Carbs & Portion Control

[Margaret Barker]

It's now a year since my diagnosis, & my blood sugar has gone from 118 to 54. However, I'm struggling with carbs & portion control & my weight loss has reached a plateau. I have porridge (with water) & banana for breakfast, but I'm quite hungry again by mid-morning. I usually eat fruit between meals, but still get quite hungry. Should I try something else for breakfast, or bring lunch forward? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[eggyg]

Welcome @Margaret Barker and very well done on reducing your Hba1c. The first thing I would suggest is to have protein for breakfast, such as eggs or bacon or both! When I was first diagnosed ( wrongly as type 2, but that’s another story) I was advised to have porridge for breakfast as it supposedly was a slow release carb and would last me right through until lunch time. It never did, I was usually starving by 10.30! It was only when I started to use a Freestyle Libre, a device attached to your arm which monitors your BG constantly, ( apologies if you knew) that I realised that porridge spiked my blood glucose enormously ie up from say, 6 to 15 in about an hour. Being hungry is a common symptom of high BGs, hence why I would eat my lunch mid morning. Now I never eat cereal for breakfast but eggs or bacon plus a slice of Burgen bread and it keeps me going for ages. Do you have a meter to test your BGs and if so have you checked your levels at the times you feel hungry? If you still want to eat your porridge in the morning, maybe try a smaller portion than you usually would and snack on protein mid morning, ie nuts, Babybel or cheese of your choice, hard boiled egg, slices of thin ham. Good luck. Elaine. 🙂

 

[silentsquirrel]

I have porridge, but only a small portion of oats. I bulk this out with flax seeds and chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts for me, but others would be fine if you prefer), and add double cream. The fat in the nuts and cream slows down the spike, and helps to make you feel full, so you need fewer carbs. You are using "proper" oats, not instant ones? - the less processed the better.
I would also swap the high carb banana for a few berries!