I just found out I am four weeks! My last A1C was a 6.3 but now I am watching everything I eat and checking frequently. I use a Dexcom and the Omnipod. My biggest issue is carbs. I am sooo sensitive to them that I have basically eliminated things like bread, rice, pasta, potatoes, etc. for the last 2 years. I eat a lot of vegetables, proteins and dairy. I afraid to start adding some carbs back in b/c they make my glucose rise and stay elevated for 2-3 or even 4 hours. I can’t stand losing control! I am trying to keep my sugars between 80-100 all day and it works well if I don’t eat these carbs. Looking for advice! How to you maintain tight control when eating carbs?
@kapharoa,
Congratulations! Maybe you can add in other kinds of carbs instead. from fruits, veggies etc… I would talk to a nutritionist to see how to best deal with your issue though because they may have some great suggestions for you!
@kapharoa
No carbs? Oh that would be so hard for me - I take such joy out of eating carbs. I am 11 weeks pregnant myself, and I have relied pretty heavily on saltine crackers to keep my nausea from getting out of control in the AMs and before dinner. I found that RE carbs fighting the good fight with my insurance company about getting enough test strips to test 10 times a day was most important. Yes in addition to my CGM which sounds ridiculous, but sometimes they’re not on the same page… And I think Gina’s posts really help - I’ve been trying to practice not freaking out if my CGM goes over 180, but making sure it comes down eventually. Good luck and congratulations!
@kapharoa,
I am also very sensitive to the carbs you mentioned, but if I don’t eat them, I am almost constantly low especially with exercise. I started to really investigate in how my food was changing my bloodsugars a few months ago and I figured home cooked things would make carb counting easier and decrease my fat intake (I have had high cholesterol for the past year). So I started using a diabetic cookbook (for type 1 and 2) called Choice Menus by Marjorie H. Hollands. It has a lot of great recipes based on foods everyone likes.
It makes things a lot more interesting than what I was doing: throwing several chicken breasts in the crock pot with some herbs and eating that with salad and a cup of brown rice every day. It was good the first couple of times but you have to change it up once in a while!
I eat a lot of lighter breads (sandwich thins) and crackers (Wasa light rye) and stick to whole grains and high fiber and a salad with each meal. I’ve found it isn’t always the carbs you expect that cause my bloodsugar to rise. I can do pasta in small amounts if I eat it with salsa or stir fried veggies instead of the traditional sauce. I can also do potato, if it’s in a stew or the only carbs I’m eating with a low fat meal. Unfortunately, I have yet to find a recipe for lasagna or shepherd’s pie that doesn’t raise me to 300!
But all that paid off: I was able to lower my A1c from 7.1 in December to 6.6 last week! And my CGM data shows that I rarely go above 150. I’m so happy!
I personally find temp basal goes a LONG way. I am on a medtronic minimed and honestly it causes me more stress with me CGM when I see it going up lol. I immediately try to correct, correct again, blah blah blah but honestly nothing will correct it when its stress related lol at least not correct it enough and not right away, in my experience. Tonight I am on a basal of 150% which is much higher percentage than I’ve ever set before but I am stressing today about work and other things and its doing the trick to be honest.
What has helped me is to not eat bread, and to do yoga along with drinking lots of water to eliminate protein in the body that leads to hi blood sugars. I also try to limit my fruits and pre made foods. I try to make an plan all the foods I make. Especially ahead of time if possible. Hope its helps.