Work Sandwich Box

Norfolkmell

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249
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Tattoos, carers calling me lovey or duckie when I've only just met them
Just goes to show you have to keep testing to find what you can and can't eat. I've fallen off the wagon a bit as I've now added Ménière's to my list of defects and being so dizzy and nauseous all the time has meant I'm either not eating or eating lots of carbs. However as there appears to be no cure or treatment for the Ménière's I need to take a grip and just get on with LCHF and more testing. Lots of good ideas on this thread some I'm going to try. Thank you everyone.
 

Listlad

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Bit sexist there listlad!:)
Of course but it was in jest - tongue in cheek. As I explained I am at home all day and do most of the cooking, I work from home.

But my cooking is abysmal. So not sexist at all, but I can see why you might jump to that conclusion.
 
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ratcliffe33

Newbie
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1
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
salmon shellfish
If I need to do a pack-up, for whatever reason, mine tends to focus around protein and fat to keep my fuller longer.

A pack of chicken thighs (I think if I recall about 8 decent sized ones) is under £2 in Lidl. Cook them all at once (roasted, BBQ or airfried for me), then when cooled, wrap individually in foil and fridge what will be eating in a couple of days, then freeze the rest. As they are already foil wrapped, they are easy to remove from the freezer singly. If you are having them at work, if you take the out the night before, or in the morning, they'll have defrosted by the time you want to eat.

Wrapped in foil, they cane become (slightly inelegant) finger food. Wings or drummers also work, they they're less meaty.

Baby bell, or other little blocks of cheese. Again, if using block cheese, prepping ahead, wrapping cut mini-block portions in foil and refrigerating works well.

Cold meats - Buying a gammon joint from the butcher or supermarket, roasting, slicing and wrapping would be favoured by me, over processed ham.

A gammon hock, stripped of its skin (to be made into crackling), then boiled for stock, for soup, then the meat "pulled", by shredding with forks, then adding any condiments you like, like mayo, or chilli sauce, or whatever makes a great pot meal, eaten twith a fork.

A gammon hock in our butcher's in under £3 and gives crackling, a fair few sliced on the best parts, then plenty pulled gammon, plus soup stock. Leftover veggies, or a fridge clear up can go in the soup. All in all - loads of meals from under £3.

Oh, and of course hard boiled eggs.

Thank you for the ideas. Struggling for ideas
 
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HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,465
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Now as far as cooking lo carb muffins we'd have to look into that.
From what I can see the cherries and sultana's are the baddies but hell do they taste good.

What about the theory of having manderines and burning the sugar off during the shift at work?
The flour,as a grain, will do a lot of the damage. There are recipes for low carb muffins out there. Mostly using either almond flour (ground almonds) or coconut flour. Neither are cheap if I’m honest (amazon is often good for. A bulk buy) but that should help you use them as treats rather than fillers. Switching the cherries and sultanas for berries (frozen are cheap and work in baking) would help. If you’re eating more fats and less carbs you won’t get as hungry anyway.

As others have said that sugar spike will still happen and the insulin spike will still happen. Sure exercise will bring it down faster than not exercising but it still happens and still stresses the broken system that is type 2. And it’ll keep the cravings going and limit the fat burning system you ideally want to switch to.

We do have to make choices that at first are reluctant. In time we don’t miss the things we never thought we d give up and often find more interesting and certainly healthier alternatives.
 
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HSSS

Expert
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7,465
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Type 2
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Oh and on Facebook ditchthecarbs have a lunchbox group. It’s aimed at school kids but a larger version works just as well for adults.
 

ardvark

Well-Known Member
Messages
90
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Let me try and get this straight in my head.
I test my blood four times a day (as instructed)
If my blood sugar is between 5 and 7 then everything is ok?
I've seen on here that a raise of 2 after meals is ok as well
Am I right or have I got it wrong?
 

xfieldok

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4,182
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Tablets (oral)
The purpose of testing is to check on the carb content of our meal. So, test before you eat and Two hours after the first bite. If the rise under s less than 2 then your golden.

Fruit will overwork your liver which is working hard enough as it is.
 

jjraak

Expert
Messages
7,442
Type of diabetes
Type 2
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Tablets (oral)
Let me try and get this straight in my head.
I test my blood four times a day (as instructed)
If my blood sugar is between 5 and 7 then everything is ok?
I've seen on here that a raise of 2 after meals is ok as well
Am I right or have I got it wrong?

Well deffo once in the am on waking FBG.
once before the meal..and then 2 hrs after..so that depends on how many meals you have .
i was a 4 maybe 5 meals / big snacks a day guy.

Now it's down to two meals, and some days one meal and the smaller snacks (eg: pork scratchings )
then i don't always do, but many have the last thing at night score too..so the total amount depends.

4 is a minimum, i'd say..

you just need more data at the start of the journey.
think of it as prepping and checking the map for places to stop on the journey.
Once you've made the trip a few times you know the route your going to take.
:D
 

ardvark

Well-Known Member
Messages
90
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
The reason for asking is that I'm back at work on Monday.
Testing times will have to be 6am, 1pm, 5.30pm and 10pm
Feeding times will be 6am breakfast, 10am break, 1pm dinner 5.30 ish tea.
During the day working I will be moving about doing this and that.
My theory is that any IF any extra carbs I take will be burnt of during the course of the day.
The only high reading should be the 10pm one because between teatime meal and bed time I would'nt have done so much moving about than during the day.
What do members think of my theory?
 

DCUKMod

Master
Staff Member
Messages
14,298
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
The purpose of testing is to check on the carb content of our meal. So, test before you eat and Two hours after the first bite. If the rise under s less than 2 then your golden.

Fruit will overwork your liver which is working hard enough as it is.

Of course I'm being picky, but when I test my bloods after meals, it is to assess the impact of that meal, on that day. Whilst carbs are important to those with our particular brand of wonky metabolisms, it's not the only thing to impact the score I return.

I can eat a high carb, high fat meal (like pasta carbonara, for instance) and see a modest blood sugar rise, but due to the fatty sauce element the rise will be somewhere lessened in its peak, but, for me, it will last much longer.

Similarly, my scores will differ if I have a glass of wine with a meal, or nothing to drink.

Of me, it's bigger picture.
 

HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,465
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Let me try and get this straight in my head.
I test my blood four times a day (as instructed)
If my blood sugar is between 5 and 7 then everything is ok?
I've seen on here that a raise of 2 after meals is ok as well
Am I right or have I got it wrong?
Basically yes you’re right.
A rise of 2 after 2hrs is the most you should be happy with. Many once they’ve been doing it a while, aim for less.

Also some foods will continue to rise after the 2hrs and the highest point may be at 3 or even 4 hours. Carbs taken with fat can have a delayed reaction as can some grains, it’s a bit individual. In those cases an extra test a few times with those foods can be worthwhile to check for this.
 

ardvark

Well-Known Member
Messages
90
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I'm going to experiment today to see what my levels will be through the day after eating food I'll be eating during a normal workday.
 

HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,465
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
The reason for asking is that I'm back at work on Monday.
Testing times will have to be 6am, 1pm, 5.30pm and 10pm
Feeding times will be 6am breakfast, 10am break, 1pm dinner 5.30 ish tea.
During the day working I will be moving about doing this and that.
My theory is that any IF any extra carbs I take will be burnt of during the course of the day.
The only high reading should be the 10pm one because between teatime meal and bed time I would'nt have done so much moving about than during the day.
What do members think of my theory?
Sorry but this wouldn’t work for me.
Your proposal gets you a fasting and before breakfast reading but doesn’t check for the effect of that meal around 8ish.
You’ll get a post snack reading at 1pm but no idea of what it was before the snack so no idea of the rise
The 1pm test will give you a pre dinner reading but you’ll have no after dinner reading
The same with tea. You’ll have a pre tea reading but not an appropriate after tea.

You’ll have no idea really what the food is doing to you and the food will have far more effect than the exercise. I know you want to hear the exercise will cancel out the sugar but it doesn’t. It does help your health it isn’t enough to tackle diabetes on its own imo.

Is there a reason to only test 4 times a day? If it’s a limit to the strips I’d pick before and after breakfast giving meal info and a fasting reading and then before and after your evening main meal.

If possible I’d also not snack at break time and just have a drink, or at the very least minimal carbs. The more times a day you eat the more insulin you’re pumping around for more time and this is not desirable. If you eat enough filling (fat) food at each meal and avoid the vCard swings and cravings snacks won’t be necessary pretty quickly.
 

ardvark

Well-Known Member
Messages
90
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
The reason I test 4 times a day is because that is what the consultant told me to do after I had a heart attack.
He said it was to give my doctor an idea what was going on with my blood sugar.
(I was not diabetic before the attack)
As I said back to work on Monday and I'm trying to get a work menu sorted out
 

manion

Active Member
Messages
29
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
I'm asking for advice here.
Normaly for work I take these items:-
Two thins with three slices of square ham on each and cheese and onion sandwich filler.
Two thin cheese squares
One packet of cheese puffs
Two home made muffins
One carton of grapefruit segments
Two chocholate buiscuit bars
1 ltr of diluted orange squash
I have two breaks a shift and I make the above last over the two breaks.

When I go back to work I intend to change my sandwich box to this :-
Two thins with three slices of square ham with a thin spread of low fat cottage cheese
One carton of manderine segments
1 ltr of diluted orange squash

Now thats what I've got so far. Some will say it's all bad but if you bear in mind cost of things that is what I have.

If any members have any tips or suggestions please let me know. Pennies are the issue as well as the health issue.


Crickey - thats high carb in my book - Fritata slices made previous, nuts and seeds to snack on, low carb cereal bars, if bread a must high protein low carb rolls but i would personally have alternatives to bread. Cheese, meats, yogurt bacon and egg muffins (no bread) a recipe is on this forum for those, cheese only crisps (home made) are delicious https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/keto-cheese-chips how to here, and eggs i eat a lot of eggs.
 

ardvark

Well-Known Member
Messages
90
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Another thing about the test times I have.
The diary that came with the kit I was given has 8 differant times of the day to do a reading.
The consultant ringed 4 times for me to do.
Before Breakfast
Before Midday Meal
Before Evening Meal
Before Bed
I dare say the is a reason he marked those times down.
He's the pro.
I'm just the sad ------ trying to grasp it all.
 
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JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,937
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Just goes to show you have to keep testing to find what you can and can't eat. I've fallen off the wagon a bit as I've now added Ménière's to my list of defects and being so dizzy and nauseous all the time has meant I'm either not eating or eating lots of carbs. However as there appears to be no cure or treatment for the Ménière's I need to take a grip and just get on with LCHF and more testing. Lots of good ideas on this thread some I'm going to try. Thank you everyone.
http://specsymmetry.com/treatment/utermohlen-prism-eyeglasses <-- my mom's had it for over 20 years, this is the first thing that helped. She still gets episodes every now and again, but they're not as bad, shorter, and they're few and far in between. I think she'll take her prism glasses (not regular ones, but made with Utermöhlen's specifications) to the grave with her. No idea why Dr. Vente's site is in English, (he's Dutch) but there's probably someone who can help you where you are?
 

HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,465
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Another thing about the test times I have.
The diary that came with the kit I was given has 8 differant times of the day to do a reading.
The consultant ringed 4 times for me to do.
Before Breakfast
Before Midday Meal
Before Evening Meal
Before Bed
I dare say the is a reason he marked those times down.
He's the pro.
I'm just the sad ------ trying to grasp it all.
Was he a heart pro or diabetic pro?
Your choice but only having before meal tests shows your dr absolutely nothing about how your body deals with food. This isn’t just my advice it is recognised diabetic advice. I think sadly like a lot of “pro’s” his advice isn’t the best. Only got to look at the terrible advice many if not most of us in here have been given at various times, about diet, about carbs, about testing. A read around the forum will bear this out.
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/blood-glucose/blood-glucose-testing-times.html F9DCC813-DC5E-4D3E-ACF8-31B7F2BE7DD5.jpeg
 

JoKalsbeek

Expert
Messages
5,937
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Another thing about the test times I have.
The diary that came with the kit I was given has 8 differant times of the day to do a reading.
The consultant ringed 4 times for me to do.
Before Breakfast
Before Midday Meal
Before Evening Meal
Before Bed
I dare say the is a reason he marked those times down.
He's the pro.
I'm just the sad ------ trying to grasp it all.

I know it's hard to let go of the idea that the professionals know it all. Sad to say though, they don't. And you may say, he's the pro. He doesn't HAVE diabetes! We live with it every single day. I've been in remission, having normal bloodsugars for over 2 years. If I'd followed the advice of my dieticians (yes, plural), my specialist and both diabetes nurses... I'd be on insulin now. Because they wanted me to eat carbs in amounts my body can not and will not cope with. They don't live with this, I do. And when they're retired and don't spare me a thought, I'd still like to have both my feet, and preferably, working kidneys. That is my reality. Not theirs.

How's this: You use the meter for a day or two the way people here suggest you do: testing before a meal and 2 hours after first bite. Then decide whether that's giving you more useful information than the 4 times you're testing when the odds are you're relatively low anyway. And lulling you into a false sense of security, thinking then that some fruit's not that bad.... When it really is. Don't believe us? Check our claims with your meter! You don't have to take our word for anything, you can check whether we're full of it, yourself! You have more power than you think. ;)

Just an idea. ;)
 
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