# Your breakfast



## Simbul (Jul 15, 2015)

I'm curious to know what people have for breakfast 

I'll give you some background: I usually have 2 slices of toast for breakfast, with some low-fat butter and tea. I recently tried testing right after eating (i.e. around 20mins after) and found some pretty disturbing highs.
Based on a bunch of those experiments, there seems to be a consistent trend where my BS goes up by ~5mmmol/l. 1 hour later, however, everything is back to normal (if not flat out crashing).

Long story short, I'd like to experiment with some different options for breakfast, starting with slow absorption and low carbs.
I've seen breakfast mentioned in other threads but nothing dedicated to it. I hope I haven't missed them 

So, what are you lovely people having for breakfast, and what kind of effect does it have on your BS?


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## Northerner (Jul 16, 2015)

I always have a single slice of Burgen toast for breakfast. One thing that I discovered early on was that how high my levels spiked after eating was dependent on the timing of my insulin injection for it. Most foods, however low GI they are, will start to hit levels almost as soon as you start chewing, and in a healthy person their insulin would immediately start ramping up in response, balancing out the rise. However, even though they are promoted as 'fast-acting', most bolus insulins don't really start getting going until at least 15 minutes after injection. Through lots of experimentation and testing, I discovered that, for me, I need to inject as soon as I get up, then eat up to 45 minutes later! This works for me, but you would need to cautiously test to find out what suits you. 

People also tend to be more insulin-resistant in the mornings, as you have been inactive during the night. When you become more active, more insulin receptors 'wake up' on your body's cells, making them more sensitive and able to take in glucose. Finally, to a greater or lesser degree, your liver will start releasing glucose as soon as your feet hit the floor in the morning, to give you an 'energy boost' for the day (thanks, liver!)

So what you choose to eat for breakfast, as a Type 1 on insulin, may be OK as long as you know the best timing for your insulin doses. Before I knew this I thought I was doing really well because I only tested before meals, and levels had usually dropped back to normal before the next meal. It was only when, as you have found, I tested shortly after injecting/eating that I discovered the horrible truth! Another thing you should bear in mind though is that GI can still play a part, as that 'fast-acting' insulin could last up to 5 hours, so you want the food to keep your levels supported for that long otherwise you'll possibly drop low.

It's very confusing, but testing and experience does make things easier.


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## Bloden (Jul 16, 2015)

Hi Simbul. I usually have rye bread, toasted, with avocado, Serrano ham, sometimes some cheese, banana and a big (strong!) milky coffee. 

Lately, I've been aiming for meals that are overall low to medium GI and I've seen an improvement in my BGs, avoiding those annoying post-meal spikes. 

However, breakfast is a little different because, typically, I'm insulin-resistant and carb-sensitive in the morning, and find I spike and drop just like you (so breakfast is the next item on my tweaking agenda!). I'm a work in progress! 

Hope that's helpful.


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## Lindarose (Jul 16, 2015)

Hi Simbul I have to say breakfast is my least favourite meal I really love porridge and found it sends my bs high I love toast and of course bread isn't good either especially in the morning when it seems to have more impact Whilst berries and yoghurt are a good choice for many they don't really sustain me. So sorry that's all quite negative The things I can tolerate are 9 bars which are fairly filling The full English is be great (without the toast and baked beans) though it's a time thing there. 
There are lots of ideas on this forum and online so hopefully you'll find something that you enjoy


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## Robin (Jul 16, 2015)

I've been doing some tweaking recently, thanks to having a Freestyle Libre. like Northerner, I find I need insulin 45 mins before I eat in the morning. in my case, it's because even if  don't eat anything, I still rise from somewhere in the 5s to somewhere in the 8s just by getting up and having a cup of tea. So I always add on a unit to mop this up. I eat a slice of  Burgen toast, or a bowl of sugar free Swiss style muesli ( Lidl cheap version of Alpen) with a tablespoon of extra mixed seeds on it. between these two, it's the Burgen that gives me more of a spike. Occasionally I have scrambled egg, but this gets into my system so slowly, ideally I'd have one unit when I get up, and do a separate one a couple of hours later.


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## Mark T (Jul 16, 2015)

My breakfast is yogurt and walnuts!

Depending on the type of yogurt I get, it can be very low carb.  But even with a relatively (for me) carby yogurt I suspect it's still less carbs then a slice of Burgan.

I typically aim for a yogurt that's less than 14% Carb per 100g (Alpro Soyo yogurt with Almond is actually 2.3% Carb) and to mix it around I can add Pecan's instead.

Cashews are nice - but they are considerably more carby!


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## Pumper_Sue (Jul 16, 2015)

My breakfast is nothing


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## AlisonM (Jul 16, 2015)

For me it's usually a small bowl of home made yoghurt with berries or a slice of Burgen bread with grilled mushrooms or tomatoes... and about a gallon of tea. My numbers tend to shoot up when I wake and it's often worse if I eat right away so normally I delay eating for at least an hour.


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## grovesy (Jul 16, 2015)

I have a Warburtons Thin with either bacon or boiled eggs.


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## Simbul (Jul 16, 2015)

Yeah, insulin resistance in the morning is something I found out about only very recently.
I knew about the dawn effect and how blood sugar tends to rise in the morning, but I had never considered that the effectiveness of insulin could be dampened as well.
You never stop learning (especially about diabetes!  )


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## Austin Mini (Jul 17, 2015)

Hi, I have Quaker Oates so Quick, golden syrup and a slice of wholemeal toast and marmalade every day. That equates to 4 units of insulin.


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## HOBIE (Jul 17, 2015)

Always different. Depends what am doing. Work , going out on bike ?  Nothing cast in stone


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## Northerner (Jul 17, 2015)

Austin Mini said:


> Hi, I have Quaker Oates so Quick, golden syrup and a slice of wholemeal toast and marmalade every day. That equates to 4 units of insulin.



Crikey Austin, that's all fast-acting carbs!  I'm surprised you can get away with it - don't you get a post-meal spike?


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## David H (Jul 17, 2015)

5.7  when rising. 

Omelette or 2 x boiled egg (2 slices gluten free bread - Coeliac and Diabetic) sometimes grilled bacon on 2 slices of bread) for breakfast.

Before lunch (gluten free soup and one slice of gluten free bread) about 6 to 6.2.

Each person is different.


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## HOBIE (Jul 18, 2015)

David H said:


> 5.7  when rising.
> 
> Omelette or 2 x boiled egg (2 slices gluten free bread - Coeliac and Diabetic) sometimes grilled bacon on 2 slices of bread) for breakfast.
> 
> ...



I have at leased 3 eggs a week (1 at a time )


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## bill hopkinson (Jul 19, 2015)

Simbul said:


> I'm curious to know what people have for breakfast
> I'll give you some background: I usually have 2 slices of toast for breakfast, with some low-fat butter and tea. I recently tried testing right after eating (i.e. around 20mins after) and found some pretty disturbing highs.
> Based on a bunch of those experiments, there seems to be a consistent trend where my BS goes up by ~5mmmol/l. 1 hour later, however, everything is back to normal (if not flat out crashing).
> Long story short, I'd like to experiment with some different options for breakfast, starting with slow absorption and low carbs.
> ...





Stewed fruit
Sometimes cereal. _Its cereal Jim, but not as we know it._ Mix my own, own-brand allbran, pumpkin seeds, rye flakes, teff flakes, broken up shredded wheat
Scrambled egg with rocket and tomatoes
I wake up feeling like I am dieing of hunger with dawn phenomena - my BS climbs high just before I wake up. If I eat a lot because I feel hungry then BS goes through the roof. 
However, I can have the breakfast above at 7.30am and then at 10.00am with normal BS have a bacon sandwich and my BS doesn't rise much. Any other time of day it would!


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## KookyCat (Jul 20, 2015)

I have two slices of wholemeal toast (they're teeny so more like one full size slice) with butter, then Greek yoghurt with unsweetened stewed apple.  That doesn't cause me to spike, but I don't have an issue with resistance at breakfast, if I ate that at lunchtime I'd get a definite spike so I avoid bread at lunch.  Occasionally I'll have a croissant instead if I'm feeling that way inclined, but that tends to mean I go low before lunch


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## Paula68 (Jul 20, 2015)

*Breakfast*

I love porridge with desertspn of  honey but Diabetic nurse has said drop the honey so now i have canderal instead. I have been self testing my blood glucose but one of my health team has advised me not to test ?. I could not get a prescription filled today for Abbott Lancets. Was told there was an issue with them. Has anyone else been told this ?:   confused:


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## Northerner (Jul 20, 2015)

Paula68 said:


> I love porridge with desertspn of  honey but Diabetic nurse has said drop the honey so now i have canderal instead. I have been self testing my blood glucose but one of my health team has advised me not to test ?. I could not get a prescription filled today for Abbott Lancets. Was told there was an issue with them. Has anyone else been told this ?:   confused:



My blood boils when I hear that people are told they shouldn't test!! Grr!!  Testing is the best way to learn how different food affects you! It's time they stopped giving out this outdated and stupid advice! Sorry, it really gets my goat 

I'm not sure about the lancets, did they not elaborate and say what the 'issue' is? You could try calling Abbott Customer support and asking them if there is a problem.


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## Worcester_Matt (Jul 20, 2015)

Recently I've been having porridge with blueberries and some linseeds added. I've run out of blueberries now, so I'm going to experiment with porridge and a teaspoon of no added sugar peanut butter. Marmite porridge is also on the agenda, that intrigues me! I find I'm not too bad with porridge, but I've not been testing post-meals. 

I've been injecting my insulin about 5 minutes before eating. Perhaps I should have a go at injecting a bit earlier and see how that affects my blood sugar?


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## Katie1979 (Jul 20, 2015)

Hi Simbul,

I now have Soya and Linseed bread (Vogel or Burgen) (2 pieces) after my dietician recommended it as it's low GI. I have a small amount of lurpack and marmalade and a cheese segment. I also have a cup of tea.

I am matching my insulin to the carbs and currently pregnant so testing 1 hour after eating. It (touch wood) seems to keep my sugars in range with no nasty spikes. I was previously having wholemeal bread (warburtons) and this was sending my sugars shooting up after 1 hour and then crashing down. I guess for me personally the Soya and Linseed bread is a good option.


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## Worcester_Matt (Jul 21, 2015)

I can confirm that porridge and peanut butter is a horrible combination, and not an experiment I shall ever repeat...


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## Northerner (Jul 21, 2015)

Worcester_Matt said:


> I can confirm that porridge and peanut butter is a horrible combination, and not an experiment I shall ever repeat...



I must admit, the thought of it didn't get my taste buds going!


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## ukjohn (Jul 21, 2015)

My breakfast is a cheap one, I buy a Honeydew melon for a £1 at Sainsbury's, I then cut it in four and chop up a quarter for my breakfast. 25p a day 

Have had to reduce my insulin in the morning since eating this because was going hypo 4 hours later.

John.


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## Northerner (Jul 21, 2015)

ukjohn said:


> My breakfast is a cheap one, I buy a Honeydew melon for a £1 at Sainsbury's, I then cut it in four and chop up a quarter for my breakfast. 25p a day
> 
> Have had to reduce my insulin in the morning since eating this because was going hypo 4 hours later.
> 
> John.



It's a good choice John  Although quite high GI, melons are mostly water so don't have the effect on the blood sugar levels the GI implies.


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## Worcester_Matt (Jul 21, 2015)

That's interesting. I love melon, but I'd read that it is quite high GI, so had avoided them. I'll pick one up the next time I'm in the supermarket.


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## robert@fm (Jul 21, 2015)

From what I've heard, melons are paradoxical; high GI but low/medum GL.  It's because of this sort of thing that GL is preferable.


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## KookyCat (Jul 21, 2015)

I trough melon likes it's going out of fashion (it's my only real concession to fruit aside from my stewed Apple) I find it has no impact whatsoever


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## Simbul (Jul 21, 2015)

So many different types of breakfast! Amazing.

I may give the Soya & Linseed bread a try, Katie1979. What you describe with Warburton's sounds excessively familiar.

In general, how do people find out the GI for different kinds of food? Is there a list somewhere, or is it in the nutrition table on food packaging?
Put it another way: how would you know that, in the "bread" category, Warburton's is high GI and Vogel's is low GI?


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## KookyCat (Jul 21, 2015)

As a general rule of thumb the less refined it is the slower the digestion.  I don't know if you can find GI or load by brand, but the reason most people find seeded bread kinder to the blood sugar is because it takes the body longer to break seeds down because they have fibrous shells.  White flour is processed and the wheat is broken down so it's easy and quick for the body to absorb.  Wholemeal flour can also be processed quite heavily too so I eat bread from stoneground whole grain flour (traditional milling process rather than pulverised in a machine). Its from my local baker, but for commercially produced bread you could try seeded bread, I think hovis do a stoneground flour loaf).  I'm a bread snob, can't stand warburtons (and me a Bolton lass), I prefer whole grain from the bakers and because I eat so little of it it isn't really any more expensive.  My baker also does a nut bread which has less flour because of ground nuts, ooh that's luscious!  I can't stand linseed though so a lot of commercial seeded breads are not to my taste.


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## Worcester_Matt (Jul 21, 2015)

I've been using this University of Sydney website to try to estimate the GI level of particular foods: http://www.glycemicindex.com GI is still a bit of a mystery to me at the moment, as from what I understand you can eat a small amount of high GI food with mostly low GI foods in a meal, and the overall GI of the meal is still low. So a lot of it depends on what you eat and how you combine some foods with others. I've certainly found that white bread and wholemeal bread send my glucose levels through the roof. The University of Sydney database doesn't have every British food on it, but it's quite comprehensive. 

The problem I've found with carbohydrate counting and keeping carbs down is that low fat versions of food are generally higher in carbs. So, for example, full fat Philadelphia on a low GI ryvita (the pumpkin seed one seems to be the best) is better for my diabetes than the low-fat version. I quite like the Hovis seeded bread, and I'm generally a bread snob too. How I miss the taste of a freshly cooked white bloomer! 

I'm seeing a dietician tomorrow, so I'm hoping to have more clarity about the dietary side of diabetes too. Having high cholesterol and high blood pressure at the same time isn't helping me work out what I should and should not be eating. The safest option appears to be dust at the moment!


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## Northerner (Jul 21, 2015)

Worcester_Matt said:


> I've been using this University of Sydney website to try to estimate the GI level of particular foods: http://www.glycemicindex.com GI is still a bit of a mystery to me at the moment, as from what I understand you can eat a small amount of high GI food with mostly low GI foods in a meal, and the overall GI of the meal is still low. So a lot of it depends on what you eat and how you combine some foods with others. I've certainly found that white bread and wholemeal bread send my glucose levels through the roof. The University of Sydney database doesn't have every British food on it, but it's quite comprehensive. ...



This idea of lowering overall GI by combining food is called 'Glycaemic Load'. GI doesn't consider portion size, whereas GL does - The GL Diet for Dummies explains the principles very well  I've got a Collins Gem GI Guide, although I very rarely use it these days as I'm pretty familiar with what most foods do to me now.

I eat Burgen Soya and Linseed bread - not only does it have seeds, but the soya flour used means that it is lower carb than most breads. Plus, it's really tasty and lasts a good whiie without drying out!


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## Katie1979 (Jul 21, 2015)

I was given a list by my dietician which says the following:

Low GI (best choice) - Oatbran bread, Ryebread, Pumpernickel, Mixed Grain, Soya and Linseed Bread

Med GI -Pitta, wholemeal bread, fruit loaf, hamburger bun

High GI - bagel, baguette, gluten free bread, white Turkish style bread, English muffin

I just started experimenting with the low GI and really liked the the Burgen Soya and Linseed bread. It tends to be available in bigger supermarkets. M&S do a nice mixed grain bread that did not spike my sugars so I have that from time to time.


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