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Why Are my BS Still so high?

J

Jen7NZ

Member
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11
I have made quite a few changes over the past few weeks...cut out potato, flavoured milk, energy drinks, juice etc, to try to lower my BS. In New Zealand, normal is considered between 4 and 8 on the daily testing metre...I was getting just a word before the changes (I'm terrible, I know...sugar addiction is not good), then it dropped to around 25 on average. So went to the docs and he put me on Acarbose, in addition to Lantus Solostar and Glipizide, and it dropped to just under 20. Unfortunately it seems to have levelled out at around 15-17 on average and I can't seem to get it to drop any more. I've even tried doubling my oral pill dosage, but it didn't change one bit. The only time I got to my lowest, at 12.5, was when I hadn't eaten for an entire day. Do I need to go back to my doctor and get something new? I cannot starve myself just to get lower readings...I need to get it down so I can get back to work as a bus driver.
 
Weight? BMI? Diet? This is a total change, not the sum parts. Those readings suggest to me you're in need of a visit back to the doc
 
Jen7NZ said:
I cannot starve myself just to get lower readings
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That can actually be very effective...but it has to be done right...after the body has been conditioned to burning fats and lower glucose levels...thru lower carbs.
 
kokhongw said:
That can actually be very effective...but it has to be done right...after the body has been conditioned to burning fats and lower glucose levels...thru lower carbs.
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The body cannot live without fuel. I'm talking about stopping eating entirely. Not possible. Nor healthy.
 
Jen7NZ said:
The body cannot live without fuel. I'm talking about stopping eating entirely. Not possible. Nor healthy.
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Our body do store adequate fuel to last us for quite a while...I have gone without food for anywhere from...18hrs to 120 hours...
it does help to normalize glucose level. Others have done the same.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/fasting.78/

There is also this blog entry of someone who had done a 10 day fast and tracked his biomarkers.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/extended-fasting.1605/

You would of course need to be off medication...and have enough body fats...
 
Just wondering how low your carb intake is...you mention avoiding potatoes, what about cereals, pasta, rice, bread ?
 
pleinster said:
Just wondering how low your carb intake is...you mention avoiding potatoes, what about cereals, pasta, rice, bread ?
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Yes, I'm trying to avoid those as well...it's harder than it seems once you start looking into the amount of carbs in practically everything.
 
Mind over matter. Yes, I'm a hard task master. Trying is not always doing as this is your health
 
When I was diagnosed I ate a couple of pieces of meat for that day's dinner and the next, then had fish and eggs and cheese with salad for the next week - very low carb, but in 80 days of eating low carb my Hba1c went from 91 to 47 and is now not even prediabetic. I can't even claim that it was difficult to do - I felt so much better after 80 days.
I think it might be due to knowing that low carb, which I started to do long ago, always made me feel better, more energised and carbs make me lethargic and dull.
We do not need to eat to fuel our bodies - we have fat, and glycogen - in extreme situations people have gone without food for weeks, a few hours is nothing, in fact it tends to push our metabolism into more normal working when it goes awry.
The state of constantly eating, snacking, drinking carb laden drinks is the abnormal situation which as type 2 diabetics we cannot sustain.
 
Jen7NZ said:
The body cannot live without fuel. I'm talking about stopping eating entirely. Not possible. Nor healthy.
Click to expand...

You should not starve - of course not but I think intermittent fasting is a good thing.
Just for the record - and I underline I am certainly not suggesting this for you to try - but on average 2000 calories is good enough. More might be needed or less but it is not a bad average. So I carry about a stone more weight than I need and in every half a pound of fat there is about 2000 calories. So - and it has been proven by those doing long fasts - your body could cope for an entire day for every .5lb fat you have and would be a tiny amount of muscle to feed the small part of the brain that needs glucose.

Jason Fung has written loads about fasting and I found one of the ways I made good progress was when I did a 5 day 600 calorie 18 hour fast diet (intermittent fasting).

As I say - I am not suggesting that is what you need to do but reassuring you that unless you are at 8% fat you could lower your BG through fasting.
 
What is your exercise like? A simple walk after meals can bring my numbers down pretty quickly. Also make sure you're staying hydrated as that can also affect your readings. Hth
 
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