Barbara...

A couple of things.

His morning numbers are high because of the Dawn Phenomenon. Most T2s
suffer from it. I have a lovely long explanation, but to be honest, his
numbers are a bit high even for that.

What are his post meal numbers like?

Here's the advice I give all those trying to get control... and at the
end you'll find some snack ideas:

The single biggest question a diabetic has to answer is:

What do I eat?

Unfortunately, the answer is pretty confusing.

What confounds us all is the fact that different diabetics can get great
results on wildly different food plans. Some of us here achieve
great blood glucose control eating a high complex carbohydrate diet.
Others find that anything over 75 - 100g of carbs a day is too
much. Still others are somewhere in between.

At the beginning all of us felt frustrated. We wanted to be handed
THE way to eat, to ensure our continued health. But we all
learned that there is no one way. Each of us had to find our own path,
using the experience of those that went before, but still having
to discover for ourselves how OUR bodies and this disease were coexisting.

Ask questions, but remember each of us discovered on our own what works best
for us. You can use our experiences as jumping off points, but eventually
you'll work up a successful plan that is yours alone.

What you are looking to discover is how different foods affect you. As I'm
sure you've read, 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 write it all down.
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". Also, 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, rices, 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 damn 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 horrible 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 numbers.

FBG under 110
One hour after meals under 140
Two hours after meals under 120

or for those in the mmol parts of the world:

Fasting Under 6
One hour after meals Under 8
Two hours after meals Under 6.5

Recent studies have indicated that the most important numbers are your
"after meal" numbers. They may be the most indicative of future
complications, especially heart problems.

Listen to your doctor, but you are the leader of your diabetic
care team. While his /her advice is learned, it is not absolute. You
will end up knowing much more about your body and how it's handling
diabetes than your doctor will. Your meter is your best weapon.

Just remember, we're not in a race or a competition with anyone but
ourselves... Play around with your food plan... TEST TEST TEST. Learn what
foods cause spikes, what foods cause cravings... Use your body as a science
experiment.

You'll read about a lot of different ways people use to control their
diabetes... Many are diametrically opposed. After awhile you'll learn that
there is no one size fits all around here. Take some time to experiment
and you'll soon discover the plan that works for you.

Now as for portable snacks:

Here's some of my faves, he may need to keep a small cooler with ice around:

String cheese
Sliced turkey, ham, any meats
Pickles
Macadamia nuts
Beef Jerky
Celery with flavored cream cheese
Cauliflower dipped in ranch dressing
Spicy walnuts (happy to post the recipe)


Jennifer




B Briggs wrote:
> My husband is trying to control his blood sugar readings
> with diet, but we are having a hard time with the day time
> diet. We live in a rural area and when he his working he is
> often away from anyplace to stop and eat. If he can, he
> comes home for a good lunch but often he is many miles away.
> We need some ideas for some good, tasty and portable snacks
> that he can keep in his work truck that will be easily
> available so he doesn't end up going hours between eating,
> or worse yet starving by the time he passes by the local
> burger joint and caves in to eating a hamburger and tater
> tots with (gasp) a banana milk shake. We are new to this
> and have begun home testing to try to get a grip. His
> morning numbers are over 190, while mine are low 80 or less.
> Help!
>
> Thanks for any ideas
> Barbara
>
>

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