Newcomer with a cold and some nice BG peeks

[acid1966 10]

Hi guys!

First time around this forum, looks great and filled with good people that are more than please to shared their experience! I don't know what we did before the Internet!? It's the first time I'm looking for help online with fellow diabetics and that looks extremely promising. As much as the diabetology people are nice and trying to do their best I feel there's nothing better than experience.

I'm looking for an enlightenment if that's cool

 

I running an average on my A1C of about 7.5; not great I know because I seem to get a lot of high peek post meal, around 12-13 (216-234) and it comes down normal, eventually I'm eating relatively healthy but maybe too much I don't know, between 90 and 120gr of carbs each meal. The only sweet allowed is a granola bar (28gr). Some dairy in the morning, lots of vedgies and fruits, barely any fast food, don't really drink except on occasion (once a month), no excess, no drugs, no smoking. And a LOT of exercises; gym, cycling, tennis. You get the idea, I'm doing the try-outs to become a saint

 

So my question is, how do you guys manage these peeks in order to stay below 10 (180) and get a decent A1C? ANY help is more than welcome

 

I should mention that I use NovoRapid (pre-meal) ratio-based; about 6 or 7u at breakfast and 7 at lunch and usually 10-11 at dinner (small amount apparently, I have no idea) and about 14u of Lantus at night.

 

PS. Now I got this stupid cold and everything is OUT of whack so I can't really experimenting with insulin dosage at this time... maybe in a couple of days hopefully

 

Thanks for your inputs!

[acid1966 10]

Im sorry, I should have introduced myself in the proper section of the forum! didnt know :-|

[Aggie 830]

Errr, 90 to 120 carbs every meal? I am aiming for less than 50 per day. I'd say to seriously consider reducing your carb intake and going 'low carb', and seeing what happens. Bet your BG spikes would lessen.

[JanetP 17,499]

Go to Blood Sugar 101 website and start reading. You are eating too many carbs. Welcome to the forum.

[acid1966 10]

@Janet Thank you very much, I'm on it

 

Wooo! I kinda knew it was too much... but not that much!

The thing is my nutritionist has been telling me that I should eat about 2500 calories per day, I tried lower calorie intake and I loose weight like crazy! I'm having a hard time finding these precious calories without much carbs... no objection in changing habits whatsoever

[Aggie 830]

Fat has a LOT of calories, and protein has a fair amount. You have to up your fat and protein uptake to make up for the lower carb intake, if you don't want to or need to lose weight.

 

I was afraid of losing too much weight also, but I have been OK so far (2 and a half months in) by snacking a lot on high fat items (cheese, nuts).

[acid1966 10]

Hey thanks Aggie, the thing is I am allergic to most nuts... I'm good with seeds and peanuts at least

This morning, I reduced my carb intake to 70gr instead of my usual 120gr (almost 50% cut) and it seems to work good. I'll try to add some cold cuts tomorrow morning as well.

What about protein shake as a mid-afternoon snacks?

[Aggie 830]

I guess it depends on the carb count of the protein shake, which should be listed on it. If you're curious, here is my typical meal plan:

 

Breakfast: scrambled eggs or omelet, flax seed 'bread' (has less than 1 g carb per slice), a little salsa, a strawberry or two, no-carb diet 'fruit' drink. Omelets can have cheese, meat or veggies in them, but I usually just have plain scrambled eggs.

 

Lunch: big salad with high fat dressing (blue cheese for example) can include meat, cheese, olives, seeds, or a mini-dinner with low-starch veggies and meat/fish/chicken, flax seed 'bread' sometimes, ice tea, water, or diet soda (rare).

 

Dinner: Low carb entree with meat or fish, often includes a low carb sauce (I like sauces), low-starch veggies, berries with whipped cream (not store bought), glass of wine sometimes, water

 

Snacks: Nuts (are you allergic to all of them? Macadamia nuts are really good carb-wise), cheese, seeds (like pumpkin or sunflower seeds), 85% dark chocolate.

 

In general, I try to keep each main meal at 10 - 15 carbs max. I expect my breakfast is considerably under this, so it gives me a bit of leeway later. Notice that there are no real sweets (85% chocolate is on the bitter side) and no traditional starches such as pasta, rice, potatoes, noodles, or bread. For fruit, berries are the lowest carb by far. And for veggies, avoid starchy ones like corn, peas, and winter squash. Turnips can make a good potato substitute, as can mashed cauliflower.

 

I am a complete newcomer to the diabetes thing, and not even close to an expert, but I feel like I have a good handle on low carb because my husband has been low carbing for 14 years to control his weight.

 

If you could write down your typical meals, I bet a lot of people on this forum would be able to help fine tune it to a more diabetic-friendly version.

[NMSunshine 40]

@Janet Thank you very much, I'm on it

 

Wooo! I kinda knew it was too much... but not that much!

The thing is my nutritionist has been telling me that I should eat about 2500 calories per day, I tried lower calorie intake and I loose weight like crazy! I'm having a hard time finding these precious calories without much carbs... no objection in changing habits whatsoever

 

Well my diabetic educator told me it was ok to eat 2 Krispy Creme donuts for breakfast as it was still under the 60g of carbs allowed by ADA. NOT!! I finally listened to what my BODY told me I could eat and have gotten my A1c down to 6.1. You mentioned being under 180 post meal, most on this board shoot for under 140. Over 140 is doing damage.

[acid1966 10]

Sure!

So my meals look like this

 

Breakfast: Orange juice (30), banana (30), 2 peanut butter toasts (40) OR yogurt with oatmeal and raspberries (35), milk (12)

 

Lunch: Usually various meat curry (50) OR Chili (50) OR Whole-grain sandwich (35), V8 juice (8), Granola bar (28), apple sauce (10), water or tea

 

Dinner: That depends! Some meat, whether pork chops, small steak, sausages, lots of trouts and salmon, omelettes (once a week) and chicken on weekends. I usually served the meat with a sweet potato (50) or a regular potato (30-40), rice (40) if my girlfriend takes care of the dinner. Always some vegetables and a salad with homemade dressing. Milk - always (12). Maybe a desserts; ice cream (30) or granola bar (28)*.

 

Well, this looks like a healthy menu... for a non-diabetic

[acid1966 10]

@nmsunshine Hahaha! Screw the educator let's have 3! I don't aim more for like 90-130, 180 is the threshold I'd like to stay under

[control 528]

@nmsunshine Hahaha! Screw the educator let's have 3! I don't aim more for like 90-130, 180 is the threshold I'd like to stay under

Serious question: If 140 is the point at which damage occurs, why are you setting your threshold at 180?

[acid1966 10]

Honestly speaking, I was teach the damage point was 10 (180). And frankly, if you give any carbs from 5 to 10 dry, no insulin, I'll probably peek up to more tha 180 for an hour. Hence why I never snack unless I really need it.

[control 528]

Honestly speaking, I was teach the damage point was 10 (180). And frankly, if you give any carbs from 5 to 10 dry, no insulin, I'll probably peek up to more tha 180 for an hour. Hence why I never snack unless I really need it.

A lot of us, myself included, were told a lot of things by so-called "professionals" that turned out to be false. There's plenty of literature out there now that indicates that damage begins at 140. I don't suggest that the internet becomes a person's sole go-to source for information, but here's an article I pulled up after a quick search. With so much misinformation out there, I always suggest that people continue to educate themselves on the real facts.

 

How high is too high?

 

American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines advise “lowering A1C to below or around 7%” and postprandial (after-meal) glucose levels to 180 mg/dl or below. But new research shows that these glucose levels damage blood vessels, nerves, organs, and beta cells.

 

First, the numbers. “Post-meal blood sugars of 140 mg/dl [milligrams per deciliter] and higher, and fasting blood sugars over 100 mg/dl [can] cause permanent organ damage and cause diabetes to progress,” Ruhl writes.

[Aggie 830]

I think that your diet is overloaded with carbs. What if you try a genuine low carb regimen for a couple of weeks, and see what happens with your blood sugar? Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[acid1966 10]

The thing I found with low carb diet - I tried before, I've dabbled with Dr. Bernstein's method;and I was constantly hungry and I lose weight like butter in the sun. Of course, I tried to eat more in order to match these 2500 cal. and the reading were not that impressive, A1C runned about the same as today

 

The thing I've been reading is if not enough carbs is consume, protein will be convert into carbs. Since I inject NovoRapid, it could get things a little complicated. I'm more comfortable in a lower carb version of my menu, maybe slower acting carbs - ice cream is not part of that group

[Aggie 830]

Hmmm. I sympathize with this, as I was really afraid I was going to drop a bunch of weight too (but it didn't happen, at least not yet). I felt kind of 'off' and weirdly hungry and almost sort of nauseous for the first week or two on low carb, but it went away and I felt better, with better energy. I started at about 134 and am now at 130 pounds, and most of that loss was in the first 3 weeks.

 

How long have you been diabetic? Based on your signature, it looks like you are only a bit younger than me (I am 49). How long did you try low carb? How much weight did you lose during that time?

 

I always thought insulin tended to put on weight, but not in your case, it looks like. I hope others here with more experience have some ideas.

[acid1966 10]

I'm actually 34, I just love the music of this era

I've been diabetic since September 2010. Prior to that my weight was around 155 at 5'11" not too bad. And then dropped at 125 over 6 weeks!! It took a year to go back at 145 and then when I tried Bernstein's method, drop back to a mere 135. Now I'm back at 158. By eating a lot of carbs OR having enough calories.

 

My main concern is too eliminate the peeks post meal and this morning, it seem to have work by replacing the toasts with hard boiled eggs, I kept the peanut butter

[acid1966 10]

But I'd really like to know what T1s think about tha. What menu they suggest and so on.

Thanks