Newbie. Diet concerns

[Soo]

Hi everyone im pre diabetic and bougjt my own blood finger prick tester im watching what i eat but my highest at bedtime is 10.5.i eat good old fashioned porridge for breakfast but my readings go up from 5 first to 7.6. After.im struggling what to eat to be honest.ive cut sugar .bread ,white pasta,all cakes fruit juices. I've been diagnosed couple of years but its only now at age 65 I'm taking it serious. .

 

[Inka]

Hi @Soo 🙂

What did you eat for your evening meal when you got the 10.5 at bedtime? When are you testing your blood sugar? Carefully timed testing will show you what foods work for you. Some Type 2s can handle porridge, some can’t.

Basically, you’re looking to watch the amount of carbs you’re eating. It looks like you’ve made a good start already. For lunch you could try soup then salad, an omelette, meat/fish plus a large salad, etc. Berries are usually ok. You could have them with full-fat Greek yoghurt, which is really tasty.

What would an average day’s food look like for you? If you can post that, you’ll get some suggestions about tweaks you could make to improve things.

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi @Soo , Unfortunately for many/most Type 2 Diabetics there is little difference between white (refined) carbs and 'brown' less processed or unprocessed carbs. They all turn into sugar when digested and so the only difference is how quickly they do so. That varies from person to person, but if you tested 2hrs after first starting to eat your porridge, then it isn't a good breakfast for you since your really want to keep the increase in blood glucose reading from before a meal to 2hrs after 1st bite down to a maximum of 2.0
Also it's best to keep the highest post prandial reading to a maximum of 8.0 (though some relax this to 8.5

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I would be happy with a rise from 5 to 7.6 myself.

The general guidance for T2s used to be 4-7 before meals and no higher than 8.5 by 2 hours after meals, so by my reckoning your breakfast worked well. You could always try a slightly smaller portion and add some berries in to see if that helped.

Sounds like you’ve already made some really good changes to your menu. Not sure what caused your 10.5, but do bear in mind when before-after checking around meals that food isn’t the only thing that can affect BG, and occasionally rogue results might cause confusion about which food choices are doing what. plus the fact that nothing ever really needs to be completely off limits unless you want it to be. It’s just that some things you’ll want to eat much more rarely than others 😉

I tend to have the approach of

Often... Less often... Rarely... Almost never... Not worth it.

Where ‘Not worth it’ is the category for foods where the pleasure I get from them is just not worth the BG upheaval that always follows.

I am prepared to see a few BG wobbles here and there for foods I really enjoy, as long as on the whole I am keeping to my target range most of the time.