A stupid test

[Leonora]

Had a banana. Silly me. BG rose from 5 to 9.3.

Haven't had a banana in a year. Test shows I'm diabetic for life!

 

[Ljc]

You could try a smaller portion

 

[SueEK]

Had a banana. Silly me. BG rose from 5 to 9.3.

Haven't had a banana in a year. Test shows I'm diabetic for life!

I haven’t actually tested myself after a banana, not sure I want to 😱😱

 

[Leonora]

I suppose I could try a smaller portion but it was only a small banana and I'm not sure I want to try it again.

 

[emmgeo]

we are all different, I cant tolerate small amounts of pasta, but I can eat a Banana with no problem hardly raises my BG.

 

[Leonora]

It's amazing how different we are and what we can tolerate. Although the NHS claim diabetics can eat sweet potato it shoots my levels up fast and can last for half a day!

 

[grovesy]

It's amazing how different we are and what we can tolerate. Although the NHS claim diabetics can eat sweet potato it shoots my levels up fast and can last for half a day!

I have found that what I can tolerate has changed many times over the last 15 years.

 

[Ljc]

I have a chart up in our kitchen showing how many carbs there are in fruits. Banana 21g net per 100g so although I still eat them it's a couple of bites at a time and then into the fridge until later.

Martin

I like the idea of a carb chart, I might do that myself.

In the past 9 months or so I’ve been able to eat a pear or a bowl of strawberries without bolussing provided my BG was close to 5.5, last year I would have needed to bolus.
Diabetes is odd

 

[Eddy Edson]

Had a banana. Silly me. BG rose from 5 to 9.3.

Haven't had a banana in a year. Test shows I'm diabetic for life!

It doesn't really mean that much, necessarily. Non-diabetics can see the same thing, depending on who they are & what they eat. The baseline data I use says the average daily high for a non-diabetic is 8.0 +/1 1.3 for one standard deviation. Which means that 68% of daily highs are in the range 6.7 - 9.3. So your 9.3 isn't by itself very "diabetic", necessarily.

 

[Leonora]

It doesn't really mean that much, necessarily. Non-diabetics can see the same thing, depending on who they are & what they eat. The baseline data I use says the average daily high for a non-diabetic is 8.0 +/1 1.3 for one standard deviation. Which means that 68% of daily highs are in the range 6.7 - 9.3. So your 9.3 isn't by itself very "diabetic", necessarily.

Thank you Eddy but mine stays high for a long time when I eat too many carbs. It's interesting to know that though because I didn't realise non diabetics could get such big spikes too.

 

[rebrascora]

Thank you Eddy but mine stays high for a long time when I eat too many carbs. It's interesting to know that though because I didn't realise non diabetics could get such big spikes too.

Did it stay high for a long time after the banana or are you talking in general about your BG staying high after carbs? Fruit and other sweet things spike me for 2-3hrs but starchy carbs spike me for 8-10hrs so I worry less about fruit although I do ration it and choose mostly lower carb options like raspberries. I would only eat a small banana if I was going to have one and have half in the morning and the other half in the afternoon to split the effect.

 

[Leonora]

Did it stay high for a long time after the banana or are you talking in general about your BG staying high after carbs? Fruit and other sweet things spike me for 2-3hrs but starchy carbs spike me for 8-10hrs so I worry less about fruit although I do ration it and choose mostly lower carb options like raspberries. I would only eat a small banana if I was going to have one and have half in the morning and the other half in the afternoon to split the effect.

It was still too high at 4 hours. I couldn't understand it. Funnily I can eat berries till they're coming out my ears to no I'll effect.

 

[rebrascora]

Try repeating the test but just eating half a small banana, if it is something you particularly enjoy and miss or mash it up with some double cream and see if that helps.

 

[Leonora]

Mashing it up with cream is such a good idea. Thank you.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Always worth rechecking things if you really fancy them @Leonora - it might have been something that you dropped from your menu before which actually under different circumstances (different time of day, after weight loss, less stressed by ‘life stuff’) turns out to be not so bad after all. And if your BGs go a bit haywire and confirm what you thought, then it’s no surprise 🙂

 

[Leonora]

I think I've just become brave enough to test more foods that I removed from my diet so thank you all. And since my a1c is 36 -ahem, at the moment- I think I've got some room for manoeuvre.

 

[Sharron1]

I think I've just become brave enough to test more foods that I removed from my diet so thank you all. And since my a1c is 36 -ahem, at the moment- I think I've got some room for manoeuvre.

I have a list of foods that I try out. The latest was a small bag of cheesy wotsits (cue laughter). I haven't had a packet for a year. They are quite low carb. Ate them and tested. A glorious 4.9. I shall have another packet some day. Next on the list is a choc ice. Waitrose essential looked quite low carb

 

[Pumper_Sue]

I suppose I could try a smaller portion but it was only a small banana and I'm not sure I want to try it again.

That's silly missing out on things you like.
Have a small/fun size banana and make sure it's under ripe then the sugars wont be so high in it. Other option is to have some exercise after you have eaten the banana. So either do your grocery shop, go for a walk, housework, gardening or what ever you want or need to do.

 

[Stitch147]

I tend to have bananas when I do some of my long walks. I don't have them normally and look forward to them then.

 

[Leonora]

Update - Had a Snicker bar as a treat/test. BG went from 5.4 to 6.7 at 2 hours. Down to 6.1 at 3 hours. Maybe it was a fluke so will try again. Expected it to be much much higher.