Cooking from scatch...

[Gildersleeve]

I mostly did or do. So often much of my diet was salad, vegetable, grain, nuts, fruit, fish and chicken based.
Here I am pre-diabetic. Seeing if I can reverse or keep from having my levels rise.

Today I haven't exactly gone totally against my mantra.

However...I have looked at the ingredients on both items. The percentages of how many carbs. Saturated fats etc...that they contain.

Eaten all at once I thought. A sugar rush?

So I ate half around 5pm. And may eat the rest later or hold back until tomorrow. Hoping this means any raised sugar levels will be kept to a minimum. And enough insulin will be produced to cope.

What did I eat?

One sandwich of chicken breast. Seasoned mayonnaise. Thin cheddar cheese. Lettuce and an miniscule suggestion of bacon. White bread with oatmeal.
Accompanied by only a portion of a Basil pesto and semi dried tomato pasta. No mayonnaise. So small portions.

But you are more likely to see me prepare my own.

 

[Leadinglights]

I mostly did or do. So often much of my diet was salad, vegetable, grain, nuts, fruit, fish and chicken based.
Here I am pre-diabetic. Seeing if I can reverse or keep from having my levels rise.

Today I haven't exactly gone totally against my mantra.

However...I have looked at the ingredients on both items. The percentages of how many carbs. Saturated fats etc...that they contain.

Eaten all at once I thought. A sugar rush?

So I ate half around 5pm. And may eat the rest later or hold back until tomorrow. Hoping this means any raised sugar levels will be kept to a minimum. And enough insulin will be produced to cope.

What did I eat?

One sandwich of chicken breast. Seasoned mayonnaise. Thin cheddar cheese. Lettuce and an miniscule suggestion of bacon. White bread with oatmeal.
Accompanied by only a portion of a Basil pesto and semi dried tomato pasta. No mayonnaise. So small portions.

But you are more likely to see me prepare my own.

Nothing particularly high carb there other than the bread which you will know what it is from the packet or if home made your best guess. Don't forget low carb is not NO carb.

 

[Gildersleeve]

Nothing particularly high carb there other than the bread which you will know what it is from the packet or if home made your best guess. Don't forget low carb is not No carb.

Thanks to your explanation about carbs. And the mis-understanding of how to read and compare numbers at the Dr's surgery. Using the US glucose measurement against the British standard when testing myself.

Recently readings via my monitor in our numbers I am much happier. Last week I was pushing 7. I am averaging 3 at present. But I know that I am only as good as the next test.

 

[stackingcups]

3? This sounds too low!

 

[rebrascora]

3? This sounds good low!

I am guessing you mean "too low" not "good low" as those were my thoughts too and I was hoping that it was a mis calculation when converting mg/dl to mmol/L or that it was a typo and should be 5 instead of 3 or the meter was malfunctioning and giving some false low readings as some do when they don't get enough blood on the test strip.

 

[Drummer]

Grain is an easy target, I avoid grain and starchy veges, high carb fruits too and it has reversed full blown type 2, so just by avoiding the usual suspects until you get normal numbers ought to be a fairly easy option.

 

[stackingcups]

I am guessing you mean "too low" not "good low" as those were my thoughts too and I was hoping that it was a mis calculation when converting mg/dl to mmol/L or that it was a typo and should be 5 instead of 3 or the meter was malfunctioning and giving some false low readings as some do when they don't get enough blood on the test strip.

Yes, thanks have edited now. Autocorrect.

 

[rebrascora]

@Gildersleeve Can you confirm what your average actually is in mg/dl?

 

[Gildersleeve]

64mgdl I will take into account what you say about enough blood and/or malfunction. And do more checks in the coming days hoping I am not disappointed. I was dividing mgdl by 18 into mmol.

 

[Gildersleeve]

64mgdl I will take into account what you say about enough blood and/or malfunction. And do more checks in the coming days hoping I am not disappointed. I was dividing mgdl by 18 into mmol.

My joy is short lived...maybe not enough blood. Just done another reading. I am no worse but no better 137mgdl 7.6mmol so little has changed since being at the Dr's surgery. That's more than a disappointment. Sorry to mislead.

 

[stackingcups]

Not a disappointment! I would say being at a 7 is better than a 3, 3 is concerning. Aiming for some nice middle ground.

 

[rebrascora]

You really would be better ditching that meter and getting a more reliable one that reads in mmols/L so we are all on the same page. Diabetes is confusing enough without adding complications like that.

 

[Drummer]

My joy is short lived...maybe not enough blood. Just done another reading. I am no worse but no better 137mgdl 7.6mmol so little has changed since being at the Dr's surgery. That's more than a disappointment. Sorry to mislead.

If that was at the two hours after starting to eat test then I don't think there is much to worry about with what you ate. When reducing my HbA1c I started to feel a lot happier about what I was eating once I got below 8 mmol/l. and by going on in the same way my metabolism must have recovered a bit and my numbers drifted down to under 7 just by eating the same meals.
Rather than going by single meals, look for trends. Add up the number of grams of carb in your days, list the main sources and it should not be too difficult to see how things are going for you.
I found it helpful to make shopping lists - at one time I had three, which would enable a week of low carb eating for me and more normal ones for my husband. Even now it is rare for me to have both tomatoes and mushrooms in the fridge, just for that bit of variety.
As you are barely into the foothills of diabetes it should be easy to find things to make effective changes. I was up close to the snowline at diagnosis, but as an uncomplicated type 2 it was just a matter of reducing carbs down to a level I can cope with and now I am 7 years into remission and normal numbers.

 

[Leadinglights]

It is important to have a testing strategy based on what information you wish to obtain rather than some random testing.
For example testing before you eat and after 2 hours will tell you how your body has coped with the carbs in your meal. You are aiming at 4-7mmol/l before eating and no more than ideally 8mmol/l after 2 hours.
To keep a check on progress day to day, week to week etc then testing as soon as you wake up will give you a fasting reading which is less likely to be influenced by other factors, so you can look for hopefully a downward trend to being 4-7mmol/l.
The other time you might test is if you feel unwell as that can occur from having high or low blood glucose.
I agree having a monitor which reads in mmol/l would be better and less confusing.
You will find quite a bit of testing initially but once you have checked out particular meals then no need to test again.
You may find you are being overly strict as what you need is a way of eating that is sustainable for life.

 

[helli]

It may be possible to reconfigure the meter to read in mmol/l rather than needing to buy a new one.

 

[rebrascora]

It may be possible to reconfigure the meter to read in mmol/l rather than needing to buy a new one.

I did suggest that on another thread but the OP didn't seem to think there was an option to do so.