Need to lower my blood sugar and keep it down.
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deb_rogers
Posts: 1 Member
My blood sugar for 6/30 was 303, 7/1was 328, 7/2 was 346, 7/3 was 344. I need to figure out what I am doing wrong.
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What time do you eat dinner? How many carbs?0
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I was just diagnosed a little over a week ago - it's been a struggle. My BG was 197 in the office, and my a1c was 9.9! I've been eliminating sugar and eating reduced carbs, as well as exercising every day, and have got it down from the 200's to 123 today. Still not there, but hoping to continue the trend and bring it in line.1
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Kymmit, I was just diagnosed recently also. I see a diabetic counselor this week, so I have not yet started my BG testing. My A1C was 7.0.0
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At my last physical exam my fasting blood sugar was 126. This is just enough to earn me the classification of being diabetic. My doctor ordered an A1c and it came up to be 6.7. My doctor said I could take metformin but I declined it and asked if I could try lowering those numbers through diet and exercise. I had to see a diabetic nutritionist. She made me angry as she told me I could eat 2-4 grams of carbohydrate at each meal! That is too much for me. She also advised low-fat. I told her right out that I was not eating low fat as when they take the fat out they substitute sugar and artificial crap, which is not food! So I paid a huge sum of money for this advice. What a waste of my time. I ignored much of her advice. I try to keep my carbs at about 20 % of my diet instead of the large amount she recommended. I also eat more healthy fats at each meal. Whenever I eat I make sure I never eat a carb alone but balance it with healthy fats and protein.
I got some books from the library on diabetes. I really like the advice given from Doctor Mark Hyman. He encourages more healthy fats at each meal. Fat does not make you fat. Sugar is the culprit!
Well, so far I have lost about 20 pounds. It has been about 4 months since my diagnosis. That is about a pound a week. I have been told this is a safe way to lose, but at times it seems like nothing is happening. Yet, this is the first time in my life that the scale is slowly going backwards instead of forward. I just need to be patient with myself and I feel I can meet my goals in due time.
Things I have learned:
The American Diabetes Association recommends way too much carbohydrate.
Exercise is a very important component for diabetes/ even just walking every day.
Eat regular meals, plus a snack before bed
Do not over stuff yourself at one meal. It will raise your blood sugars even if it is healthy food.
The carbs and sugars need to be kept at a minimal amount.
Do NOT go low fat, but include healthy fats at each meal (Dr Mark Hyman)
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I am the kind of guy who takes very little at face value and likes to apply reason and logic. That said, when I was diagnosed with diabetes last year, logic told me cutting carbs would lower my BG. Sure enough A1c dropped from 6.6 to 5.9 in about 4 months. I then got a bit lazy and thought I would just follow ADA guidelines and keep meals under 60g carbs - generally kept them under 45 and under 130 for the day, so was actually on the low side of their guidelines and in 6 months my A1c went back up to 6.2.
I have since done a ton of research and found my experience is not unusual. In fact, the best one can reasonably expect following the ADA guidelines is to get worse slower. That is their own admission as they say it is a progressive disease.
Although I found many articles on diabetes management, all the actual studies seem to contradict the basis for the ADA recommendations. The best single resource I found is in the link below. It took dozens of studies on diet with diabetics and did a meta-analysis of them. It is a technical and made me have to google many terms to figure it all out, but it was well worth it. The charts and graphs, for the most part, are very easy to read.
http://www.nutritionjrnl.com/article/S0899-9007(14)00332-3/fulltext
I have now gone on a very low carb diet. Within a few days, my fasting BG readings dropped from an average of about 110 (ranging from 104 to as high as the 120's) to being almost always below 100 and even in the 80's a few times.
This is similar to what happened when I decided to go lower carb the first time except that this time, I have cut carbs more and the results are bigger. My postprandial readings are almost all under 100 now (at the 2 hour mark). It has been close to a month since making the change. I am down 8 lbs without being hungry and my BG is down.
Based on the research I have done, this is what I should have expected. It is just amazing me that my doctors didn't tell me to do this.
Everyone has to take their own path, but I think anyone with pre- T2, T1 or even insulin resistance should read what is in that link before making any decisions on how they should attack their diabetes. After all, we all want to win this battle.1 -
@cstehansen - Care to offer a brief progress report?0
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She made me angry as she told me I could eat 2-4 grams of carbohydrate at each meal! That is too much for me.
Something's not right in this post.
2-4g of carbs is not much. Its less than a piece of hard candy, like an after-dinner peppermint or butterscotch candy. You can't eat that at each meal?
Maybe there's a 0 missing? 20-40g?
Murple
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cstehansen wrote: »
Based on the research I have done, this is what I should have expected. It is just amazing me that my doctors didn't tell me to do this.
Everyone has to take their own path, but I think anyone with pre- T2, T1 or even insulin resistance should read what is in that link before making any decisions on how they should attack their diabetes. After all, we all want to win this battle.
Maybe you need a better doctor.
Mine did tell me about carb counting, a target range per meal based on my height/weight, what types of carbs to count/ not count and so on. I mean, your body needs some carbohydrates to power your basal metabolism. If you don't eat enough carbs, your liver starts making glucose from stored fat (that's the whole basis of the Atkins diet for weight loss). But that ketosis is a mild form of ketoacidosis; that may not be a problem for T2 but its dangerous for T1's because DKA can come on so quickly.
For what its worth, my endocrinologist & CDO set me up with 30-45g of carbs per meal, but not counting "stir fry vegetables" even if an Atkins-type diet would count them (like onions, carrots, etc.). I count starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, acorn squash, peas & beans, etc. And fruit, milk. The amount of information I was given and had to absorb in the first few weeks after diagnosis was substantial. So was the support from my medical team.
It took me a while to find the right group, but I highly recommend looking around for someone who speaks your language. I knew I was in the right place when I filled out the new patient information form and saw a question that asked "How do you learn best? By reading about something, having it explained to you, or by doing it yourself?" That told me I'd found a practice that was committed to teaching its patients how to participate in their own health.
So maybe you should shop around?
Murple0 -
My a1c is over 10 I need to lower it by watching what I eat, exercise and remembering to take all my medications including my insulin.0
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rhondastehle wrote: »My a1c is over 10 I need to lower it by watching what I eat, exercise and remembering to take all my medications including my insulin.
I'm assuming you're a T2D in what follows....
Hopefully, watching what you eat means you would be willing to cut back on your carbohydrate intake and limit your calories. If so, you may be able to get your A1c down significantly - and reduce or get off your insulin and other meds! See @cstehansen's info above in this thread.
In fact, you do not need carbs, especially if you're running A1c of 10. They do not provide any essential nutrients, and your liver and pancreas will appreciate having less strain to bear. (But it's almost impossible to avoid carbs altogether anyhow.)
Of course, everyone is different, but judging from the many T2Ds (like me) who have been able to reduce their BG only by switching to low-carb diets, I believe every T2D should at least give it a try.
Good luck!0
