Somewhat OT/Eating to your meter

Since quite a few forum members seem to have diabetes, I thought I would post a link to what I feel is an excellent blog entry by low carb RN on eating to your meter.

https://lowcarbrn.wordpress.com/2016/04 ... our-meter/

49er

Eat to your meter,
Breathe to your SleepyHead.

Thanks for the link. I am not diabetic nor considered pre-diabetic by the "REGULAR" medical establishment; they like to wait until you are good and toasted before they declare there is a problem. I eat to the meter and keep my BS under 120, 1 hour after meals. I just feel better and it keeps the weight off too.

This is what I did early on after my Diabetes diagnosis. Everybody, including my own family members, mocked me and told me that I was nuts for doing this. But in so doing, I did exactly what the article said. I was able to see what foods work for me, which ones do not (any kind of Chinese food is out now) and which ones I can do in a limited fashion.

And I'm down 90 pounds in a year.

One thing to keep in mind, especially for those diagnosed with Diabetes and using their insurance to purchase supplies. For some reason that escapes any rational thinking, if your doctor writes the prescription to test 1x/day, which is frequently protocol for newly diagnosed Type 2 Diabetics, the pharmacy will allow you ONE strip per DAY. Period. No discussion or negotiation. If your doctor writes it for 1x/day and even writes it for a vial of 50 strips to be filled every month, the pharmacy CHANGES it to a 50-day supply.

Even though you are REQUIRED to waste one strip as a control, they don't allow for that. Sometimes, you don't get enough blood or the strip simply doesn't work. I've even gotten distracted and tried to test before the meter was ready, thus ruining the strip. Whatever the scenario that wastes a strip - too bad, so sad.

If you have the cash, purchase your supplies yourself so you CAN have the freedom to test before and after meals, sometimes several times a day.

Because eat to your meter DOES work. My blood sugar is under control and I know what foods are going to shoot it through the roof (Chinese & any bread for me). And while my weight loss has slowed dramatically, I'm still down 90 pounds and hoping to get down another 25.

My sensible dinner last night that included mashed potatoes. My sugar was 82 after dinner. Cannot argue with that at all.

ChicagoGranny wrote:Eat to your meter,
Breathe to your SleepyHead.

Good one!

As one who has recently been classified as "pre diabetic", I am overwhelmed by all of the conflicting information that I have received from my Dr. and dietician.( I actually gained 3 lbs. following their diet plan) The notion that pre diabetics don't need to use a meter, and that a "controlled" diet is enough to reverse the progression.... seems like a very dangerous one to me now. Goodbye whole grains and light beer. Time for me to buy a meter and "eat to it" I guess. Thanks for the link !

Gasper62 wrote:As one who has recently been classified as "pre diabetic", I am overwhelmed by all of the conflicting information that I have received from my Dr. and dietician.( I actually gained 3 lbs. following their diet plan) The notion that pre diabetics don't need to use a meter, and that a "controlled" diet is enough to reverse the progression.... seems like a very dangerous one to me now. Goodbye whole grains and light beer. Time for me to buy a meter and "eat to it" I guess. Thanks for the link !

I highly support this. If I had taken it seriously sooner (and bought a meter to keep an eye on what foods did to me) I probably could have reversed it before it became full blown.

To me "Eat to the Meter" makes sense. I don't understand why EVERY diabetic & pre-diabetic doesn't do this. I have family members that do their required test once a day, but NEVER check foods to see what works and what doesn't. It's just common sense to me and thus why I started doing it right from the beginning. Took a lot of effort and "finagling" to get enough supplies, but I convinced my doctor to re-write my prescription so I could have the flexibility to test more than once a day.

Last year, my husband wanted to go for ice cream after dinner. That's a monthly treat I allow myself (you still gotta live). But we had had lasagna for dinner. I told him - "Let's go to the farm for a while and I'll check my sugar there. If the lasagna didn't make it go too high, we can get ice cream. If my sugar is too high, we'll have to do it another night."

My siblings looked at me like I was from Mars when I told them I do things like this. When I told my brother what Chinese food (one of my favorites by the way) does to my sugar, he said "The way to solve that is don't check your sugar!!" - and he's diabetic too.

Not only do insurers sometimes limit you to one strip a day, many others say you don't need to test your blood sugar at all UNTIL you become diabetic. It's the "Brick" equivalent of the diabetic world.

Eating to the meter is great, but it is going to take a lot of strips. And strips are kind of like printer ink. The printer's cheap, the ink's outrageous, and so it goes with blood glucose test strips. BUT, there's ways around this. If you are not an insulin dependent diabetic depending on very precise readings to adjust insulin doses, you don't have to be too picky about your test strips. Walmart makes the Relion meter and strips which are very affordable.

I have a True Result meter which many of the large drug chains market under their own names (mine is from Rite Aid). I get True Result strips online in packages of 200 for around the same price as the Relion strips (and about $10 less than it costs to buy a vial of 50 strips at Rite Aid). And I don't have to drive 15 miles to the nearest Walmart, wait in line at the pharmacy to purchase the strips (because they keep them behind the counter at my local Walmart since they are often shoplifted). I said no to that after I waited in line about 20 minutes, finally got to the head of the line when the person behind the window rolled down the metal security screen because it was her lunch break. I'll buy online and skip the rotten service, thank you very much.

I also have a little "True 2 Go" meter that uses the same strips. It's a meter that fits on the lid of the canister of strips (about the size of a film canister--if anyone remembers what those were ) And a little neoprene sleeve around the canister holds a small lancing device. This means it's easy to carry in my purse and always have a meter with me.

I'm happy with what I got, but the bottom line is shop around for the best prices and convenience for you. Make it easy for yourself to do this and then DO IT. Eating to the meter helps to get your insulin levels under control. By reducing the likelihood of developing diabetes (or gaining good control of your Type II diabetes), you also reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, even Alzheimer's disease, you get to keep all of your limbs and eyesight for life. It's WORTH IT!

https://www.dexcom.com/continuous-glucose-monitoring

I listened to a podcast by a doctor who has one of these monitors that he uses himself. He did not say which brand. He made it sound like a required tool for good blood sugar control.

Janknitz wrote:Not only do insurers sometimes limit you to one strip a day, many others say you don't need to test your blood sugar at all UNTIL you become diabetic. It's the "Brick" equivalent of the diabetic world.

For sure....+1

Janknitz wrote:Eating to the meter is great, but it is going to take a lot of strips. And strips are kind of like printer ink. The printer's cheap, the ink's outrageous, and so it goes with blood glucose test strips.

This is true, but I have been doing this long enough now that I can pretty well tell what my BS is going to be before I take it.
So now I just "Spot Check" and keep the strip usage down. I have to pay for ALL my strips. But if I ate the diet they recommend, I could get the insurance co to pay for the strips...because I would end up diabetic..

Janknitz wrote:. . .I also have a little "True 2 Go" meter that uses the same strips. It's a meter that fits on the lid of the canister of strips (about the size of a film canister--if anyone remembers what those were ) And a little neoprene sleeve around the canister holds a small lancing device. This means it's easy to carry in my purse and always have a meter with me. . . .

http://www.amazon.com/True2go-Diabetic- ... 01DJR4XX0/

Madalot wrote:This is what I did early on after my Diabetes diagnosis. Everybody, including my own family members, mocked me and told me that I was nuts for doing this. But in so doing, I did exactly what the article said. I was able to see what foods work for me, which ones do not (any kind of Chinese food is out now) and which ones I can do in a limited fashion.

And I'm down 90 pounds in a year.

One thing to keep in mind, especially for those diagnosed with Diabetes and using their insurance to purchase supplies. For some reason that escapes any rational thinking, if your doctor writes the prescription to test 1x/day, which is frequently protocol for newly diagnosed Type 2 Diabetics, the pharmacy will allow you ONE strip per DAY. Period. No discussion or negotiation. If your doctor writes it for 1x/day and even writes it for a vial of 50 strips to be filled every month, the pharmacy CHANGES it to a 50-day supply.

Even though you are REQUIRED to waste one strip as a control, they don't allow for that. Sometimes, you don't get enough blood or the strip simply doesn't work. I've even gotten distracted and tried to test before the meter was ready, thus ruining the strip. Whatever the scenario that wastes a strip - too bad, so sad.

If you have the cash, purchase your supplies yourself so you CAN have the freedom to test before and after meals, sometimes several times a day.

Because eat to your meter DOES work. My blood sugar is under control and I know what foods are going to shoot it through the roof (Chinese & any bread for me). And while my weight loss has slowed dramatically, I'm still down 90 pounds and hoping to get down another 25.

My sensible dinner last night that included mashed potatoes. My sugar was 82 after dinner. Cannot argue with that at all.

The doctor generally can't write a prescription for more than 1x per day unless you have complicating factors or on insulin. He is writing that prescription so you can get some coverage under your insurance. If you need more strips, you are better off going elsewhere (Amazon has great deals) or using a secondary meter with inexpensive strips such as Walmart or Target's brands. You should have seen the rigamarole we had to go through to increase my strips to 2x a day (due to steroid use, I'm have to test more frequently).

I've been eating to the meter since I developed pre-diabetes. It hasn't helped me lose weight, but has helped tremendously keeping my blood sugar under control with minimal medication. As to potatoes, I pretty much had to eliminate mashed potatoes, but can have baked, boiled, fried and even shredded within reason.

I have posted this before but people my not have seen it

Healthy foods are not the same for everyone

By now most of us are probably pretty good at identifying healthy foods. Fruit and vegetables – good. Cakes and ice cream – bad.

But new research suggests this might not always be the case.

This surprising study comes from professor Eran Segal and Dr. Eran Elinav at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science. The authors found that glycemic (blood sugar) responses to similar foods varied drastically across individuals. This finding is critical, as elevated blood sugar levels have been linked to diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome, write the authors.

He did not say which brand. He made it sound like a required tool for good blood sugar control.

40 years ago when my mother got diabetes this was the recommended thing. She tested before and after meals every day, all day as well as before bed. At the time this was considered the optimum thing to do. She completely controlled her diabetes that way for over 30 years. No insulin.

Well...... I was all set to order the Truetest monitor/strips/lancets ....when I see the Truetest control solution !?! How often does that need to be done ? Which "level" is needed & is it a critical component of testing in the pre diabetic stage ? Also, any veteran tips on which lancet setup is best ? Thanks.

This is true, but I have been doing this long enough now that I can pretty well tell what my BS is going to be before I take it.
So now I just "Spot Check" and keep the strip usage down. I have to pay for ALL my strips. But if I ate the diet they recommend, I could get the insurance co to pay for the strips...because I would end up diabetic..

Ain't that the truth! If I followed what Kaiser recommended for a diet I'd be dead already. And you're right. I don't have to test, test, test all the time any more. Once you have a "repertoire" of foods you can safely eat without raising BG, it's rare that you need to test much. I will do fasting tests every once in a while just to make sure I'm on the right track.

Well...... I was all set to order the Truetest monitor/strips/lancets ....when I see the Truetest control solution !?! How often does that need to be done ? Which "level" is needed & is it a critical component of testing in the pre diabetic stage ? Also, any veteran tips on which lancet setup is best ? Thanks.

Most monitors do not need to be calibrated, but they want you to check them occasionally, The problem is that once you use the solution, it goes bad, so you have to buy new solution when the meter indicates it's time to test it. And last time I had to do a lot of sleuthing to find the test solution and paid $8 for it! I think most people just ignore the signal to test.

As for lancets and lancing devices, they are all going to prick your skin. I've heard there is a lancing device that's pretty comfortable, but it costs about $100 I just use the ones that have come with my meters. The lancet that came with the True2Go is a TRUE pain in the *$$ to change the lancet. That's my biggest issue with it.

The trick to the lancet is to prick the SIDES of your fingers, not the pads. 99% of the time I don't even feel it. And I RARELY change my lancet--I'm the only one using it (I very nicely changed it last week when my daughter let me test her ). When it starts to hurt I know it's dull and time to change the lancet. I bought a box of 100 for a few dollars and I think they will probably last the rest of my life! I don't clean off my skin with alcohol either. If my hands are dirty I will wash them, but most of the time I just go for it. Of course, if you have an immune issue, all precautions should be taken.