Type 2, 3 months now

[valuator]

Hello everyone! New here, I live in Canada and I was pre-diabetic for a number of years. I had an infection in November 2017 that seemed to have raised my blood glucose levels, which led to another infection, etc. When I did my A1C in January 2018 I had jumped all the way to 9.7%!

My levels are generally within 5 to 7.5, I test 3-4 times per day before meals. My main question is trying to get my morning and lunchtime readings below 6. I eat almost no carbs for breakfast, yet my numbers do not drop 4 hours later.

Despite the dietitian asking me to follow Canada's Food Guide (which would kill me with carbs), I have been following a moderately low carb diet based on my readings on this forum. Thank goodness I found you!

Thanks for any advice and I look forward to spending a lot of time here!

Cheers

Curtis

 

[Sue192]

Hello and welcome, @valuator It sounds like your Food Guide is as 'good' as our Eatwell Plate! There are very knowledgeable members on here who will comment on testing etc, but I notice you mention only testing before meals - do you test two hours after too? It might be worth cutting out carbs from your breakfast altogether (although you say almost no carbs), a good excuse for The Full Monty (well, without beans, toast, hash browns etc!).

 

[valuator]

Thank you @Sue192. My breakfast generally consists of one egg and two small turkey sausages, or 3/4 cup of plain greek yogourt, with coffee (black). No toast, potatoes, breakfast cereal, oatmeal, etc. Sometimes a sprinkle of berries on the yogourt.

I have to say, I rarely crave carbs....I save most of my "allowance" to have a pint of beer at night. The hardest part is convincing my family and friends that avoiding carbs is not unhealthy!

 

[rom35]

a pint of beer at night.

eeerrr liquid carb with GI 110%. Try to measure 30m after and you will see the sky.

 

[valuator]

Yes, as I understand it there is basically 1 carb per ounce of beer (at reasonable alcohol levels). A beer in the evening while I listen to a record or read a book is my "quiet time"....I would have a hard time giving that up. But I am determined to have better morning numbers, so I'll do what I need to, I suppose.

 

[rom35]

try red dry wine - no impact on the BG...

 

[archersuz]

@valuator a beer is between 10 and 20 g carb. Have you thought about trying a glass of wine instead? Or have a nice brisk walk after your beer? If you cut out the beer in the evening, I think your morning reading would come down.

 

[valuator]

I'll try cutting out the evening beer for a while and see if that helps. It would be hard to go for a walk afterwards, as that would make it a 10pm walk and I fear that would wake me up and make it hard to go to sleep afterwards.

The wine suggestion is good....I suppose a small serving of scotch would also be fine?

 

[LooperCat]

I'll try cutting out the evening beer for a while and see if that helps. It would be hard to go for a walk afterwards, as that would make it a 10pm walk and I fear that would wake me up and make it hard to go to sleep afterwards.

The wine suggestion is good....I suppose a small serving of scotch would also be fine?

I drink neat rum or single malt whiskey and it has zero effect on my sugars, if that’s any help. I have a glass of water on the side to stop me drinking pints of spirits...

 

[rom35]

I suppose a small serving of scotch would also be fine?

Yes.

 

[LouWilk059]

Welcome fellow Canadian! I agree that the beer is the likely culprit for your high morning sugar. I must also reiterate @Sue192 's question. Why are you only checking BG before meals? Do you eat NO carbs ever?

 

[valuator]

Hi @Sue192, thanks for the welcome! I grew up in a family with many Type 1s, who always tested before meals...so I guess that is ingrained in me. How long after a meal should you test? Is it only worthwhile to test after a meal if you also tested before you ate?

Carb count - I estimate I range between 50 and 100 carbs per day. I guess that is "lower" carb rather than full out low carb. But I do basically avoid bread, rice, potatoes, and pasta.

 

[Ragmar]

Greetings fellow Canadian! I'm from Winnipeg and its a mixed bag of both love and hate at the moment because it's supposed to be Spring but you know those Canadian winters eh?

Like you I was pre diabetic for awhile and I thought I had a good control of my blood sugars because I wasn't indulging in sugary drinks and treats but it's stuff like pasta and rice that got me in the end which is frustrating because I have a clean bill of health across the board (beside the sugar).

Anyway I went to the seminars and the dietitian preached the Canada food guide and I wouldn't be able to follow that either, I've been eating low carb high fat and have had good success with my numbers. Generally between 4 and 6 between meals and never spike higher than 8. On the weekends I'll have a beer and find that it doesn't bother me, morning sugars are between 4.3 and 4.8 generally.

For advice, I can only recommend that you build a support circle like family and friends to keep you motivated and honest about your new life style. And everything in moderation, my brother who's been diabetic for 15 years "If you eat rabbit food all the time you'll go crazy! so make sure to treat yourself every once in awhile". I had my first burger last Saturday, lettuce wrap of course but if you have any other questions Curtis just ask.

 

[Resurgam]

my levels were about the same as yours, but after meals rather than before.
As I stuck to eating low carbs I saw them go down even further eating the same foods as my metabolism got back into balance.
I'd really recommend trying to lower your blood glucose and perhaps losing some weight in order to get more into the normal ranges, and only then trying out higher carb food and drink to see what your body will tolerate from its new state.

 

[Sue192]

Hi @Sue192, thanks for the welcome! I grew up in a family with many Type 1s, who always tested before meals...so I guess that is ingrained in me. How long after a meal should you test? Is it only worthwhile to test after a meal if you also tested before you ate?

Carb count - I estimate I range between 50 and 100 carbs per day. I guess that is "lower" carb rather than full out low carb. But I do basically avoid bread, rice, potatoes, and pasta.

As well as before, it's two hours after a meal, although I've also seen 45 and 90 mins after the last bite; two hours is usual. This will give you an indication of what foods spike you. Your breakfast has hardly any carbs (unless the turkey sausage has a lot of oatmeal/wheat in it) so it might be the evening beer, as @archersuz and @LouWilk059 say, sadly! I recommend whiskey/whisky (either is nice!) with soda or water, or red wine as others have mentioned

 

[LouWilk059]

Type 1s test before so they know how much insulin to take (that's what my dad did way back when...).

You should check out this link ...

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/eat-to-your-meter.html

Tagging @daisy1 for newbie info

 

[ringi]

If you must drink liquid bread try going for a short walk just before or after you drink it.

Also given how much type1 your family have it may be worth getting a antibody test.

 

[valuator]

Thank you all for the replies. My young son woke me up at 5am and I never thought to test my blood at the time, so I didn't test until lunch today. Breakfast was coffee with cream and a piece of cheese at 7:30am. Lunch at 12pm was scrambled eggs with turkey sausage accompanied by plain greek yogourt and berries. BG was 6.8 before meal and 6.6 two hours after my first bite.

My short term goal is to keep my readings under 6.0, so definitely still some work to be done.

 

[rom35]

Thank you all for the replies. My young son woke me up at 5am and I never thought to test my blood at the time, so I didn't test until lunch today. Breakfast was coffee with cream and a piece of cheese at 7:30am. Lunch at 12pm was scrambled eggs with turkey sausage accompanied by plain greek yogourt and berries. BG was 6.8 before meal and 6.6 two hours after my first bite.

My short term goal is to keep my readings under 6.0, so definitely still some work to be done.

Hi, I don’t see any error in your diet. Keep the good work. When you add some excercise to it (brisk walk?) the progress will be quicker.

 

[valuator]

thanks @rom35. I have a walking route of 3.5km that I try to do 5 times per week (it's a little tough during snowstorms such as today...another 25cm falling at the moment). I've lost 19 pounds in the past 12 months, which is why I was so disappointed to see a high A1C a few weeks ago :-(