Glucose levels in the last two weeks

I've been a lazy blogger hobbit the past week, so didn''t do any updates. However, I've been religiously tracking my glucose levels the last two weeks. Well, the first week was more like a 'while-stocks-last' kind of thing. I wanted to check my glucose levels before and after each meal. That was 6x a day, so six needles and six strips. With only a set of 17 per item the first week, I decided to just do blood tests before breakfast, around 3 p.m. and before dinner. I wisened up the next week after talking with my dietist and realising I wanted a more comprehensive picture of this whole thing.

The first week I was still going on my no-carbs diet, the second was when I started to incorporate some carbs again. I think the first week with the no-carbs diet was ok in general, although I don't have an idea how my glucose level was after eating. The times I was hypo-glycemic had less to do with the small intake of carbs, but more with no eating on time.

The second week saw me eating my fave high-fibre, no-sugar Dorset cereals (cruesli-type) in the mornings or lunch time. I think I ate it for breakfast on most days, and only had Slim-Fast as breakfast replacemnt later during the week (after my glucose level shot up to 10). Anyhow, I'm still struggling a bit as to how to integrate carbs in my diet and at the same time try to lose weight and keep the levels steady. I felt bloated during the whole week and sort of guilty for actually enjoying eating carbs again ;-p. I've learned though that what looked like a small, innocent looking bowl of cruesli -- even when high in fibre or without sugar -- can still increase my g-levels signficantly. I had what I thought was a small bowl of cruesli for lunch and two hours after, I hit the 10 mark. My dietician said that I should strive to maintain after-eating levels at max 7, so this was way off the mark. Although, I've seen on some UK books that says until 10 is ok. Whatever - I'll follow my dietician on this one, since I'm aiming to lose weight, too. Maybe he 10 mark being ok is more applicable in a weight maintenance system.

So, my main source of carbs the last were the cruesli. For lunch or dinner, I still stuck with veggies as my carb replacement. This week, I've replaced the cruesli with Brinta oatmeal. I think this is the better choice since I still get my carbs, but I can eat a bit more of it without having my glucose level spike up beyond 7. I'm being creative with it -- adding strawberry yoghurt to the milk to flavour it up, and lately, heating low-fat, no-sugar milk chocolate and ading the oats. I think that tastes so much better ;-)

Overall, I think the results are still better than what I expected them to be. Just have to avoid more the spikes and drops. The hardest thing to do is the balancing between losing weight and keeping levels steady. I really have to look out for the portions, and I find this really hard to do. I already have an idea what the 'right' portion is, but I still tend to put a bit more on my plate. It's like how the old hobbit adage goes: better to have more than less, lest you run out of it.

(Ok, suddenly sleepy at 10:30 p.m., so not checking all the blah I just wrote...)