Timing Of Testing

Hi, what are you eating?

Hello and welcome,

Initially, you need to test your meals and keep a food diary. This will help you with your food choices. You need to be consistent. Random readings are not telling you much.

Test immediately before you eat
Test again 2 hours after first bite.
Look at the difference between the before and after levels, and keep this under 2mmol/l, preferably less.
If it is above 2mmol/l there are too many carbs in that meal for your body to cope with.
Record these levels alongside the food eaten.
Look at your food diary and decide what you need to do to lower the rise.
Either eliminate some of the carbs or reduce portion size.
Patterns will emerge and you will soon discover which foods are causing the problems.

Tagging @daisy1 for her very informative post for newcomers.

Tell us everything you ate yesterday. There might be a clue.

Shireoaks said:

Breakfast porridge
Lunch salad sandwich
Main meal macaroni cheese

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I think you may have your answer there. All 3 meals had a lot of carbs in. I have marked them in red.
All carbs turn to glucose once inside the digestive system, and all that glucose is exactly what we do not need. The way for you to control your blood sugars and bring them down to normal levels is to seriously reduce carbs. Breakfast cereals, potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, and flour are the main culprits.

Is there a reason why you eat little dairy? What about eggs?

Bluetit1802 said:

I think you may have your answer there. All 3 meals had a lot of carbs in. I have marked them in red.
All carbs turn to glucose once inside the digestive system, and all that glucose is exactly what we do not need. The way for you to control your blood sugars and bring them down to normal levels is to seriously reduce carbs. Breakfast cereals, potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, and flour are the main culprits.

Is there a reason why you eat little dairy? What about eggs?

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Bluetit is right. You should be testing 2 hours after you eat to see the effect of the food on your glucose. Are you keeping a food diary along with your numbers?

Porridge is tolerated by some and not so well by others.

What do you add to tea? All milk contains lactose a form of sugar.

I gave up tea because I don't like the milk substitutes. I take double cream in coffee.

For breakfast could you have a mushroom omlett?

Lunch, a piece of cheese, some nuts, a few olives.

@Shireoaks

Hello Shireoaks and welcome to the Forum Here is the Basic Information we give to new members and I hope you will find it interesting and useful. Ask as many questions as you want and someone will help.

BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 235,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
Take part in Diabetes.co.uk digital education programs and improve your understanding. Most of these are free.

• Low Carb Program - it's made front-page news of the New Scientist and The Times. Developed with 20,000 people with type 2 diabetes; 96% of people who take part recommend it... find out why
  
  
• Hypo Program - improve your understanding of hypos. There's a version for people with diabetes, parents/guardians of children with type 1, children with type 1 diabetes, teachers and HCPs.
  

https://www.ditchthecarbs.com/low-carb-vegetarian-meals/
https://blog.virtahealth.com/vegan-vegetarian-low-carb-keto/
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/recipes/vegetarian

Try some of these meals and compare how much they increase your BG with what you are eating at present.

Shireoaks said:

I was advised that porridge would be OK as it was slow release. I make it with water and no sugar.
All my meals are now served on a side plate to reduce the amount.
If possible I try not to exceed 2,000 calories a day and only drink water, tea or coffee.

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All carbs turn to glucose, including slow release ones. They just take a bit longer, but still release the glucose. If you test 2 hours after eating, as suggested, you can see at a glance what your choices do to your levels. You tested 4 hours after your porridge and were still up in the 8s. Try again, and see what happens. Eggs cooked any which way are a good idea for breakfasts.

Good idea to use a side plate.

You don't need to count calories - you need to count carbs if you want to normalise your blood sugars.

You have to throw calories out of the window. Each of us can tolerate carbs to a greater or lesser extent.

I eat as few as possible. You could start with 100 or 50 per day. Your meter will tell you how your body reacts.

Unfortunately it is not an exact science. You may want to start with a 100 and reduce to 50 over time.

I am on less than 20 per day. It works for me, it may not work for you.

Carbs are addictive and you can get withdrawal. My symptoms lasted about 3 Weeks.

@Shireoaks
Not all porridges are equal. It also depends a lot on the portion size. Traditional rolled oats are way better than the instant oats. I'm lucky that I can tolerate porridge but only a 40g serve of Lowan low GI rolled oats. It takes a good 20 minutes to cook but it tastes good. With this amount of porridge and the small dose of milk it is only 25g of carbs.

You probably need to lose the sandwich and macaroni. It's hard for a vege as all those vegetables, pulses and plants might be lowish in carbs with small portions but in significant quantities it all adds up.
Have fun,
Glenn

Shireoaks said:

We are told to have a maximum of 2500 calories per day for a male and 2000 for a female is there a similar amount for carbs?

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Everyone has a different carb tolerance, so you will have to find your own by using your meter. If you test before you eat and 2 hours after first bite, any rise from before to after should be under 2mmol/l and preferably a lot less. More than that and there were too many carb for your body to cope with. Look at your food diary, look at what you ate, and see what can be changed.
You will eventually arrive at an amount of carbs you can manage in one sitting - and most of us find we can manage more at dinner time than we can at breakfast time. It is all trial and error, experimenting, and record keeping.

Hi @Shireoaks I would echo what @Bluetit1802 has said. If you have been eating very large portions and piling a plate full of food then using a side plate is a good idea. If you are trying to lose weight then taking time over a meal is also a good idea. As a t2 you need to keep a close eye on the carbs ( of any kind) in the food you are eating at least as much as the calories. I can not tolerate porridge or cereals any longer but only found that out by keeping a food diary and testing 2 hours after each meal. It is a bind initially but keep with it, test each meal twice and tweak until you find what you can eat. In the summer a breakfast of full fat yoghurt with a few berries, a sandwich box filled with salad prepared the night before is easy and keeps me going all day at work.

I have some lovely deep soup bowls. I made some homemade mushroom soup and thoroughly enjoyed it. Unfortunately, 2 hrs later my numbers were in the 9's.

The next day I used a smaller cereal bowl and my numbers barely changed. I wasn't hungry either.

Can I recommend a couple of books to read. Jason Fung The Diabetes Code. He also has some YouTube videos.

Dr Michael Mosley's book the 8 week sugar diet. Both are very informative.