May I join you ...

[CoolShot44]

Oh wow - I've not seen that chart before; thank you  Docb! I guess seeing 72 kinda spooked me after 44yrs of under 20 readings. Dad was diagnosed T2 late Dec 1980 & went directly to insulin, & in the following 13yrs he never had a real problem with either hyper or hypos.

Mum was around 2003-ish & prescribed medication that took a bit of jiggling to suit her 'constitution' shall we say.
Both recorded their readings in little notebooks so, hence my slightly increased knowledge of T2 before my own diagnosis 2013.

Of course there have been huge advances in that time, particularly with the way foods affect BG & even then, not everyone has the same reactions to the same food.

I've always had a keen interest in human biology, & actively hunt to feed my knowledge. Currently I'm looking for recommendations for reliable book/s on nutrition to better understand how key trace elements help our bodies, particularly gut biome.

I've often heard that adding things like kimchi and sauerkraut and kefir to the diet are good for the micro biome

 

[rebrascora]

I use Psllium husk and cia seeds in soups, stews and casseroles particularly anything that needs thickening where I would previously have used something like flour. You can add them to cakes. I have both in my yoghurt sometimes particularly if I am using frozen berries which tend to make it a bit runny. I also often have a fibre drink which is about 10mls scoop of each in a glass of flavoured water. I usually add a dash of apple cider vinegar and balsamic to my drink and perhaps an inch of diet cola to give tap water some flavour.

Psyllium husk is the key ingredient of Fibogel which is the branded stuff that doctors prescribe to help improve people's bowel movements as it has a gentle effect of promoting movement rather than laxitive effect which I believe causes spasming. They absorb water to produce a sort of gel which slowly moves through the digestive system pushing everything ahead of it through and basically cleansing the system but in a very gentle way.

It is very important to use these soluble fibre products with water or other fluids because otherwise they will absorb moisture from the gut and can cause blockages if too much is taken without fluid, so best to add it to foods which are at least semi liquid. You can however add psyllium to low carb baking experiments like cakes as they are really light and pretty well carb free and bind ingredients together, so I will put a spoon in a low carb microwave mug cake on the odd occasion I make one.

Soluble fibre can also helpful in reducing cholesterol and psyllium is much lower carb than oats or even oat bran, so if you are one of those people who find porridge or overnight oats puts your levels into orbit like I do, and isn't worth the BG aggravation, you can get the same benefit from incorporating chia and psyllium into your diet instead and since they have pretty well no obvious flavour then you can add them to sweet or savoury dishes. I will say that I once bought milled chia seeds and that smelled like cod liver oil after a while (It is high in Omega 3 fatty acids) so I always make sure to buy whole chia seeds now and never had a problem with taste or smell (I loath cod liver oil since childhood when we were given a spoonful every day and it was nip your nose and swallow it! YUK!!!

 

[CoolShot44]

thank you ill definatly be getting sum to try I'm pretty sure it sounds like a superfood I've seen it at my local Indian store in a box , i use corn flour to thicken my casseroles atm so definatly going to try this thank you for replying