Tuesday 11 June 2013

My diabetic diet

In the last couple of weeks I've been testing my blood daily. Initially it was 6 times a day, but now it's only 4 times. I was very much hoping to be able to control it with diet alone but my body doesn't want me to. 

My blood sugars are fine before breakfast but generally too high after I've eaten even though I've been eating crunchy bran, oatibix and wholemeal toast which is all recommended. The only time my sugars have been below the recommended reading is when I've had a cooked breakfast, but I just don't have time to do that everyday. My sugars are not a problem after lunch as long as I eat sensibly & healthily. I've had a couple of high readings after dinner even though I've again eaten well. I've now swapped my pasta & couscous for the wholewheat versions. They aren't as bad as I remember them. In fact I can't tell the difference which is good. We already only have wholemeal bread in the house too. These wholemeal & wholewheat versions of foods turn into sugar at a much slower rate than the white variety. This has two benefits, 1) it means my blood sugars don't spike high after eating; 2) they actually keep you fuller for longer.

Yesterday I had to call the diabetic nurse and give her my readings for the last week. I am now taking 1 Metformin tablet with my breakfast every day to help control my morning sugar. Apparently most people with diabetes have higher sugars in the morning. From what the nurse said I understand that your insulin just takes a while to kick into action first thing in the morning. The nurse did say that I may have to take a tablet with dinner too. I've got an appointment with the diabetic nurse & consultant on Monday and they will review my blood sugar readings from this week and decide. At the moment I'm on the lowest amount and I can go up to 2 tablets twice a day. I'm now hoping that I will just be able to stay on the tablets and not have to go to insulin injections.

I've just tested my blood sugars after breakfast. Today is the first day I've had to take a Metformin tablet and it was one of my highest readings. I think I'll see what happens after tomorrow's reading then I may call the diabetic nurse again. 

I'm finding the diabetic diet quite repetitive. It doesn't help that at the moment I can't be bothered to make proper home cooked dinners, so we're having easier dinners with lots of salads. 
I know that I need to change this otherwise I'm at risk of eating foods that will spike my sugars. I'm finding the food I'm eating at breakfast quite tasty so that's all good. For lunch I'm having a lot of big salads with things like ham, bacon, cheese, chicken and mayo or salad cream. I've been finding that this has been filling me up loads. I think the reason for this is that I have been having a massive amount of salad and it takes me a long time to actually eat it. 'They' say that it takes your brain about 20 mins to register you've started eating and that your getting fuller. So the fact that I'm eating very low-cal, low-sugar salad over a long time is giving my brain time to register when I'm actually full. Definitely a lesson to learn and use after Squeak is born when I start back on my journey to lose weight. 

One of the things I have found harder is snacks on a diabetic diet. I've been mainly having salad, some raw veg, the odd bit of fruit and nuts. I've really enjoyed eating pine nuts, cashews and pistachio nuts. They are packed with protein and don't seem to affect my blood sugars at all. The only thing with nuts is that they are high in calories. I've been trying to stick to no more than 2000 cals a day and so far so good. Yesterday I bought some Walkers Sunbites which are whole grain crisps. They didn't affect my sugars yesterday. It may sound odd but I miss having a crunchy snack to eat. 
I've taken to eating pudding in the evening too. It's managed to fill me up and satisfies my sweet tooth. I have 2 pots of sugar free jelly with fresh strawberries & blueberries.....delicious. 

On Thursday I've got a scan for Squeak. It will have been 4 weeks since my last scan when she was weighing approx 2lb 13oz which was an average weight for her gestation. So we'll be able to get a good idea about what affect my diabetes has had on her. Hopefully she's still an average weight & size as I'm really hoping for a natural birth this time.

I've not weighed myself for a couple of weeks. If I remember I will try to on Sunday morning. Apparently at this stage in pregnancy you can put on about a pound a week, so we'll see. 

Thanks for reading xx





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