I think you'll found that paying attention to the amount of carbohydrate you eat - each time you eat - is really useful information. Every time we eat carbohydrate, it's digested into blood glucose, which is why keeping track of the amount of carbohydrate you eat at each meal and snack is more important than the total grams of carbohydrate for the day. There isn't one set amount of carbohydrate that works for everyone, but The American Diabetes Association suggests starting with 45-60gm of carbohydrate per meal. You can read more here: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/planning-meals/carb-counting/ It's a good idea to talk with your physician and/or diabetes educator about the appropriate amount of carbohydrate for you at each meal and snack. Let us know what you discover! ~Lynn /Glucerna

Totally depends on the individual & what your goals are geared towards.

I'm 45 yrs old & I eat to my meter. If certain foods spike me beyond my goals, I first decrease the serving amount to see if I can make it fit my target BG's and if not, cut out altogether.

bloodsugar101.com is a great place to start. My goals are less than 140 mg/dl 1 hour PP, less than 120 mg/dl 2 hr PP and casual BG's around 100-110 mg/dl. I also aim for 88-96 mg/dl for fasting.

Good luck :drinker:

Totally depends on the individual & what your goals are geared towards.

I'm 45 yrs old & I eat to my meter. If certain foods spike me beyond my goals, I first decrease the serving amount to see if I can make it fit my target BG's and if not, cut out altogether.

bloodsugar101.com is a great place to start. My goals are less than 140 mg/dl 1 hour PP, less than 120 mg/dl 2 hr PP and casual BG's around 100-110 mg/dl. I also aim for 88-96 mg/dl for fasting.

Good luck :drinker:

Eating to your meter is really really effective advice.
Your breakfast, while tasty, did indeed have quite a few carbs from the tomato and tangerine (somewhere around 20-25 carbs total for both) and a few minimal carbs from the chopped lettuce. It's only by using your meter that you'll know whether or not that amount of carbs is a good fit for you.

Bloodsugar101.com is an excellent resource. My goals are similar to hoolilau's and I lowered my A1c from 7.3 to 5.1 by learning to use my meter to select my foods.

Here are three different explanations of eating to your meter. Basically, rather than following a set number of carbs per meal, you evaluate a particular meal using meter readings before eating and then at your peak.


http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php ( This is the bloodsugar101 site mentioned above - I also HIGHLY recommend reading the rest of this site!!)

http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/2006/10/test-review-adjust.html

http://lizzysdlounge.com/2012/03/14/testing-101/


Technique for eating to your meter:

Establish your target range for blood sugar levels.(http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045621.php) Commit to keeping your blood sugar under this level.
Test right before eating. Log the reading.
Test again one hour after your first bite, and log the reading along with what and how much you ate. This is assumed to be about the highest peak - the spike - from the meal.
Test a third time two hours after your first bite. This is hoped to show your blood sugar dropping back to roughly what it was before the meal. If it is, you're showing a good second phase insulin response. If it is not, you should continue testing until you find your blood sugar beginning to drop.

Analyzing these readings along with the foods you've eaten enables you to see which foods have the worst effect on your blood sugar, so you can avoid consuming them in the future.

It's fair to give each meal a second chance, in case there could be an outside influence on the elevated reading, but after two or three experiments, it is wise to avoid or sharply restrict the foods which drastically spike your blood sugar. After several weeks of extensive testing this way, you'll have compiled a personalized list of foods you can eat safely, for the most part. Not saying things don't change, and foods which were safe at one time could become troublesome later (and thankfully, the reverse as well), but for the most part, eating to your meter is an excellent way to control diabetes and keep side effects at bay.

This can also be used to test individual foods such as fruits and things you suspect are going to spike you, but you'd like to know if perhaps you can eat small amounts.

Once you have an arsenal of "good" foods/meals to choose from, you can reduce the amount of testing that you do. I no longer test 1 and 2 hours after meals unless I am trying a new recipe. Speak to your doctor about increasing the amount of test strips you use, at least for a while. Tell him it is necessary for you to gain TIGHT CONTROL. If he or your insurance balks at covering the test strips, you can purchase a ReliOn meter from Walmart without a prescription. 50 test strips are $9 - quite reasonable.

1. Take your fasting reading (or a before meal reading)
2. Eat breakfast (or lunch or dinner)
3. Take a 1 hour reading - is it at or below your goal? Your goal is YOURS. Using both a fast-acting and a basal insulin, you may have a higher goal than I do. You will want to pay careful attention to your dosing while you are playing with carb counts. There is a distinct possibility of hypoglycemia if you reduce carbs without also reducing insulin dosage.
4. Take a 2 hour reading - it should be lower than your one hour reading

I'm assuming you base your fast acting insulin on how many carbs you are expecting to eat at a meal. Again, you need to be careful with reducing carbs without also reducing fast-acting insulin. Your basal insulin dosages may also need to be adjusted the longer you follow a low-carb diet. I don't take any medications any more and never took insulin, so I'm hesitant to advocate too low a goal for you while you're still learning about control.

Have you ever checked out the forums at www.diabetes.org? While I'm not a fan of the ADA in general as I think the ADA's general advice does a great disservice to diabetics when damaging blood glucose levels are advocated, I've found their member forums to be very helpful. Another VERY helpful forum is at diabetesforum.com. VERY helpful, especially when it comes to insulin and a LCHF diet. Honestly, I'd feel better if you posted over at either place, as many of the members are insulin-depepndent diabetics who are maintaining tight control.

You're getting a lot of really helpful information from this group. Another suggestion: when you talk with your doctor, ask for a referral to a diabetes educator. You can sit down with the diabetes educator, show him/her your blood sugar log, and ask questions. They'll be able to give you specific recommendations for your individual situation. ~Lynn /Glucerna

Absolutely. So glad you asked. Here are links to 3 Kindle books that will help you.



Blood Sugar 101: what they don't tell you about diabetes by Jenny Rhul is the first book for Kindle I got upon diagnosis.

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Sugar-101-About-Diabetes-ebook/dp/B004Z8RXQW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388699115&sr=8-1&keywords=blood+sugar+101

Then I bought Diet 101: the truth about low carb diets by Jenny Rhul

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0080JVKMK/ref=oh_d__o04_details_o04__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The third ebook I bought was Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QZ9PC4/ref=oh_d__o02_details_o02__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

With these 3 books I was able to study up & get comfortable with all the latest information in an easy to understand format. Jenny Rhul has a very plain writing style that is easy to understand & she makes things crystal clear.

Dr. Bernstein's book was very helpful as well for a bunch of different reasons but both add to the abstract that will give you a good understanding of what's happening with you and how you can effect change. Even though you are diabetic, you still have the right to normal blood sugars.

I like my Endo, really I do...but his criteria is so low that I'm just not able to follow his advice. He's happy with 180 mg/dl 2 hours after a meal :noway: If he's wrong, he's not the one who will be paying the price. It's just not a chance I'm willing to take. :drinker:

edited to add: if you're using the Google chrome browser, in the upper right hand corner there's what looks like a small magnifying glass with a + sign in the center of it...if you click that, you can make the text larger. May make it easier to read

here is my reading

Blood sugar
6 AM----117
7 AM ---145
8 AM

---

117
Since I went back to my fasting reading at 8 do that mean I am doing Ok. I would love to hear your output on this. I don't think I can do it alone.

Absolutely!...I also think that since it went back to your baseline that what you're doing agrees with your body