Lessons, tests and a result!

In order to find out what each type of food is doing to my blood glucose (BG) levels I've been testing immediately before eating, then 2hrs post eating.  The idea being that your BG level should return to the pre eating level after two hours.

 

The latest 2010 NICE guidelines for Type 2 BG levels are

• Fasting (waking).......between 4 - 7 mmol/l
• 2 hrs after meals......no more than 8.5 mmol/l

For all you non-diabetics out there you might want to know what normal BG levels should be so here you are:

• The normal blood glucose level in humans is about 4 mM (4 mmol/L or 72 mg/dL)
• The body, when operating normally, restores the blood sugar level to a range of about 4.4 to 6.1 mmol/L (82 to 110 mg/dL).
• Shortly after eating the blood glucose level may rise temporarily up to 7.8 mmol/L (140 mg/dL) or a bit more in non-diabetics.

The result of all this testing is very sore finger tips and that high carbohydrate foods send my BG levels soaring. Even the good carbs that the medical profession insist that you fill your plate with are very bad for me.

In the bad books go
Bread (White and wholemeal both give me over 12 mmol/l )
Tortillas (gave me my highest reading of 15 mmol/l!!!)
Potatoes (sweet and regular)
Rice (white and wholemeal)
Flour (white and wholemeal)
Pasta (white and wholemeal)

Porridge (even the few oats in Haggis set my BG skywards)

Good books
Everything else!

Swaps
Unfortunately 'bad' foods are the stuff that had made up the bulk of my diet so just excluding them is not really an option for me. However I have managed to swap some of them for better alternatives and maintain a steady BG level.

Potatoes have been the easiest as I love my root vegetables. I made Cottage Pie with a celeriac and swede mash the other night and both Andrew and myself agreed it was far better than the regular mashed potato topping. I've also heard that celeriac makes great chips and roasties ... mmmm.

Cauliflower rice was something I thought I would struggle with but it was very quick and easy to make and not as strong tasting as I would have thought. However the effects the next day were explosive ... it'll be a while until I can go back to that supermarket again!

Chinese leaves make a great alternative to bread on a sandwhich. I filled three up with chopped celery, red onion, cheese and tomato. It was delish and kept me full for hours. However I do accept that Chinese leaves have their limitations as bread substitute .. I'm not going to be able to toast it and cover it with Marmite!

I've heard that cabbage makes a good pasta substitute but I haven't tried it yet. I will let you know.

Result
After the 8 mile walk in The Wyre Forest on Sunday my BG level was at a record low of 5.6 which is in the non-diabetic range! Huge thanks to Lisa and Jack for helping to make that happen.

Eyes wide open

Over the last week or so I've been reading up as much as I can about diabetes. I thought I understood the basics but I've really had my eyes opened. Hypos aside I never really understood why diabetes was such a bad thing.

The consequences of untreated diabetes are hard core ... cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, blindness and amputation of lower limbs.

I've come to realise that my Pa, who passed away back in the '80's, died of a heart attack brought on by diabetes. I had previously thought that he just happened to be diagosned with the disease at the same time.

Apparently it's very common, more so in men than women as men are generally worse at looking after their health, for your diabetes to be diagnosed when it has already wreaked havoc on your heart and you end up in hospital with a heart attack. That is why it is called the silent killer.

I am one of the lucky ones in that respect.

Who said a little knowledge is a dangerous thing?

Before starting out on any diet and exercise routine what are you always told? Talk to your doctor first. So being a girly swot I went to see my GP last night.
Primarily I went get my blood glucose (BG) test strips on prescription as they are seriously pricey and secondly to run my master plan by him. I must admit that I had expected to get a pat on the back for even considering tackling my diabetes by diet and exercise. But he was writing out the prescription he told me there was no need to test my BG as I was on Metformin and I shouldn't get hypos (very low BG levels).  This suprised me as most Type 2's don't really suffer from hypos but they do suffer from hypers (yip you guessed it, high BG levels).

I told him I wasn't particularly concerned about hypos but wanted to see what each food I ate did to my BG levels i.e. check for hypers. My barely post pubescent GP then said with great resignation ... 'you're 47, the cells in your pancreas are dying off'. He went on to describe in great detail how my diabetes was going to progress in the future and what drugs I would have to move on to. It's fair to say that it didn't paint a pretty picture.

I responded by saying I didn't want my diabetes to progress at all and in fact I want to regress it by exercising more and losing weight. He said very dismissively that I would have to lose a lot of weight and handed me my prescription. Despite his well rehearsed method of signifying that the appointment was at an end I settled into my seat, crossed my legs and placed my glasses on his desk.

Now comfy, I asked him what support he could offer me in losing weight and he responded by surfing the NHS website but found nothing, he said someone would call me with some information. When I mentioned that I heard about the DESMOND course (a diabetes patient education course for Type 2 diabetics) he said that it would be very good for me to attend but another search on the NHS website proved useless and another follow up phone call was promised.

I walked out of there feeling pretty frustrated, clearly my GP was more interested in diabetes than me! I now realise that as far as my diabetes management is concerned I am on my own.

It's really sharpened my resolve however, I really want to teach him a lesson by walking in there one day with normal BG levels. It's a bit like when the school careers advice tells you to go for a job in the corner shop and you end up an astronaut!

In his defence when I got home I did have a voicemail from the surgery giving me the number for Lighten Up but I'm still waiting for the DESMOND information.