Confused.com

[Scotty1305]

Hello everyone, I’ve just joined the group in the hope you can help shed some light on this confusing condition. I’m currently trying different food to see what helps keep my blood sugar levels low but, no matter what I eat, it ranges from 7.0 to 23.0. I just find it all so frustrating. Help!

 

[Leadinglights]

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will get plenty of suggestions.
The reading you are getting certainly suggest that your diet has far too many carbohydrates for your body to tolerate but establishing a sensible testing regime will tell you much more on which to base changes.
It is usual to test before you eat and after 2 hours and would be looking for no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase from the meal you have just eaten. As your levels become better managed then a post meal reading should be no more than 8.5mmol/l.
Keeping a food diary alongside your test readings will help you identify problem meals.
Remember it is ALL carbohydrates that convert to glucose so it is not just cakes, biscuits, and sugary drinks you need to cut out but be very careful of potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, breakfast cereals, pastry and tropical fruits and fruit juice being watchful of the portion size and basing meals on meat, fish, eggs, full fat dairy, cheese, vegetables and salads and fruits like berries.
Cutting out those high carb snacks will help as well.
You might find this link useful for finding a way forward on changing your diet.
Check this link for some good explanation about the basics and how to go about making those changes.
lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk
A often quoted phrase is getting good blood glucose management is a marathon not a sprint.

 

[Scotty1305]

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure you will get plenty of suggestions.
The reading you are getting certainly suggest that your diet has far too many carbohydrates for your body to tolerate but establishing a sensible testing regime will tell you much more on which to base changes.
It is usual to test before you eat and after 2 hours and would be looking for no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase from the meal you have just eaten. As your levels become better managed then a post meal reading should be no more than 8.5mmol/l.
Keeping a food diary alongside your test readings will help you identify problem meals.
Remember it is ALL carbohydrates that convert to glucose so it is not just cakes, biscuits, and sugary drinks you need to cut out but be very careful of potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, breakfast cereals, pastry and tropical fruits and fruit juice being watchful of the portion size and basing meals on meat, fish, eggs, full fat dairy, cheese, vegetables and salads and fruits like berries.
Cutting out those high carb snacks will help as well.
You might find this link useful for finding a way forward on changing your diet.
Check this link for some good explanation about the basics and how to go about making those changes.
lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk
A often quoted phrase is getting good blood glucose management is a marathon not a sprint.

Thank you for the reply. Just for clarity, and this is why I’m so confused, I have cut out ALL sugar based foods and sweets ( I’m a chocolate monster normally ) I have kept to a low carb diet which is basically c**p. Tonight I had roast chicken without the skin and cauliflower rice, which is much like eating paper. My reading before this was 7.1 and after it was 12.2. I tried shredded wheat as I’d read it was good, with blueberries the reading after that was 23.something. Whenever I read the back of items in the supermarket it invariably has a level of carbohydrates which sugars, broccoli 1.5, sprouts 1.5. Maybe I should just eat ice and drink water? Confused doesn’t even cover it.

 

[Scotty1305]

I’m sorry if my reply seems angry, it’s really not aimed at anyone but I’m just……. Well you get me I suspect

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you for the reply. Just for clarity, and this is why I’m so confused, I have cut out ALL sugar based foods and sweets ( I’m a chocolate monster normally ) I have kept to a low carb diet which is basically c**p. Tonight I had roast chicken without the skin and cauliflower rice, which is much like eating paper. My reading before this was 7.1 and after it was 12.2. I tried shredded wheat as I’d read it was good, with blueberries the reading after that was 23.something. Whenever I read the back of items in the supermarket it invariably has a level of carbohydrates which sugars, broccoli 1.5, sprouts 1.5. Maybe I should just eat ice and drink water? Confused doesn’t even cover it.

I can understand why your blood glucose was 23 after shredded wheat and blueberries as most cereals are high carb even though they may not have much sugar, the chicken and cauliflower rice is more difficult to fathom. I agree I'm not a big fan of cauliflower rice unless it has plenty of spices and a few other veg as well.
Ignore the sugar content of things and just look at the TOTAL carbohydrates.
Things like cheese and eggs, meat, fish are pretty well zero carbs.
You are testing after 2 hours I assume. If you get a reading which is far higher than you expect from what you have eaten then it is worth making sure you have washed your hands and test again just in case you had something on your finger.

 

[Lucyr]

Thank you for the reply. Just for clarity, and this is why I’m so confused, I have cut out ALL sugar based foods and sweets ( I’m a chocolate monster normally ) I have kept to a low carb diet which is basically c**p. Tonight I had roast chicken without the skin and cauliflower rice, which is much like eating paper. My reading before this was 7.1 and after it was 12.2. I tried shredded wheat as I’d read it was good, with blueberries the reading after that was 23.something. Whenever I read the back of items in the supermarket it invariably has a level of carbohydrates which sugars, broccoli 1.5, sprouts 1.5. Maybe I should just eat ice and drink water? Confused doesn’t even cover it.

Chicken with no skin and cauliflower rice sounds an incredibly boring meal and not that balanced. Have you considered adding some fat to your meals, and some more veg, perhaps some favours or spices to your chicken?

 

[Kiwid25]

Look into low GI foods, switch from white rice to brown rice etc

 

[harbottle]

There's no reason the low carb food should be boring - use herbs and spices and white wine to add some flavours and use cauliflower rice to make a pilau rice. The food I've been making since diagnosis last year has been some of the tastiest food I've made - try the recipe books by Kate and Giancarlo Caldesi for some quick and tasty recipes. Veg steamed in butter and seasoning is pretty nice.

For lunch I mixed some dill, lemon juice, greek yoghurt, celery, apple, olive oil and red wine vinegar and then shredded some packet turkey in it. It was delicious (Taken from a Caldesi book).

I am not sure why BG went up so much with just cauliflower and chicken. I had 100g of cauliflower rice with some salmon baked with fennel tonight and 100g only has 3.3g of carbs in it (The rest of the meal had around 13g of carbs). As has been mentioned, make sure you wash your hands.

 

[rebrascora]

Look into low GI foods, switch from white rice to brown rice etc

Brown rice has almost the same number of carbs as white and both are high, same with pasta and bread.
The GI index system doesn't apply to everyone. It is very individual as to how quickly or slowly any one person breaks down foods due to their digestive system, gut biome and metabolism. For instance my digestive system is really fast at breaking down porridge which is supposedly low GI. The glucose from it gets from my mouth to my finger tip in about 20 mins, which is only a bit less quick than sugar. Porridge doesn't feature on my menu any more, especially as I am insulin resistant in the morning.
I am sure as a Type 1 diabetic, you count the carbs whether they are brown or white, because they all spike your BG levels and need insulin. It is the same for Type 2s except those trying to control their levels by diet (and possibly oral meds) don't have insulin to inject to bring it down, so not eating the carb rich foods in the first place is the best they can do in most instances.

 

[janw]

There are loads of keto and low carb recipes on the internet, just google it - for example keto chicken recipes - there will be loads for you to choose from and they are tasty - and you can eat the skin, no problem. Also check out what other T2s eat on this link What did you eat yesterday - but remember that what suits one person, may not suit another, which is where the testing before the meal and 2 hours after the first bite comes into play, so you can actually see which carbs give you spikes and which don't. You will soon get to know if you can reduce the portion size of try an alternative.
I always add onion, garlic, herbs and spices to cauliflower rice when I cook it in coconut oil (I freeze portion size bags of raw cauliflower rice, then cook it in a frying pan from frozen, adding whatever I fancy - sometimes cream cheese or egg or whatever low carb item/s takes my fancy).

 

[Drummer]

there is no reason to have bland food just because it needs to be low carb - spices, herbs, condiments and tracklements are usually used in small amounts and so do not add to the carb content to any great extent, even if they are sweet. Broccoli and sprouts are fine for low carb.

 

[trophywench]

Could you manage a full English breakfast at any time of day - remembering that hash browns are not English, neither are baked beans. Mind you one hb is only 10g carb so might be OK, and you could risk a spoonful of bb - quarter of a can is about 13g. So bacon, eggs, high meat content sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, black pud. Instead of the hash brown you could have half a large slice of fried bread. I'd be happy with that as a meal any day/time of day. If you want sauce, a bit of beetroot (honest, delish with bacon) or a pickled onion, bit of chutney or whatever with it - have it.

 

[Windy]

Roast the chicken in the oven with Mediterranean vegetables (aubergines, peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic?), and small amount of olive oil, serve with a couple of spoons of natural yogurt with mint sauce in. You could roast cauliflower florets with the other veg, and sprinkle it with chilli and a pinch of salt. Like the others say, it doesn't have to be bland. A bit of spice, and leaving the skin on the chicken will reduce the carboard-y qualities of the meal massively.
I'm not a massive fan of cauliflower rice as it's a faff to prepare and cooking florets is easier. I sometimes buy the frozen bags of it, but generally don't bother.

 

[harbottle]

Roasted cauliflower and broccoli marinated in Greek Yoghurt and spices for a bit and then roasted on a tray is pretty nice.

A lot of 'good' restaurant food is generally low in carbs and may consist of meat and veg (Plus potatoes, which I do eat sometimes in very small quantities) with some sort of sauce. Side dishes of rice and pasta can be replaced with something more nutritious and tasty - never been a huge fan of either of them myself other than as something to soak up the sauce!

 

[Leadinglights]

there is no reason to have bland food just because it needs to be low carb - spices, herbs, condiments and tracklements are usually used in small amounts and so do not add to the carb content to any great extent, even if they are sweet. Broccoli and sprouts are fine for low carb.

That's my new word of the day - tracklements. Had to look it up. Sometimes people avoid those things getting hung up on the minutiae instead of the big picture, so avoid a teaspoon of brown sauce on their white bread bacon sandwich.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Scotty1305

And don’t worry at all about expressing your frustration with the irritations of diabetes management. Sometimes it feels like whatever you try isn’t enough - and that is hugely demotivating.

Bit give yourself credit. You are working away at it and discovering some important information (notably that breakfast cereals aren’t ideal for you!).

How did your diagnosis come about? Was it all of a sudden out of the blue, or had it been building up for some time? Was it very recently of or a few years ago?

Do you have diabetes in your close family?

Can you remember your HbA1c at diagnosis?

Did you lose any weight before diagnosis without meaning to?

 

[Mrs Mimoo]

Chicken with no skin and cauliflower rice sounds an incredibly boring meal and not that balanced. Have you considered adding some fat to your meals, and some more veg, perhaps some favours or spices to your chicken?

I would have put garlic mayo or a cheese sauce on that?

 

[Mrs Mimoo]

Look into low GI foods, switch from white rice to brown rice etc

all rice is carbs - you may end up having too many. Konjak rice is ok and almost zero carbs.

 

[Scotty1305]

Welcome to the forum @Scotty1305

And don’t worry at all about expressing your frustration with the irritations of diabetes management. Sometimes it feels like whatever you try isn’t enough - and that is hugely demotivating.

Bit give yourself credit. You are working away at it and discovering some important information (notably that breakfast cereals aren’t ideal for you!).

How did your diagnosis come about? Was it all of a sudden out of the blue, or had it been building up for some time? Was it very recently of or a few years ago?

Do you have diabetes in your close family?

Can you remember your HbA1c at diagnosis?

Did you lose any weight before diagnosis without meaning to?

It happened after my pancreas was damaged through prescribed steroid medication. I’ve been type two for around two years but just ignored it till now.