I'm newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I've been confused about right steps to take. I bought a glucose monitoring system today. Before eating my level was 4.7. Two hours after eating and having done a 30 minute walk my reading was 12. I'm really not sure what this means. When diagnosed last week my hbA1c was 51. Can anyone help me with this?
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Mmol levels
- Thread starter Annieshar
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Inka
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Welcome @Annieshar 🙂 Here are the targets for you to work towards:
You can see that your 12 is a bit high but if you’ve only recently been diagnosed that’s not surprising. What did you eat for your meal? You’ve done a very sensible thing by getting a glucose meter. That will help you choose meals that work for you.
If you have Type 2 diabetes
- before meals: 4 to 7mmol/l
- two hours after meals: less than 8.5mmol/l
You can see that your 12 is a bit high but if you’ve only recently been diagnosed that’s not surprising. What did you eat for your meal? You’ve done a very sensible thing by getting a glucose meter. That will help you choose meals that work for you.
Leadinglights
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Your before meal was at a good normal sort of level but your after meal of 12 shows you that whatever you had for your meal was too carbohydrate heavy for you to tolerate. The sort of increase you are aiming at is no more than 2-3mmol/l and ideally no higher than 8. I would suspect you had a meal with too much potato, rice, pasta or bread or a sweet pudding.
Perhaps it is time to start a food diary if you haven't already done so and note down everything you eat and drink alongside your readings.
51 is not desperately high so with a bit of work on your diet you should be able to bring it back.
I had wholegrain penne pasta with pesto and some panettone.
Leadinglights
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Yes, you did have a very carby meal, Wholegrain is just as high carb as not, the pastas that are lower carb are made from edamame bean or black bean so some people can tolerate them. The panettone being a bread type food is also high carb so that combination is almost certainly be the reason for your high level.
You may be able to tolerate a small portion of pasta but with vegetables or salad and include meat or fish in the sauce.
Yoghurt and berries or sugar free jelly with cream would be a better desert.
Have a look at the thread What did you eat yesterday for ideas of what people have for meals. Make sure you look at those for Type 2 and be aware that some of them will be on various medications including insulin so may have more carbs than you can tolerate.
Sorry pancetta
Thank you again! It was pancetta with the pasta...sorry. But it would seem that the pasta was the culprit
Leadinglights
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Almost certainly, 6 pieces of Penne is about 10g carb, a normal sized portion could easily be 50-60g carb. The Pancetta and pesto are fine to have. You can bulk out the meals with plenty of green veg and salads.
Inka
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Yes, it’s often about changing the proportions of the foods on your plate. Pasta is one where we get used to having a fair-sized amount. If you have digital scales you can weigh your portion so you know what amount works for you. The pastas that @Leadinglights recommended above are good. Not quite the same texture but tasty and a useful substitute.
trophywench
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.... and there was I thinking how on earth could it escape someone that a dried fruit filled sweet bread, was going to be jam packed with carbs? ..... only to burst out laughing in relief when I read your correction to pancetta!🙂
I know! Typos
Pine Marten
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And I started drooling! I love panettone but only buy it at Christmas as a treat, and I ration it out a bit... Welcome to the forum, @Annieshar 
rebrascora
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Hi. I would agree with the others about your pasta portion size probably being the problem but it might be helpful at this early stage not to cloud the issue with exercise as well within that 2 hour period. Exercise can cause your BG levels to rise as well as fall. Whilst walking generally lowers levels, it can depend upon whether you are a regular walker or this is something new to your body. A regular walker would almost always see their BG go down as a result although 30 mins is borderline for me and usually I have to be out about 40 mins before I start to see it taking effect. On the other hand, if you haven't done any walking for a long time and 30 mins was quite hard work for you or if you pushed yourself to walk really briskly, then that might have pushed your levels up short term, but it will almost certainly bring them down later.
Once you get your diet figured out through testing, then walking or doing other exercise within that 2 hours after a meal is a great idea to help improve levels, but at the moment it might be useful to (as much as possible) reduce the impact of other factor on BG during that period, so that you can get a clearer view of what the food alone is doing in order to help tailor your diet better.
Once you get your diet figured out through testing, then walking or doing other exercise within that 2 hours after a meal is a great idea to help improve levels, but at the moment it might be useful to (as much as possible) reduce the impact of other factor on BG during that period, so that you can get a clearer view of what the food alone is doing in order to help tailor your diet better.
I actually got into to trouble from my gp today when I told her I was testing my blood glucose levels. She strongly advised against and questioned why I was doing it. I told her I was trying to work out what foods I could tolerate and those I couldn't. She reinforced the need for me to stick to the NHS guidelines of balanced diet and suggested I was getting my 'knickers in a twist' .
Feel a but overwhelmed by it all.
Thank you for your advice re walking....I'll definitely take that on board!
Feel a but overwhelmed by it all.
Thank you for your advice re walking....I'll definitely take that on board!
Thank you!And I started drooling! I love panettone but only buy it at Christmas as a treat, and I ration it out a bit... Welcome to the forum, @Annieshar
Drummer
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I would have laughed in her face.
The NHS guidelines are dangerous for type two diabetics and you could suffer the consequences in only a few years.
We test so we can ensure blood glucose levels in normal numbers. I can assure you that it works - and it will mean you do not risk your health or shorten your life.
Inka
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I think the concern is that people will worry about every little up and down, or get obsessed with testing or upset at ‘bad’ numbers, but as long as you have a sensible approach, I think it’s a good idea and should be very helpful to you.
Leadinglights
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I suppose she drives her car without a speedometer then and risked speeding fines or worse.
My OH was also told it was unnecessary to test his BG more than twice a day and that only a limited number of test strips would be prescribed! He told her he'd learned a lot from testing before and after meals and would continue to do so even though he'd have to buy his own strips. It's madness. Surely if people want to be proactive in their management of diabetes the NHS should be encouraging this!
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