Scared of high BS resultstoday

[Halfhybrid]

Try a Google search for the recipe you want and add low carb to the name. Loads and loads of online free recipes. I started out with using mostly ditchthecarb.com and dietdoctor but they are the tip of the iceberg.

Eating big enough filling meals (with naturally occurring fats and protein which are essential) should reduce the need to snack (always try a glass of water before a snack as often we’re just thirsty). Most of us think initially of sugars when in fact those mash, pasta and rices all add up. Then think about any sauces, pastry, breads and fruits (especially juices or dried) and it goes a bit higher. For a couple of weeks at least you need to check everything to get an idea of where these hidden carbs are. It looks odd on the plate to start with but for now just ditch the rice and pasta entirely and have more curry and bolognaise. Or try cauliflower rice (grated cauli fried lightly in butter best with added spices) or courgette strips/ sautéed cabbage/steamed broccoli etc instead of pasta.

perhaps list a few days food and we can help trouble shoot.

Thanks for the tips. What do you do if you really, really fancy a sweet treat or some alcohol?

 

[Liam E]

Thanks. I guess I have not tried without treats, though attempting to keep the treats low carb or sugar-free. I discovered my BS was high in mid September and went on Metformin, starting on 21st September, so just short of 2 months.

Feeling very depressed about food and the types of food I can have. I've never thought my diet was high in carbs anyway; just what "normal" people would have, like the mash on top of a cottage pie, roast potatoes with Sunday roast, a dish of pasta and sauce, curry with rice. I thought I was doing OK by reducing the amount of these I eat. Not had mash in months, don't eat rice and pasta very often any more and rice might just be 2 dessertspoons I do have any. Last time I had pasta, made sure it was wholewheat and ensured there was more bolognese sauce than pasta. I rarely ate desserts and might have had chocolate a couple of times a week. Not had choc in about 3 months.

Have been taking xylitol as a sweetener in coffee since diagnosis. Love fruit but I think I ate too many strawberries over the summer which may have contributed to the high BS levels.

Are there any "sensible" recipe books around, where everyday meals can be made without being too over the top like a diet of kale smoothies and piles of salad leaves?

The "normal" diet is responsible for the explosion in diabetes in recent years. It has a lots of refined carbs and seed oils. Both of which you should avoid like the plague.

I hate to be blunt but what would you prefer as a treat? Some sweets or your toes? That is the reality of the choice you, I and the others here face.

Wholewheat pasta, healthy whole grains, brown rice etc etc. It is still just carbs. It is a tiny bit better than than the refined stuff but only a tiny bit.

Just tell yourself everyday that your body cannot handle carbs anymore, and stop worrying what you can't eat and look at what you can. No one looks at a steak with butter and thinks oh no I can't eat brown rice. No one looks at bacon and eggs and wishes they could be eating all-bran.

For a sweet fix why not get some diet fizzy drinks instead? Works for me.

Strawberries are one of the better fruits for low carb. Just have them with cream. I wouldn't be worried about those.

I'd suggest this week keep a food diary and find out how many carbs you are eating, Make sure to count all the beers and sweets. Then you'll have a good idea where you stand. Whatever that number is over the next few months you can work out for yourself which substitutions you can make that you actually like and gradually bring that total carb number down to 50g a day or less. It sounds WAY harder than it is. Oh I can't eat that? Oh I'll just have more meat then. It really isn't a hardship, just a change in habits.

 

[chocoholicnomore]

Thanks for the tips. What do you do if you really, really fancy a sweet treat or some alcohol?

I buy Moser Roth 85% mini chocolate bars from Aldi (or the 70% ones if I'm living dangerously). As for alcohol I stick with rum and Pepsi max

 

[MrsA2]

What do you do if you really, really fancy a sweet treat or some alcohol?

There are loads of different strategies, recipes and simple things to eat

A few :
Have a glass of water or a cup of tea (it's often thirst calling not really hunger)
Keep some whipped double cream in the fridge and sip a large spoonful slowly.
Ditto with 10% fat greek yoghurt
Eat a hard boiled egg
Go for a walk for 10 minutes.

If all else fails
Cook and eat a 1 -2 person chocolate cake made in the microwave
Recipe here

Keto Chocolate Lava Cake: 1 Minute Microwave Dessert

Bake or microwave this decadent dessert with only 2.4g carbs! Keto Rich Chocolate Lava Cake: Keto Fitness Club UK Recipes & Information

www.ketofitnessclub.com

Alcohol in the form of neat spirits or a small glass of wine isn't too bad, it's stopping at 1 that is the problem. Best left until you are in more control

 

[Captain_Sensible]

I used my BS kit for the first time in months today and was terrified when, 2 hours after breakfast (2 slices of 50/50 bread with pate and 2 cups of coffee with milk and a little sugar), the result was 23.3.
Waited an hour or so before having something for lunch (2 fillets of smoked mackerel). Have eaten nothing since and drunk nothing except sparkling water and just tested again and it's at 16.2 which is still really high!

I daren't eat anything this evening though I have a piece of chicken and salad I was planning to have.

I came back from a not great holiday recently, in which I was quite stressed a lot of the time. Food intake was fine and didn't overdo carbs but I did drink masses of lager every day, continuously through the day and evening (masses of water as well). To cap the end of an (Im)perfect holiday, I slipped on a slimey rock by the sea and landed on my tailbone which has been bruised and painful ever since.

Have I now damaged my pancreas and made the diabetes worse? Why isn't the BS level going down?

Drinking "Masses of Lager" everyday for any type of Diabetic is not good. You've got to stick by the rules, eat sensibly, take a little exercise and not abuse your body. You can't blame it all on stress. Try blaming yourself for once.

 

[jnk001]

Hi, thanks for your response. There is such a lot information about diabetes that is unclear to me. You mention pain can cause higher than normal levels but how much higher could it go? The same with stress.

You have a point about the meter. It has the same battery in it as when I bought it three years ago. I'll try a new one and look at the dates on the strips.

I thought the 50/50 bread was "as good" as wholemeal in terms of carbs but it looks as though I was wrong. What I don't understand however is how it has taken most of the day for the BS level to only go down a little bit.

Is it actually possible to damage your pancreas permanently with a few days bingeing on lager or occasions like Christmas when you might indulge more than you should? Do such things have a permanent, cumulative effect?

Still so much in the dark about this condition and scared. I've never had such a high BS result before.

You can get a book that lists the carbs in all food , I found it very useful

 

[Halfhybrid]

Drinking "Masses of Lager" everyday for any type of Diabetic is not good. You've got to stick by the rules, eat sensibly, take a little exercise and not abuse your body. You can't blame it all on stress. Try blaming yourself for once.

I have done nothing but blame myself since I got the result. Blaming stress was just clutching at straws and I know it. The more self-blame and self-hatred I feel, the more hopeless and more impossible to overcome this situation it seems.

 

[HSSS]

I have done nothing but blame myself since I got the result. Blaming stress was just clutching at straws and I know it. The more self-blame and self-hatred I feel, the more hopeless and more impossible to overcome this situation it seems.

The past is done. You cannot change it and didn’t necessarily know all that you needed to know as the guidance is poor.

What you can do is make different choices in the future - And be proud of taking action now that you know and are learning about the tools you need.

 

[Liam E]

I have done nothing but blame myself since I got the result. Blaming stress was just clutching at straws and I know it. The more self-blame and self-hatred I feel, the more hopeless and more impossible to overcome this situation it seems.

The current official dietary advice combined with shops full floor to ceiling with processed food and the media that plugs the those foods 24 hours a day is to blame, not you.

You are the victim of profit seeking food and pharmaceutical companies, not the culprit.

 

[sue512]

At the beginning anything I ate I looked up for carb content before I ate it. When I do spaghetti Bol I only eat the sauce loaded with fatty mince, my snacks I’ve tried making some low carb ones, chocolate moose with avocados for example. My fridge contains creams, full fat yoghurt cooked hams, that type of thing. Nuts are also my go to , a small handful. I don’t drink much alcohol but when I do it’s either gin or a dry wine. My tastes are changing and if I cave and try cake for example the poor dog eats it because it’s too sweet. I’ve joined the low carb program mainly for recipes, the inspire me bit will produce a recipe. I’m a little more experimental in the kitchen and certainly not everything is successful but cooking it’s sidelines me a bit from eating. Good luck!

 

[VashtiB]

I have done nothing but blame myself since I got the result. Blaming stress was just clutching at straws and I know it. The more self-blame and self-hatred I feel, the more hopeless and more impossible to overcome this situation it seems.

Hi @Halfhybrid

It can be very easy to get stuck in a place of blame and self recrimination. I have a particular talent for it myself.

However, I would really encourage you to stop beating yourself up and just resolve to make some changes.

As previous posters have said- cutting carbs will not result in an instant big drop in your levels- it will take some time. But you can be comforted that you have taken the first step in improving your health.

I also get not being able to tell your family. People who have wonderful functional families don't really understand the damage a less functional family can do. I agree with a previous poster that you could tell them that you are low carbing to lose weight. I went the route of telling them I have an allergy to carbs- whatever works for you.

In relation to alcohol stay off the lager but there is some spirits you can have either straight or with a low (no) carb mixer.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[Halfhybrid]

I'm grateful for the kind and constructive messages I have received from so many.

Had my review with the Diabetes nurse and she was great! She has changed the metformin to a slow release once daily dose as I have been getting lots of gastric issues, shall we say. I have found out that my HBCA1 is 83 - not great but down from 95. Have high levels of good cholesterol but also high levels of bad cholesterol so she has put me on statins too. I feel somewhat over-medicated as I'm asthmatic too and have hypothyroidism but maybe I can start to come off 1 or 2 of these when things improve - and they must.

She was so positive and encouraging about eating plans, flexibility etc. I feel I'm in good hands. Got a journey ahead but feel less alone, especially now that it is out in the open with family too.

 

[HSSS]

Be aware that statins regular raise blood glucose levels, and possibly have other side effects like brain fog and muscle pain.

There is a great deal of controversy if they actually make any realistic difference on an individual level to those without pre-existing heart issues, particularly post menopausal women. More people die with cvd at low levels than high apparently. Many of us refuse them as we consider them a tick box exercise for diabetics without any science backing up their blanket usage. There’s a huge thread on here about statins and cholesterol and the research if you want to search for it, started by Bulkbiker.

 

[sue512]

I have done nothing but blame myself since I got the result. Blaming stress was just clutching at straws and I know it. The more self-blame and self-hatred I feel, the more hopeless and more impossible to overcome this situation it seems.

Little steps, you can do this xx

 

[Daphne917]

I'm grateful for the kind and constructive messages I have received from so many.

Had my review with the Diabetes nurse and she was great! She has changed the metformin to a slow release once daily dose as I have been getting lots of gastric issues, shall we say. I have found out that my HBCA1 is 83 - not great but down from 95. Have high levels of good cholesterol but also high levels of bad cholesterol so she has put me on statins too. I feel somewhat over-medicated as I'm asthmatic too and have hypothyroidism but maybe I can start to come off 1 or 2 of these when things improve - and they must.

She was so positive and encouraging about eating plans, flexibility etc. I feel I'm in good hands. Got a journey ahead but feel less alone, especially now that it is out in the open with family too.

As @HSSS has stated please read the side effects of statins as they can increase sugar levels - my hba1c increased from 48 to 54 when I started taking them but, since coming off them due to other side effects, I’ve maintained my Hba1c at non diabetic levels. Ultimately it is your decision whether you take them or not.

 

[Haggis44]

The forum is full of people who have managed to reduce or completely stop their medication.
You are not alone in thinking T2 is progressive and will require more/ stronger medication as time passes. Many Dr's and health care providers still have the same outdated view, but modern research and the members of this forum have proved that if you are willing to change what you eat, it is entirely possible to avoid medication and many of the complications that are associated with T2.
Understanding the problem is the key to success.
Our pancreas and insulin production is usually working as it should, but our insulin has become less effective. This means that when we eat carbs our insulin has trouble dealing with the resulting glucose, our blood sugar level remains higher than it should, so our poor pancreas is forced to release even more insulin.
Usually, before our levels are back to where they should be we get hungry and eat again, most of the energy (glucose) from our carby meal is still circulating in our blood.

High carb = more glucose, higher blood levels, more insulin, worsening insulin resistance, progressive T2, more meds and possible complications.

Low carb = less glucose, lower blood levels, less insulin, improving insulin resistance, less meds and complications, possible remission.

Of the three macronutrient - protein, fat and carbohydrates, protein and fat are essential, you will die without them.
We can live quite happily without carbohydrates, what little glucose our bodies need can be manufactured through a process called gluconeogenesis

If you base your meals around protein, healthy fats, above ground veg, salads and low carb fruit you will be giving yourself the best chance of a complication and med free future.

Totally agree with this information. I find bread and oats are my enemy. I have to avoid them. I use almond milk with no added sugars is good in coffee.

 

[Halfhybrid]

As @HSSS has stated please read the side effects of statins as they can increase sugar levels - my hba1c increased from 48 to 54 when I started taking them but, since coming off them due to other side effects, I’ve maintained my Hba1c at non diabetic levels. Ultimately it is your decision whether you take them or not.

The DN asked if I was taking statins and when I said no, she asked "why not?". I responded because I did not want to be over-medicated (am already on loads) and had heard of side effects. She said she always recommends all her diabetic patients to take statins to ward off any vascular issues from developing, especially if they already have high levels of bad cholesterol.

Didn't feel like I had a choice if I didn't want to jeopardise my health further. Am not testing my BS levels at the moment because it scares me too much and I have sleepless nights if it is high. Am trying hard with diet though.

 

[Outlier]

My GP asked me why I was refusing statins. I said that, in no particular order, they would raise my BG that I had worked so hard to reduce, raise my BP which wasn't a problem now but had been in the past, and increase my weight that I had worked so hard to reduce.

There was a short pause.

"I've never heard of it increasing weight" he said.

So you agree the other two then? I didn't say (as I need him on-side).

And I hadn't even mentioned the muscle pain, the brain fog etc. etc. or that tests and scans revealed my blood vessels were totally clear, my HDL/Trig levels are okay (thanks Bulkbiker for working it out for me) and while my LDL is a little higher than they would like, I'm A. old and B. female, so I should be cut some slack there - and it IS going down.

I am not taking statins...........

 

[Daphne917]

When a new GP asked me why I didn’t want to take statins I suggested he look at my records and when he saw rise in my hba1c he annotated my notes as ‘statin intolerant’ as he didn’t want to risk it happening again. I also didn’t want a repeat of the other side effects such as sudden dizzy spells, sleepless nights and muscle aches.

 

[Daphne917]

The DN asked if I was taking statins and when I said no, she asked "why not?". I responded because I did not want to be over-medicated (am already on loads) and had heard of side effects. She said she always recommends all her diabetic patients to take statins to ward off any vascular issues from developing, especially if they already have high levels of bad cholesterol.

Didn't feel like I had a choice if I didn't want to jeopardise my health further. Am not testing my BS levels at the moment because it scares me too much and I have sleepless nights if it is high. Am trying hard with diet though.

You do have a choice and it is your decision and, with the amount of information online these days, it will be an informed one. Like you I was told by my DN that all diabetics should be on Statins and I took them until the side effects got too bad so I took the decision to stop taking them which my GP agreed with. It was then that we discovered the affect they had had on my hba1c. I think you would also benefit from testing your BS as this will help you determine which foods you can and should not eat and, hopefully, reduce your BS.