Newbie

[Leadinglights]

Hello. Thank you for all the information, it really helps me focus. I have bought a TEE2 test strip kit and read all the pamphlet, even watched a video. (Just arrived this morning) I want to find out how I respond to different carbs, grains, beans etc and I really need to know when to test before and after the food. Is it just before? Is it one or two hours after? I am simply looking to see if I digest things differently so I am really looking for before and after comparisons I think. Am I best comparing food at the same time each day? Eg porridge, or beans, or ryvita for breakfast? Am I best comparing a whole meal with all the food groups or isolating the one I am looking at?
I didn't realise apples were lower glycemic index - I have been learning a lot. Thank you for lowcarbfreshwell, this is a learning curve! Lots of good meal ideas too.
Thank you in advance for any answers to my questions. They may have been answered already somewhere else on the forum but I haven't found it.

Yes you test just before you start eating and after 2 hours (people say after the first bite).
Initially for checking the meal as all the components interreact you are looking at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase or no more than 8-8.5 mmol/l after 2 hours.
The aim which if you are in the prediabetic zone should be easy is 4-7mmol/l fasting/morning and before meals.

 

[Guineapig Sarah]

Yes you test just before you start eating and after 2 hours (people say after the first bite).
Initially for checking the meal as all the components interreact you are looking at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase or no more than 8-8.5 mmol/l after 2 hours.
The aim which if you are in the prediabetic zone should be easy is 4-7mmol/l fasting/morning and before meals.

Thank you very much! And thank you for the information about what I should be looking for. I will try this with meals and see what happens.

 

[Guineapig Sarah]

Hello
Thank you again Leadinglights for the information.
I have been trying the TEE2 kit and looking at different things. My aim is to find out the best things to help my gut without putting too much sugar into my blood. Dietary fibre seems to come attached to carbohydrate and I need dietary fibre! I've found out that I do porridge oats/oatcakes/ryvita without difficulty but half the amount (carb wise) in beans sends me over 8.5 Only just though, but even so it is a difference (it was a really tiny serving). I always found beans hard to digest as well. Knowing that I will need to get fibre into my diet I tried buckwheat and went up to 9.6 Oh well. I will keep on searching for the best foods for me, thank you again for the help.
Is there an easy/popular low carb source of dietary fibre please? Can I simply eat bran to help my digestion out? Should I ask this question again somewhere else?

 

[Leadinglights]

Hello
Thank you again Leadinglights for the information.
I have been trying the TEE2 kit and looking at different things. My aim is to find out the best things to help my gut without putting too much sugar into my blood. Dietary fibre seems to come attached to carbohydrate and I need dietary fibre! I've found out that I do porridge oats/oatcakes/ryvita without difficulty but half the amount (carb wise) in beans sends me over 8.5 Only just though, but even so it is a difference (it was a really tiny serving). I always found beans hard to digest as well. Knowing that I will need to get fibre into my diet I tried buckwheat and went up to 9.6 Oh well. I will keep on searching for the best foods for me, thank you again for the help.
Is there an easy/popular low carb source of dietary fibre please? Can I simply eat bran to help my digestion out? Should I ask this question again somewhere else?

I think some people use Chai seeds or Psyllium, @rebrascora makes a drink and people add to home made soups.

 

[rebrascora]

Seeds are really good for dietary fibre and add protein and fats without very much carbs. As mentioned I use chia seeds which are widely available in most stores these days including Lidl and psyllium husk (ispaghula) which is pretty much just fibre and I buy off ebay. Both of these absorb water and provide soluble fibre which is good for the gut and bowel and can improve cholesterol levels. I add them to a drink give them a stir, leave it for 5 mins or so to absorb some of the water and it kind of forms a gel which works it's way through the gut pushing everything with it. Neither taste of anything so you can add them to whatever you like. I have a glass of water with a splash of apple cider vinegar and a splash of balsamic vinegar and about an inch of diet cola. Sounds weird but I like the sweet and sour combination and the acidity helps reduce the spike from any carbs in the meal I eat after it. We have another member who adds his chia seeds to a cup of coffee. They are quite high in Omega 3 fatty acids which is important to me as I am not a huge fan of oily fish. I always buy whole chia seeds as the milled ones sometimes start to smell fishy to me if you don't use them up quickly enough but the whole ones don't do that. My bowel movements have never been so good since I changed to low carb and started supplementing my fibre intake with chia and psyllium husk. You can also add them to yoghurt or soups and stews to thicken them up and there are recipes for using psyllium in low carb baking to replace part of the flour as it acts as a binding agent. I occasionally use it to make chaffle wraps (a sort of cheese waffle batter but I don't have a waffle maker so I pour it into a hot greased frying pan to make a sort of very thin omelette/pancake/crepe effort, which I can use as a wrap instead of a normal bread wrap..... or occasionally I make a microwave low carb chocolate mug cake and again I use the psyllium in that. So lots of opportunities to incorporate these fibre supplements into your diet and use them as thickening or binding agents. I do also have some oat bran which I use in soups and stews to thicken them but that is a little higher in carbs than the other two, but still much lower than normal flour and much more fibre.

 

[Guineapig Sarah]

Seeds are really good for dietary fibre and add protein and fats without very much carbs. As mentioned I use chia seeds which are widely available in most stores these days including Lidl and psyllium husk (ispaghula) which is pretty much just fibre and I buy off ebay. Both of these absorb water and provide soluble fibre which is good for the gut and bowel and can improve cholesterol levels. I add them to a drink give them a stir, leave it for 5 mins or so to absorb some of the water and it kind of forms a gel which works it's way through the gut pushing everything with it. Neither taste of anything so you can add them to whatever you like. I have a glass of water with a splash of apple cider vinegar and a splash of balsamic vinegar and about an inch of diet cola. Sounds weird but I like the sweet and sour combination and the acidity helps reduce the spike from any carbs in the meal I eat after it. We have another member who adds his chia seeds to a cup of coffee. They are quite high in Omega 3 fatty acids which is important to me as I am not a huge fan of oily fish. I always buy whole chia seeds as the milled ones sometimes start to smell fishy to me if you don't use them up quickly enough but the whole ones don't do that. My bowel movements have never been so good since I changed to low carb and started supplementing my fibre intake with chia and psyllium husk. You can also add them to yoghurt or soups and stews to thicken them up and there are recipes for using psyllium in low carb baking to replace part of the flour as it acts as a binding agent. I occasionally use it to make chaffle wraps (a sort of cheese waffle batter but I don't have a waffle maker so I pour it into a hot greased frying pan to make a sort of very thin omelette/pancake/crepe effort, which I can use as a wrap instead of a normal bread wrap..... or occasionally I make a microwave low carb chocolate mug cake and again I use the psyllium in that. So lots of opportunities to incorporate these fibre supplements into your diet and use them as thickening or binding agents. I do also have some oat bran which I use in soups and stews to thicken them but that is a little higher in carbs than the other two, but still much lower than normal flour and much more fibre.

Thank you very much, I have heard of ispaghula but not psyllium. I will search this out and add it into my diet, like you I need the extra fibre on a low carb diet. Creating a drink from it before a meal sounds like a good way to take the extra fibre, I would never have thought of adding a bit of vinegar but that will help as well so excellent idea. Thanks.