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Macros, traffic lights, gaps between meals, oh my!

Quill

Quill

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At risk of diabetes
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So are macros a thing I need to be keeping on top of, or is it best to blindly follow the ‘eat freely/occasionally’ off the Freshwell traffic light system?

What are the best g/% to follow for Macros if so?

I also learned today that my BG dislikes me going 3-5 hours without having something to eat (shot up from 6 to 9!)
I had absolutely no idea that was a thing that happens.

My head has been swimming with numbers and questions and I feel like I’m back to my Day 1 level of confusion :(
 
Hi @Quill, I have no idea what Macros are but I know when I first saw my diabetes nurse that she said while I should avoid porridge as a daily breakfast, it was something I could eat from time to time. I have also followed that approach over Christmas so had a small piece of my wife's Christmas cake and a bit of mince pie (on a different day) and the consequences have not been material in terms of the impact on my BG. I think from my experience the key is keeping the portion size small rather than having a full portion.

That said there are foods that I am concerned about eating as they do seem to have a major impact on my BG. These are things like beans and lentils which if I don't minimise the portion size (50% or recommended portion) will push my BG up to 9 or even 10.

The fact that you BG goes up if you don't eat for a while doesn't surprise as I feel that my own BG increases if I leave it too long between meals.
 
If it's going up when fasting, could it be an indication of insulin resistance - metabolism struggling to handle the background glucose that's produced by the liver? People with T2 diabetes/pre-diabetes tend to overproduce glucose as well, as the liver does not stop when it is supposed to due to insulin resistance. (10g an hour usually, but in diabetics I've seen that it can be 15g.)

If I don't eat for 3-5 hours mine can drop into the 4s.
 
porr@Quill

You need to set yourself a target, or targets, if you have not already done so. Such as HbA1c of 39 or less, weight down to xx kg, waist of xx cm/inches. Then adopt a diet and exercise plan to achieve them.

FWIW I downloaded cronometer free app the day before I started my weight loss diet in earnest. This has tracked my macro-nutrients and over 80 micro-nutrients for the last 2 years. All you have to do is enter grams (or other measure of each food) consumed at each meal. It computes all the numbers and compares them against target, so you do not have to do your head in. Professional dieticians have their patients use it to monitor their diets.

As for numbers a good target grams per day for protein is 1x-1.5x your body weight in kg. For carbs, 50-80 grams per day from vegetables and berries, up to 130 grams per day if eating wholemeal bread or pulses etc. Plus healthy fat that comes with protein such as chicken, eggs, cheese, avocados etc.

A good rule of thumb for a meal is a good 1/3 plate protein, 1/3 plate veg, 1/3 plate or more veg and/or carbs as above. I aim for 600-800 grams per day of veg as recommended for another condition. We tend have berries and cream/yoghurt for dessert.

Just eat sensibly and stop fretting about numbers.
 
My approach was just to look at the carbohydrates in my meals and decided on 70 -80g carbs per day or rather looked at it as per meal so 15g -20g for breakfast and lunch and 25-30g for dinner and the rest for drinks.
That is what kept my 2 hour post meal readings to below 8mmol/l.
Other people are much more detailed in what they consider but it can be too overwhelming to take account of too many things.
 
Sorry to hear you’ve been feeling a bit confused and befuddled about the various components of your menu @Quill

Would a meal plan be helpful?

Meal plans and diabetes

Eating nutritious, healthy and downright delicious food is that bit easier with our meal planners. We've created multiple different weekly meal plans to suit all types and tastes. They're nutritionally balanced, are calorie and carb counted, and can help if you want to lose weight. They also...
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I settled on 12 hours between meals once I was back in normal numbers from eating low carb.
What I ate was guided by a meter to check after eating - I am also one who needs to limit legumes as I get more carb out of them than the listed values.
My 'bay window' at waist height reduced down - I suspect I had a fatty liver as it was rock hard, I could not bend over without pushing my ribs out of place, very painful.
I suspect that you have stores of glucose to reduce, so it is released into your bloodstream whenever you have not eaten for a little while, so it is actually a good thing indicating that your metabolism is beginning to behave more normally when dealing with carbs. I visualised it as my poor hysterical pancreas realising that it was at last able to stop pumping out the insulin it was trying to use to lower blood glucose levels and that allowed the saturated storage places to release the syrup stuffed into them. Little by little the panic measures were no longer required.
 
Drummer said:
I settled on 12 hours between meals once I was back in normal numbers from eating low carb.
What I ate was guided by a meter to check after eating - I am also one who needs to limit legumes as I get more carb out of them than the listed values.
My 'bay window' at waist height reduced down - I suspect I had a fatty liver as it was rock hard, I could not bend over without pushing my ribs out of place, very painful.
I suspect that you have stores of glucose to reduce, so it is released into your bloodstream whenever you have not eaten for a little while, so it is actually a good thing indicating that your metabolism is beginning to behave more normally when dealing with carbs. I visualised it as my poor hysterical pancreas realising that it was at last able to stop pumping out the insulin it was trying to use to lower blood glucose levels and that allowed the saturated storage places to release the syrup stuffed into them. Little by little the panic measures were no longer required.
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Ahhh. Really hoping that’s the case!
What I’ve noticed is that when it does shoot up now, it’s recovering much quicker and the levels lower fairly speedily with less grim feeling now which I can only guess is a good thing?
 
Quill said:
Ahhh. Really hoping that’s the case!
What I’ve noticed is that when it does shoot up now, it’s recovering much quicker and the levels lower fairly speedily with less grim feeling now which I can only guess is a good thing?
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A very good thing and indicating progress towards more normal responses.
 
Drummer said:
A very good thing and indicating progress towards more normal responses.
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Fingers super crossed!
I could honestly cry if that’s what it is! 🙂
It’s messed with my head so badly over Christmas and New Year!
 
Quill said:
Fingers super crossed!
I could honestly cry if that’s what it is! 🙂
It’s messed with my head so badly over Christmas and New Year!
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It is early days for you so just take things gradually as bringing your blood glucose down more slowly is kinder on your eyes and nerves and you may get the feeling of being a bit wobbly until your body adjusts to getting lower levels.
I found my eyes were all over the place and didn't realise it was because I had reduced my carbs substantially all in one go.
 
Leadinglights said:
It is early days for you so just take things gradually as bringing your blood glucose down more slowly is kinder on your eyes and nerves and you may get the feeling of being a bit wobbly until your body adjusts to getting lower levels.
I found my eyes were all over the place and didn't realise it was because I had reduced my carbs substantially all in one go.
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I’ve noticed this, especially today.
They feel dry and not quite right. It’s been a pretty low carb day, probably come in at 29 before I bumped it up a touch in panic.
All of this is the last thing my health anxiety needed haha!
 
Quill said:
I’ve noticed this, especially today.
They feel dry and not quite right. It’s been a pretty low carb day, probably come in at 29 before I bumped it up a touch in panic.
All of this is the last thing my health anxiety needed haha!
Click to expand...
When people are going to reduce their carbs one suggestion is they estimate how many they are having and reduce by one third for about a week, then another third etc until they get to where they want to be and that can be kinder on the eyes. What happens is the eyes have gradually adjusted to a more sugary environment and your brain has accommodated the change in shape and focal length but when carbs are reduced the change from sugary to the more normal salty can be quite sudden and the brain has to catch up so everything can be out of focus.
It is probably better to settle on a particular amount of carbs per day and keep to that rather than yoyo about from day to day as that will allow your body to adjust.
 
Leadinglights said:
When people are going to reduce their carbs one suggestion is they estimate how many they are having and reduce by one third for about a week, then another third etc until they get to where they want to be and that can be kinder on the eyes. What happens is the eyes have gradually adjusted to a more sugary environment and your brain has accommodated the change in shape and focal length but when carbs are reduced the change from sugary to the more normal salty can be quite sudden and the brain has to catch up so everything can be out of focus.
It is probably better to settle on a particular amount of carbs per day and keep to that rather than yoyo about from day to day as that will allow your body to adjust.
Click to expand...
Well, every day is an education 🙂
I’ve jiggled things around and managed to come up with a meal plan which I can change up a little where need be but it’ll stay pretty much the same now I think.
I’m lucky in that I can eat the same things over and over without getting bored too easily and I’m looking at about 50g carbs which is a chunk more than I was having but will hopefully work as well.

Thank you lovely 🙂
 
Quill said:
I’m lucky in that I can eat the same things over and over without getting bored too easily and I’m looking at about 50g carbs which is a chunk more than I was having but will hopefully work as well.
Click to expand...

Hope your new system works well @Quill

Let us know how you get on with it 🙂
 
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