Is There Any Point In Eating Cereals

[FM001]

Have you ever tested at an hour? This is a big part of the talk. Some levels will spike at an hour and then what you see at 2 hours is the coming down level. Has anyone ever thought about that? Might help some might not. 🙂

Certainly have and the 8 figure I quoted earlier is the highest my blood glucose reaches one hour after eating. When experimenting with food I test 1,2 and 4 hours after to see what effect this has on my bloods, I repeat this over a period of days to verify the results before including or excluding foods in my diet. Children much like adults will all react differently to food and this is why we should never go on one individuals experiences, obviously your child can't tolerate cereal and you are wise to avoid this and look for a alternatives.

 

[Ergates]

I'm never quite sure why people want to eat cereal so much. I'm totally fine with it if you like it, but all this stuff about most of the brands and varieties being a healthy breakfast is utter rubbish. There are much better things to eat.

 

[Robster65]

This is true, but sometimes we enjoy things that are 'nice' (to us) rather than good for us. 😉

I spent most of my life eating things I shouldn't really but getting away with it mostly. I'm now starting to look for food that is good and keep the nice stuff for treats.

I do wonder if the yoghurt is the key to suppressing the spikes. The muesli I'm eating is unsweetened but I've not tried it without yoghurt yet, so not sure if it's the combination that's working.

Rob

 

[heasandford]

just found this, sorry for interrupting ! As a type 1 like you, this is scary, how do you know that you aren't going to peak first and go hypo? I have got completely out of the habit of injecting much beefore eating, it is immediate - perhaps this is one of my problems...?

 

[heasandford]

I would suspect, knowing cereal, that you are shooting right up and dropping back down, which is not good for the ol' body. It's why most people who eat cereal inject way before they eat (so the insulin is well and truly in the blood stream, waiting for the cereal) to stop themselves spiking hugely.

oops sorry again, this was what I meant!!

 

[Adrienne]

just found this, sorry for interrupting ! As a type 1 like you, this is scary, how do you know that you aren't going to peak first and go hypo? I have got completely out of the habit of injecting much beefore eating, it is immediate - perhaps this is one of my problems...?

Hi

There are studies that have been done and the optimum time for your injection is 20 minutes before eating. They studied 10, 15, 30 mins but 20 was the best.

Its hard to remember though and I have remembered to shout upstairs to Jessica to bolus about 10 minutes before breakfast, I am not quite there first thing in the morning.

What is easier on a pump and not so easy on injections is giving a downpayment. What I mean by that is that we don't always know how much you are going to eat (especially kids) or if you are in a restaurant how many chips you are going to get so can't guess till you have seen them. So the ideal scenario is to leave a downpayment of insulin ie give youself some beforehand. So if you have ordered chips you know you are going to be having at least 20 carbs so you can bolus for 20 carbs and when you get the meal you can guess and minus 20 carbs and bolus for the rest but the insulin will have already started working from the down payment, simples 🙂

 

[Adrienne]

Certainly have and the 8 figure I quoted earlier is the highest my blood glucose reaches one hour after eating. When experimenting with food I test 1,2 and 4 hours after to see what effect this has on my bloods, I repeat this over a period of days to verify the results before including or excluding foods in my diet. Children much like adults will all react differently to food and this is why we should never go on one individuals experiences, obviously your child can't tolerate cereal and you are wise to avoid this and look for a alternatives.

Absolutely agree Toby, everyone is different. You are lucky that cereal is ok for you.

We are doing weetabix at the moment and if she bolus' way up front we can just about cope. At weekends when we have more time we just don't bother with cereals.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Adrienne - That's a great approach and one which can work really well (especially, as you suggest, eating out)

Toby - Happy for you that cereals rarely seem to spike you above 8. I would count that as an excellent outcome. For my own recent experience (with either no-added-sugar low fruit/high nut Dorset Cereals + yoghurt or rough-cut porridge oats made with water and a splash of milk, no fruit, no sugar) is to expect a 1 hour rise of more like 6-8mmol/L at the 1 hour mark from wherever I started (ie a BG of more like 12mmol/L). Occasionally as much as 10mmol/L higher. Some of that rise may be due to liver action, but the spike I have observed from cereals of whatever alleged GI has been consistently worse than, say Burgen toast (for me obviously the situation may be the opposite way round for someone else!).

Sorry but this post of yours made me grind my teeth:

Not true Adrienne and there are no reasons why a type 1 diabetic should refrain from eating a good quality cereal, my own blood glucose rarely goes above 8 postprandial and is always back in the 6's after 2 hours. Choosing the right cereal is important as you will see if you read the whole thread, this is then followed by weighing your portion and then giving the correct dose of insulin, get this right then you are on a winner. Always choose cereals that are lower in the glycemic index as they are less likely to cause spikes.

As ever the only thing you can do is 'eat to your meter', test, review and adjust and always remember that Your Diabetes May Vary 🙂

M

 

[FM001]

Sorry but this post of yours made me grind my teeth:


As ever the only thing you can do is 'eat to your meter', test, review and adjust and always remember that Your Diabetes May Vary 🙂

Odd that it should make you want to grind your teeth when you have basically said the same as I did with regards to testing

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I think perhaps you just hit a nerve... By way of explanation (my emphasis):

Not true Adrienne and there are no reasons why a type 1 diabetic should refrain from eating a good quality cereal, my own blood glucose rarely goes above 8 postprandial and is always back in the 6's after 2 hours. Choosing the right cereal is important as you will see if you read the whole thread, this is then followed by weighing your portion and then giving the correct dose of insulin, get this right then you are on a winner. Always choose cereals that are lower in the glycemic index as they are less likely to cause spikes.

I choose med-low GI cereal
I choose good quality product
I weigh my portion
I inject the correct dose
I even give the insulin a head start (30-45 minutes) to combat the spike
I am most certainly not 'on a winner'
I don't get the results you get

I think you are right... we seem to have a very similar approach to diabetes management. It was only the suggestion (read between the lines) that my spikes were down to my 'not doing it right' in some way, whereas it just seems that you can cope with cereal in a way that I can't.

I rarely get any problem with eating pizza, pasta, or mashed potato. But I know from reading other's posts that this would not be the case for everyone.

Hope I didn't ruffle your feathers 🙂

M
(teeth now un-grinded)

 

[FM001]

I think perhaps you just hit a nerve... By way of explanation (my emphasis):



I choose med-low GI cereal
I choose good quality product
I weigh my portion
I inject the correct dose
I even give the insulin a head start (30-45 minutes) to combat the spike
I am most certainly not 'on a winner'
I don't get the results you get

I think you are right... we seem to have a very similar approach to diabetes management. It was only the suggestion (read between the lines) that my spikes were down to my 'not doing it right' in some way, whereas it just seems that you can cope with cereal in a way that I can't.

I rarely get any problem with eating pizza, pasta, or mashed potato. But I know from reading other's posts that this would not be the case for everyone.

Hope I didn't ruffle your feathers 🙂

M
(teeth now un-grinded)

No you certainly haven't ruffled my feathers but you shouldn't get so uptight about other people's experiences, it would never do to mock over peoples experiences as they are as worthy and valid as the next persons.

Impressive that you can eat mash potato as this is a impossibility with my diabetes and causes huge spikes, boiled, baked or roast are all just fine.
Toby (unruffled🙂)

 

[shiv]

Hi Toby, I don't think Mike was getting uptight. I have to say the post you made (that he referred to) also ruffled my feathers, as the tone of it - which as always is hard to gauge, as this is the internet - implied that we are doing something wrong when eating cereal. I too follow all those rules and still cannot manage cereal properly.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

HELP!

I fear this thread is wobbling on the edge of a slide into madness.

I'm fine. Toby's fine. We both understand what each other meant. There's no problem.

Lets all hace a nice cup of tea 🙂

 

[shiv]

HELP!

I fear this thread is wobbling on the edge of a slide into madness.

I'm fine. Toby's fine. We both understand what each other meant. There's no problem.

Lets all hace a nice cup of tea 🙂

Nah - it's Monday morning and we're all just grumpy from having to go back to work 😉

I'm off shopping tonight so will check out some sort of muesli and yoghurt combination. Do people eat it with flavoured or plain yoghurt?

 

[Adrienne]

Nah - it's Monday morning and we're all just grumpy from having to go back to work 😉

I'm off shopping tonight so will check out some sort of muesli and yoghurt combination. Do people eat it with flavoured or plain yoghurt?

I made Jessica eat plain and she was not happy. Greek yoghurt is my favourite and full of fat so could be a plan. I guess you need to find the happy balance between a lovely full fat yoghurt but not so you end up eating bucketloads that you put on weight 😛

Look at the Muller Light ones. They now do vanilla with chocolate and Orange with chocolate (just sprinkles mind you but they are delicious). (They are free on my eating plan)

 

[shiv]

I made Jessica eat plain and she was not happy. Greek yoghurt is my favourite and full of fat so could be a plan. I guess you need to find the happy balance between a lovely full fat yoghurt but not so you end up eating bucketloads that you put on weight 😛

Look at the Muller Light ones. They now do vanilla with chocolate and Orange with chocolate (just sprinkles mind you but they are delicious). (They are free on my eating plan)

Had to chuckle at that - most people aim to have a low fat diet, but for us sometimes we need that fat!

Those yoghurts do sound yummy, I'll see if the big S has any deals on.

 

[FM001]

Nah - it's Monday morning and we're all just grumpy from having to go back to work 😉

Not for me shiv as I have a few days off work just a shame I didn't tell my office staff as the phone has never stopped ringing!😡

 

[novorapidboi26]

Interesting discussion, unfortunately for me I am always high in the morning so even with the 2 weetabix and milk I have I always take a drop in BGs due to the large corredtional dose and a bolus dose ratio of 3units : 10g......

If I can eliminate, or should I say when I can eliminate this I will definetly be trying cereal alternatives.....🙂

 

[Adrienne]

Interesting discussion, unfortunately for me I am always high in the morning so even with the 2 weetabix and milk I have I always take a drop in BGs due to the large corredtional dose and a bolus dose ratio of 3units : 10g......

If I can eliminate, or should I say when I can eliminate this I will definetly be trying cereal alternatives.....🙂

Hiya

Have you tried no cereal? You probably have but thought I would mention it anyway.

For Jessica she gets a mid morning spike even if she eats no breakfast and so we have a really high basal set at 5 am to deal with the 10 am high (lots of the kids have this). However this doesn't help with those on MDI but just shows what has to be done on a pump to conquer this silly midmorning or earlier high level.

It might be worth just cutting out all cereal for a week to see what happens and eating the yoghurt and fruit or scrambled eggs and bacon and one piece of seeded or nutty bread.

Could be worth a try maybe. 🙂

 

[bev]

Hi all,
We have tried all sorts with cereal and the best one so far is porridge - we do a 70/30 split over 3 hours and very little spike. We have tried all the tricks to do with timing and when to bolus and altering the basal to accomodate it -but find that cereal is one of the hardest things to get right. Everyone is individual and what works for one person wont necessarily work for another - its just trial and error and working out what is right for yourself.🙂Bev