what about porridge?

Jacqui,

Eeekkk!!!!

High carb based diet! Anyone official advises you to do this, and I have been doing it for 31 years, and my HBA1c has been as high as 12 at some points. Only 2 weeks ago, I found the thread on 'Delight of Hypos', where the Low Carb idea is promoted and I've never looked back.

Please go there and take a look at the conversation between me and Fergus, then nosey through some of the other threads. You will see a general consensus of opinion here between many diabetics - both newly diagnosed and old timers like myself - Low carb is the way.

I eat porridge for breakfast, but only if I'm going to the gym for a workout or a long swim - I find the carbs quite useful then, but I only have a small portion - one sachet of oatso simple = 25g cho. I have also started taking a vitamin and mineral 'one a day' tablet from Holland and Barrett - it contains something called chromium, which increases insulin sensitivity and so helps you metabolise the carbs. I've had positive results with it, but there is a warning on the label that diabetics should not take it without consulting their doctor first, due to the risk of hypoglycaemia - I haven't bothered with that - just gave it a go, and had positive results.

Keep us posted on your experiences - I'm off to pour myself a glass of red wine now :twisted:

Hi Jacqui,

If you've had a gander around the forum, you'll have spotted a recurring theme.
Those who have taken the starchy carb at every meal advice and found every aspect of their health deteriorating I mean. (Weight, HbA1c, cholesterol, blood pressure, the lot)
If you read the Success Stories thread you'll get a picture of how dramatically things can improve if you do almost the opposite of what the typical dietician will tell you to. It's quite mad, and pretty counter-intuitive too, so it takes a bit of courage to give it a try.
As for porridge, and as a Scot it pains me to say it, it's disastrous for my blood sugars. Try for yourself and test your bs afterwards - you may be luckier than me.

All the best, and stick around

fergus

I do start the day with porridge, though my wife says it contravenes the Trades Descriptions Act

1 desert spoon each oats, oat bran, wheat germ, wheat bran, soya protein, almonds, seeds + cinnamon, 2 chopped dried apricots 1 saccharine, 75 mg aspirin; I now use soya milk as cows' milk has significant sugar (carb content about 20 g.) Microwave 2 1/2 minutes, stir, then a further 1 1/2 minutes - watching now so it doesn't boil over.

Fasting BS 5.5; BS after 1 hour may rise to about 10, but drops below 5.5 in 2 hours.

When I had a low GI high carb diet, I was happy with these figures:
Fasting BS 6.7; BS after 1 hour may rise to about 10, but drops to 7-8 in 2 hours.

Early this year complications began, retina screening showed beginning of damage; leg pain seriously reduced my activity. The leg pain has now gone after 3 months reduced carb. Tiredness is greatly reduced, as is cholesterol & weight.

Delve around these forums - you will find lots of advice on high carb vs low carb diets. Regardless of what dietitians and medics might tell you (which, incidentally, varies) most T2 diabetics find it much easier to control their diabetes on a low carb diet. In fact, I have never heard of a T2 who has managed to stay off medication for long without substantially reducing their carb intake.

However, to come back to the porridge question. When I was first diagnosed I was given the standard NHS advice (eat low GI complex carbohydrates with every meal) - and was specifically told that porridge made a good breakfast. I spent my first couple of months as a diagnosed diabetic dutifully eating porridge for breakfast every day. It was only when I got to grips with self-monitoring and interpreting my BG data that I realised this was doing very bad things to me. Now, everyone is different - so you need to measure this sort of thing for yourself. However, for me the problem was that porridge sent my BG up a modest amount, but that it took many hours to come back down again. Foods rich in complex carbohydrates (porridge, wholemeal bread and rice etc.) tend to do that to me. This is a very different pattern from the short spikes caused by simple carbohydrates - and the danger is more insidious. What this means is that if I have porridge for breakfast, then my BG probably won't have come back to the starting point by lunch time - and then the increase caused by lunch is starting from a higher point. If I have carbohydrates with lunch too, then that will knock into dinner and so on. This means that my BG is rising throughout the day - and that leads to much higher averages than is desirable. I now usually have a very low carbohydrate breakfast (usually bacon and eggs). This doesn't send my BG quite as high as porridge - although there isn't a huge difference in the peak - but by the time I have cycled in to work it is usually back down to the fasting level. Mind you that is me - you must find out for yourself what works for you (which is why it is so important that you learn to monitor your BG effectively while you are working out your diet).

I've just checked my porridge formula this morning - 20 g carb.
bedtime - 6.4
overnight - 5.5
1 hour - 7.9
2 hours - 5.2
4 hours - 5.3 (then piece of cheese)
5 hours - 5.8

oats - 8 g; oat bran - 11 g; wheat bran - 3 g; wheat germ - 9 g; 2 dried apricots - 9 g; soya protein - 5 g: total carbs - 20 g approx. Enjoy

Porridge made with oatmeal & cows' milk would be about 40 g carb unless you are Scottish & eat salty porridge made with water. [Anyone remember Flanders & Swann - "Song of Patriotic Prejudice" :?: ]