Help my sugar is still too high?

Question

I am type 2 diabetic. My level in the morning is in the 140's, in the afternoon and evening it's in the 200's. I take metaformin 500 mgs before each meal. I've been watching my diet and still can't bring my levels down. For instance today all I ate was orange juice, bagel and cream cheese, turkey lunch meat one slice with one slice of swiss cheese without bread, apple, few pieces of watermelon, and diet cola. What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

Heres what I would do...Cut out the juice, its high in natural sugar. Instead eat a bowl of bran flakes with semi skim milk and sugar substitute. Cut out all white bread, eat wholemeal, stoneground or granary (its digested more slowly so it gives sustained energy rather than the rush of white breads). Cream cheese and swiss cheese are high in fats, go for a low fat cottage cheese. Watermelon is the worst fruit you can eat, its very high in natural sugar. Google the GI Diet by Rick Gallup. Thats the diet Im usuing and I am controlling my blood glucose really well with it. Like you Im a type 2 and I was on metformin 500mgs twice a day but now I only take it in the evening as my levels are good (sometimes even slightly low).
I have also lost 66 lbs since 1st July when I was diagnosed.
Ooops, I almost forgot to say that you should start walking...build up gradually to the recommended 10,000 steps a day!

Answer 2

Your body treats carbohydrates the same as sugar. You obviously know this because you have said you skipped bread with lunch but the bagel is also a bread. Try a meat salad with no bread for a couple of days and check levels.
You may want to skip the orange juice, its very high in sugar, one very small glass has about 20grams of sugar(5level teaspoons).
I was told one piece of fruit a day and perhaps you are eating too much fruit, try veges or salad stuff instead of so much fruit but you dont have to give it up completely Celery sticks with hommus is yummy or hand full of any type of nuts.
There is hidden sugar in most food and you could be consuming far more than you think.
Its really difficult to get variety into your diet and I also find it hard to keep my levels stable.
I have a routine now and when i cook dinner, i make extra meat, so the next day I can cut it up and throw it in a bowl with salad, cheese, nuts and hommus(chick pea dip)
I take this to work every day.
Also, you have to eat regularly for your levels to be stable, small amounts of food, say every two hours. If that was your food intake for the whole day, it is not enough. Good luck
I just re read your question, so I am back
The bagel and juice was breakfast, yes? you had carbs and sugar for breakfast then.
Lunch, the turkey meat if processed will have sugar in it and I think if my memory is right, so does the swiss cheese, the apple definately does and so does the watermelon.

Answer 3

i agree with every body about the juice. I haven't had fruit juice in three years, except when I have lows. You need to watch all carbs. Women can have 35 to 45 grams per meal, men can have 65 to 75 grams per meal. If what you are eating has 5 or more grams of fiber, you can subtract what fiber there is from your carb count. Walk, walk, walk. Test your blood sugars before a walk and then after a brisk half hour walk. You will see results. But what is most important is you need to get some diabetes education classes. They changed my life. Also, get familiar with the glycemic index, the more fiber, the lower the number on the glycemic index, the slower your sugars will spike and they won't go up as high. It takes awhile, stick with it you will get the results you want.

Answer 4

Keep a diary of the foods you eat. I know it's alot of work but you will find patterns. For instance I can't have pizza, I think it's the white bread but that really raises my blood sugar.

The diary will help you, once you have a record you will begin to learn what spikes your sugar. It will help to determine which foods you need to stay away from. Also, you said you had OJ, Your 8 oz or was it a tall glass? Walk run or exercise twice a day, morning and night....that will help.


A friend of mine: Was diagnosed as a diabetic. Level at 265. She began the Glycemic Index (GI) program, lost nearly 100 lbs and now is off all her mediaitons. It's work looking into. Prevention has a good book on this GI

Answer 5

see if your insurance will cover a visit to a nutritionalist- it's well worth it. Are you exercizing? That helps alot- I am diabetic, and walking helps lower your blood sugar alot. Instead of juice, you should try eating the fruit instead- less concentrated sugar and more fiber. There is alot of flexibility-with foods- you and I could eat the exact same thing and get different results- it's all trial and error. But find out about the nutritionalist first- it's a good starting point.

Answer 6

is your oj real or a juice product, is your cream cheese fat free, is your Swiss cheese fat free, and how much exercise do you get a day? it sounds like you drink juice in the morning and don't get to work off the sugar in it by dinner time. take a walk after lunch, that is what i do i take 2 metaformin 500mg twice a day with actos once a day.

Answer 7

Sounds to me like you need to go back to your Doctor and get a different medication....bagels are high in carbohydrates which convert to high blood sugars...I don't know for sure but you're not taking in very many calories and could end up getting sick from that!

You may try walking for 15-30 minutes after you eat....before I went on insulin that's what I did and it seemed to help my blood sugars.

Answer 8

sounds like what you're eating is still pretty high in sugars....fruit is notoriously high even though it's touted as healthy....bagels are usually alot larger than a single serving size of bread and can contain huge amounts of carbs as well.....try talking to your physician about other meds to manage your levels

Answer 9

be sure and write down the blood sugar levels on a chart so that you can see a pattern of HI's and LOW's . this will help you and your Dr. to determine pattering in your levels.
next step
change your insulin doses to lower your levels.
next step
remember its better to eat the same amt of foods everyday. extra insulin is needed for extra food.
next step
talk to your dietitian and or Dr. to determine educating further on management of the condition.

Answer 10

You might need to be put on injection insulin. You could visit the ER, they might give you regular insulin IV