# Is it the marmalade?



## lynbrown (Jul 9, 2015)

On wakening this morning my bloods were 10.2.  My breakfast was one Weetabix, dash of milk, 2 small sliced of brown toast with spread and marmalade.  My reading is now 22.6.  Is the marmalade to blame?


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## khskel (Jul 9, 2015)

lynbrown said:


> On wakening this morning my bloods were 10.2.  My breakfast was one Weetabix, dash of milk, 2 small sliced of brown toast with spread and marmalade.  My reading is now 22.6.  Is the marmalade to blame?



Without knowing how much marmalade you had it's difficult to say but It sounds like too much of a rise for the marmalade alone.


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## Sally71 (Jul 9, 2015)

Weetabix and toast are also full of carbs which will raise your blood sugar.

How do you manage your diabetes, are you on insulin, diet alone or other medications? If you are trying to control your blood sugars by diet alone then you need to minimise your intake of ALL carbohydrates, not just sugar.  Bread, rice, pasta, cereals, potatoes, anything made with flour all contain carbs and all will raise your blood sugar.

Try bacon and eggs for breakfast - no carbs at all in that!


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## bill hopkinson (Jul 9, 2015)

lynbrown said:


> On wakening this morning my bloods were 10.2.  My breakfast was one Weetabix, dash of milk, 2 small sliced of brown toast with spread and marmalade.  My reading is now 22.6.  Is the marmalade to blame?



Processed carbs tend to release sugar too quickly.

Cut out the weetabix, toast, spread and marmalade, and try something else. As Frasier once said, tossed salad and scrambled egg; or olives, tomatoes and ham.


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## Vicsetter (Jul 9, 2015)

Marmalade is virtually pure sugar - very good for hypos.  Weetabix isn't very good for you either I'm afraid.
Tomorrow if your waking BG is anything like the same, have the same breakfast but omit the marmalade and see what it does.  You should be aiming for a much lower waking level.  The trouble is that starting the day at 10.2 it's only likely to get worse.  If you can avoid breakfast or just have something zero carb, like scrambled egg, then you should lower your BG to a reasonable level by lunch.
I'm guessing you bedtime reading would be near to 10 as well.


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## banjo (Jul 10, 2015)

One of the things that helped my diabetes the most was swapping away from cereal and milk in a morning to a good old fashioned fry up (in the oven tho).
As has been said seems a big jump in blood readings - spose my question is - there wasnt any marmalade on your finger? ie you washed your hands 1st?
i managed to get a high 20s reading by getting bbq sauce on my finger prior to testing - after my heart stopped racing and retesting was at mid 8s lol


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## everydayupsanddowns (Jul 11, 2015)

Hello Lynbrown

A belated welcome to the forum from me!

It can be tempting to look at the obviously sweet or sugary things as being *the* culprit for a raised BG level, but as others have said, as far as the body is concerned there is very little difference between sucrose (sugar) and the sugar that is very quickly available from wheat, grains, rice, bread etc.

Any carbohydrate will turn to glucose in the blood, and most forms will do so somewhere between a few minutes and a few hours. In terms of grains (eg wheat) more 'processed' they are, the quicker they act. So ground finely as flour or crushed and mashed as Weetabix are likely to hit your bloodstream very fast. There is a system of measuring how quickly carbs are absorbed called Glycaemic Index or Glycaemic Load which might help your choices, but everyone is different, so the best way to find out is just as you have done - with a BG meter.

Here are some things you could try:
Try the same breakfast but only eat either the cereal or the bread for a few days and see if that is better.

Ditch the Weetabix (all cereals are like rocket fuel for me) and switch to a bread with seeds in. Seeds are harder to break down so the seedier the bread the better (eg Burgen)

Try adding some fat and/or protein into the mix eg one slice of toast with eggs rather than all-carb breakfast. Lots of recent evidence shows that eating fat has little if any impact on cholesterol, which is arguably more affected by eating carbohydrate

Remember that you are likely to be more insulin-resistant in the mornings. You may have freer rein with carbs later in the day

Good luck with it!


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## Katie1979 (Jul 20, 2015)

I found wholemeal bread sent my sugars up high an hour after eating and now eat Soya and Linseed bread instead (with marmalade) which doesn't result in a spike.


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