Breakfast Cereal test ?

[Alan S]

hi Alan.... thanks.... it is the pain as I have pain already in my fingers and toes. I find that the middle finger is less painful and the blood flows better from that one... but that only allows 4 tests.

as to being a senior ... it is only coz I chat a lot.... I only joined a month ago lol

Please try the tips on that link.

 

[Alan S]

Hi Everyone,

After the porridge spikes the last couple of days, decided to go for bacon, egg and mushrooms.

Is it just me, but I feel like I'm a glutton eating stuff like this for breakfast?

Anyway.... fasting was 7.1
1 hour later still no food 8
2 hours after breakfast 6.9
before lunch 3 hrs later 5.3

Donna

You've been conditioned by the "fat is evil" and "breakfast = healthy cereal and juice" brigade for too many years.

If you add up the total calories from a rasher of drained bacon and a couple of fried eggs and compare them to a bowl of cereal, a cup of milk and a slice of buttered toast you'll get quite a surprise. Then compare the difference in peak post-meal BGs and decide which is healthier for YOU for breakfast.

 

[donnarob]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the tips. This morning I had bacon and eggs and my readings today look like this so far:-

Fasting 7.3
1 hour after breakfast 5.7
2 hours after breakfast 5.6

Donna 🙂

 

[Sheilagh1958]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the tips. This morning I had bacon and eggs and my readings today look like this so far:-

Fasting 7.3
1 hour after breakfast 5.7
2 hours after breakfast 5.6

Donna 🙂

Excellent results Donna

 

[Mark T]

My nurse throught that bacon and eggs might be ok for blood sugar, but would probably be bad for cholesterol. Although I'm assuming that has much to do with how you cook it then anything else.

 

[macast]

great results Donna as Alan says we have definately been conditioned to think that cereal with milk and toast with marmalade preceeded by orange juice is a good healthy breakfast. but for us it is a 'disaster'.... well it is for me anyway. I've steered clear of the porridge since I tested myself after an hour and saw that my BG was raised 100%

interestingly there is a particular diet I went on a while ago which insisted that the day started with bacon and eggs 😱 my friend is still following it and has lost over 2 stones since the summer (and I've seen her 'cheat' by having cake and pizza 😛 ) she looks amazing!!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

My nurse throught that bacon and eggs might be ok for blood sugar, but would probably be bad for cholesterol. Although I'm assuming that has much to do with how you cook it then anything else.

You might be right Mark if you continue to eat a high carb diet for the rest of the time. Moderated carb diets seem to result in lower total cholesterol, reduction in triglicerides and improvement in the good/bad balance though... so if you keep carbs under control elsewhere it seems like it can be a win-win 🙂 Plus, as you say you can help quite a lot with cooking methods etc.

 

[donnarob]

Macast, I think your absolutely right. I'm going to buy Alan's book because "what can I eat" was my catch phrase and to a certain extent, still is! It's just a completely different outlook on what we do eat and over here, anything goes for breakfast, they're really into cooked meats and cheeses.

My pre lunch reading is still 5.5 which would indicate that the bacon and eggs have kept me steady over a long period of time. Interesting stuff! I'm now going to have roast breast of chicken with a big crunchy salad. I'll report back later...

Donna x🙂

 

[Klocky]

I always have bacon and eggs for breakfast at the weekends and my readings are always much lower than when I eat cereal. If I had the time, I'd probably go for the "fry up" approach everyday but unfortunately dont have the time cos of having to get out for work. I do therefore struggle to find something to eat in the morning, I one of those who cant do bread of any type - always sends me skyrocketing - so I've given it up totally, used to love it too and still miss it.

The only cereal I've found that works for me is something called malt wheats from Tesco, which as long as I stick to a measured portion, tends to give me readings around 5.1 to 5.4 - am very bored with eating the same thing everyday for breakfast though, so anybody got any suggestions as to what might be ok 🙂

 

[Lairyfairy]

I had porridge this morning and tested it for the first time. I had a very small portion of fresh mango with it to sweeten it and 1% fat milk (in-between skimmed and semi). The result was:

Fasting: 7.1
1hr 15m after the porridge: 11.6

I also experience some acid reflux after eating porridge sometimes, as I did today. Not sure if it is the mango that has pushed the levels up, but it really was a very small amount.

I has fruit and fibre with milk the other day and the result was:

Fasting: 7.1
1hr 40m after breakfast: 11.3 (taken by the nurse during follow-up appointment)

I have also tested 2 x Weetabix , 2 x wholemeal bread, olive oil spread and 1tsp marmalade (*gasps*)

Before breakfast: 7.3
2hrs after breakfast: 9.4

On Thursday I had some grapefruit segments (tinned), 1x 97% pork sausage grilled, 1 rasher grilled bacon, 1 slice Burgen seeded bread, olive spread, 1 poached egg, 1 mushroom, 1 tomato (all grilled)

Before breakfast: 7.1
1 hour after: 9.4
I then did a very active aerobics class for an hour and at 12.30pm my reading was 6.3

Hope this helps with our study. I'm reading it very closely!

Looks like cereals are not for me

Lairy

 

[Alan S]

My nurse throught that bacon and eggs might be ok for blood sugar, but would probably be bad for cholesterol. Although I'm assuming that has much to do with how you cook it then anything else.

Please read this: Eggs, Carbs and Cholesterol

When I asked the authors for permission to include an excerpt from that in my book the highly scientific approval response I received was ?feel free to quote those paragraphs. You got the idea correctly?.

 

[Alan S]

I always have bacon and eggs for breakfast at the weekends and my readings are always much lower than when I eat cereal. If I had the time, I'd probably go for the "fry up" approach everyday but unfortunately dont have the time cos of having to get out for work. I do therefore struggle to find something to eat in the morning,

I often see that sort of comment and wonder. Here is a typical morning in the kitchen for me.

This morning I put my cast-iron skillet on the gas first, because it take about 30 seconds to warm up. I used that 30 seconds to clean and fill my coffee-maker and put it on the gas flame. It takes exactly six minutes from that moment for the coffee to be ready to pour.

I halved, peeled and sliced an onion, added it to the skillet and sprinkled it with olive oil to get things going. I peeled and sliced three medium mushrooms and added them to the onions, mixing them around a bit, then covered the veges with an old suacepan lid to retain the mushroom moisture as they cooked. While that was cooking I broke two free-range eggs into a mug, added a splash of water, a dash of turmeric, a grating of nutmeg and a grating of black pepper.

I checked the mushrooms and onion, they were ready so I poured the egg mix over and tilted the skillet to be sure the omelette spread to the edges. I let that cook for half a minute while I nicked into the office to switch on the computer. Then I folded the omelette and served it. At that time the coffee was just ready and I poured the coffee over a few teaspoons of pure cream in the bottom of my mug.

From walking into the kitchen to sitting down to eat is always less than ten minutes.

If you don't even have that much time, read this: Breakfast On The Run

 

[Andy HB]

And the number of times I hear people say "I'm too busy to cook!" ..... 🙄

p.s. And I realise that could be construed as a criticism of you klocky! That was not my intention! Honest. 🙂

 

[wallycorker]

I had a meeting recently with one of the top guys in the local Primary care Trust. He told me that he had asked the following question of a group of doctors that he'd been challenging - "What effect would eating a fry up English breakfast on Saturday have on the blood glucose readings of a Type 2 diabetic who ate porridge the other six days of the week?"

He had been amazed to learn that the majority of those present thought that the fry up would have had a more harmful effect on blood glucose levels compared with porridge beakfasts!

I ask you, what chance do Type 2 diabetics have in the UK?!?!

 

[caffeine_demon]

maybe he could ask them about an ounce of bran flakes + milk compared with an ounce of chocolate... the chocolate spike is small for me (usually keeps to under 8, maybe 8.5), but bran flakes send it to 10!!

 

[FM001]

I had a meeting recently with one of the top guys in the local Primary care Trust. He told me that he had asked the following question of a group of doctors that he'd been challenging - "What effect would eating a fry up English breakfast on Saturday have on the blood glucose readings of a Type 2 diabetic who ate porridge the other six days of the week?"

He had been amazed to learn that the majority of those present thought that the fry up would have had a more harmful effect on blood glucose levels compared with porridge beakfasts!

I ask you, what chance do Type 2 diabetics have in the UK?!?!

A fry up here in Scotland would mean a breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, black pudding, haggis, beans and tomatoes which would certainly cause a spike in blood glucose in type 2's, so perhaps these doctors were right in this instance. The reason why the medical profession are against a traditional fry up is due to the fat content, meals like these contain a high proportion of saturated fat which is known to raise cholesterol and is a major cause of heart disease, a occasional fry up would be fine as long as this is balanced by a more healthy breakfast on the other days.

 

[lyndasw]

Being the weekend and having more spare time, I thought I would do a test.

Fast level 6.1
Breakfast: one packet of the plain Oats so simple made with half semi skinned milk and half water and a cup of tea. Sweetner added to porridge.
One hour later: 9.2
Two hours later: 5.4

As I started decorating straight after breakfast, I suspect that 9.2 would have been higher if I had been in work sitting at my desk. I will try and repeat this when in work one day this week.

I looked at the flavoured Oats so simple - they are 20% sugar 😱

 

[Tezzz]

Just tested for the final time after 4 hrs, down to 7.2. Haven't really done much exercise yet so I'm just about to go on exercise bike for a while and it will be interesting to see what that does to my levels.

Porridge is officially off the menu unless anyone can explain that because of it's slow release it takes longer for b/g levels to come down?

Donna x🙂

Can I suggest you try having a little less porridge next time? It's slow release. Very slow I think. Your numbers should improve. Mine did. PS I use a small spoon to eat mine with.

 

[Tezzz]

My nurse throught that bacon and eggs might be ok for blood sugar, but would probably be bad for cholesterol. Although I'm assuming that has much to do with how you cook it then anything else.

Bacon and eggs are lower carb than cereal.

If you grill the (lean) bacon and have the eggs un-fried even better.

I have a simple rule that I can put anything in my cake hole as long as my BG is sensible two hours later.

The goal of keeping your BG down below 8 mmol two hours after meals is a good one to aim for. Have a look at this link - Healthy Blood Sugar Targets

 

[mcdonagh47]

Please read this: Eggs, Carbs and Cholesterol

When I asked the authors for permission to include an excerpt from that in my book the highly scientific approval response I received was “feel free to quote those paragraphs. You got the idea correctly”.

Hi Alan,
I've just read your blog entry on that research AND the full paper itself.

You quote the Abstract and comment on it ...
Paper says ... "Energy intake decreased in both groups from 10,243 ? 4040 to 7968 ? 2401 kJ compared with baseline. All subjects irrespective of their assigned group had reduced body weight and waist circumference"

Your comment on that ...[The reduced-carb diet worked for ALL of them, regardless of egg intake].

No Alan,the snippet you quote says the study groups reduced their calorie intake by 20 %. So your comment should read "the reduced CALORIE diet worked for all of them." Its a fair bet the weight reduction was a result of lowering calories as much as switching to reduced carbs. ( A Calorie is a Calorie).

But back to the Abstract you quote in your blog. The Abstract is a shocker and it is difficult to see how they could derive that Abstract from the actual results reported in the full Paper.

1. The Abstract you make so much of states that LDL was unchanged. Whaaaat ? Table 3 in the full paper shows that LDL went up by 13% in the EGG group and by 12% in the SUB group. The claim made for LDL in the Abstract is quite simply a bare-faced terminological inexactitude. It is astonishing how false reporting like that got through peer review and an Editor.

2. HDL did go up by 20% in the EGG group but not in the SUB group.
THis is NOT a good point in favour of the EGG diet - it simply means that the three eggs a day did impose a strain on the body and it had to run faster to compensate for the increased cholesterol burden imposed by the eggs. And remember these were fasting lipid panels so the raised HDL was the morning after "after-glow" of considerable cholesterol spikes the day before.

3. The Abstract does not mention the effects of the 3 egg diet on Total Cholesterol. Table 3 shows that Total Cholesterol went up in the EGG group over the 12 week period. TC went up by 2% in the Egg group. Over a year that would probably turn out at about a 10% increase in TC ( given the cumulative increases). Oops that's a negative outcome - better NOT mention it in the Abstract !

4. There are several ludicrous mistakes in Table 3 ( which summarises the main results of the, short,12 week trial ). For example the TC of the SUb group started at 188.3 and ended at 187.3. Mutungi et al state in Table 3 that this is a +1.00 increase in TC. Well now, I don't know which Planet Mutungi et al come from, but here on Planet Earth a DECREASE from 188 to 187 is generally reckoned to be a fall of -1.00.
Flawed,slipshod rubbish - were the Peer reviewers and editor asleep ?

5. Perhaps ther most laughable and flawed part of this paper is the testing of lipids. It is well established that lipids rise ( especially LDL which has to shift dietary cholesterol from the stomach) up to three hours after a meal and subside by five hours post prandial. And it is the post prandial LDL spikes that are now thought to be a big factor in cvd. Obviously to test the effect of three eggs on cholesterol you would need to test at the three hour mark.
So what do the numpties conducting this research, Mutungi et al, do ?. They do morning tests after a 12 hour fast. Brilliant ! You wait till you know the effects of the eggs have long gone and then test to see what effect they have. Er..........yeah .........right.
They even take two fasting lipid panels a week to even out any spikes ....Heeeeeelp .... its the post-prandial lipid spikes you should be looking for if you want to test the effects of 3 eggs a day !

No its poor, flawed, badly written up research. I think you should read the full paper and then take it out of your blog. I don't think anyone on this support group should base decisions about their health and life on shoddy research like this.