Newish and confused on sugars

cehare48

hi, I was diagnosed 2013 and was getting in ok my blood sugar got down to 7.7, but sort of let my self go over Xmas and new year and now it's 9!
Decided to rejoin MFP, and log everything I eat, and will start to exercise. But reading forums and comments is getting me confused about what to eat. Can anyone tell me how much natural sugar/carbs it is recommended to eat daily, cos can't find a definitive answer anywhere.

robert65ferguson

Hi, one of the really frustrating thing about Diabetes is that it's a very individual condition. What causes me to spike may leave you unaffected. It is therefore advisable to identify those foods which cause us to spike. The best way to do this is to test your blood sugar both before eating and about two hours after eating. Your post meal reading may have to be done earlier or later depending on what you are eating If you are eating complex carbs eg whole grains then your spike may come later eg two hours 30 mins after eating. You can only know this by trial and error. As a rule it's best to avoid things like white rice, pasta, potatoes, white bread and sugary drinks etc. An excellent information source would be Blood Sugar 101 by Jenny Ruhl. I found this to be very helpful. Read over the various threads in this group and when you're ready to ask questions you will find lots of people willing to share their experience. I wish you well on your journey to a healthy and active life.

KeithF6250

I'll echo what Robert said. Here is a link to Blood Sugar 101:
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

Has your physician linked you up with a diabetes education program or support group? There is no reason for you to be trying to do everything on your own. Ask questions here as well. People will help as they can.

earlnabby

I can tell you what my diabetic educator told me, but bear in mind that this is for me and your situation may be different. I am not on insulin so she told me that I do not need to track sugars, I just need to track total carbs. I am to eat a decent amount of fiber, but not subtract the fiber from the carbs since total carbs, not net carbs is the important number.

The limit she gave me was a maximum 180 g of carbs daily, spaced fairly evenly over the day. Typically I will have 20-25 g for breakfast, 30-40 for lunch, 20-30 for afternoon snack, 40-60 for dinner, and maybe 20 for bedtime snack. Obviously the numbers vary from one day to the next but this is ballpark.

Questions I would ask your doctor or diabetes educator:

How many grams daily?
How many grams per meal?
Total or Net?
Total carbs or divide up into sugars and other carbs?

It can be confusing, which is why it really helps to find someone who knows your numbers and can answer your questions.

cehare48

Thanks everyone, just read diet doctor as recommended, and a little clearer. As long as I know to steer clear of carbs, which I have done today, although did have a digestive at break time. Even tonight I had leeks, spinach and mushrooms for tea instead of pasta. It's going to take a little while for it to kick in. But will keep asking you all questions, some may be silly though! X

Alsvic

the very best thing you can do is test, test, test. I am not sure where you live but you can purchase an inexpesive meter at Wal-Mart. fifty test strips are $ 9.00 Keep a log of what you ate and when then test every 1/2 hour. You will very quicly get an Idea of what food will cause your blood sugar to spike. This may sound kind of extreame but within a month you will know what foods you need to avoid and what you can eat with out guilt. I now test once or twice a day and my only surprises are when my levels are lower than think they shoud be.

KeithF6250

Don't worry about questions being "silly." We have all been where you are now. Better to ask a silly question than to do something silly.

If I may, I'd like to propose visiting another group as well.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/394-low-carber-daily-forum-the-lcd-group
It's not a specific diabetic group but people who eat low carb for a variety of reasons. If you go start with the Launch Pad or scan the threads for topics which interest you.