So I'm new at this...

I originally posted this stuff in my introduction post and it was suggested that I move it to here, so if anyone read it there please accept my apologies for the reptition. Please accept my apologies for the reptition.* This is what I originally said, although I've updated the graph:

A year or so ago my doctor advised me that I was slightly over the line for type 2 and put me on Metformin (500mg twice a day) and statins, largely because I am slightly overweight (only about 4-5 stones) and employ staff to take my exercise for me. A couple of weeks ago I had a review and the stats had gone mad, so I was given a testing kit. That gave me some data to play with, and like all engineers I just love playing with data, so out came the spreadsheet...



This showed I was way over the limits, averaging about 14mmol/l for the first few days. The chart above shows my learning journey. The early peaks included discoveries like the evils of watermelon (a hazardous substance which should require a prescription) and the way that bread is mostly carbs, so lunchtime sandwich or baggette is a stupid idea! Then couscous, then pasta (even wholemeal pasta) etc etc - I'm sure you've all been there. Last weekend I discovered the Lidl "Low GI Loaf" and had salad sandwiches for lunch. That's when I discovered that Lidl "Low GI Loaf" is just as carb-loaded as a brace of croissants, so that's now on the banned list as well.

The chart is interesting. Most of the peaks an troughs I can account for through food errors or bouts of exercise, and you can see that there is a general downward trend (helped a little by the doctor adding Gliclazide from lunchtime last saturday) but there are underlying themes that I struggle with. Like why it is that the level sometimes goes up while I sleep, but other times it goes down. Or why I can eat an evening meal followed by a 2 mile brisk walk on one day and see the net level drop and stay down, but precisely the same meal and walk the next day will see a peak before the fall. So any advice/poiters here would help!

Now since I wrote the above things have been steadily drifting down, and I also understand that some of the extreme values are due to testing at the wrong times (I was testing at all sorts of times to try to understand the causes, so I would test before eating and tnen again immediately after eating rather than just 1-2 hours later, and that explains some of the peaks (but not all of them). On the pother hand last weekend I was put on gliclazade as well as metformin, so hat is probably flattering my progress.

My basic problem is this. Although based in Surrey my company has seconded me to a project in the northern wilderness of Warton (near preston), so every monday morning I fly north and every thursday night I fly back south. Between the two I spend 3 nights a week in a Marriott. Of the hotel menu options pretty well the only thing I can sensibly eat is the Caesar Salad (with teak or chicken), which I usually supplement with a pound of grapes (grazed on through the day) and some cashews. I don't eat breakfast. My lunch options are limited because the company cafeteria is on the wrong side of the airfield and there is a deli/sandwich bar instead. Obviously anything in rolls (even wholemeal ones according to my experiences) sends my stats through the roof, but the only alternative is a "chicken tikka salad" from the garage/spar-shop over the road. This gets monotonous! Being in a hotel I can't prepare my own food for lunch or dinner, and I'm getting the feeling that eating a pound of grapes per day may not be a good idea.

Any suggestions?

PDR

*The hesitation and deviation will come at a future date

Thanks for all that - food for thought (low-carb, low sugar food at that!). I went for the grapes and nuts because one of the "food GI tables" pages that Mr Google found for me listed both in the "green zone". It seems there's a lot of disinformation out there! Yes, I've been eating cheese, and that helps, but it's difficult to store in a hotel room so I have to buy in small quantities (which is expensive). I'd love to stock a supply of cambonzola or brie with calvados, but I have no fridge and I suspect that eating a pound of cheese a day may not be a good idea either! I have lost about a stone and a half over the last six weeks (only four more to go) so that is obviously something I'd prefer to keep doing. Actually a couple of months back I lost two stones in 5 minutes, but they were kidney stones and I gather they don't count*.

I suppose I could start eating breakfast, but I've always found that having the poached eggs, bacon, sausage etc at that time in the morning makes me feel bloated before lunch but still doesn't stop me needing lunch. So I'm reluctant to try that again.

OK, so I can stop grazing grapes and crunching cashews. I'm not sure I could go as far as grazing on carrots due to a genetic condition I've had since birth - apparently I'm not a rabbit, and it's just something I have to live with eek. The problem seems to be the carbs. Whatever meal I'm offered comes with potatos, pasta, gnocci, chips, bread or similar. I found a table that said rice was bad, but bismati rice was OK. That was great - we generally only have bismati rice at home, but when I tried doing a nice curry the numbers shot up again. So what can I have with curry - egg noodles? At the moment the only solution I can think of at weekends is to do a curry for the meme sahib and myself, but for me to have only a miniscule amount of rice with it (and no popadoms or naan bread - where's the fun in that??).

I have hit on the idea of raising the lack of low-GI options in the company cafes as a diversity/inclusivity issue and seeing if that can be used to apply pressure to the (outsourced) caterers. But that will take a while.

So what do other people eat?

Bluetit1802 said:

Oi!!!! Less of the northern wilderness.
We do have electricity, broadband, indoor sanitary facilities, and very friendly locals.

Click to expand...

A likely tale! When the aeroplane is on approach to Warton the pilot announces "we are on our final approach into warton so please ensure your seatbelts are fastened, your seatws are opright and your seat-trays are stowed. The local waether is wet and windy, and for local time please set your watch back 30 years..." . Of course the real problem is that we're so far north of the wall that there is a high risk of attacks from white walkers and white dragons, so it pays to remain safely within the confines of the hotel.



PDR

* If anyone is interested - the experience is like passing a couple of peanuts. Not recommended!

OK, so last thursday I cut the grapes and the cashews and only graze on the odd nibble of cheese. the plot now looks like this:


I've also been restricting the samples to wake-up, before lunch, 2 hrs after lunch, before supper, 2hrs after supper and before bed. That has eliminated some of the wilder excursions where I was just taking samples to explore the shape of the curves. The numbers seem to be going the right way, but I am getting blurry vision (which will hopefully revert after a while).

PDR

bulkbiker said:

My 2p on your predicament.
Just because its on your plate you don't have to eat it...

Click to expand...

That may be true for you, but it's not for me. I'm afraid I don't do self-denial very well - it would be a form of torture that probably violates my rights under article 3 of the ECHR. In the same way that some suggest I could have certain 85% chocolate in small quantities, but I can't. I don't/can't do the whole "small quantities" thing and if there's a bar of chocolate in the cupboard I will eat the whole thing at one sitting. I can successfully resist anything but temptation, so I don't have it in the house!

I have decided that on tuesday I'm going to raise the issue of the lack of low-carb, low-glucose food in our cafeterias as a "diversity/inclusivity" issue. My employer claims to take this very seriously as part of our core values, so I'll put it to the test!

Meanwhile I'm happy to see my first dip below 5 mmol/l in recorded history, so I'll celebrate with some cake!

PDR

(only joking)

Thanks for the support. But I'm not kidding myself - my numbers may be down, but only due to my pancreas being taken around the back of the bike sheds and given thorough going-over with a baseball bat (ie metformin + gliclazade). Once it's stabilised for a few weeks I will have to see if I can back off on the meds if I want an injection-free future!

PDR

One other thought/observation - my numbers have been down to what I gather are close to acceptable levels for several days now, which is great*. But I've also been feeling drained of energy and decidedly lethargic. Is that just my system adjusting to the sudden change in glucose levels (like the blurred vision), or is it something else?

PDR

* Actually it isn't - that's a lie. I have vivid dreams about tucking into curry with kashmiri rice & naans, spagbol, pizza, cheese&pickle sandwiches on thick doughy white bread with fresh roast potatoes on the side before diving into a large vat of caramel & vanilla ice cream. But don't tell anyone I said that. Move along there, nothing to see...

I'm eating a lot of cheese, and chewing on duracells between meals. Are you telling me to up the protein or upgrade to lithium-cobalt crunchies?

Incidentally - I do drink Coke Zero (in cherry or vanilla flavours) because the label says it has 0% sugars and carbs. Is that something I should be abstaining from as well?

PDR