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Beans on toast!

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L

lucy123

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi

A probably silly question I know but I had beans on toast for tea last night after playing tennis for 2.5 hours. After tennis I was 5.9 and quite pleased with it.

I then had 2 slices granary bread with low fat spread and half a tin of heinz low salt baked beans at around 7.30pm

By 9pm I had a corker of a headache (have had them in the past and always thought they were migraines - but now am associating with when sugars are higher). i also felt quick sick and nauseous.

I tested again and was 12.2 (never been that high). It stayed at this level then a few hours later dropped to 10.3 and then 9.9 I fell asleep. This was about midnight. This morning I was 5.9 - lower than normally.

Is this associated with beans on toast - is this not a good thing to have - I thought I was being good, and am doing everything possible to keep figures down low.

Any ideas?
 
Might be the beans. Some have quite a lot of sugar in them. Beans will make some people spike and others not.

I hope you feel better.
 
I eat quite a lot of beans on toast, and it never seems to cause me any problems, in fact I've just had some for lunch with a poached egg.

The dietician said that baked beans are excellent, so I would think that something else would be a factor here.

I was 7.3 before lunch, so will retest shortly and let you know.
 
Thanks _ i never knew that.
We learn every day.
 
I think baked beans have quite a lot of sugar in them. It may have been that. My idiot doctor suggested rinsing off the sauce! But what's the point in that? If you can find a low sugar version maybe you could try that.
 
Hi Lucy, beans on toast are normally considered a good meal. It sounds like the 12.2 was the peak of your blood sugar, which is quite high in relation to your pre-meal level, but then it took a while to drop and didn't drop back to your pre-meal level, which you might normally expect.

It's hard to say why this should happen. I'd suggest repeating the meal, testing at the same times afterwards, and see what results you get. If they are similar then it may be that this is a meal you need to avoid as it 'spikes' you. If the results are OK, then it may have been due to other factors - possibly an after effect of the exercise ( my levels often rise in the hours after exercise, then fall back to normal later).

I'm afraid there is a lot of trial and error that goes on, particularly to begin with - even then things don't always 'behave' as expected!
 
Beans do have a lot of good points too, they are high in fibre and count as a portion from the five a day fruit and veg. I try to get low salt low sugar one where I can for my self.
 
7.3 before lunch, aprox 1/2 can heinz baked beans on 2 slices wholemeal toast with light sunflower spread and a poached egg.

9.2 70 minutes later. Will have another look after another hour.
 
Thanks Richard for testing for me.
Thanks to the rest of you all too.
Northerner I like the trial and error idea - not really thought of that - how silly of me.

You know what I shall rant about now though - if I had never tested I wouldn't have known why I had a cracker headache and other symptoms and may now find out beans on toast doesn't help my sugars - and my nurse says I should NEVER test!! AArgh
 
sorry for being thick here Richard - so what does that tell you?
 
lucy123 said:
You know what I shall rant about now though - if I had never tested I wouldn't have known why I had a cracker headache and other symptoms and may now find out beans on toast doesn't help my sugars - and my nurse says I should NEVER test!! AArgh
Click to expand...

I feel exactly the same.
Because I was diagnosed with T1 first and then changed to T2, I still have test strips on prescription. (Soon to be taken away, maybe?) Without experiments, how can I know what to eat and how much to eat????
Beans on toast doesn't have much effect on me. Perhaps it's because I eat dry one without a lot of sauce...🙂
 
As far as I know, and I'm sure someone will correct me on this when I get it hopelessly wrong, the insulin that I took at luchtime is matched quite well with the lunch that I had, and therefore my body is processing the sugar at a sensible rate. The matching with insulin isn't very helpful to you as a T2, but the figures tell me that the meal didn't release the sugars really quickly which would be more helpful to you as a T2.
 
I don't think that I explained that very well at all... with a bit of luck, someone will come and explain the whole situation a whole lot more clearly.
 
Yeah you are right Richard it means that your dose of insulin for lunch was correct, type 1's aim to be below 9.0, 2 hours after meals, thats whats in the NICE guidance.

It might have been the bread that spiked you Lucy, maybe trying with 1 slice of bread and seeing how that works out.
 
Hi, although baked beans do cause my blood sugar to rise I have more of a problem with some granary breads so would advise you to maybe try different types as some have a lot more sugar in than others. Wholemeal bread works a lot better for me than granary (although I do prefer granary). 1/2 tin of baked beans isn't a lot so wouldn't think would affect your levels that much.
 
KayC said:
I feel exactly the same.
Because I was diagnosed with T1 first and then changed to T2, I still have test strips on prescription. (Soon to be taken away, maybe?) Without experiments, how can I know what to eat and how much to eat????
Beans on toast doesn't have much effect on me. Perhaps it's because I eat dry one without a lot of sauce...🙂
Click to expand...

Can i ask why your test strips maybe taken away?? i thought self testing was a good idea??
 
granary breads often contain caramel and caramalised grains, along with wheat flakes that are allowed to ferment slightly to change starch to sugar and make the loaf sweeter. Even though they are 'wholemeal', they can make your BG level rise more quickly because they have more quick acting sugars.
 
richardq said:
granary breads often contain caramel and caramalised grains, along with wheat flakes that are allowed to ferment slightly to change starch to sugar and make the loaf sweeter. Even though they are 'wholemeal', they can make your BG level rise more quickly because they have more quick acting sugars.
Click to expand...

I didnt know that about granary bread. Wholemeal makes my BG level rise quickly too - white is an absolute no no think I might have to give up bread at this rate 😱
 
lyndasw said:
I didnt know that about granary bread. Wholemeal makes my BG level rise quickly too - white is an absolute no no think I might have to give up bread at this rate 😱
Click to expand...

Wholemeal bread has a similar GI to white bread, so should have a similar effect on levels. I think the terms wholemeal and wholegrain are often confused. Wholemeal is generally regarded as a healthier alternative to white bread because more of the nutrients are retained, but it is still highly refined. Wholegrain bread has much of the starch locked up in the grains, so this takes much longer to break down into glucose and should have a smoother profile. However, as we all know, there are no hard and fast rules, only guidelines and we may react quite contrary to expectations!

Here's another poem 'Low GI bread' 🙂

http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.com/2009/05/low-gi-bread.html
 
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