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I’m not a newbie to diabetes but as I have now been diagnosed with liver cirrhosis I have kicked my butt into gear & feel that I’m starting as a newbi

J

JackRebus

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I am on a lot of different medications because as well as having diabetes type 2 & liver cirrhosis I also have Non-Epileptic Attack Disorder, Sleep Apnoea, Unstable Borderline Personality Disorder, Anxiety & Depression as well as serious IBS.

My gastroenterologist told me to eat a Mediterranean diet (except for minimal carbs). I am following this as much as I can being on low Fodmap due to difficulties with absorbing fibre. I am also gluten & lactose intolerant & asthmatic.

On Monday I began taking 3mg Semaglutide that my diabetes nurse prescribed to get my blood sugars, especially HBa1c to a lower level. Due to all my conditions I am allowed an increased HBa1c of 70 & I was 78.

My biggest question is what are good blood sugar levels before & after meals? 1 hour before tea I had 6.5. I ate a very healthy salad with a drizzle of fat free vinaigrette dressing & prawns. 1pint of water. 2 tangerines & a small yoghurt.

2 hours after finishing my tea I took my readings again & they were 11.1. I’ve been told to stay around the 8 mark (again by diabetes nurse) so I’m wondering if 11.1 is too high or will my body adjust further once I have gone to bed?

Please be gentle with me as there is so much going on with me that I just need kindness & positive feedback even if Im not doing that great.

Thanks in advance
Chrissy
 
@JackRebus Hello and welcome.
The usual testing time is two hours after starting to eat, and to aim for an increase of no more than 3 - though of course in the early days, before you know what you can and can't eat, it is just a range finding exercise.

I have found that most things labelled 'healthy' are to be avoided - I was told that a low fat high carb diet was healthy, should not make my weight increase, and that when it did it was my fault. I think I have some form of PTSD from that.

Are you sure about there being a problem absorbing fibre? I thought that they whole point of fibre is that we don't absorb it.
The obvious targets in your meal are the high carb foods - the tangerines.

Yoghurts can be high carb too - so most people go for the Greek style full fat ones, from Lidl, Aldi and Tesco - but are you OK eating such things when you are lactose intolerant? Do you have to have special ones?
It is a good idea to replace high carb foods with lower ones - berries rather than tropical fruit, for instance, and to avoid low fat - Humans did not evolve eating low fat options. I don't eat a lot of fat, but when I do I chose natural ones rather than the ones labelled 'healthy'.
 
Hi @JackRebus These are the targets from Diabetes U.K.:

If you have​

  • before meals: 4 to 7mmol/l
  • two hours after meals: less than 8.5mmol/l
You can see that you were in range before the meal, but a little high afterwards. It sounds like you had a nice, healthy meal, so the cause of the higher post-meal blood sugar could be the extra tangerine or the yoghurt. What type of yoghurt did you have? Also, as you’ve just been started on a new med, it’s very possible that the dose of that will be increased over time, which should help your blood sugar 🙂

IBS makes meal choices hard (and I totally understood what you mean about the fibre) but the Mediterranean diet is a good choice overall, and it’s great you’re able to eat a version of that taking into account your IBS.
 
Welcome to the forum @JackRebus

Goodness what a lot you have to balance there! But well done for deciding to re-focus on the diabetes as part of your mix of conditions, which can be so challenging when different ones have such different requirements.

Great that you are finding a lower carb version of the Mediterranean diet works for you. Your prawn salad sounds lovely! Was it one you made up yourself? Or a ready-prepared one? Sometimes shops add in things like croutons into their salads to make them more fancy, which can add to the carb count of the meal.

6.5 to 11.1mmol/L at 2 hrs is ending up a little higher than you’d ideally want. As @Inka says it may be that one tangerine would have helped shave a little off the post-meal level. Was the yoghurt unsweetened?
 
The yoghurt was a lactose free unsweetened. I had 2 tangerines as I was told this is a “portion” but that’s a good point. My salad was all done myself as I lnow the shop bought ones have lots of sweetcorn which I can’t eat due to the husk so I don’t bother anymore. Not only that but I then know exactly what I’m eating.
 
Drummer said:
@JackRebus Hello and welcome.
The usual testing time is two hours after starting to eat, and to aim for an increase of no more than 3 - though of course in the early days, before you know what you can and can't eat, it is just a range finding exercise.

I have found that most things labelled 'healthy' are to be avoided - I was told that a low fat high carb diet was healthy, should not make my weight increase, and that when it did it was my fault. I think I have some form of PTSD from that.

Are you sure about there being a problem absorbing fibre? I thought that they whole point of fibre is that we don't absorb it.
The obvious targets in your meal are the high carb foods - the tangerines.

Yoghurts can be high carb too - so most people go for the Greek style full fat ones, from Lidl, Aldi and Tesco - but are you OK eating such things when you are lactose intolerant? Do you have to have special ones?
It is a good idea to replace high carb foods with lower ones - berries rather than tropical fruit, for instance, and to avoid low fat - Humans did not evolve eating low fat options. I don't eat a lot of fat, but when I do I chose natural ones rather than the ones labelled 'healthy'.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your assistance. I think the more time I spend choosing best alternatives wi truly help. I am keeping a journal of all my meals & drinks so if I get a higher reading than I would like I look back at it the next day to see if can see why the levels were higher.

The weird thing I’ve found is that this time around I’m enjoying the “eating healthier”, journaling & haven’t become obsessed with or more “hungry” by recording it whereas other times it has made me feel more hungry & that my whole day was revolving around what I was going to eat. I hope it continues to be the case.
 
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