My reading was 24.1

[Wendy Lorraine]

Hi
My reading was 24.1 it was before I was going to have food. I felt a bit off wasn’t sure it was going to be low. I’d had a jacket with cheese and beans earlier.
I’m seeing the diabetic nurse 8th April and there may deffo push for me to have the weekly injection. Best keep checking my levels.

 

[janw]

Potatoes and baked beans are both high in carbs, cheese is good in moderation, say a matchbox size. You should have been told to reduce your carbs as carbs = glucose and will put you BG up. That is why we test before we eat and 2 hours after that first bite - it should not go higher than 2 - 3 mmol over, otherwise you need to reduce the portion size next time and recheck, if still too high then avoid it and find an alternative. Sweet potato jackets (small) are a little lower in carbs.
If you are not sure which food are high carbs, just ask, but basically potatoes and potato products, anything made with white flour, veggies that grow under ground, rice, pasta, beans, legumes, bread (go for the lowest carbs bread), most fruit except berries, breakfast cereals including porridge - these, and more, all need to be tested to see how you react - also the time of day can affect it, so if you can't have it of a morning you might do better later in the day, or vice versa. We all react differently, so have to check for ourselves.

 

[Wendy Lorraine]

Potatoes and baked beans are both high in carbs, cheese is good in moderation, say a matchbox size. You should have been told to reduce your carbs as carbs = glucose and will put you BG up. That is why we test before we eat and 2 hours after that first bite - it should not go higher than 2 - 3 mmol over, otherwise you need to reduce the portion size next time and recheck, if still too high then avoid it and find an alternative. Sweet potato jackets (small) are a little lower in carbs.
If you are not sure which food are high carbs, just ask, but basically potatoes and potato products, anything made with white flour, veggies that grow under ground, rice, pasta, beans, legumes, bread (go for the lowest carbs bread), most fruit except berries, breakfast cereals including porridge - these, and more, all need to be tested to see how you react - also the time of day can affect it, so if you can't have it of a morning you might do better later in the day, or vice versa. We all react differently, so have to check for ourselves.

Thank you I’m trying to reduce my carbs or noticeable ones. But didn’t realise that baked beans were high carb. I’ll get some sweet potatoes in as I like them. I’m a vegetarian so need to see what else I can change.

 

[rebrascora]

Oh dear! A reading of 24 is not good and it must be making you feel awful, but unfortunately your choice of food wasn't helpful, as has been mentioned my @janw. If you modify your diet, those levels should come down quite a bit and you will feel a lot better. You might not even realise how bad it is making you feel until your levels come down into the normal range and then you might feel rough for a while at normal levels until your body adjusts

Sweet potatoes and ordinary potatoes are both about the same carbs wise, so you are not really benefiting by swapping one for the other except that I believe sweet potato is higher in fibre and vitamin C. Celeriac is a good lower carb choice and is nice roasted or you can mash it or make chips with it and cauliflower is lovely mashed with a good dollop of cream cheese and a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard and topped with some grated cheese of course (pretty much any food is improved with the addition of cheese in my book!).... instead of mashed potato. You can also grate cauliflower and use it instead of rice with currys or chilli. I have a really nice recipe for halloumi and cauliflower curry, but I just eat it on it's own or I have Konjac rice with it which is pretty much carb free.

You need to learn which foods are high carbs and find alternatives to those when you are planning meals. Look at the "Nutrional information" labels on food. It will usually be in tiny print on the back or side of packaging. Ignore the traffic light system on the front. You need the information on "total carb content". If it is fruit and veg, then google will give you an idea of the carb content.
It is usually expressed as grams per 100grams, so you can compare individual items like two different brands of baked beans but then you have to consider your portion size. So if something has 60g carbs per 100g and you have a 50g portion, then you are eating 30g carbs. You need to tot up the carbohydrate content for each food in a meal to get the total..... so carbs in the potato and carbs in the baked beans with the meal you describe.... cheese has a negligible amount of carbs so you can ignore that. Test before eating and then 2 hours after to see how much your BG levels increased due to that meal. Keep a food diary with the readings and if your levels increased by more than 3 whole mmols then you need to reduce the portion size of carbs next time you have that meal.
I know it sounds pretty complicated but it really does work and you soon get into a routine with it that you no longer need to read labels because you know them off by heart and you learn which foods to buy and how best to cook them and avoid buying the high carb foods which make your BG levels high or just stick to very small portions of them if you are able. I am a bit of an "all or nothing" girl, so cutting out bread and spuds and rice and pasta was the easiest way for me. I get to eat lots of lovely tasty food still. It is just different to the food I used to eat.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you I’m trying to reduce my carbs or noticeable ones. But didn’t realise that baked beans were high carb. I’ll get some sweet potatoes in as I like them. I’m a vegetarian so need to see what else I can change.

Sweet potatoes are still pretty high carb but butternut squash is much lower. You may have been ok with a small jacket potato with the cheese but just not the beans as well, or the beans and cheese but not the potato.
You need to get into the habit of looking at the carb content of the foods you are going to have so you can make some better low carb substitutions.
Carbs and Cals is a good book/ app for giving carb value of a whole range of foods or just google food X and total carb.

 

[Wendy Lorraine]

Oh dear! A reading of 24 is not good and it must be making you feel awful, but unfortunately your choice of food wasn't helpful, as has been mentioned my @janw. If you modify your diet, those levels should come down quite a bit and you will feel a lot better. You might not even realise how bad it is making you feel until your levels come down into the normal range and then you might feel rough for a while at normal levels until your body adjusts

Sweet potatoes and ordinary potatoes are both about the same carbs wise, so you are not really benefiting by swapping one for the other except that I believe sweet potato is higher in fibre and vitamin C. Celeriac is a good lower carb choice and is nice roasted or you can mash it or make chips with it and cauliflower is lovely mashed with a good dollop of cream cheese and a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard and topped with some grated cheese of course (pretty much any food is improved with the addition of cheese in my book!).... instead of mashed potato. You can also grate cauliflower and use it instead of rice with currys or chilli. I have a really nice recipe for halloumi and cauliflower curry, but I just eat it on it's own or I have Konjac rice with it which is pretty much carb free.

You need to learn which foods are high carbs and find alternatives to those when you are planning meals. Look at the "Nutrional information" labels on food. It will usually be in tiny print on the back or side of packaging. Ignore the traffic light system on the front. You need the information on "total carb content". If it is fruit and veg, then google will give you an idea of the carb content.
It is usually expressed as grams per 100grams, so you can compare individual items like two different brands of baked beans but then you have to consider your portion size. So if something has 60g carbs per 100g and you have a 50g portion, then you are eating 30g carbs. You need to tot up the carbohydrate content for each food in a meal to get the total..... so carbs in the potato and carbs in the baked beans with the meal you describe.... cheese has a negligible amount of carbs so you can ignore that. Test before eating and then 2 hours after to see how much your BG levels increased due to that meal. Keep a food diary with the readings and if your levels increased by more than 3 whole mmols then you need to reduce the portion size of carbs next time you have that meal.
I know it sounds pretty complicated but it really does work and you soon get into a routine with it that you no longer need to read labels because you know them off by heart and you learn which foods to buy and how best to cook them and avoid buying the high carb foods which make your BG levels high or just stick to very small portions of them if you are able. I am a bit of an "all or nothing" girl, so cutting out bread and spuds and rice and pasta was the easiest way for me. I get to eat lots of lovely tasty food still. It is just different to the food I used to eat.

 

[Drummer]

Maybe try cauliflower cheese - it is a dish many have told me is very good.
Put a dish into the oven and warm it up as you steam some cauliflower - I always have bags ready in the freezer. When almost cooked, put the cauliflower into the warm dish, cover with cream cheese - sprinkle with any herb or spice you like, then add lots of a grated hard cheese - I like Red Leicester. Place back in the oven and cook at a fairly mild temperature until the cheese is becoming melty with a light tan.

 

[Wendy Lorraine]

Thanks I found before when I cut down or only had fruit and veg that day no potatoes rice pasta or veg I ended up having a hypo.
I really will start writing it down I’ll start tomorrow. How much carbs do you have in a day? I’ve read before 120. But having done slimming world for years it’s hard adjusting. I’ve reduced my sweets and snacks which I’m finding ok. But it’s just adjusting and measuring again.
I’ll get there I can have a bit more glizerzide before having to go on weekly injections. It’s the original diabetic nurse I’m seeing so I’ll see what she says. Thanks

 

[Wendy Lorraine]

Maybe try cauliflower cheese - it is a dish many have told me is very good.
Put a dish into the oven and warm it up as you steam some cauliflower - I always have bags ready in the freezer. When almost cooked, put the cauliflower into the warm dish, cover with cream cheese - sprinkle with any herb or spice you like, then add lots of a grated hard cheese - I like Red Leicester. Place back in the oven and cook at a fairly mild temperature until the cheese is becoming melty with a light tan.

Ok thanks I like cauliflower cheese.

 

[Lucyr]

Why would you only have fruit and veg to eat in a day that’s not very balanced. When you say hypo, we’re your levels below 4.0 or did you just feel symptoms of hypo but with levels above 4.0?

 

[Lucyr]

Maybe try cauliflower cheese - it is a dish many have told me is very good.
Put a dish into the oven and warm it up as you steam some cauliflower - I always have bags ready in the freezer. When almost cooked, put the cauliflower into the warm dish, cover with cream cheese - sprinkle with any herb or spice you like, then add lots of a grated hard cheese - I like Red Leicester. Place back in the oven and cook at a fairly mild temperature until the cheese is becoming melty with a light tan.

Be careful taking this as a meal, if you do have hypos when you eat only fruit and veg then you might find you go hypo after this since it’s low carb and you take gliclazide.

 

[Wendy Lorraine]

Why would you only have fruit and veg to eat in a day that’s not very balanced. When you say hypo, we’re your levels below 4.0 or did you just feel symptoms of hypo but with levels above 4.0?

I’m a vegetarian and I wanted to see how I’d be as I tried a sp day yes it was 3 something but that hasn’t happened again. I go funny 5 or under but my numbers are just high.

 

[Wendy Lorraine]

I t

Be careful taking this as a meal, if you do have hypos when you eat only fruit and veg then you might find you go hypo after this since it’s low carb and you take gliclazide.

ake Sukkarto and stiplipin as well.

 

[Leadinglights]

I’m a vegetarian and I wanted to see how I’d be as I tried a sp day yes it was 3 something but that hasn’t happened again. I go funny 5 or under but my numbers are just high.

Perhaps you would like to post some of the meals you are having to see if people can spot any problem things like the beans and potato combination.
You might want to try testing some of your meals by testing before you eat and after 2 hours to see what the increase is, more than 2-3mmol/l indicates you are not tolerating that amount of carbohydrate in the meal.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

As you are taking meds which are designed to reduce your BG levels, it might be better to make smaller more gradual changes to your meals by adjusting portion sizes?

It is quite common to get strong and unpleasant hypo symptoms while BG are at the lower end of your target range (but still above 4) if your levels are used to running higher. These can make you feel pretty spaced out, but are not actual hypoglycaemia where brain function is affected. It will take a little while for your ‘glucose thermostat’ to reset. Making more gradual reductions to total carbohydrate intake, over a longer period, should help to reduce these ‘false hypos’.

You can use your BG meter, taking a reading before and again 2hrs after eating, to see what the differences are, to identify any carbs that seem to be spiking BG (initially in a way the numbers themselves matter less than the differences between them). Ideally you would want to see a rise of no more than 2-3mmol/L at the 2hr mark.

Once you can see how you respond to different meals you can begin experimenting with reducing portion sizes of the carbs where you see bigger rises. You might find that you are particularly sensitive to carbohydrate from one source (eg bread), but have more liberty with others (eg oats or basmati rice) - It’s all very individual! You might even find that just having things at a different time of day makes a difference - with breakfast time being the trickiest.

Good luck and let us know how you get on 🙂

 

[andyp64]

I can fully agree with everydays comments above. When I changed my diet to tackle my T2, I felt rotten. Nearest thing I can compare it with is when I stopped smoking or drinking coffee. Definitely correct about your body's "glucose thermometer" needed to recalibrate.
I made the mistake of diving in too quickly and totally changing my diet - and suffered!
Substitution an item at a time seems to be the less traumatic way, along with testing.
Still - try not to panic and look to be methodical and rational in your approach.
I strongly suggest Alan Shanley's book on testing and diet for diabetes (sure you can find it on eBay or suchlike). He walks you through a controlled approach in a very readable and understandable way.

 

[Wendy Lorraine]

Perhaps you would like to post some of the meals you are having to see if people can spot any problem things like the beans and potato combination.
You might want to try testing some of your meals by testing before you eat and after 2 hours to see what the increase is, more than 2-3mmol/l indicates you are not tolerating that amount of carbohydrate in the meal.

I will on a separate post.

 

[Wendy Lorraine]

As you are taking meds which are designed to reduce your BG levels, it might be better to make smaller more gradual changes to your meals by adjusting portion sizes?

It is quite common to get strong and unpleasant hypo symptoms while BG are at the lower end of your target range (but still above 4) if your levels are used to running higher. These can make you feel pretty spaced out, but are not actual hypoglycaemia where brain function is affected. It will take a little while for your ‘glucose thermostat’ to reset. Making more gradual reductions to total carbohydrate intake, over a longer period, should help to reduce these ‘false hypos’.

You can use your BG meter, taking a reading before and again 2hrs after eating, to see what the differences are, to identify any carbs that seem to be spiking BG (initially in a way the numbers themselves matter less than the differences between them). Ideally you would want to see a rise of no more than 2-3mmol/L at the 2hr mark.

Once you can see how you respond to different meals you can begin experimenting with reducing portion sizes of the carbs where you see bigger rises. You might find that you are particularly sensitive to carbohydrate from one source (eg bread), but have more liberty with others (eg oats or basmati rice) - It’s all very individual! You might even find that just having things at a different time of day makes a difference - with breakfast time being the trickiest.

Good luck and let us know how you get on 🙂

I’m doing smaller meals my no was 17.4 this morning I’ve yet to take my tablets or have breakfast so I’m going to do it shortly.

 

[Wendy Lorraine]

I can fully agree with everydays comments above. When I changed my diet to tackle my T2, I felt rotten. Nearest thing I can compare it with is when I stopped smoking or drinking coffee. Definitely correct about your body's "glucose thermometer" needed to recalibrate.
I made the mistake of diving in too quickly and totally changing my diet - and suffered!
Substitution an item at a time seems to be the less traumatic way, along with testing.
Still - try not to panic and look to be methodical and rational in your approach.
I strongly suggest Alan Shanley's book on testing and diet for diabetes (sure you can find it on eBay or suchlike). He walks you through a controlled approach in a very readable and understandable way.

Thanks I’ll look out for the book.
I’ve also got the carbs and cal book I need to look in it and writing them down for the diabetic nurse. It’s a good job I like notebooks as I need them for different things.
But my scales are coming back out. I need to measure my portions again. It’s hard after doing things a certain way for so long then having to change how you do things.