Advice on my 7-Day Morning Average

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Curlie028

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi,
I'm still trying to get my head round my "new" type 2 world. I have been testing my blood sugar levels in mmol/L, every morning, pretty much since my diagnosis.
My 7-day average started at just over 14 mmol/L last August. Since Nov it has pretty much been about 8, occasionally working it's way to just above 7 and occasionally climbing to 9.
The app I use for recording my results, gives individual readings of above 9 an amber colour when input and below 9 in green. For several months now I have been content enough, based on that traffic light system, that things are good but looking at other folk's results I'm now worried that it should be quite a bit lower.
I take 2 500mg Metformin in the morning, 2 more in the evening and recently 1 100mg Sitagliptin was added to my morning tabs.
To be honest, I was ultra strict with myself but have relaxed that discipline a little now that the traffic lights are consistently green. Am I fooling myself that 8 mmol/L is grand?

Thanks
 
Your morning reading being rather higher than you really want may be due to what is often referred to as Foot on the Floor Phenomenon where the liver releases glucose to give you energy for your organs to function and go hunting breakfast, a bit of a hang over from our hunter gatherer ancestors. Sometimes it can depend on when you take your reading and some find doing it while still in bed can make a difference.
You are aiming at 4-7mmol/l fasting /morning and before meals and no more than 8-8.5mmol/l 2 hours post meal.
So your morning reading do sound to still be a bit high. Do you test the effect of your meals as if you keep those managed well then your morning reading should start to come down.
Looking at your profile it looks as if you have actually put weight on which is probably not helping.
When you say you are being super strict, what dietary regime are you following as it may be that some foods are too high carb for you to tolerate as the medication can only do so much.
 
Good to hear that they have come down from 14 but ideally you would want them to be between 4 and 7 before meals and no more than 8.5 two hours after meals.
 
Thanks for the replies Leadlinglights and rebrascora. Not what I wanted to hear but what I wanted to hear, if you know what I mean.
"Reading time", perhaps I need to work on that. I get up, have a glass of water and then after making breakfast I take my reading every morning. The actual time can vary from 5:30am to 9:30am dependent on what I have to do that day. Not sure if "taking it in bed" will lower or raise it but from tomorrow I will start a period of doing it immediately after getting up.
I don't retest after meals but will start to do that as well and see how different meals impact.
The weight is very frustrating, nay, disheartening, as I thought I was eating much better and less but obviously not to any significant degree. That said I am very conscious that exercise is my nemesis and I need to find a way of building that into my day, in a way that "sticks."
In terms of being strict in the past what I mean by that is I cut out sugar (as in the stuff you spoon from a bag) and replaced it with a Stevia sweetener. We were a rice, maybe two or three times a week family and I reduced that to once a week and I had this dreadful "low everything" stuff. Similarly we had pasta once or twice a week and I cut that to once but couldn't handle the low everything substitute. I cut out loads of processed foods with "hidden" sugars and carbs and went from 3 or 4 chocolate bars per day (I know, I know - embarrassing) to one low carb, sugar free bar per day. There would have been other changes I made but on reflecting I didn't follow any particular regime and what was strict to me was perhaps a bit more random than I thought. Then when I started to stay within that green light, the odd chocolate bar was my reward. Nothing to the level I had been used to in the past but I guess you could describe it as I relaxed "my" regime but made sure it remained "green." I also moved back to rice but kept it to once per week.
Guys this has been a great kick up the backside. I'm thinking I was looking for reasons to "relax" on the back of what may well be more a traffic light system for after meals rather than first thing in the morning and that is very important that I now understand.
Managing/dealing with this on your own is tough and has allowed me to become complacent. I really do appreciate your replies and know it has reignited my resolve.
 
So.... Just to be clear, this isn't a fasting reading morning average but just a very random reading taken at some point during the morning after breakfast? If so, then it may be better than it initially looked, depending upon how long after breakfast. You really do need a much more structured approach to testing though otherwise it is pretty pointless and tells you very little, so it is good that you are going to implement that.

Out of curiosity, what do you have for breakfast?

Personally I stay away from sugar free chocolate and buy 70%+ dark chocolate and then just have half a square with a spoon of crunchy peanut butter to bulk it out. The dark chocolate is more satisfying, so you don't want to eat lots of it and the fat and protein in the peanut butter makes it satiating. It sounds like you are trying to go low fat and lower carb and that can be tough. Many people who follow a lower carb way of eating, have regular fat products (not low fat) like creamy Greek natural yoghurt and coleslaw and mayonnaise. I have cream in my morning coffee with my creamy yoghurt, berries and seeds, but no bread or cereals and this is surprisingly filling and better for my BG levels. "Low everything" is not really sustainable and definitely doesn't taste very enjoyable in my experience, but you do need to be more focused on reducing your carb intake if you eat more fat.
 
Curlie028 said:
Thanks for the replies Leadlinglights and rebrascora. Not what I wanted to hear but what I wanted to hear, if you know what I mean.
"Reading time", perhaps I need to work on that. I get up, have a glass of water and then after making breakfast I take my reading every morning. The actual time can vary from 5:30am to 9:30am dependent on what I have to do that day. Not sure if "taking it in bed" will lower or raise it but from tomorrow I will start a period of doing it immediately after getting up.
I don't retest after meals but will start to do that as well and see how different meals impact.
The weight is very frustrating, nay, disheartening, as I thought I was eating much better and less but obviously not to any significant degree. That said I am very conscious that exercise is my nemesis and I need to find a way of building that into my day, in a way that "sticks."
In terms of being strict in the past what I mean by that is I cut out sugar (as in the stuff you spoon from a bag) and replaced it with a Stevia sweetener. We were a rice, maybe two or three times a week family and I reduced that to once a week and I had this dreadful "low everything" stuff. Similarly we had pasta once or twice a week and I cut that to once but couldn't handle the low everything substitute. I cut out loads of processed foods with "hidden" sugars and carbs and went from 3 or 4 chocolate bars per day (I know, I know - embarrassing) to one low carb, sugar free bar per day. There would have been other changes I made but on reflecting I didn't follow any particular regime and what was strict to me was perhaps a bit more random than I thought. Then when I started to stay within that green light, the odd chocolate bar was my reward. Nothing to the level I had been used to in the past but I guess you could describe it as I relaxed "my" regime but made sure it remained "green." I also moved back to rice but kept it to once per week.
Guys this has been a great kick up the backside. I'm thinking I was looking for reasons to "relax" on the back of what may well be more a traffic light system for after meals rather than first thing in the morning and that is very important that I now understand.
Managing/dealing with this on your own is tough and has allowed me to become complacent. I really do appreciate your replies and know it has reignited my resolve.
Click to expand...
Low everything can be pretty tasteless and boring so really it is the carbs you need to be taking care of. Things like breakfast cereals are high carb even the low sugar ones, bread of course is something to watch.
Some structured testing would be useful for you as you may be not having things that will be OK and having things which are not.
Have a look at this link for some ideas for modifying your diet for a low carb approach which is what you seem to be opting for. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
 
Leadinglights said:
Low everything can be pretty tasteless and boring
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with this but wonder why it is the case.
My diet is primarily vegetarian which is low in fat and can be made low in carbs (if you minmise below the ground veg). I use a lot of herbs and spices which give my meals lots of flavour and rarely boring. So why are low fat, low carb food so often lacking in "nutritionally cheap" flavours?

No need to answer, I am just thinking aloud 😎
 
rebrascora said:
So.... Just to be clear, this isn't a fasting reading morning average but just a very random reading taken at some point during the morning after breakfast? If so, then it may be better than it initially looked, depending upon how long after breakfast. You really do need a much more structured approach to testing though otherwise it is pretty pointless and tells you very little, so it is good that you are going to implement that.

Out of curiosity, what do you have for breakfast?

Personally I stay away from sugar free chocolate and buy 70%+ dark chocolate and then just have half a square with a spoon of crunchy peanut butter to bulk it out. The dark chocolate is more satisfying, so you don't want to eat lots of it and the fat and protein in the peanut butter makes it satiating. It sounds like you are trying to go low fat and lower carb and that can be tough. Many people who follow a lower carb way of eating, have regular fat products (not low fat) like creamy Greek natural yoghurt and coleslaw and mayonnaise. I have cream in my morning coffee with my creamy yoghurt, berries and seeds, but no bread or cereals and this is surprisingly filling and better for my BG levels. "Low everything" is not really sustainable and definitely doesn't taste very enjoyable in my experience, but you do need to be more focused on reducing your carb intake if you eat more fat.
Click to expand...
Hi rebrascora,
For clarity. I take that reading 15 to 20 minutes after waking each morning. I get up as soon as I waken, do the bathroom stuff and head downstair. I drink a pint of water and then make breakfast but before eating it I take a blood sugar reading. 5 days per week I waken at approx 5:15am, so take the reading at approx 5:30 to maybe 5:40am. Then the other two days I can lie in. Usually I will be up by 7am and do the same early morning routine but occasionally (once or twice per month) it could be after 9am before I rise. So there is a certain degree of routine.
In terms of breakfast, I try to vary it a little. This morning I had poached egg on toast (granary bread), yesterday I had scrambled egg on toast yesterday and before that I had *hold head in shame* but the traffic light was I guess giving me an excuse, I had a couple of slices of wheaten bread with jam. I haven't eaten any cereal since diagnosed, including one of my favourite breakfasts, granola (with a yoghurt). I used to have overnight oats with fruit a couple of morning per week and it has fallen by the wayside too. However I can't actually remember making a conscious decision to drop it, I just dropped all my old breakfasts, which did include a fry once a week but that's consigned to history now.
One of my sons presented me with a basket of low sugar chocolate to try but I haven't cracked it open yet. Like the idea of rich dark choc and peanut butter, I'll give that a go too.
Thanks again rebrascora.
 
Leadinglights said:
Low everything can be pretty tasteless and boring so really it is the carbs you need to be taking care of. Things like breakfast cereals are high carb even the low sugar ones, bread of course is something to watch.
Some structured testing would be useful for you as you may be not having things that will be OK and having things which are not.
Have a look at this link for some ideas for modifying your diet for a low carb approach which is what you seem to be opting for. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
Click to expand...
Thanks Leadinglights, I'll get a look at that site later but your post has refocused me on carb intake. I have now concluded the reading I have been taking and the traffic light system I guess I was happy to buy into has been misleading me and yeah I get I have been happily mislead. Time to refocus and get this thing under my control again.
Thanks
 
Curlie028 said:
Hi rebrascora,
For clarity. I take that reading 15 to 20 minutes after waking each morning. I get up as soon as I waken, do the bathroom stuff and head downstair. I drink a pint of water and then make breakfast but before eating it I take a blood sugar reading. 5 days per week I waken at approx 5:15am, so take the reading at approx 5:30 to maybe 5:40am. Then the other two days I can lie in. Usually I will be up by 7am and do the same early morning routine but occasionally (once or twice per month) it could be after 9am before I rise. So there is a certain degree of routine.
In terms of breakfast, I try to vary it a little. This morning I had poached egg on toast (granary bread), yesterday I had scrambled egg on toast yesterday and before that I had *hold head in shame* but the traffic light was I guess giving me an excuse, I had a couple of slices of wheaten bread with jam. I haven't eaten any cereal since diagnosed, including one of my favourite breakfasts, granola (with a yoghurt). I used to have overnight oats with fruit a couple of morning per week and it has fallen by the wayside too. However I can't actually remember making a conscious decision to drop it, I just dropped all my old breakfasts, which did include a fry once a week but that's consigned to history now.
One of my sons presented me with a basket of low sugar chocolate to try but I haven't cracked it open yet. Like the idea of rich dark choc and peanut butter, I'll give that a go too.
Thanks again rebrascora.
Click to expand...
Many people find that Full fat Greek yoghurt with some berries and then a small portion of a low sugar granola for a crunchy topping or adding some seeds can make a filling breakfast.
There is no reason not to have bacon, eggs and something like tomatoes or mushrooms for breakfast if you fancy it. But your other choices sound pretty good, the thing to test is how you get on with bread, some do, some don't. Enjoy !!!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top