meat or a couple of boiled eggs. Levels seem to be about 6.5 -7.5 before lunch and 6.5-7 after. Assuming these levels are ok? Most evening meals are reasonable with levels of 5.5-6.5 before (generally my lowest of the day) and 7-8 after, unless like monday I have a slice of toast before the gym! because then my pre dinner level was high. With the exception of the occasional half tin of beans which I probably need to dump dinner is usually chicken, pork or salmon with veg and/or omelette. I occasionally have 1-2 potatoes max. sometimes shepherds pie with cauliflower and leek topping instead of mash.

struggling with breakfasts during the week, have egg and bacon at weekend, but usually a bowl of cereal when I get to work during the week. Unfortunately I do not like cheese or nuts or porridge! Could just eat a couple of boiled eggs but that would mean that some days I would be eating 4 eggs a day which is prob too many, already average 2/day.

have tried protein shakes for breakfast but not keen and they are really expensive, so not sure what else to do. The allbran yesterday raised my level from 9.4 before to 9.8 after but as the starting level was high already has it really had that much impact....?

might try a protein bar if I need something before the gym, assumimg I can find one that is low carb.

thanks for all the advice, makes the journey easier. x
 
Your lunch and evening levels seem to be doing really well, excellent job!

It's actually common for most people to be more insulin resistant in the morning - I usually tolerate carbs much better with my evening meal. Hard boiled eggs are usually good and quite easy to prepare a week's worth in advance, cheese, yogurt with nuts, avocado, chicken - I try to think of breakfast as just another meal that way I stop thinking in terms of cereal, toast and all the stuff we usually associate with that meal. My favourite breakfast is a crustless quiche - I prepare it once a week and keep in individual containers to microwave first thing - I practically eat it on autopilot because I'm like you, the earlier I can eat, the better my BG will be during the morning.
 
HA3 said:
Brunneria, I have had totally carb free evening meals and at the moment that does not seem to have an effect on my morning levels.
Click to expand...

If you are anything like me, it will, in time.

For me, if I keep my meal-by-meal numbers low, then the dawn phen will slowly settle down (but never goes away). But it takes weeks. And then, even if you have got it down a bit, just one day can send it screwy again for a while. Remember my curry binge on Sunday? Three days later, both my fasting level and my dawn phen number are still a lot higher than normal.

But it was delicious!

And don't forget the impact of stress. I can have reasonably low numbers for a while, eating consistently, but on the day of a job interview, important meeting, exam (insert your stress of choice), my fasting and dawn phen will be ridiculously high!

You are doing really well though. The mapping you are doing will really set you in good stead. You already have a good idea of what works and what doesn't - And every time you get a high reading gives you more info, that will build a comprehensive picture of how YOUR body works.
 
Thanks Brunneria and Indy51 for your really helpful advice. I will see how I go and post an update at some point.

Brunneria, I love curries!!! So at least when I do succumb, I won't totally freak if my levels go all over the place! Life is quite stressful at the moment too (job interview last week which I didn't get, hubby on sick leave waiting for spinal surgery and mum getting over breast cancer) which probably doesn't help but hopefully will start getting back to normal in the coming months. x
 
I've nothing to comment on strictly speaking just that finding these forums have been my godsend this last week! I was diagnosed T2 not that long ago and only just getting to grips with the low carb thing and the real impact that living with T2 is going to have, Im trying not to think of it as a death sentence or an incurable disease but some days its harder than others. All you lovely people on here with years of experience and time to answer the questions us newbies post are a lifeline of postivity!!!

I too struggle with breakfast and love the idea of the ham and cheese rolls
 
I manage curries with just a couple of spoonfuls of brown basmati rice and loads of meat or veg but I have completely given up on my fasting levels as it doesnt matter what I do and believe me I have tried every thing my morning reading is the highest of the day .So I have just stopped measuring it to save my sanity!!
CAROL
 
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