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tea

ally1

Expert
Messages
5,402
Location
suffolk
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Dislikes
liver
i drink alot of tea in a day.
i did a little experiment today, i ate the same meal and amount at lunch time and tea time, so in theary my readings should be the same
at lunch time my reading were 5.8 and 6.7 with no cup of tea. at tea time my readings were 6.3 and 7.9 with a cup of tea with my meal and 10 minutes before the after testing
does tea with milk and sweeteners affect readings?
 
Hi Ally,

Good idea to conduct an experiment. Well done.

The tea contains caffeine, which does raise levels in some people, as might the dash of milk in the tea. However, you have to balance this against being deprived of a cup of tea forever more! Have you tried decaffeinated tea, or herbal teas like Green tea? No? I don't blame you. I hate them, but many on here like them, so you could give them a try. Another thing you could do is to try to make your tea a little bit less strong. The weaker the tea, the less caffeine. You could also cut down the number of cuppas you have. Try cold water a couple of times instead. Having said all that, the amount of difference a cuppa tea makes, in my opinion, is negligible.

Also consider that your two identical meals might have produced a different result even without the tea. I never get the same results with identical meals, no matter how careful I am to make sure it is identical.
 
thank you bluetit for your input, i was more curious about what would happen
i do drink alot of tea, i will replace some for coffee as i drink that black
i,ve tried green tea but its not for me
 

The rise after your lunch was 0.9, and your evening meal 1.6. Clinically, it's not a huge difference, but when driving your levels down, every little helps, as they say. I would say, like Bluetit, it's difficult, based on two single meals to be too sure.

If you want to experiment again, it could be useful doing a couple of complete days; one as you normally might, then the second day, no tea, for the full 24 hours. You would need to ensure you drank plenty of water, to replace the fluids from the tea.

As a matter of interest what did you have for your two meals, and have you ever had those two meals back-to-back before?
 
I don't drink tea or coffee after lunch, but have peppermint tea in the afternoon, and sometimes in the evenings. It's pleasant.
 
ally1 said:
thank you bluetit for your input, i was more curious about what would happen
i do drink alot of tea, i will replace some for coffee as i drink that black
i,ve tried green tea but its not for me
Click to expand...

Ally, there is more caffeine in coffee than tea. Decaffeinated coffee is excellent though.
A dash of milk in tea won't do much to levels, as long as it is just a dash and not half a cup!
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Ally, there is more caffeine in coffee than tea. Decaffeinated coffee is excellent though.
A dash of milk in tea won't do much to levels, as long as it is just a dash and not half a cup!
Click to expand...

On BBC2 just now they were doing some stuff on energy drinks, but measured caffeine in tea, instant coffee and Starbucks-type coffee. Instant coffee had least, ollowed by tea, followed by Starbucks being highest. (Trust me I'm a Doctor.)
 
AndBreathe said:
I don't drink tea or coffee after lunch, but have peppermint tea in the afternoon, and sometimes in the evenings. It's pleasant.
Click to expand...

I enjoy some herb teas, and used to grown my own black/Moroccan mint to dunk in a cup of hot water. I believe spearmint is nice too! It's supposed to be good for upset tums too, my granny used to give me a peppermint drink for tummyache when I was a little girl, and so I tried this remedy again when I was getting upsets from taking standard metformin.

Ally if you're worried about your tea, but want to carry on drinking it, maybe look into using lactose free milk, or try Alpro unsweetened almond milk, as these will both avoid any natural sugars from the lactose in real milk.

Robbity
 

I quite like Lacto-free, but it's comparatively expensive. Almond milk, I found quite unpleasant.
 
and breathe for both meals i had five slices of beetroot, 1 hard boiled egg, 6 mini tomatoes, slice of corned beef and a small slice of cheese
those two meals exactly the same is the first time i had done that
 
i will try the different milks, thank you for the suggestions
 
Yes I found the almond Alpro rather greasy - I couldn't cope with it in proper tea, which I don't often drink. I've learned to manage it in my (decaff) coffee. They also make a hazelnut milk which I do like in coffee (it doesn't seem so greasy either) but for some idiotic reason they only make an added sugar version. it's not a lot but I do need to watch how much I drink!

Robbity
 
AndBreathe said:
On BBC2 just now they were doing some stuff on energy drinks, but measured caffeine in tea, instant coffee and Starbucks-type coffee. Instant coffee had least, ollowed by tea, followed by Starbucks being highest. (Trust me I'm a Doctor.)
Click to expand...

Oooops. We live and learn! Mea Culpa..

I have tested tea on its own several times. It does nothing to my levels, but I do limit myself to 4 mugs a day, and none after mid afternoon.
 
ally1 said:
i did a little experiment today, i ate the same meal and amount at lunch time and tea time, so in theary my readings should be the same
at lunch time my reading were 5.8 and 6.7 with no cup of tea. at tea time my readings were 6.3 and 7.9
Click to expand...

You know Ally just take a minute to look at what you said !!
Those numbers are amazing! When you think of where you started and look at where you are now you must be proud of yourself.

I'm proud of you
Well done




Carry on
 
@ally1 well done, when's your next check in with the nurse?

I met a gentleman today who is a type 2, was on injections and lost 5 stone and kept if off and is on no meds at all for diabetes. He still tests.
Off his own back he had cut the carbs and went to his weigh ins every two weeks at GP. His determination reminded me of you and I am sure your health team are going to be ery proud of you.

Try to get a little variety in to your meals as you need to be thinking of this as a longterm lifestyle of eating.
Do you like omelette as a change?
 
the only things i really detest are omelettes, scrambled eggs, sweetcorn and liver
 
I don't know how much milk you put in your tea but I have switched to Lactofree Milk (produced by Arla) the carbohydrate/sugar content is practically half of "normal" milk. It tastes just like normal milk to me. I have tried almond milk in the past and wouldn't recommend that to my worst enemy. Ps I know there are a few different types of milk out there that are lactose free, but the others I have checked just have the same amount of sugar that regular milk has.
 
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