Five days of measuring: what does this tell me?

blueimp

In five days of measuring at morning fasting, before lunch, before dinner, and bedtime I see relatively consistent numbers most well within my goal range of 70-149. Numbers tend high at the morning fasting (3x over 149, once well over); before lunch and before dinner run in the 110-120 range. Bedtime is higher - 120s and low 130s, mostly because of my work and commute -- which frequently gets me home late and dinner is finished less than 2 hours before I head for bed. What does this tell me?

Aside: Earler some had suggested replacing grains and potatoes at dinner with other veggies, and replacing carby evening snacks with veggies and nuts (or nut butters). This may have made some difference, but nothing spectacular.
I'm fundamentally against taking chemicals to help with sleep, and the main reason for the carby snacks is that they do seem to help me sleep better. (Full disclosure, I did go back and add some snacks late last night because I wasn't sleeping; worked like a charm.)
I'm not nay-saying and I'm definately open to suggestion and change.
Thanks for your input and suggestions.
Judi

Sharonks

Judi,

Check about 2 hrs after you eat and see where you are at with those. Your bedtime reading looks pretty good since they are around 2 hrs after eating. Readings like that shouldn't have spawned such highs in the morning. Testing about 2 hrs after meals will tell you whether you need to cut back on the carbs. Were your higher readings in the morning after a night of eating a protein only snack? Fastings should be under 126 according to ADA and 110 according to ACE. It can take a while for BG to change when you alter your diet so keep going and test often to find out if there are specific foods that work/don't work.

texasgal22

I'm only about a month into this and not even a full week of testing but I too find that a bedtime snack helps with the sleeping. I'm trying the one carb/one protein and my BB results have been 103,102,100 and 97 today plus I feel rested. Keep doing what benefits your health/rest - we are all different.

JaceyMarieS

Testing only before meals isn't quite enough to tell you much.

What you are looking to discover is how different foods affect you. As I'm sure you're aware, carbohydrates (sugars, wheat, rice... the things our Grandmas called "starches") raise blood sugars the most rapidly. Protein and fat do raise them, but not as high and much more slowly... so if you're a T2, generally the insulin your body still makes may take care of the rise.

You might want to try some experiments.

First: Eat whatever you've been currently eating... but log it all. (Isn't MFP great?!?!).

Test yourself at the following times:

Upon waking (fasting)
1 hour after each meal
2 hours after each meal
At bedtime

That means 8 x each day. What you will discover by this is how long after a meal your highest reading comes... and how fast you return to "normal". You may see that a meal that included bread, fruit or other carbs gives you a higher reading.

Then for the next few days, try to curb your carbs. Eliminate breads, cereals, rice, beans, any wheat products, potato, corn, fruit... get all your carbs from veggies. Test at the same schedule above.

If you try this for a few days, you may find some pretty good readings. It's worth a few days to discover. Eventually you can slowly add back carbs until you see them affecting your meter. The thing about this disease... though we share much in common and we need to follow certain guidelines... in the end, each of our bodies dictate our treatment and our success.

The closer we get to non-diabetic numbers, the greater chance we have of avoiding truly scary complications. The key here is AIM... I know that everyone is at a different point in their disease... and it is progressive. But, if we aim for the best numbers and do our best, we give ourselves the best shot at heath we've got. That's all we can do.

Here's my opinion on what numbers to aim for, they are non-diabetic "normal" numbers

Fasting............................Under 100
One hour after meals.......under 140
Two hours after meals.....under 120

It takes a lot of trial and error to discover what works for you. I personally had to eliminate nighttime snacks and add 10 minutes of nighttime exercise in order to bring my fasting numbers below 100. With a snack in front of the TV, i was running between 102-114 in the morning. Without a snack and with a brief session on the elliptical before bed, I've been between 80-94 in the mornings. Those readings make me sleep a lot better!

Sharonks

The article Tsazani mentions is a good explanation. The one thing my dr. warned me about is that by setting your alarms to wake up in the middle of the night your BG reading can get messed up due to the stress of being woken up. CGMS would be great if you could get one. I think it is simpler to try different snacks until you find what is right for you.