Now I'm confused?

[Newtothis]

Is this a high reading:-

I tested immediately before eating a wholemeal pitta bread with tuna and tomoes and reading was 5.7. 2hrs later reading is 7.6 (highest reading I've had); does this mean the pitta bread isn't as good as I thought?

Amanda 🙂

 

[Northerner]

No, that's a good reading Amanda. You need to aim to be 8.5 or under 2 hours after eating, and you were! 🙂 What you might like to try nect time you have a pitta bread is test before and then one hour after eating - this way you will know whether the blood glucose goes up quickly or not i.e. you can find the 'peak' of your blood sugars. For exmple, if it is lower than 7.6 at 1 hour then this means it is still rising at that time, and 7.6 is probably the peak, but if it is higher than 7.6 you will know that it peaks higher than 7/6 and you may decide to avoid it in future. Hope that makes sense! 🙂

 

[Newtothis]

No, that's a good reading Amanda. You need to aim to be 8.5 or under 2 hours after eating, and you were! 🙂 What you might like to try nect time you have a pitta bread is test before and then one hour after eating - this way you will know whether the blood glucose goes up quickly or not i.e. you can find the 'peak' of your blood sugars. For exmple, if it is lower than 7.6 at 1 hour then this means it is still rising at that time, and 7.6 is probably the peak, but if it is higher than 7.6 you will know that it peaks higher than 7/6 and you may decide to avoid it in future. Hope that makes sense! 🙂

So is it better to test 1hr after food as opposed to 2hrs. I've swapped wholemeal pitta with any type of bread so wanted to check if its ok. Thank you. Amanda

 

[Northerner]

It's best to do both so you can find the point at which your blood glucose rises the highest after eating. It might sound like a lot of testing, but once you have built up the information you don't need to do it every time the next time you have that particular meal. As you go on you will discover what food is best for you and what you should avoid and your need for testing will drop a lot. For example, you might think that eating a jacket potato and beans is alright if your blood sugar is 7.5 two hours later, but if you measure after 1 hour and it is 10.5 then you will know to avoid it. If, after 1 hour it is 6.5 then you can see that it is still within range and rising, knowing that it will most liely be 7.5 after 2 hours. 🙂

 

[Robster65]

I think what Alan meant was to test at 2 hours but also, for some things that seem ok, you could test at 1hr sometimes as well to see if they peak early.

It's possible that teh tuna may lower the GI so much that it will peak at 3 hours but if this is the case, it would normally be so low as to not be a problem.🙂

Rob

 

[Newtothis]

I think what Alan meant was to test at 2 hours but also, for some things that seem ok, you could test at 1hr sometimes as well to see if they peak early.

It's possible that teh tuna may lower the GI so much that it will peak at 3 hours but if this is the case, it would normally be so low as to not be a problem.🙂

Rob

So it would be easier to test immediately before a meal and then 1 hour and 2hrs later to see where the peak is. So ideally, if you have a specific dish for breakfast i.e. porridge/weetabix you could see which is better for you by testing both again immediately and 1hr and 2hrs after.

This way you could put a meal plan together. Amanda 🙂

 

[Northerner]

So it would be easier to test immediately before a meal and then 1 hour and 2hrs later to see where the peak is. So ideally, if you have a specific dish for breakfast i.e. porridge/weetabix you could see which is better for you by testing both again immediately and 1hr and 2hrs after.

This way you could put a meal plan together. Amanda 🙂

Correct! 🙂

 

[Newtothis]

Correct! 🙂

I wouldn't have to check again would I if the post numbers were within guidelines. I took your advice and tested on my little finger - I didn't realise you couldn't use your thumb? 🙂

 

[Robster65]

If you can afford the strips to do it, yes !

ALan explained it more fully immediately before i jumped in

But the ideal would be to test every half hour or sooner to chart the exact rise and fall of each meal. This would obviously be expensive and painful on the fingers, as well as changing slightly each time you eat.

So the 1hr and 2hr is a good compromise as long as you only do it for some new dishes.

Rob

 

[Newtothis]

If you can afford the strips to do it, yes !

ALan explained it more fully immediately before i jumped in

But the ideal would be to test every half hour or sooner to chart the exact rise and fall of each meal. This would obviously be expensive and painful on the fingers, as well as changing slightly each time you eat.

So the 1hr and 2hr is a good compromise as long as you only do it for some new dishes.

Rob

Thank you for answering all my questions - as my mom would say if you don't ask you won't find out. Thank you. 🙂

 

[Vicsetter]

Hi Amanda, just to add a T2 view on this. Unless you are on rapid acting insulin, there is little you can do to compensate for the way your body reacts to the carbs in the food. If you have browsed the forum for a while you will have found out that the same food affects different people differently. The purpose of the 1hr and 2 hr testing is so you can determine what certain foods do to you. Once that has taken place you should be able to greatly reduce the testing. I only test prior to a meal, for instance, and do a 1hr and 2hr test infrequently, just as a check. This way I can decide what not to have or what to add on to maintain my targets.

It will help others to advise you, if you could add your treatment in your signature (Diet & Exercise, Metformin, Insulin etc), if you don't mind.

 

[Newtothis]

Hi Amanda, just to add a T2 view on this. Unless you are on rapid acting insulin, there is little you can do to compensate for the way your body reacts to the carbs in the food. If you have browsed the forum for a while you will have found out that the same food affects different people differently. The purpose of the 1hr and 2 hr testing is so you can determine what certain foods do to you. Once that has taken place you should be able to greatly reduce the testing. I only test prior to a meal, for instance, and do a 1hr and 2hr test infrequently, just as a check. This way I can decide what not to have or what to add on to maintain my targets.

It will help others to advise you, if you could add your treatment in your signature (Diet & Exercise, Metformin, Insulin etc), if you don't mind.

Thanks for above - I'm not on any medication. Haven't had my appointment with the diabetic nurse yet but do know from my GP my HbA1c is 7.2. I did a wake up test this morning which was 5. I then had a bowl of porride and tested 1 hour later and was shocked to see 9.2. Will do another test in 1 hour. I'm assuming Porridge is something I should cut out even though its good for you Amanda