Newbie looking for advice.

[Gadgetman]

Hi all,

Hope you're all well.

New to forums and diabetes so apologies if I have got any of the terminology wrong.

I was diagnosed Type 2 in September 2019 with a Ha1c of 12.4% and 112 mmol.

Got put on Metformin.

Tested again:

December 2019 - 8.9% and 74 mmol.

November 2020 - 10% and 85 mmol.

So after my initial diagnosis and shock I obviously started heading the right way. Then with my results in Dec 2019 I thought it was easy and lost my way again with eating rubbish snacks etc. No surprise then that it increased again in the November 2020 test result with a telling off from the Nurse.

So I've just got myself a tester/monitor.

Tested yesterday 2 hours after breakfast and it was 15 mmol.

Tested again after dinner (yesterday) and it was 14.9 mmol.

So to try and work out what food is doing what to my blood sugar level I haven't eaten/drunk anything for 15 hours.

Tested right now and it's at 6 mmol.

So my Question:

Having read other threads it appears the general consensus is a max of +2-3 mmol 2 hours after a meal.

Bearing in mind my readings were around 15 mmol yesterday, am I still targeting the 2-3mmol increase after a meal or is that something that would be impossible for me to achieve immediately and will happen gradually?

If you're still reading then thanks for your time.

Naz.

 

[Karen999]

Hi all,

Hope you're all well.

New to forums and diabetes so apologies if I have got any of the terminology wrong.

I was diagnosed Type 2 in September 2019 with a Ha1c of 12.4% and 112 mmol.

Got put on Metformin.

Tested again:

December 2019 - 8.9% and 74 mmol.

November 2020 - 10% and 85 mmol.

So after my initial diagnosis and shock I obviously started heading the right way. Then with my results in Dec 2019 I thought it was easy and lost my way again with eating rubbish snacks etc. No surprise then that it increased again in the November 2020 test result with a telling off from the Nurse.

So I've just got myself a tester/monitor.

Tested yesterday 2 hours after breakfast and it was 15 mmol.

Tested again after dinner (yesterday) and it was 14.9 mmol.

So to try and work out what food is doing what to my blood sugar level I haven't eaten/drunk anything for 15 hours.

Tested right now and it's at 6 mmol.

So my Question:

Having read other threads it appears the general consensus is a max of +2-3 mmol 2 hours after a meal.

Bearing in mind my readings were around 15 mmol yesterday, am I still targeting the 2-3mmol increase after a meal or is that something that would be impossible for me to achieve immediately and will happen gradually?

If you're still reading then thanks for your time.

Naz.

Following?

 

[ianf0ster]

Hi,
A 2 to 3 mmol increase when tested 2hrs after a meal is possible for most Type 2's. But for some it is very difficult. I started by aiming for no more than a 2mmol rise and for a max reading of no more than 8.0mmol. I soon learned that I'm extremely intolerant of carbs, but once I knew I was able to meet those goals pretty much every day.
So now when I over-eat (which I will be doing over the next few days), I do so on Protein and Fats - things like eggs, cold cuts and cheeses. Basically anything which is a 'traditional' or 'real food' and which doesn't spike my Blood Glucose.

Carb 'addiction' is a terrible thing!
I was just reading on Twitter about a neighbour of a well known (been on TV and in the newspapers) T2D lady who got into remission within 3 months (faster than me). This guy told her that he understood that Low Carb was the path to remission, but that he couldn't do it because he liked bread and beer too much (actually there are low carb beers and some low carb 'breads').
Anyhow she was saying how saddened she feels that this neighbour has just told her husband that he's going into hospital for a foot amputation.
This isn't the first time I have heard of people who prefer carbs to their limbs - heck there may even be those who prefer carbs to their sight! A friend of my wife told us about a distant relative who T2D who just would not change what she ate or how much of it. That woman is now a double (below the knee) amputee and still has no desire to change the way she eats.

 

[trophywench]

Sadly @ianf0ster - there simply is no cure for sheer stupidity and taking themselves out of the gene pool by themselves, saves anyone else the trouble. Pity is, other folk get lumbered with trying to pick up the pieces caused by it.

 

[Vonny]

Hi @Gadgetman and welcome to the forum from a fellow type 2. If you are having trouble cutting out carbs, try to reduce the amount you are eating at least. I never thought I'd be able to give up bread and potatoes, or rice and pasta come to that, but once I'd been about a week of not eating them, the cravings just disappeared. And I was a complete carb monster.

The 6mmol you mention on waking is a good reading so you should be aiming to get no more than 8 or 9 after eating, but that's only possible if you cut down the carbs. If I have just a slice of white bread I'm up at 12, although my normal range is between 5 and 7.

Not the best time of the year to be cutting down on treats, but maybe in the New Year?

Best of luck with it.

 

[Gadgetman]

Hi @Gadgetman and welcome to the forum from a fellow type 2. If you are having trouble cutting out carbs, try to reduce the amount you are eating at least. I never thought I'd be able to give up bread and potatoes, or rice and pasta come to that, but once I'd been about a week of not eating them, the cravings just disappeared. And I was a complete carb monster.

The 6mmol you mention on waking is a good reading so you should be aiming to get no more than 8 or 9 after eating, but that's only possible if you cut down the carbs. If I have just a slice of white bread I'm up at 12, although my normal range is between 5 and 7.

Not the best time of the year to be cutting down on treats, but maybe in the New Year?

Best of luck with it.

Thanks for that.

Woke up with a 4.8 mmol today. 2 hours after breakfast it was 6.3 which I'm happy with.

Dinner time it was 5.1 before,
then 7.1 after 2 hours,
7.7 after another hour (so 3 hours after eating).

So is the aim to eat foods which peak BG at 2 hours then start to drop? Or was my dinner experience acceptable where it increased by 2 mmol after 2 hours, but then continued to slowly rise after that?

Second day today of trying to eat a sensible diet. It's unbelievable how difficult it was to refrain from snacking on crisps and chocs. I expect it gets a little easier over time.

 

[Vonny]

It's unbelievable how difficult it was to refrain from snacking on crisps and chocs. I expect it gets a little easier over time.

It does get easier @Gadgetman, or at least you get used to it! For me this year, the "new normal" has been not only the way we live with covid, but the way that I eat. Given the weight loss and the drop in hba1c, it's been more than worth it, and I actually now get more pleasure from eating healthily and seeing the scales drop than I used to get from scoffing carbs.

Re your monitoring, I'm not sure if my readings go up beyond the 2 hour range because I don't test that. I know that if you are eating fats this can slow any spike and read more later than the 2 hours, eg if you have fish and chips. But it seems your readings are now below 8 which is excellent progress so whatever you are doing is clearly working. Keep at it 🙂

 

[ianf0ster]

It's best if you try to avoid any foods which give you a barely acceptable BG after 2hrs and keep it rising for another hour. We are all different and we all have different reactions to different forms of carbs.
But if you aim for 2.0 mmol as your highest spike after 2hrs or later) and 8.0 mmol being your highest reading and you will do very well and get your HbA1C down faster than your doctors believe is possible!
Not only that, but you will reduce your chances of getting neuropathy6 or retinopathy back down to the same as for non-diabetic people.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks for that.

Woke up with a 4.8 mmol today. 2 hours after breakfast it was 6.3 which I'm happy with.

Dinner time it was 5.1 before,
then 7.1 after 2 hours,
7.7 after another hour (so 3 hours after eating).

So is the aim to eat foods which peak BG at 2 hours then start to drop? Or was my dinner experience acceptable where it increased by 2 mmol after 2 hours, but then continued to slowly rise after that?

Second day today of trying to eat a sensible diet. It's unbelievable how difficult it was to refrain from snacking on crisps and chocs. I expect it gets a little easier over time.

Welcome to the forum @Gadgetman

Great to see your BGs improving so much.

There are two basic schools of thought for the timings of post-meal checks. One is to try to find the general ‘spike time’ - the timing when BG is at it’s highest - and check then, aiming to keep the spike number as low as possible. For some people this comes before 2hrs. But some meals release their glucose more slowly, so it can be a bit of a ‘hobson’s choice’ in terms of timing.

The other is to stick to 2hrs after eating, and aim for a max rise of 2-3mmol/L and in time (when BG is generally more towards the ‘normal range’) to aim for results which are mostly 4-7 before meals and no higher than 8.5 by 2hrs after eating.

Both methods can work well, so really the timing of the second check is a matter of what makes most sense to you, and what you are hoping to achieve. For some people by 2hrs after eating the initial spike will have reduced, as their 2nd phase insulin will have started working. Others are not all that worried by a potential brief foray above 8.5 for an hour, and prefer the simplicity of a fixed timing.

 

[Drummer]

Once you get into the other habit, or eating low carb foods, you might be amazed at how little you need to eat.
I used to eat twice a day, even when gadding about all over the shire and beyond and just did not need lunch, these days I can get by on just one meal, having had coffee in the morning I just never bother to go and make breakfast, so take it back to the fridge when making dinner. If you stop consuming carbs you don't get the insulin rush which lowers blood glucose and makes you feel hungry.