Thanks for welcome

[Mavis]

Recently type2 and I have bought a blood glucose meter to help me understand what food is doing? I have only used it this week for the first time and have been testing first thing on a morning then after my tea at around 5pm then again before bed at 11pm is this the best time please and any help appreciated thanks in advance

 

[ColinUK]

Hi Mavis.
In order to understand what your body is doing in response to the foods you’re eating you need to have a baseline measurement before you eat anything.
So common practice would be to test first thing in the morning (literally referred to as Foot on the Floor) to see where you are at first thing. Then the convention is to test before you start to eat and again two hours after your first bite.

At the outset I’d say don’t get too hung up on the actual values but pay attention to trends.

That said, out of interest what have your numbers been like and do you know what your hba1c was at diagnosis?

 

[Mavis]

Hi Mavis.
In order to understand what your body is doing in response to the foods you’re eating you need to have a baseline measurement before you eat anything.
So common practice would be to test first thing in the morning (literally referred to as Foot on the Floor) to see where you are at first thing. Then the convention is to test before you start to eat and again two hours after your first bite.

At the outset I’d say don’t get too hung up on the actual values but pay attention to trends.

That said, out of interest what have your numbers been like and do you know what your hba1c was at diagnosis?

 

[Mavis]

Hi and thank you I have been pre diabetic for 11 yr at 46 but last yearly was 50 so they put me on tablets which I could not tolerate so told to stop anyway since I started with my finger picks as soon as I get up I’ve been around 7.6 then 2 hrs after tea my reading has been between 7.7 and 10.3 bedtime around 11pm is between 7.6 and 8.2
I have stage 3 kidney failure and under active thyroid, blood pressure (controlled) I’ve just reduced my cholesterol to 4.4 have doctors appointment later today my head has been all over any advice is welcome sorry if I’ve rattled on a bit

 

[ColinUK]

Trust me, you’re not rattling on!

It sounds like you’ve got a lot going on with the other medical conditions you have to cope with.

I’m guessing they started you on metformin and that’s what you had issues with? There’s a slow release version that you could try. Most people can cope with that even if they couldn’t deal with the ‘normal’ version.

Add in a reading before you start to eat. That way you can tell if what you’re eating is causing a spike or not. A spike is a reading two hours after you start eating that’s 2.5 or more I think above the before meal one.

I don’t see the point in a bedtime reading so maybe use that strip for the pre meal test.

Have to say your numbers don’t seem to be massively out of control so hopefully with a little bit of tweaking foodstuffs you can ease back in to the pre-diabetes stage or even into remission!

Hopefully you’ll get a chance to look around the forum. There’s a wealth of lived experience here and we’re a friendly bunch who try our best to help each other deal with the joys of having diabetes!

 

[Mavis]

Trust me, you’re not rattling on!

It sounds like you’ve got a lot going on with the other medical conditions you have to cope with.

I’m guessing they started you on metformin and that’s what you had issues with? There’s a slow release version that you could try. Most people can cope with that even if they couldn’t deal with the ‘normal’ version.

Add in a reading before you start to eat. That way you can tell if what you’re eating is causing a spike or not. A spike is a reading two hours after you start eating that’s 2.5 or more I think above the before meal one.

I don’t see the point in a bedtime reading so maybe use that strip for the pre meal test.

Have to say your numbers don’t seem to be massively out of control so hopefully with a little bit of tweaking foodstuffs you can ease back in to the pre-diabetes stage or even into remission!

Hopefully you’ll get a chance to look around the forum. There’s a wealth of lived experience here and we’re a friendly bunch who try our best to help each other deal with the joys of having diabetes!

Thank you so much basically poor information from doctors just really told don’t eat this this and this I was like what the …. Am I going to eat anyway with the help of people on here I will learn

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi and thank you I have been pre diabetic for 11 yr at 46 but last yearly was 50 so they put me on tablets which I could not tolerate so told to stop anyway since I started with my finger picks as soon as I get up I’ve been around 7.6 then 2 hrs after tea my reading has been between 7.7 and 10.3 bedtime around 11pm is between 7.6 and 8.2

Welcome to the forum @Mavis

Great to hear you have a meter to help shed some light on how your body is responding to different meals and foods.

I have stage 3 kidney failure and under active thyroid, blood pressure (controlled) I’ve just reduced my cholesterol to 4.4 have doctors appointment later today my head has been all over any advice is welcome sorry if I’ve rattled on a bit

Sorry to hear about all the competing conditions you are juggling and balancing. It’s perfectly natural to feel a bit overwhelmed and knocked sideways by a diagnosis with a long-term condition like diabetes.

One of the biggest questions when trying to get to grips with your diabetes is often ‘what can I eat’ and while there are obvious things like cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks that you will want to cut out straight away, you might be surprised how much *all* carbohydrate affects your BG levels, including rice, pasta, potatoes, 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.

One way to use your BG meter is to interrogate your different meals and sources of carbs by taking a reading before and again 2hrs after eating. This allows you to see what the differences are, and to identify any carbs that cause a rapid rise (or ‘spike’) in your BG. Ideally you would want to see a rise of no more than 2-3mmol/L at the 2hr mark.

Once you can see how your body responds to different meals you can begin experimenting with reducing portion sizes of the carbs where you see bigger rises. You might find that you are particularly sensitive to carbohydrate from one source (eg bread), but have more liberty with others (eg oats or basmati rice) - It’s all very individual! You might even find that just having things at a different time of day makes a difference - with breakfast time being the trickiest.

Over weeks and months of experimentation you can gradually tweak and tailor your menu to find one that suits your tastebuds, your waistline, your budget and your BG levels - and a way of eating that is flexible enough to be sustainable long-term. 🙂

Good luck, and let us know how things go 🙂

 

[Leadinglights]

The testing regime suggested should give you a good idea of what foods and portion size your body can tolerate but by selecting the right foods will give you better options. There is no reason why some dietary changes shouldn't be able to bring down your blood glucose without medication when you are only at 50mmol/mol.
This link may give you some good ideas for making some changes, https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/

 

[Mavis]

The testing regime suggested should give you a good idea of what foods and portion size your body can tolerate but by selecting the right foods will give you better options. There is no reason why some dietary changes shouldn't be able to bring down your blood glucose without medication when you are only at 50mmol/mol.
This link may give you some good ideas for making some changes, https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/

Thank you I will take a look