What is the culprit ? Porridge or Rice Cakes?

[Michael Phillip]

My blood sugar spikes alarmingly after my traditional breakfast of plain porridge oats & blueberries as well as rice cakes ( without butter). Which do we think is causing the rise? i have always understood oats was good for you but now I am confused. Thanks for any insight.

 

[JoKalsbeek]

My blood sugar spikes alarmingly after my traditional breakfast of plain porridge oats & blueberries as well as rice cakes ( without butter). Which do we think is causing the rise? i have always understood oats was good for you but now I am confused. Thanks for any insight.

Oats and rice are both starchy, which means carby, which means... They convert to glucose once ingested. Sorry. You're better off frying some eggs and bacon. (Or with salmon, or cheese, tomatoes, high meat content sausages... Anything that you feel is filling enough.). The butter's fine, as are the blueberries (in moderation).

 

[JenniferM55]

25g of dried Oats = 14g carbs
Regular 4" rice cake = 19g carbs - according to Cronometer

That's a total of 33g of carbs - 2 days worth of carbs for me.

In comparison: 2 rashers of bacon (90g) and 2 large fried eggs = is just over 1g of carbs. An added benefit of this breakfast is that it will keep you satiated all morning.

 

[Robbity]

As a T2, my body no longer tolerates too many carbs, and due to their high carbohydrate content I gave up eating oats and rice in any form and now rely entirely on my diet to manage my glucose levels. While I'm not so strictly low carb as @JenniferM55, 33g carbs can well be a whole day's worth for me. The fats I eat are now my major source of fuel instead and stop me feeling hungry, so breakfast tends to be an optional extra.

But if you are on insulin this presumably could be adjusted to help control your carby spikes?

​

 

[Mallyman]

I got my info from Diabetis.Org. I eat oats daily. I eat it with oatmilk, chia seeds and crushed flax seeds.

Eating whole grains like oats may benefit adults with type 2 diabetes due to their potential glucose and cholesterol-lowering effects. The soluble fiber in oats may help hit blood sugar goals and keep weight in check.3 Eating oats for 4-8 weeks can possibly improve fasting blood sugars and insulin levels in people living with type 2 diabetes.2 A meta-analysis that analyzed 16 studies on type 2 diabetes patients concluded that including oats in your diet helped reduce A1C, fasting blood glucose, and total and ("bad") LDL cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes. The healthy properties of oats are largely credited to a unique type of fiber, called beta-glucan, which slows digestion and boosts satiety. Oats also supply magnesium, a mineral that plays a role in the metabolism of glucose and insulin.4 However, further investigations of oats intake in patients with type 1 diabetes and the safety of oats consumption are required.1 For breakfasts for diabetes, porridge oats or the instant variety are both fine, but avoid those with added free sugars like honey and golden syrup.0 Wheat biscuits, shredded wheat

Chua turns to a jelly and will also cling to the walls of the intestines thus also aiding in blocking carbs intake by the body.

I dropped in weight and never needed a snack. Now I make my own muesli and yes the catb count is high, but I don't spike and I tend to eat Keto the rest of the day. I fight 2 battles, diabetis T2 and Kidney Transplant do have to watch both carbs and protein. So too much fats will just not help at all. But all in all, most of the time I can go 10 hours between breakfast and dinner after my muesli.

 

[Lakeslover]

My blood sugar definitely spikes badly after eating oats and rice along with pasta, bread and potatoes. I avoid most of these although I can handle one or two new potatoes, or a half slice of good quality wholemeal sourdough bread.

 

[flonvic]

My blood sugar spikes alarmingly after my traditional breakfast of plain porridge oats & blueberries as well as rice cakes ( without butter). Which do we think is causing the rise? i have always understood oats was good for you but now I am confused. Thanks for any insight.

Try halving the amount of oats and add the same amount of ground almonds.the rise is not as high.

 

[ajbod]

My blood spikes a lot eating porridge, and 2 hours later i'm famished. Hence not been part of my diet since diagnosis.

 

[ianf0ster]

My personal diabetes expert ( my BG meter) tells me that Oats in any form aren't good for me.
I don't care what Diabetes.org say (they have been wrong so many times with me) or any GP, DN etc. My personal diabetes expert is the only diabetes expert that I can trust to be completely impartial about my personal diabetes!

 

[LouliePops]

OP is on insulin and advice about carb reduction should be given with extreme caution. Depending on insulin regime, esp if on fixed dose insulin, too few carbs can lead to life threatening low blood sugars.

Now that's out the way, what insulin(s) are you on @Michael Phillip ? and do you carb count or are you on fixed doses?

Some morning stuff that can happen
1) "foot on the floor" as its known as. Basically you get up, body goes "ooo you need energy" and your liver dumps a bunch of glucose causing you to spike. Ways to stop that - have a snack which lets it know you aren't going to starve and it should calm itself down
2) increased insulin resistance in the morning. I am more insulin resistant in the mornings so my breakfast ratios are different to my lunchtime ones.

If you are not confidant at adjusting your insulins yourself if you are on mixed or basal only, then you should have a chat with whoever manages your diabetes for safe advice.

PERSONALLY I tend to see how things are looking on a given day and either have something I know doesn't give me super spikes or adjust my insulin to suit what I am having and possibly a correction before lunch if needed.

 

[KennyA]

My blood sugar spikes alarmingly after my traditional breakfast of plain porridge oats & blueberries as well as rice cakes ( without butter). Which do we think is causing the rise? i have always understood oats was good for you but now I am confused. Thanks for any insight.

What is causing the rise? the oats, blueberries and rice cake. All have carbs (blueberries aren't too bad occasionally, for me) and the oats and rice cake are heavy hitters. Butter wouldn't affect your BG at all, it being fat and not carb.

The issue is that T2s have problems managing carbohydrate intake, as evidenced by the fact that two hours after carby meals our systems still haven't cleared the excess glucose from our blood. Meter results are telling you that you can't manage the amount of carbs you eat at breakfast.

As you're on insulin things aren't quite as straightforward as they are for me (I just reduced my carb intake). I understand you will have to balance your carb intake with the amount of BG-lowering medication you take, and that's not something we can help you directly with.

 

[miahara]

I'm on insulin and have a pretty good idea as to how much of a bolus I require with my normal breakfast of microwaved porridge oats. However if I add blueberries or apple or both I need to increase my bolus by about one unit. Blueberries have the higest carb content of all the berries at 12g CHO per 100g compared with strawberries which are half this. Kiwi, pineapple, apple and pear are also 12g CHO/100g.
At present I'm upping my insulin every breakfast as we've got a big crop of apples and blueberries in the garden!

 

[HSSS]

Eating whole grains like oats may benefit adults with type 2 diabetes due to their potential glucose and cholesterol-lowering effects. The soluble fiber in oats may help hit blood sugar goals and keep weight in check.3 Eating oats for 4-8 weeks can possibly improve fasting blood sugars and insulin levels in people living with type 2 diabetes.2 A meta-analysis that analyzed 16 studies on type 2 diabetes patients concluded that including oats in your diet helped reduce A1C, fasting blood glucose, and total and ("bad") LDL cholesterol levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

I’m assuming this is a cut and paste.

First oats do not actively lower glucose. That is a misleading statement. No food actually lowers levels. They might be neutral, raise it a little or a lot. Some foods will raise it a lot less than others. But it depends what you are comparing it to.
As seen in the post above bacon and eggs will raise it less, cornflakes or many other cereals will likely raise it more.

Second the fibre slows digestion so the carbs hit you slower (hopefully allowing insulin to keep up). But you still have to digest them all meaning that it takes longer to return to pre meal baselines and keeps both blood glucose and insulin raised for longer (than the equivalent carbs without the fibre). A long slow lower rise as opposed to a shorter higher spike. Neither are good for you. Fat does a similar thing with regards to slowing digestion of carbs eaten but without the extra carbs that come with many fibre sources.

So pretty much all the claims here in relation to blood glucose depend very much indeed what you are comparing it to - a more carby option (so an improvement as claimed) or simply fewer carbs (which would be even better)

Your meter, testing before the meal and until the levels return to premeal, will give you answers what these foods do to your body. Check more than once as different days might have other factors also effecting levels.

 

[Mallyman]

I’m assuming this is a cut and paste.

First oats do not actively lower glucose. That is a misleading statement. No food actually lowers levels. They might be neutral, raise it a little or a lot. Some foods will raise it a lot less than others. But it depends what you are comparing it to.
As seen in the post above bacon and eggs will raise it less, cornflakes or many other cereals will likely raise it more.

Second the fibre slows digestion so the carbs hit you slower (hopefully allowing insulin to keep up). But you still have to digest them all meaning that it takes longer to return to pre meal baselines and keeps both blood glucose and insulin raised for longer (than the equivalent carbs without the fibre). A long slow lower rise as opposed to a shorter higher spike. Neither are good for you. Fat does a similar thing with regards to slowing digestion of carbs eaten but without the extra carbs that come with many fibre sources.

So pretty much all the claims here in relation to blood glucose depend very much indeed what you are comparing it to - a more carby option (so an improvement as claimed) or simply fewer carbs (which would be even better)

Your meter, testing before the meal and until the levels return to premeal, will give you answers what these foods do to your body. Check more than once as different days might have other factors also effecting levels.

I’m assuming this is a cut and paste.

First oats do not actively lower glucose. That is a misleading statement. No food actually lowers levels. They might be neutral, raise it a little or a lot. Some foods will raise it a lot less than others. But it depends what you are comparing it to.
As seen in the post above bacon and eggs will raise it less, cornflakes or many other cereals will likely raise it more.

Second the fibre slows digestion so the carbs hit you slower (hopefully allowing insulin to keep up). But you still have to digest them all meaning that it takes longer to return to pre meal baselines and keeps both blood glucose and insulin raised for longer (than the equivalent carbs without the fibre). A long slow lower rise as opposed to a shorter higher spike. Neither are good for you. Fat does a similar thing with regards to slowing digestion of carbs eaten but without the extra carbs that come with many fibre sources.

So pretty much all the claims here in relation to blood glucose depend very much indeed what you are comparing it to - a more carby option (so an improvement as claimed) or simply fewer carbs (which would be even better)

Your meter, testing before the meal and until the levels return to premeal, will give you answers what these foods do to your body. Check more than once as different days might have other factors also effecting levels.

Thankyou for that. Yes it was, as I stated from Diabetes.Org. Maybe because I do up to 60 mins Tabbing or Nordic Walking after breakfast and weights in the afternoon. Rain or shine. From 112mg yesterday with 32g Carbs Oats and Oat milk, I measured 125mg 2.5 hours later. My constitution is fine. The body also needs that little fibre. The Micronutrients are very important too. The magnesium needed to train. I think its OK for me. As I said I'm transplanted so I have to watch protein too. I have to take Allopurinol. Which is better that way for the extra protein, than Metformin or Insulin to drop carbs. I started my diabetes life with 400mg. I was 130 mg 4 weeks later. On holiday recently I was getting morning readings of 104 (Med air, sea, sand, grounding, and no stress?). That was a complete life turnaround and ex mil training willpower allowing me to hit the ground running. I also spent 11.5 years on Dialysis which was another dietary turn around, having to watch potassium and Phosphorous. Mind you a nice Steak and Egg breakfast is also nice once in a while. Savory food every morning does not suit me, but I actually had some of my homemade protein rolls and hard boiled eggs today.

 

[HSSS]

Thankyou for that. Yes it was, as I stated from Diabetes.Org. Maybe because I do up to 60 mins Tabbing or Nordic Walking after breakfast and weights in the afternoon. Rain or shine. From 112mg yesterday with 32g Carbs Oats and Oat milk, I measured 125mg 2.5 hours later. My constitution is fine. The body also needs that little fibre. The Micronutrients are very important too. The magnesium needed to train. I think its OK for me. As I said I'm transplanted so I have to watch protein too. I have to take Allopurinol. Which is better that way for the extra protein, than Metformin or Insulin to drop carbs. I started my diabetes life with 400mg. I was 130 mg 4 weeks later. On holiday recently I was getting morning readings of 104 (Med air, sea, sand, grounding, and no stress?). That was a complete life turnaround and ex mil training willpower allowing me to hit the ground running. I also spent 11.5 years on Dialysis which was another dietary turn around, having to watch potassium and Phosphorous. Mind you a nice Steak and Egg breakfast is also nice once in a while. Savory food every morning does not suit me, but I actually had some of my homemade protein rolls and hard boiled eggs today.

Not everyone can do that sort of exercise, which undoubtedly helps control levels, for a multitude of reasons and we all have individual tolerances of carbs and insulin resistance too. Some do great on 150g of carbs others need less than 50g. Fibre can come from less carby sources if you feel the benefits from it. Veg, nuts seeds etc. With less carbs though many find they also need less fibre to “help them along”.

It’s great that you’ve found your balance now after what sounds some very difficult years.