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When to test?

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Petal50

Active Member
Messages
43
Location
Fife, Scotland
Hi there folks,
As a recently dx type 2 I am gleaning as much advice as i can to improve my wellbeing and life with diabetes, so here goes, firstly i am waiting to go on the Xpert course in september so in the mean time yous are my best bet! :)
my practice nurse has suggested testing twice daily,morn and night,my question now from reading lots of posts on here is... should i test when i get up before anything to eat and/or breakfast time and two hrs later? i don't have breakfast till at least 3 hours after getting up, i take dogs for a run first.
Should i eat as soon as i get up even if something small, i do have coffee. also evening meal is eaten around 6/7pm and test before bed at approx 10/10.30
my readings at moment are between 8 and 10. just about to start two metformin tabs daily.
HELP!!!! i am so confused what is best.
ps was hungry late last night so had a banana, my bs was 9.9 an hr later would this suggest they are not good for me?
tanks for reading
 
You should test immediately you get up as exercising without food will cause your blood sugars to go up. It would be better if you ate something before you took the dogs for a walk to stop your blood sugar levels going too high before breakfast.

Initially it is better if you test before and two hours after every meal to see how the foods you have eaten affect your Bg levels. I know this means using more test strips than you get but, even if you have to buy them for a while, it is worth it so you get to know how your body is using the food and which foods are causing you to rise too much.

As was said in the initial information you had it is the carb values in the food that cause the blood sugars to rise. Bananas are very high in carbs and that obviously showed in your high BG reading after eating one.
 
thanks sue, your a star! this is all very new to me and just finding my feet so to speak, so it seems bananas are off my shopping list. i am off to the library tomorrow for carb counting books and meal ideas. we grow alot of our own veg so its a case of finding what i can and cant eat really.
 
As a rough rule of thumb, anything that grows underground, root vegatables, has more sugars in it that veg that grows above ground. So carrots, parsnips etc are to be eaten with caution until you have tested and find out what they do to your blood sugars.
 
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