# Advice needed



## isotsha (Aug 23, 2012)

Hi all

I have a question about Quaker oats. My readings are about 7 ? 9 in the mornings, which is still a bit high but we working on that. Anyways, after breakfast that I have with 1 small cup of coffee, no sugar and the oates is about 60g (+-) with about 150ml milk. Two hours after that I check my blood and then it something stupid in the 14 or 15 mark! The doctor told oats was fine to eat.
Does anyone else experience this problem?
Lastly, can someone recommend a  good, but basic recipe book. All the books I find look like Jamie Olive fancy recipes. ?..

Thanks
Steve


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## Northerner (Aug 23, 2012)

Hi Steve, I think that many people have problems with porridge. The most reliable 'slow-release' appears to be real porridge made with jumbo oats - most of the processed oat products will often cause a blood sugar spike as they are substantially refined from the raw oats in order to make them quick and easy to cook. In addition, many people find that they are most insulin-resistant in the mornings, so any amount of carbs can have a pronounced effect on BG levels. Diabetes is a very individual condition and people have different tolerances for different things - there is no 'one size fits all' diet sheet you can work from unfortunately. The best way to find out what you personally can tolerate is to follow a good programme of testing - have a read of Test,Review, Adjust by Alan S  as a good approach to efficient testing. Once you have discovered what works for you, you won't need to test so often. This will help you retain flexibility in your diet and at the same time maximise your chances of achieving good blood glucose levels 

I would also suggest looking into Glycaemic Load diets. This is a way of combining foods that will release their energy slowly and have reduced impact on your levels - a good introduction is The GL Diet for Dummies 

I'd also suggest starting a food diary to see what your consumption of carbs is like and also to help you spot places where a substitution or portion size reduction might improve things e.g. more green veg instead of potatoes, sweet potatoes instead of ordinary etc.


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## Mark T (Aug 23, 2012)

It sounds like your Doctor is stuck in the usual trap of fat-is-bad, carbs-are-good advice forgetting that all pretty much all carb's turn to glucose.

The morning is a pretty bad time since there are lots of hormones running around your body at the time which will make you more insulin resistant (and thus less tolerant of eating carbs).

Personally, I try to avoid saturated fat but not all fats.  But I also try to keep my breakfast below 10g Carb also.

So you could consider a more protein based breakfast (smoked kippers, chicken, ham...)  or if you are short of time, then some of the pouring yogurts are fairly low fat and low carb and you could mix them with nuts (I typially use walnuts) or a few blueberries (also low gi).


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## MaryPlain (Aug 23, 2012)

I find I manage porridge better if I make it with a smaller amount of oats (usually 40g) and bulk it out with 15g ground flax seeds. It adds to the fat and fibre content, makes it more filling and seems to reduce the blood sugar spike. I'm on insulin though, so even that may be too much if you don't have that facility. I also make mine with half and half soya milk and water. Soya milk is lower in carbs than cow's milk if you get the unsweetened sort.


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## Austin Mini (Aug 23, 2012)

I eat Quaker 'Oats so Simple' in the winter and never a problem. I dont test 1-2 hours afterwards but 4-5 hrs later at lunch time and alls well. I suggest you try Quaker Oats so Simple which is avaliable in many flavours. My favorite is Golden Syrup, yum.


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## Northerner (Aug 23, 2012)

Austin Mini said:


> I eat Quaker 'Oats so Simple' in the winter and never a problem. I dont test 1-2 hours afterwards but 4-5 hrs later at lunch time and alls well. I suggest you try Quaker Oats so Simple which is avaliable in many flavours. My favorite is Golden Syrup, yum.



I think if you were to test at 1-2 hours you'd find quite a hefty spike, even if you have returned to good levels at 5 hours - this is what I found out with this product, and that was just the ordinary one, not the extra sweet one  25g carbs, 8.3g sugar not including the milk. Ordinary stuff has 16g carbs and 0.3g sugar.


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## Andrew (Aug 24, 2012)

*Recipe books*

We have dozens  I am not going to count them - The good house keeping book comes out a lot fro reference and ideas - I have got a couple of antony 
worral thompsons including the LOW GI books.

I have taken to making my own bread as I can put nuts and seeds in it, when making bread I now put all the wet goods in a bowl and turn the mixer on, then add about 80% of the flour and leave to mix for 10 minutes,  then add the rest of the flour  35 to 40 minuted in the oven.
I add oats nuts seeds, in at the start as part of the 80%



isotsha said:


> Hi allw
> 
> I have a question about Quaker oats. My readings are about 7 ? 9 in the mornings, which is still a bit high but we working on that. Anyways, after breakfast that I have with 1 small cup of coffee, no sugar and the oates is -about 60g (+-) with about 150ml milk. Two hours after that I check my blood and then it something stupid in the 14 or 15 mark! The doctor told oats was fine to eat.
> Does anyone else experience this problem?
> ...


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## Mark T (Aug 24, 2012)

Austin Mini said:


> I eat Quaker 'Oats so Simple' in the winter and never a problem. I dont test 1-2 hours afterwards but 4-5 hrs later at lunch time and alls well. I suggest you try Quaker Oats so Simple which is avaliable in many flavours. My favorite is Golden Syrup, yum.


Yep, I agree with Alan's post.  I've tried this and it will send me to 14 mmol/L.  It's worse then a bowl of muesli for me.


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## cherrypie (Aug 24, 2012)

isotsha said:


> Hi all
> 
> I have a question about Quaker oats. My readings are about 7 ? 9 in the mornings, which is still a bit high but we working on that. Anyways, after breakfast that I have with 1 small cup of coffee, no sugar and the oates is about 60g (+-) with about 150ml milk. Two hours after that I check my blood and then it something stupid in the 14 or 15 mark! The doctor told oats was fine to eat.
> Does anyone else experience this problem?
> ...



Hi,

I am a Type 2 and find I can tolerate 30g of porridge, not the processed kind.  I add some sunflower seeds and chopped nuts as well as fresh fruit, raspberries, strawberries or stewed apples and it seems to lessen the impact.
If you don't want to give up porridge you could try this and see what your results are.


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## DeusXM (Aug 24, 2012)

A lot of people find they are more insulin resistant in the morning. Meanwhile, eating a 60g bowl of oats, you may as well just fill a bowl with sugar and eat that. All carbs are sugar, essentially.

You'll probably do much better cutting out carbs entirely for breakfast if they're spiking you that much - go for things like omelettes or scrambled eggs. You could also look at non-breakfast foods for breakfast - pork rinds, jerky, biltong, nuts, salads etc.

Never, ever listen to a doctor when it comes to diet advice. Diabetes is a highly individual condition and so what is 'fine' for one person may be completely different for another. Plus, most nutritionists and doctors work off dietary advice that is over 40 years old and aimed at T1s rather than T2s.


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## Pattidevans (Sep 2, 2012)

I have Anthony WT's diabetic cook book (the first one) and it's dire.  Try any of Dana Carpender's Low carb cook books, or look online for low carb recipes.


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## Marier (Sep 2, 2012)

what amount of carbs would be in 25grm porridge with 150 ml of milk  
thanks Marie


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## DeusXM (Sep 3, 2012)

You'd need to look at the nutritional information on the packets to find that out. But I think probably it works out around 15g in the porridge itself and for semiskim it's 7.2g, so that's a total of around 23g, I think. For me, that would probably take around 3-5u of insulin to stay level.


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## Marier (Sep 3, 2012)

Thanks    have bought some loose Porridge from wee Shop in Village  will try 25gms   n 150 skimmd milk  n have  do you think 3 units QA  im on 1:1 ratio breakfast


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## DeusXM (Sep 3, 2012)

I wouldn't like to prescribe individual insulin doses to anyone other than myself so you'd need to work it out based on your ratios and your understanding of your diabetes. Are you really on a 1:1 ratio though, meaning 1u of insulin handles 1g of carbs? That seems extremely insulin resistant to me, for many people the range is somewhere between 1:5 and 1:15.


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## everydayupsanddowns (Sep 3, 2012)

I'm not sure but I think Marier might mean 1u:1CP (carbohydrate portion - as in 10g carbs?)


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## Marier (Sep 3, 2012)

Mean  1 unit of Insulin  to 10 grms  of Carb .


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## DeusXM (Sep 3, 2012)

If it's 1:10, the maths is simple enough. 23g at 1:10 = 2.3u of insulin. Given you can't inject 0.3u, you should under-inject. Otherwise you'll be taking more insulin than you need for the food you eat and you'll have a hypo.


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