New to Me.

[Steve.A.]

Hi all,
Just been diagnosed 3 weeks ago, type 2, my blood sugar was 55. My doctor has put me on Metformin 500mg, 1 tablet twice a day.
I am at a loss with it all right now, so much to take in and digest. I have stopped with the white carbs, bread,pasta,rice.potato.
A friend advised me to look out for the TRAFFIC LIGHT SYSTEM when purchasing food, GREEN is good, AMBER is ok in moderation, and RED is a no no.
Does anyone else use this system???
Do I need to purchase a blood sugar testing device???
So much more to ask, but Iwill leave it there for now.

 

[Drummer]

Hi all,
Just been diagnosed 3 weeks ago, type 2, my blood sugar was 55. My doctor has put me on Metformin 500mg, 1 tablet twice a day.
I am at a loss with it all right now, so much to take in and digest. I have stopped with the white carbs, bread,pasta,rice.potato.
A friend advised me to look out for the TRAFFIC LIGHT SYSTEM when purchasing food, GREEN is good, AMBER is ok in moderation, and RED is a no no.
Does anyone else use this system???
Do I need to purchase a blood sugar testing device???
So much more to ask, but Iwill leave it there for now.

I'm afraid it is totally useless - the starch in a food is not included, and so it is necessary to look on the side or back of the packet and find the carbohydrate content.
A glucose meter is really useful to fine tune your personal menu.

 

[Steve.A.]

Thank you for the reply Drummer.🙂
Could you advise a carbohydrate content that would be acceptable??
I will visit my local Boots store tomorrow regarding the glucose meter.

 

[Drummer]

Thank you for the reply Drummer.🙂
Could you advise a carbohydrate content that would be acceptable??
I will visit my local Boots store tomorrow regarding the glucose meter.

There are cheap meters which can be obtained by mail order.
The amount of carbs per day is very individual, which is why the meter is so useful.

 

[Inka]

Welcome @Steve.A. 🙂 The two meters often recommended by Type 2s here are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 because they’re good and not too expensive to buy the strips. It’s the strips that can be the issue due to some being more expensive than others.

 

[Leadinglights]

Monitors available on line are a better option as the strips that you need to use are the expensive part and from a pharmacy they are much more than on line. Two meters that are reliable are the GlucoNavil or TEE2 with the monitor about £15 and strips £13 per 100. Looks like Inka beat me to it.
The traffic light system on foods may be fine for non diabetics but the sugar content is not useful as it is the total carbohydrate that you need to be concerned about. Something can be low sugar but still high carbohydrate.

 

[Steve.A.]

Welcome @Steve.A. 🙂 The two meters often recommended by Type 2s here are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 because they’re good and not too expensive to buy the strips. It’s the strips that can be the issue due to some being more expensive than others.

Thank you for the welcome, also for your information re; meters.
Appreciated.

 

[Steve.A.]

Monitors available on line are a better option as the strips that you need to use are the expensive part and from a pharmacy they are much more than on line. Two meters that are reliable are the GlucoNavil or TEE2 with the monitor about £15 and strips £13 per 100. Looks like Inka beat me to it.
The traffic light system on foods may be fine for non diabetics but the sugar content is not useful as it is the total carbohydrate that you need to be concerned about. Something can be low sugar but still high carbohydrate.

Thank you for your information, it seems the way forward is to purchase 1 of the meters mentioned by yourself & Inka.
Start over with the carb situation, and bin the traffic lights. 🙄🙄
Appreciate the help.

 

[Steve.A.]

Monitors available on line are a better option as the strips that you need to use are the expensive part and from a pharmacy they are much more than on line. Two meters that are reliable are the GlucoNavil or TEE2 with the monitor about £15 and strips £13 per 100. Looks like Inka beat me to it.
The traffic light system on foods may be fine for non diabetics but the sugar content is not useful as it is the total carbohydrate that you need to be concerned about. Something can be low sugar but still high carbohydrate.

Hi,
Just a quick update, purchased the GlucoNavii GDH starter kit, and additional strips x 50, and lancets x 50, all in 24 pounds. From Amazon, delivered tomorrow.

 

[mage 1]

Well done

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @Steve.A. The best use of a Blood Glucose monitor is in finding out how much YOUR BODY reacts to carbs (brown ones as well as white) in the foods you eat. This is required because no 2 diabetics react exactly the same.
The way to do this is to measure your Blood Glucose just before a meal and then 2hrs after 1st bite keep a food diary so that you know which foods are best/worst for you. This difference between pre and post meal is what tells you if you need to reduce portions of carby food or to cut that food out completely.

Aim for no more than a 2.0 mmol spike from a meal, also aim for a maximum reading of 8.0 mmol or lower.
If you exceed these numbers, don't worry - just cut the portion of the most carby food or substitute it with something with much lower carbs.

For most purposes a carb content of below 5gms per 100gms (as eaten - not as per 100gms of dry uncooked food) can be thought of as probably safe. At first you ill use a lot of test strips, but after a few weeks you will be able to accurately predict the effect of a meal and so not need to test so often.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi @Steve.A. The best use of a Blood Glucose monitor is in finding out how much YOUR BODY reacts to carbs (brown ones as well as white) in the foods you eat. This is required because no 2 diabetics react exactly the same.
The way to do this is to measure your Blood Glucose just before a meal and then 2hrs after 1st bite keep a food diary so that you know which foods are best/worst for you. This difference between pre and post meal is what tells you if you need to reduce portions of carby food or to cut that food out completely.

Aim for no more than a 2.0 mmol spike from a meal, also aim for a maximum reading of 8.0 mmol or lower.
If you exceed these numbers, don't worry - just cut the portion of the most carby food or substitute it with something with much lower carbs.

For most purposes a carb content of below 5gms per 100gms (as eaten - not as per 100gms of dry uncooked food) can be thought of as probably safe. At first you ill use a lot of test strips, but after a few weeks you will be able to accurately predict the effect of a meal and so not need to test so often.

Don't worry too much if you don't quite get those readings to start with but that is what you should be aiming at but it will be informative about what adjustments you need to make.

 

[Steve.A.]

Hi @Steve.A. The best use of a Blood Glucose monitor is in finding out how much YOUR BODY reacts to carbs (brown ones as well as white) in the foods you eat. This is required because no 2 diabetics react exactly the same.
The way to do this is to measure your Blood Glucose just before a meal and then 2hrs after 1st bite keep a food diary so that you know which foods are best/worst for you. This difference between pre and post meal is what tells you if you need to reduce portions of carby food or to cut that food out completely.

Aim for no more than a 2.0 mmol spike from a meal, also aim for a maximum reading of 8.0 mmol or lower.
If you exceed these numbers, don't worry - just cut the portion of the most carby food or substitute it with something with much lower carbs.

For most purposes a carb content of below 5gms per 100gms (as eaten - not as per 100gms of dry uncooked food) can be thought of as probably safe. At first you ill use a lot of test strips, but after a few weeks you will be able to accurately predict the effect of a meal and so not need to test so often.

Thank you so much for your invaluable information, I have been looking at the contents on the back of tins, but to be honest it was as clear as mud. At least now I have something to to look for.

Again, thank you, and well done on your personal battle, it looks impressive.🙂
I feel I have a long road ahead.🙄

 

[Barfly]

@Steve.A. I am about three weeks ahead of you and this is the advice I would give to you. You already have a BG meter, do what others have advised and test when you wake, just before meals, 1 and a half to 2 hours after and try to remember we are all different. What works for me might not for you.
Since I bought my meter I have seen a steady reduction in my BG levels with the Metformin and a slight change of diet.
Look at this post: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/carbs.95061/post-1093731
Best of luck Steve.
Cheers Tony.

 

[Steve.A.]

@Steve.A. I am about three weeks ahead of you and this is the advice I would give to you. You already have a BG meter, do what others have advised and test when you wake, just before meals, 1 and a half to 2 hours after and try to remember we are all different. What works for me might not for you.
Since I bought my meter I have seen a steady reduction in my BG levels with the Metformin and a slight change of diet.
Look at this post: https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/carbs.95061/post-1093731
Best of luck Steve.
Cheers Tony.

Hi Tony,
Thanks for the insight into "your way". I have rejigged my food diary, also adding a column for the weekly wiegh-in.🙄
My meter arrives tomorrow from Amazon, so full steam ahead from saturday. It will get easier for sure.
Oh, for the record, my nickname in the younger days was ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, BARFLY.!!!!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Don't worry too much if you don't quite get those readings to start with but that is what you should be aiming at but it will be informative about what adjustments you need to make.

I think this is really helpful @Steve.A.

To begin with the numbers themselves are arguably way less important than the differences between them. If you can aim to tweak your meals and adjust your portion sizes to aim for a ‘meal rise’ of 2-3mmol/L, then over time your general levels will just gently come down on their own.

And it’s much kinder on the fine blood vessels to allow things to come down ‘into range’ more gradually. Especially if you are starting at a higher level.

At an HbA1c of 55 you may find that only relatively small tweaks and portion reductions are enough to make a really positive difference.

With HbA1c, the cut-off for a diabetes diagnosis is 48, whereas with BG fingerstick meters eventually you will be wanting to aim to keep as many results as possible between 4-8.5 - though BG will always wobble up and down a bit even in non-Ds 🙂

 

[Steve.A.]

I think this is really helpful @Steve.A.

To begin with the numbers themselves are arguably way less important than the differences between them. If you can aim to tweak your meals and adjust your portion sizes to aim for a ‘meal rise’ of 2-3mmol/L, then over time your general levels will just gently come down on their own.

And it’s much kinder on the fine blood vessels to allow things to come down ‘into range’ more gradually. Especially if you are starting at a higher level.

At an HbA1c of 55 you may find that only relatively small tweaks and portion reductions are enough to make a really positive difference.

With HbA1c, the cut-off for a diabetes diagnosis is 48, whereas with BG fingerstick meters eventually you will be wanting to aim to keep as many results as possible between 4-8.5 - though BG will always wobble up and down a bit even in non-Ds 🙂

Hi Mike,
Thank you for the support, much appreciated.
I had my first BG test yesterday afternoon, first 1 came in at 6.5, after tea and 2 hours passed had a reading of 8.3.
this morning the test was 8.2 before food. would this be correct after fasting/sleeping overnight???

 

[JoJo257]

Hi. Can I just say this post has been so helpful. I'm in more or less the same situation @SteveA so reading comments about getting a glucose monitor has been great. Thank you, I'm going on Amazon now!

 

[Steve.A.]

Hi. Can I just say this post has been so helpful. I'm in more or less the same situation @SteveA so reading comments about getting a glucose monitor has been great. Thank you, I'm going on Amazon now!

Hi Jojo,
I listened to the guys on here and bought the GlucoNavvi starter kit, unfortunately there is only 10 test strips and 10 lancets, (you will use at least 6 a day)supplied with the kit. Order extra strips and lancets to be delivered together with the meter. I was a little daunted about my fingers looking like a pin cushion, but it is not the case at all.
Enjoy your trip. May I enquire were you are going?/

 

[JoJo257]

Hi Steve. I've ordered the starter pack with the extra strips and lancets. Thank you. I'm a bit nervous about first attempts but I'm sure I'll get used to it. Thanks we are off to Barbados - so excited!