Ohhh, those darn carbs!!! what do I do??

[millymoose]

Hi, I really need to get things sorted with my diet, I though I was doing ok, but things are on a downward spiral. I am so confused by the carb word, and carbs with sugars, whats with all of that? all carbs have sugar, but some good, some bad, loads of sugar in fruit carbs, especially dried fruit. Porridge, yes or no? Bread, I have been eating wholemeal, but I understand that is a no, no. PLEASE..I urgently need advice about, cerial, bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, noodles.
Has anyone tried the low carb bread, where can I buy it? Also what about diabetic chocolate (or are we just being fooled there!)

I have been diagnosed for 18 months, at first all was fine because I became food phobic, lost over a stone in weight, and felt great, not monitoring my bloods as advised by GP, and when I had my check-up with him all was fine. But my diet was so limited and boring no carbs at all, and was not realistic for me to maintain. I lost the food phobia along the way, and now shamefullly I have regained back the weight. I am now testing regularly and my reading are usually around 10, not good. I really am worried about all of this, I did not go for my last check as I am ashamed and I dont want to be put on medication. I want to control my diabetes by diet, I do not want it controlling me.
Another thing I dont understand,🙄 yesterday I had a no carb day, and last night before bed reading of 8 - this morning upon waking 8.8
Any help or advice re thoes darn carbs would be so helpful.
Just one other thing, can stress raise you blood levels?
Sorry I have been so long winded, hope this does not put anyone off of replying. Thanks for listening

 

[Caroline]

Hi, and welcome. Try to go for a balanced diet as we still need some carbs. A few pointes given to me recently (and I'm still experimenting), the more processed it is the more quickly your body will absorb the food, the longer the food takes to eat the longer it will take for the carbs to be used up.

Try to go for whole seed, whole meal whole grain foods and plenty of vege. As fruit has its own sugar in, you need to experiment a bit with that to see what works and what doesn't.

As part of a balanced diet, chocolate, cakes and biscuits in moderation are OK, but as partof a meal or as a treat from time to time.

Are you on medication or just diet controled? There are loads of GI diet books around that may help. On my desk at work I have a Colins Gem Carb Counter that everyone borrows, but there are loads of other books too.

I'm sure things will work out well for you. It takes all of us a little while to make the adjustments.

 

[rachelha]

You need to find a diet that is sensible if it is too strict it would be unrealistic to expect you to be able to stick to it.

Stress definitely can affect your readings, I think it is to do with the fight or flight instinct. My blood sugar levels can go up into the high teens when I am stressed (but I am type 1 - I am not sure if it is the same for type 2).

Keep working at it, and let your clinic know that you need more help with working out a diet that is right for you. They are there to help you.

 

[wallycorker]

Hi millymoose,

If your blood glucose levels are too high and it seems as though they are, I would give you the quite simple advice to cut back dramatically on the starchy carbohydrates that you eat - i.e. cereals, bread, potatoes mainly - but also be careful with pasta and rice etc.

That usually, leads to a big and quick improvement in blood glucose levels.

Best wishes - John

 

[millymoose]

Sorry . . .

Spike
Hi, sorry don't want to sound dense, but can someone explain what a spike is?
I have a fair idea, just want it confirmed. I have been wondering around here on and off all day, so much information, wonderful!!

Hi Guys
Im sorry for being so rude in not replying you the above thread, and for this thread also. I have not been feeling great lately, other problems, other than diabetes. Its all getting me down at the moment. Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for the information. Take care everyone x x

 

[Peter C]

Another thing I dont understand,🙄 yesterday I had a no carb day, and last night before bed reading of 8 - this morning upon waking 8.8

Hi Milly,

this is the Dawn Phenomenon. The liver dumps glucose into the system just before dawn to kickstart you for the day. You have probably gone low in the night and the liver helpfully wades in. With non-diabetics its not a problem, with T2s its baffling to wake up with a higher reading than the night before when nothing has seemingly happened to cause it.
And in some people with a fierce DP it can run on into mid morning, which is one reason why many T2s avoid cereal breakfasts and go for protein ones ( otherwise they are just piling more glucose on top of the DP.)
T2s try to cheat the DP by eating some slowly digesting glucose from a protein NOT carb source. David Mendosa has a list of DP cheats on his pages I think ...
http://www.mendosa.com/

BTW you say you have gestational diabetes dxed 18 months ago. How long does GD last after the birth ? Has it moved on into T2 diabetes by now ?

 

[wallycorker]

............Porridge, yes or no? Bread, I have been eating wholemeal, but I understand that is a no, no. PLEASE..I urgently need advice about, cerial, bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, noodles.
Has anyone tried the low carb bread, where can I buy it? Also what about diabetic chocolate (or are we just being fooled there!)..........

Hi millymoose,

If you are having problems with high blood glucose levels, it would be my advice to cut back dramatically on all those starch carbohydrate foods. That usually leads to a quick and big improvement in blood glucose levels.

Brown rice, spelt pasta, pulse pasta etc are good alternatives if you really do need to eat some starch carbohydrate.

I find fruit OK and eat loads of it, even grapes and bananas. However, some people do have problems with fruit taking their levels high so check it out with your meter.

Best wishes - John

 

[Vanessa]

Milllymoose - just to emphasise what John has said - we all react differently. For me porridge is a definite no-no but I find no problems with fruit - allowing for portion size of course. The only way to find out for you is to test. When I started looking more carefully at carbs I just kept a record of what I ate and then tried adjusting over a period of time - also know that the amount of exercise I do will affect just how much carb my body can cope with so it is an individual thing.