Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gerriann Tobkin on November 23, 2009 at 7:26pm

Non-Diabetic range is between 70 and 100. A non-diabetic or non-prediabetic would never go as high as 120.
I have never been lower than 70 and when I am below 90 it is only before meals or first thing in the morning. At one hour after eating, I want to see my bs right around 100. If it is higher than 115, I check again in 30 minutes, if it is still higher than 115 I either get on my exercise bike or take a brisk walk.
I hope your experiment with oatmeal works out for you. Like I said I had to cut it out. I thought that it couldn't be bad for me because it is inherently good. I was wrong...when I started testing everything I ate so I could build a knowledge base, oatmeal surprised me.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Curwen on November 24, 2009 at 4:41am

Hi Gerriann,

Thanks, I guess I should be shooting for lower numbers then. Here I was thinking if it was 130, 1 hour after a meal then that was ok. You seem to be concerned when its over 115...

It looks like eggs and deli meat will be my morning meals from now on because anything with carbs in it are just spiking my numbers too high. I just cant cook a greasy sausage or bacon every morning so the deli meat makes it easier. I wish I could have a piece of toast but that seems to spike it also...

Hmmmm.... Some days I feel down and some days I feel like I can handle this... Its tough but I have to get it under control...


Thanks again, Paul

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Permalink Reply by Paul Curwen on November 24, 2009 at 6:16am

Hi Gerriann,

Oh well, I guess the Oatmeal test wasn't very good. Fasting was 95 and I was 144 at the 1 hour and 142 at the 2 hour time (this also included a 1/2 hour brisk walk after 1 hour)... So it seems that, like you the fiber has kept it high because I'm usually down by the 2 hours... I didn't really like it that much anyway, it wasn't as good as a bowl of Cheerios :(...

I think I will be sticking to eggs, meat and a few cut pieces of fruit for breakfast. Are you worried about the higher levels of cholesterol in the eggs/meat etc?

Thanks, Paul

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Permalink Reply by Gerriann Tobkin on November 24, 2009 at 8:22am

Paul...I completely understand how you feel. After you have your knowledge base of foods built, you will be better equipped to manage the D. Hopefully, it will help you feel less down and more in control. It's important to keep in mind that there will be days where your bs will have a mind of its own...you will have done everything right and still it goes high. When that happens to me, I look at the day to try to determine what might have happened...there are lots of things other than food that affects bs. Then if my schedule permits, I get on my bike or take a brisk walk...that will always bring my sugar down. Then I move on and forget it.

I am concerned about the higher levels of cholesterol, so I limit myself to two whole eggs per week. I will use one whole egg combined with more egg whites. Most mornings I eat Special K Protein Plus cereal (I don't drink the milk that remains in the bowl), one cup of coffee with half and half and a protein drink. If I have some fruit, I limit it to about 1/2 of an apple or a small amount of berries (blue or strawberries). Watermelon is good too. I love bananas, they don't like me. If you really want the cheerios, work them into your menu and plan to exercise immediately after eating. TEST it and see if you can make it work. If your like me and insulin resistant, the exercise helps to unlock your cells and allows the glucose in.

The protein drink I use is the Jay Robb Whey Protein. It is sweetened with stevia so it has just 1 gram of carbs. I make it with just ice water in the blender. I've tried the chocolate (I like this the best) and Tropical Dreamsicle. I'll add just a little bit of Sorbee's Sugar Free Chocolate Flavored Syrup so the chocolate flavor doesn't seem quite so thin. The protein drink is not what I would have chosen if I was not diabetic..but I am diabetic and the drink works for me.

I eat less meat and more fresh fish. Fish will actually help to lower cholesterol. I eat hamburgers and will skip the bun or just eat half the bun. I also eat french fries, I won't order them for myself...my husband or son will share with me...this way I don't eat too many. I like potato chips and I can now handle a handful...not half a bag like pre D. I didn't begin experimenting with high-carb foods like french fries and buns until after I had tight control for several months. Once your body is used to the lower carb diet, you may find that you can occasionally splurge a little bit without horribly high spikes. I never...ever...eat sweets that are not sugar free...never.

A word of caution...low carb diets are not for everyone and I recommend that you read as much as you can about it. There is a lot of good information on this website as well as on the diabetes 101 website. When I started my low-carb life change I lost a lot of hair and I would occasionally have dizzy spells. Since I was counting carb grams and not calories, I believe I wasn't getting enough calories. I was always making adjustments and still do. What I have settled on that seems to have stopped the hair loss, dizzy spells and weight loss is this: I try to keep my carb intake around 15 grams at any one meal. However, between meals I will have snacks (mostly nutritious, not always) with 5 to 10 grams of carbs each so my total carb intake over the course of the day can be between 60 and 100 grams. This way there isn't a large concentration of carbs at any one time. It works for me and I get the calories that I need.

In my opinion, your doing the right things. Continue to learn while refining your plan of attack and test, test, test and test some more.

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Permalink Reply by John Brush on November 24, 2009 at 2:58pm

Are you on meds? Are you a T2 or T1? What is your latest A1c number? Just curious because if you can eat three meals and stay healthy, and never go higher than 115, you are very, very unique. Apparently, you never eat any carbs?

If you never exceed 115, your A1c should end up around 4.5. Nice going.

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Permalink Reply by Gerriann Tobkin on November 26, 2009 at 6:51am

John,
As I stated in my first post to this discussion, I am a T2 and take metformin 2x day. Basically, I am insulin resistant.
You might want to go back and read my posts thoroughly because there seems to be some confusion. For example, I didn't say that I "never exceed 115"...quite the contrary...I write about (on several occasions) what course of action I take when I go high. What I did say is this, "At one hour after eating, I want to see my bs right around 100. If it is higher than 115, I check again in 30 minutes, if it is still higher than 115 I either get on my exercise bike or take a brisk walk." Having said that, it isn't often that I am over 115. The combination of metformin, exercise and careful monitoring of carb consumption has been very successful for me (so far).

I've already written about a few of the things that I eat in several of my posts...including my carb consumption goals. I don't know where you are going with "Apparently, you never eat any carbs?"

My dx was in April of this year with a fasting BS around 220 (I can't remember the exact number) and a A1C of 11.2. My last blood workup was in July...my A1C was at 6.2. Last week I went to the dr for something unrelated to my D and he asked if he could do blood workup... I don't know the results yet. Quite frankly, I didn't ask for the blood workup because I am only mildly interested in the A1C results. I know it will be somewhere in the mid 5 range. My confidence comes from the fact that in the early months after my dx, I spent a lot of time and energy learning and researching my options then testing to figure out what works for me. I did what Paul seems to be doing now...gathering the information that is needed to develop a plan. I read the guidelines for diabetics that says 120 to 140 is a good goal. I also read other information that implies this goal is too high. Obviously, my decision was to take the harder road and aim for tighter control. At first it was difficult and I was constantly thinking about what I needed to do. With less than a year behind me, it has become second nature and I spend much less time even thinking about it.

At my dx my dr told me that I will eventually need insulin (I might) and I will have complications from my D (I might). His experience is that most people don't take ownership of their diabetes management. He is surprised at my attitude and the hard changes that I have made for my health. I don't know where I will be in 5 or 10 years and I don't even have one year behind me yet, however, I can assure you I will do my darnedest to ensure that diabetes doesn't rob me of anything more than it already has. For me, and me alone, I don't believe it is an absolute conclusion that my disease is a degenerative disease. If it turns out that It is, it won't be because I failed to make the life changes that needed to be made.

There is a lot of information out there and I have found the Blood Sugar 101 speaks to me.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Curwen on November 26, 2009 at 7:30am

Hi Gerriann,

Thanks for this... I know exactly where you are coming from. I am beginning to learn that the lower I keep my numbers the better it is going to be in the long term. I am starting to weed out the foods that spike my numbers past the "normal" range and its all a matter of will power and attitude to cut that food out and replace with something that doesn't spike.

I'm not on any medication at the moment but aware it may eventually come to that, but like you it wont be because I haven't tried to manage this the best way I could.

If you have any recipes you could share with me I would greatly appreciate it...

Hope your having a great thanksgiving!

Paul

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Permalink Reply by Peter Germano on November 23, 2009 at 3:44pm

Paul, I read your statement about what you ate for breakfast. It appears that every thing you ate were carbs. You may want to add some protein to your breakfast. If your cholesterol is in an acceptable range,try some eggs.Also consider what Joe-h suggested. Let me know how it works out. Good luck. Pete

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Permalink Reply by Paul Curwen on November 23, 2009 at 5:43pm

Hi Peter,

Yes, I have been told this before so I am going to give this a try. Did you mean eggs with the cereal? Or just the eggs on their own?

I have have had eggs, ham and a couple of pieces of fruit for breakfast and my numbers were very good...

Thanks, Paul

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Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on November 24, 2009 at 6:43am

My favorite breakfast is eggs, meat and a slice of toast, usually low carb. A single slice of toast, even regular bread is 15g of carbs. If you count your carbs precisely, you would likely find that at most each gram of carbs will raise your blood sugar perhaps 5 mg/dl, hence 15g of carbs would raise you at most 75 mg/dl. If the carbs are low glycemic, or complex, or if you eat the carbs mixed with protein and fat, the blood sugar effect will be blunted. If you are a type 2, you will have some insulin response and you won't spike as much. If you eat a cup of oatmeal alone, it has perhaps 40-50g of carbs and could raise your blood sugar 200-250 mg/dl. You obviously did not see that high a spike, but you see the point. Your blood sugar will rise proportionally with the dietary carbs that you eat.

But keep this in mind. Eliminating all carbs is not necessarily the answer, limiting the carbs is the key. Have a piece of toast with breakfast, just don't go overboard. The fruit is fine. Perhaps having steel cut oatmeal and limiting it to a half cup will be ok. You do want some insulin response, it is what channels the nutrients into you body, you just don't want to overwhelm things.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Curwen on November 24, 2009 at 7:00am

Hi bsc,

Thanks... What kind of toast would you consider low carb? Is it a certain brand or do you mean rye as opposed to whole wheat?

Just lately it seems that whatever carbs I consume spike my numbers to the 120-150. Now I'm reading that 115 is possibly too high?

I'm going to try a piece of toast with peanut butter on it... As someone commented the protein helped reduce their spike... But I know this may not work for me...

Thanks for your comments, Paul

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Permalink Reply by Joe_h on November 24, 2009 at 7:20am

that's the really annoying thing about diabetes what works for me may not work for you (in fact some days what works for me doesn't always work for me) it's a lot of trial and error and adapting to what is going w/ your sugar levels

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