Hello everyone,
Need advice. I enjoy two satsumas with my breakfast every day, I've gone back to eating them every day, I stopped for a while. I'm diet controlled and I've noticed that my readings have gone up, slightly more than I would like to be honest. Any advice about a) when to record my sugar levels and b) Is it a good idea to record a food diary to see if there is anything else that could be raising my levels.
Thanks all !!
Hi Maggie, welcome to the forum
🙂 Fruit contains quite a bit of sugar/fast-acting carbohydrate, so it can raise your blood sugar levels quite quickly. Some fruits are better than others - most berries are a better choice, and eaten in combination with other things e.g. yoghurt, cream, which will slow the digestion slightly and therefore the rate at which the sugar raises your levels. Especially in the mornings, people tend to be more insulin-resistant, so this can mean a greater impact on levels from any carbohydrate consumed - for this reason many people choose a very low-carb breakfast in order to minimise this. Additionally, again in the mornings, the liver will release an extra 'boost' of glucose into the bloodstream as your body wakes up. In a non-diabetic this is fine as it gives a bit of extra energy, but for people with diabetes this can be difficult to cope with - it is often referred to as 'dawn phenomenon'.
The thing to do is to try and determine how well you tolerate these various factors, and as you suggest this involves close monitoring, both before and after eating. Have a read of
Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S which gives useful information about how to test efficiently and effectively
🙂
Yes - definitely worth doing a food diary, recording the amount (in grams) and type of carbohydrate consumed (i.e. what the food was that contained the carbs) alongside your blood sugar readings. Using this you can build up a good idea of areas where you might wish to reduce or replace certain elements and also what things you tolerate well and can comfortably retain in your diet
🙂
Hope this helps! Have you been diagnosed long?
🙂
