New to Diabetes UK and hello. I've recently been diagnosed with PreDiabetes and keen to reverse it. I'm recording my Glucose levels pre meals but the one I'm confused about is Fasting v Before Breakfast. A lot of the Apps can record fasting but you don't get a trend line for fasting so can't understand why you would record it. What is the best thing to do in the morning. Record a finger prick test as fasting or record just before breakfast and therefore before a meal??
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Help a newbie and recording Fasting levels
- Thread starter DG55
- Start date
Alan44
Well-Known Member
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Reversing diabetes is quite possible for many people and a good starting point is weight, diet (low carb) and exercise.
As you are only just in the Pre range all things are possible with good management and a slight change in life style
As you are only just in the Pre range all things are possible with good management and a slight change in life style
Lucyr
Well-Known Member
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- Type 1
Depends what you’re going to do with the information. What do you want to learn from the test? If it’s how much does your breakfast rise your blood sugars then before eating and 2hrs after.
I started this journey using a 'Free' CGM that gave me some insight. I also did the 2hr test to see the impact on Glucose. I'm beginning to find out what does and doesn't impact Glucose. I'm looking for a simple method to track baseline glucose levels. At the moment I do Fasting, Pre Lunch, Pre Dinner and 2 hrs after dinner. Just not sure of the value of fasting.
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Fasting is often used as a flag for the first BG check of the day, as soon after waking as possible, and before breakfast is taken. There’s the general feeling that as this is after an extended period of not eating, it can be the time in the day most likely to offer something close to the sort of ‘resting BG’ level. It’s slightly complicated by the liver which can release glucose in the early hours or immediately on rising the ‘fire up the burners’ for the day, but as a BG check under fairly consistent conditions, some people find it a useful marker.
Of course, fasting can happen at other times too. Personally I used to use that flag in my records to note readings where I was carrying out a fasting basal insulin check for dose adjustment, so as @Lucyr says, it really depends on what you want to use the results for.
It’s only a notional label, so if your app / recording system makes more sense to flag it as ‘pre-breakfast’ that may be a better tag to choose.
Some members here find it a less than useful reading, and focus on before/after meal checks. Others here are happy that they have interrogated their menu and developed a personalised plan that works for them, so fall back from intensive before/after checks to occasional spot-checks and waking readings.
There’s no right or wrong way, as ling as the results are telling you something useful that you can act upon 🙂
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I’d treat those readings as being effectively identical @DG55 - given the permitted variation in results. It can be wise not to read too much into small differences between results, and to look at broader overall trends.
This topic came up on another thread, and you might find this helpful, copied from the ‘useful links’ page.
BG meter accuracy
It can be quite disconcerting for members new to self monitoring of blood glucose to get different results from BG readings taken close together, even when carefully following manufacturers guidance (washing hands etc). All meters for sale in the UK should comply with the following ISO standards 95% of the time, which allows a degree of variation (and 5% of results can read anything at all). If in any doubt, or if a reading doesn’t match how you are feeling, you should check again with a fresh strip.