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Littlechef

Littlechef

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Good morning everyone.
I'm new to this site and diabetes 2 I'm on a diet controled plane but some what struggling. I've purchased my own blood test kit but don't know what my blood should be, I've checked my blood this morning and it's showing 8.6 high but this is after eating so don't know what todo any advice would be greatfull.
 
Littlechef said:
Good morning everyone.
I'm new to this site and diabetes 2 I'm on a diet controled plane but some what struggling. I've purchased my own blood test kit but don't know what my blood should be, I've checked my blood this morning and it's showing 8.6 high but this is after eating so don't know what todo any advice would be greatfull.
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Welcome. This might help with understanding your levels
www.diabetes.co.uk

Normal and Diabetic Blood Sugar Level Ranges

Normal blood sugar ranges and blood sugar ranges for adults and children with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and blood sugar ranges to determine diabetes.
www.diabetes.co.uk www.diabetes.co.uk

Generally people test first thing (approximates a fasting test). If you then test before you eat and two hours afterwards you can start to understand the effect that food items have on your BG. Generally people find that carb rich foods will cause big increases - that's pasta, rice, potatoes, bread etc as well as sugary things. Ideally you are looking for no more than a rise of 2 points 2 hours after eating.
 
Hi @Littlechef welcome to the forum.
What glucose meter did you purchase.

Here is how we test to find out how the various carbohydrates affect us so that we can make informed choices.
Directly before eating then two hours after the first bite. If your no higher than 3.0 then that meal was fine, it’s the post meal reading that’s important, if you were say 11.0 pre meal and 14.0 two hrs later, though both readings are high, that meal was fine, gradually your pre meal levels will come down.

Many people also test on waking , prior to going to bed .

It will help you if you keep an honest food diary and log your blood glucose (BG) results

It’s important to bring your levels down gradually as doing so too fast will give you some unpleasant symptoms, it can also affect your eyes which is mostly temporary but not always so.
 
Welcome to the forum @Littlechef

You have already had good advice around testing and making effective use of the results. If you keep an accurate food diary with the amount of carbs included, alongside your results this can help you to make decision about diet and/or portion sizes. I know you are already on a meal plan and the results will sh W you whether the carbs in the meals are matching the amount of insulin you are producing. I am afraid I know nothing about calories, I just focus on carbs as all of them will become gluc Se once inside me.

Keep in touch and keep the questions coming. There is plenty of help to draw on on here.
 
I've lost a stone in Wright over a month so I must be doing something right but the diabetic nurse tells me I need to get down to at least 7 stone but that's a little to much I'm constantly hungry and always dry I'm not the one for water still I will see how I get on my doctor wanted me to go on tablets as been a pre diabetic for some time but the nurse says no it's a diet controled diet for at least 3 months.
Diabetes is just something else to add to my list.
 
I would say to your nurse 'good on them' to give you a chance to get you blood glucose under control by changes to your lifestyle. To combat the hunger then you could increase you fat content by having full fat yoghurt, cheese and cream. I'm not keen on water but find cold flavoured sparkling water acceptable, some people don't mind fruit teas.
Look at some of the meal suggestions on the thread What did you eat Yesterday to give you some ideas.
 
I can not understand what I should be doing or not doing , I've lost a stone in Wright over a month to try and help my diabetes .
I have now purchased my own test kit to check my blood I test it about 2 to 3 hrs after eating but found its 8 to.9 so don't know what I'm doing wrong , I'm thinking of contacting my doctor Tuesday morning for advice I may do a fasting test first thing to see what my.blood reading is t not that I'm eating much as cut back f I cut back any more I will.end up not eating at all.
Any advice when should I be testing my blood before or after a meal all advice would be greatful ..
 
As was said earlier in this thread, you need to be testing with a purpose i.e. to see if your meal/food was tolerated so testing before you eat and after 2 hours, you don't want to see more than 3mmol/l increase otherwise you have had too much carbohydrate in that meal. You may start off with levels higher than desirable but initially it is that difference which will tell you if you need to reduce the carbs in the meal by cutting out or reducing the portion of the high carb food. Increasing fat will help to stop you feeling hungry. As you have lost some weight already you are probably not doing anything drastically wrong.
What did you have for your meal that gave you the reading of 8 or 9. If it was 8 after 2 hours it was not too bad if it was 9 after 2 hours not so good or 9 after 3 hours definitely not so good.
Keeping your food diary will help you tie up different meals with your readings so you can start to see a pattern and have something to work with in making adjustments.
 
Test both before and approx 2 hrs after a meal, and see what the difference is between the two results. You are aiming for a difference of no more than 3.0.(ish)

If it is more than 3, then that amount of carbohydrate is too much for your body to cope with right now - so don't eat that much of whatever it was next time.

Make a note of what it was and the results, so next time you have it, you'll know to have less- not all of the meal - just the carbohydrate part; So say the meal is a chop, spuds and carrots - have less spud and if that means the meal isn't sufficient - add another veg but not more spuds.

Some things you'll eat won't increase your BG more than 3,0 - so you know whatever that was, will be fine for you again.
 
Welcome to the forum @Littlechef

Ultimately you will be aiming for 4-7 before meals and no higher than 8.5 by 2 hours after meals, but initially in some ways the numbers themselves are less important than the differences between them

Aiming for a rise of less than 2-3 as @trophywench suggests will help you gradually tweak and tailor your menu meal-by-meal and result by result until you have more even BG profile which can begin to gradually come down towards the healthy range 🙂
 
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