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Bg levels
- Thread starter WendyB61
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janw
Much Missed Member.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Are you drinking enough water and having higher fat foods? Are you having anything with sugar in? Do you use an online diary so you can log everything, food and fluid, that goes into your mouth? I find that so useful to keep a real tab on my daily limits.
What have you eaten/drunk today? Maybe if you list everything we might be able to spot a hidden carb or a culprit.
Are you doing any exercise? Even walking or sitting doing weight-lifting with a couple of cans of beans can be useful. but too much exercise can also increase your BG. Are you testing before eating and then 2 hours after? You are looking for a rise of no more than 2 mmol.
Sorry for all the questions but it will help to see what may be happening. What is your waking BG? Just to get an idea of your numbers,
What have you eaten/drunk today? Maybe if you list everything we might be able to spot a hidden carb or a culprit.
Are you doing any exercise? Even walking or sitting doing weight-lifting with a couple of cans of beans can be useful. but too much exercise can also increase your BG. Are you testing before eating and then 2 hours after? You are looking for a rise of no more than 2 mmol.
Sorry for all the questions but it will help to see what may be happening. What is your waking BG? Just to get an idea of your numbers,
I keep a diary on nutracheck, the highest carbs I had were for my evening meal I had 100g of naked oven chips cooked in my air fryer, they were 28 g of carbs, I had these with a chicken breast, do you think it could be these? I forgot to do my test before but did it 2 hours after
rebrascora
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- She/Her
If you don't test before then you have no means of knowing how that meal affected your BG levels. If your levels have been running high for a while then it may take weeks of low carb eating to bring your premeal readings down.
So in this situation, if your pre meal reading had been 5.9 and then 2 hours post meal was 11 then your body clearly could not cope with those carbs. If your pre meal reading had been 9.3 and your post meal reading was 11 then that meal was likely fine although we always advise that people test a meal 2 or 3 times before they make any definitive decisions about accepting it as a successful experiment..... or needing a bit of carb tweaking to reduce the spike it causes..... or a "ditch it" as not worth the BG upheaval.
So in this situation, if your pre meal reading had been 5.9 and then 2 hours post meal was 11 then your body clearly could not cope with those carbs. If your pre meal reading had been 9.3 and your post meal reading was 11 then that meal was likely fine although we always advise that people test a meal 2 or 3 times before they make any definitive decisions about accepting it as a successful experiment..... or needing a bit of carb tweaking to reduce the spike it causes..... or a "ditch it" as not worth the BG upheaval.
janw
Much Missed Member.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Yes any form of potato are high carbs, doesn't necessarily mean you can't have any at all, but that is where testing before and after comes into its own. I allow myself about 6 chips normal or sweet potato, same with wedges just 2 or 3, maybe 2 small roast potatoes or baby potatoes, I avoid mash. I might have a mouse size sweet potato as a baked jacket, but these are what suit me and my BG.
Nick Cliff
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Hi @WendyB61 - supporting what @rebrascora has said, last night I was 7.9 before eating, 11.2 2 hrs after (not ideal!) then 9.0 3 hrs after (acceptable for me)...and I've been playing this game a long time.... It was a wholewheat pasta based meal. My pre prandial was higher than normal, most likely because I had small tasters while cooking. I think my portion size was too big... Learning all the time.
I wouldn't fret over one bad result but keep testing to observe the overall pattern, and adjust accordingly.
(in a previous test with different brand of pasta and similar amount I had a "perfect" result)
Good luck. Nick
GrannieG
Member
Hello
I`m considering buying a BG test kit but don`t really know how it should be used.
My husband was Type 2 diabetic and I remember testing him but he died 8 years ago and I`ve forgotten what to look for.
I don`t have a diagnosis but am pre diabetic and want to lose weight and monitor my progress.
Should I see my GP first? I`ve only had a couple of telephone consultations with him during covid and am not sure if he is making face to face appointments.
I`m considering buying a BG test kit but don`t really know how it should be used.
My husband was Type 2 diabetic and I remember testing him but he died 8 years ago and I`ve forgotten what to look for.
I don`t have a diagnosis but am pre diabetic and want to lose weight and monitor my progress.
Should I see my GP first? I`ve only had a couple of telephone consultations with him during covid and am not sure if he is making face to face appointments.
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
As said in the post above, the way to see if the meal you have is suitable for your body to tolerate you test just before you eat and after 2 hour with nothing in between, If the increase is 2-3mmol/l then that meal is fine. Overall a post meal of no more than 8.5mmol/l is what you aim at. If you are prediabetic I would imagine that your before meal test would be well within the range 4-7mmol/l which would be normal. It does allow you to modify your food choices if those increases are higher than you want.
People often also do a daily or periodic morning/ fasting test just to monitor overall progress.
Otherwise people test if they feel unwell to see if that is connected to high or low blood glucose.
People often also do a daily or periodic morning/ fasting test just to monitor overall progress.
Otherwise people test if they feel unwell to see if that is connected to high or low blood glucose.
Everyones carb requirement is different. My glucose shoots up if I go over 30g day, which is quarter of a cracker!
Drummer
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
Heavens - what crackers are so high in carb?
GrannieG
Member
Is that why you are diabetic? Because your body is unable to regulate your carbs intake. Or is that too simplistic?
Lucyr
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Nonsense. There isn’t 120g of carbs in a cracker.
Lucyr
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
That’s both simplistic and accurate. Diabetics can’t regulate insulin to properly balance carbs. Each person has a different reason why they can’t, some don’t produce any insulin, some don’t produce enough, some do produce insulin but it doesn’t work properly. You have to have the right balance of insulin to carbs to have good blood sugars.
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Keep at it @WendyB61 - it could be that your premeal level was 9, and that the rise wasn’t too much.
By keeping meal rises low, your overall levels should begin to come down gradually.
But if this doesn’t happen, it may be that your body needs a bit of help. Don’t think of meds as some kind of failure, or that your diabetes is ‘worse’. It is just sometimes what a body needs. It may be that with a first line med like Metformin, your background level of glucose output would reduce, and your insulin sensitivity would improve - which might give you a bit more flexibility with your menu?
I am terrified of going on medication, my dad was type 2 and was put on meds and he was always complaining of stomach aches and pains, he passed away with stomach cancer and I can’t get it out of my head that it was his diabetes meds but I don’t know which one he was on
Leadinglights
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 2
I know exactly what you mean about the meds so I was determined that I would change my diet to low carb after reading of all the successes here so went to 70g carbs per day (in hindsight a bit too quickly as I had some eye issues) and HbA1C went down from 50mmol/mol to 42 in 3 months and to 36 in another 3 months. I stick with that level of carbs as I find it easy and I don't miss all the carbs I was having.
trophywench
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Diabetes medication does NOT cause cancer of anything.
If you already have stomach and/or bowel problems then Metformin, the No 1 first choice for Type 2, wouldn't have helped as it often causes wind/diarrhoea when you haven't already got trouble with your tum/guts anyway. There is a slow release version of Metformin which suits a lot of folk much better than the ordinary one. Now, there are lots of other drugs for T2 anyway!
If you already have stomach and/or bowel problems then Metformin, the No 1 first choice for Type 2, wouldn't have helped as it often causes wind/diarrhoea when you haven't already got trouble with your tum/guts anyway. There is a slow release version of Metformin which suits a lot of folk much better than the ordinary one. Now, there are lots of other drugs for T2 anyway!
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