Newbie

[NJM1787]

Hello everyone, I have been a diabetic type 2 for about 5 years now and although I have managed to lose a stone in weight, I cannot seem to get my reading below 50. It always seems to fluctuate between 51 and 58.
Any suggestions or tips would be very helpful. Many thanks

 

[ColinUK]

Hello everyone, I have been a diabetic type 2 for about 5 years now and although I have managed to lose a stone in weight, I cannot seem to get my reading below 50. It always seems to fluctuate between 51 and 58.
Any suggestions or tips would be very helpful. Many thanks

Hi. And welcome to the forum.

There are plenty more experienced folk around who wouldn’t need to ask this question but what’s the figure you’re referring to?

 

[trophywench]

Hiya - is it your HbA1c test result?

 

[NJM1787]

Hiya - is it your HbA1c test result?

Hello Jenny, Yes it is.

 

[NJM1787]

Hi. And welcome to the forum.

There are plenty more experienced folk around who wouldn’t need to ask this question but what’s the figure you’re referring to?

Thank you Colin. My HbA1c level.

 

[trophywench]

Give us some clues please - do you test your blood yourself at home, have you changed your diet at all or your exercise level since diagnosis?

 

[rebrascora]

Hi and welcome

Well done on your weight loss!

Do you take any medication for your diabetes?

What do you eat in a typical day? Ie an average breakfast, lunch and dinner and any snacks and drinks?
Diabetes is all about carbohydrates and your body's inability to metabolise them effectively. All carbs (both starches and sugars) are broken down into glucose in the digestive tract and absorbed into the blood stream. Diabetes occurs when your body is less effective at remove that glucose from your blood stream either because you don't produce enough insulin (usually Type 1 diabetes) or because you have become resistant to the insulin you produce. 3 things help....
1. Putting less carbs into your body so that less glucose goes into the blood stream in the first place. This usually has the biggest impact.
2. Exercising sucks the glucose out of the blood stream and into the muscles where it is used as energy. Prolonged steady exercise like walking and cycling is best to achieve this.
3. Medication. Metformin helps to reduce insulin resistance. Other medication has slightly different effects including ultimately injecting insulin so that there is enough to deal with the glucose.

Many people assume they just need to cut back on the sugar to see their BG levels return to normal but a slice of bread will have the same effect on BG levels as 3 spoons of sugar, so it is really important to cut back on those starchy carbs like bread and pasta and potatoes and rice and particularly breakfast cereals which are usually high in starches and sugars. Even healthy foods like fruit and porridge contain quite high levels of carbs and can spike BG levels.

Here on the forum most of us recognise the huge benefit of self testing our BG before and 2 hours after food to see what the food does to our levels and adjust our diet to keep the rise in BG between certain guidelines.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @NJM1787

One of the biggest questions when trying to manage diabetes more effectively is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you have probably cut out already, as others have said, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, pastry, grains, cereals and many fruits.

The really tricky thing is that blood glucose responses to various foods are highly individual, and it can be impossible to say which types and amounts of carbohydrate will ‘spike’ your BG without checking for yourself.

You can use a BG meter, taking a reading before and again 2hrs after eating, to see what the differences are, to identify any carbs that seem to be spiking BG (in a way the numbers themselves matter less than the differences between them when you first start this approach).

Once you can see how you respond to different meals and types of carbohydrate you can begin experimenting with reducing portion sizes, trying different types (eg brown, seeded or wholemeal), or avoiding certain carb soirces altogether if they always prove problematic. It can be fickle and not altogther logocal at times, sometimes just having things at a different time of day makes a difference, and mornings are usually when people are most sensitive to carbs.

This isn’t necessarily about doing away with carbs altogether, or punitively limiting them, it’s about finding the amounts and types of carbs that your body can cope well with, and choosing those. Gradually tweaking and tailoring your menu to find one that suits your tastebuds, your waistline and your BG levels 🙂

If you are interested in this approach you may find test-review-adjust by Alan S a helpful framework.

If you need to self fund your BG meter, the most affordable meters members here have found are the SD Gluco Navii or the Spirit Tee2 which both have test strips at around £8 for 50

 

[NJM1787]

Hi and welcome

Well done on your weight loss!

Do you take any medication for your diabetes?

What do you eat in a typical day? Ie an average breakfast, lunch and dinner and any snacks and drinks?
Diabetes is all about carbohydrates and your body's inability to metabolise them effectively. All carbs (both starches and sugars) are broken down into glucose in the digestive tract and absorbed into the blood stream. Diabetes occurs when your body is less effective at remove that glucose from your blood stream either because you don't produce enough insulin (usually Type 1 diabetes) or because you have become resistant to the insulin you produce. 3 things help....
1. Putting less carbs into your body so that less glucose goes into the blood stream in the first place. This usually has the biggest impact.
2. Exercising sucks the glucose out of the blood stream and into the muscles where it is used as energy. Prolonged steady exercise like walking and cycling is best to achieve this.
3. Medication. Metformin helps to reduce insulin resistance. Other medication has slightly different effects including ultimately injecting insulin so that there is enough to deal with the glucose.

Many people assume they just need to cut back on the sugar to see their BG levels return to normal but a slice of bread will have the same effect on BG levels as 3 spoons of sugar, so it is really important to cut back on those starchy carbs like bread and pasta and potatoes and rice and particularly breakfast cereals which are usually high in starches and sugars. Even healthy foods like fruit and porridge contain quite high levels of carbs and can spike BG levels.

Here on the forum most of us recognise the huge benefit of self testing our BG before and 2 hours after food to see what the food does to our levels and adjust our diet to keep the rise in BG between certain guidelines.

Hi and welcome

Well done on your weight loss!

Do you take any medication for your diabetes?

What do you eat in a typical day? Ie an average breakfast, lunch and dinner and any snacks and drinks?
Diabetes is all about carbohydrates and your body's inability to metabolise them effectively. All carbs (both starches and sugars) are broken down into glucose in the digestive tract and absorbed into the blood stream. Diabetes occurs when your body is less effective at remove that glucose from your blood stream either because you don't produce enough insulin (usually Type 1 diabetes) or because you have become resistant to the insulin you produce. 3 things help....
1. Putting less carbs into your body so that less glucose goes into the blood stream in the first place. This usually has the biggest impact.
2. Exercising sucks the glucose out of the blood stream and into the muscles where it is used as energy. Prolonged steady exercise like walking and cycling is best to achieve this.
3. Medication. Metformin helps to reduce insulin resistance. Other medication has slightly different effects including ultimately injecting insulin so that there is enough to deal with the glucose.

Many people assume they just need to cut back on the sugar to see their BG levels return to normal but a slice of bread will have the same effect on BG levels as 3 spoons of sugar, so it is really important to cut back on those starchy carbs like bread and pasta and potatoes and rice and particularly breakfast cereals which are usually high in starches and sugars. Even healthy foods like fruit and porridge contain quite high levels of carbs and can spike BG levels.

Here on the forum most of us recognise the huge benefit of self testing our BG before and 2 hours after food to see what the food does to our levels and adjust our diet to keep the rise in BG between certain guidelines.

Thank you Barbara and apologies for my very delayed response. Thank you for your detailed explanation, it has been very informative. I have sort of learnt how to cut back on Carbs, but it is not easy for me, and every time I fall off the wagon, I try and get back on straight away. I do have my off days.

When I have tested my reading on the odd occasion in the morning, it has been around 11, I think the lowest reading I have ever had is 6. I just need to keep preserving with it.
Best Nina

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

When I have tested my reading on the odd occasion in the morning, it has been around 11, I think the lowest reading I have ever had is 6. I just need to keep preserving with it.
Best Nina

nice to ‘see‘ you again Nina 🙂

Sorry to hear that your BG is staying stubbornly high in the mornings. Those can be the last readings to come into line unfortunately - partly because the liver can ‘help out’ by releasing stored glucose to fire up the burners ready for the new day.

Are you checking your BG levels before and after meals? What sorts of rises are you seeing between the readings?

 

[NJM1787]

Hi Mike
Thank you! no I have not been. I was informed that I do not need to take my readings on a regular basis as I don’t suffer from hypos. My readings are generally above 8 all the time.

 

[Drummer]

Hi Mike
Thank you! no I have not been. I was informed that I do not need to take my readings on a regular basis as I don’t suffer from hypos. My readings are generally above 8 all the time.

Oh lordy - well - whoever told you that ought to be ashamed of themselves.
To start from the beginning, what you ought to have been told at the start (Do I sound exasperated, forgive me but I do get that way from time to time).
As a type two diabetic you are likely to have high levels of glucose due to the modern diet having more carbohydrate than you can cope with. These foods, in the form of sugar and starch ought to be reduced. By eating things lower in percentage carbs you can still have proper meals but they will be far better for you than those with grains or potatoes.
You can eat meat, seafoods and dairy including eggs as they will sustain you, and you can eat oil and fats, because you need them and they supply energy.
If you gradually cut back on your intake of carbs all the reserves where the excess has been stored as fat will start to reduce to normal levels. You should find more energy, you feel a lot better, and 8 will become a high reading.
You might wonder why I write 'you' and not 'we' - yes, I used to be diabetic with a high Hba1c, but I went low carb, and after six months it had, to all appearances gone away, and is still gone. I knew I had it beaten when I had two Christmas dinners, on consecutive days, and saw 6.5 afterwards both times.