Lowering Blood Sugar With Exercise

[chiang mai]

I would urge the OP to buy a glucometer and begin testing at home. My glucose levels came in at 105 during my last physical in November and the doctor said there was nothing to worry about, "you are simply the high end of normal", she said. On a whim I decided to start testing at home and within a week I could see that my FBG was in the 120's, subsequent postprandial testing showed over 200 on occasion.

Today I test about six times daily and I'm getting close to understanding what makes my metabolism tick, exercise does nothing for my numbers but by controlling my diet is crucial. My numbers yesterday were the best I've seen yet, fasting at 110 and postprandial numbers of around 118/120, I've managed a 20% reduction in the numbers in two months plus I've all but elimintaed the spikes. But I know that if I were to eat rice, a pizza, a piece of bread or similar I would be back at 200 in no time hence this whole thing is an educational process. And Tropo has loads of good info. so pay attention, there'll be a quiz later, fail the quiz and you loose your feet and go blind.

[thaicbr]

A Glucose reading of 103 is in the normal range but at the high end, I don't understand the significance of the HbA0 and HbA2 tests.

It would seem that some confusion has prevailed due to my beloved GF wanting me to do another test for

Thalassaemia

which i think the two tests are..i think she read about it in a magazine...... therefore the more important test that I wanted has not been done... TIT

Either that or the lab have no clue what they are doing.. I will find out tomorrow.

Edited January 27, 2013 by thaicbr

[chiang mai]

A Glucose reading of 103 is in the normal range but at the high end, I don't understand the significance of the HbA0 and HbA2 tests.

It would seem that some confusion has prevailed due to my beloved GF wanting me to do another test for cholesterol which i think the two tests are.. therefore the more important test that I wanted has not been done... TIT

Either that or the lab have no clue what they are doing.. I will find out tomorrow.

For what it's worth I think the important things to check are Fasting Blood Glucose, HbA1c (the 90 day test) and Triglycerides - the cholesterol tests are typically HDL and LDL plus cholesterol by volume.

[tropo]

Thanks Robblok i was using the android app and it doesn't seem to like uploading multiple pictures.

these are the other 2 bits of paperwork i got.

You got the wrong tests done. I have no idea why you had a detailed analysis of your hemoglobin????

HbA and HbA2 are the two types of normal hemoglobin found in human blood.

You needed an HbA1c, which is glycated hemoglobin. It's a measure of how much sugar is stuck to your hemoglobin.

A Glucose reading of 103 is in the normal range but at the high end, I don't understand the significance of the HbA0 and HbA2 tests.

A fasting number of 103 mg/dl is not normal, even though this lab has shown it to be within normal range.

Every diabetic association in the world considers >99 mg/dl as an indication of pre-diabetes.

Truly normal results are in the 80's (around 83). It's not like you're perfectly normal until you reach 100. Insulin resistance and diabetes develops slowly and is progressive.

Yes, thaicbr, you have a minor problem. You're lucky you've caught it in the early stages.

The next thing you need to find out is how you respond to meals. Get yourself a glucometer and start testing.

...or do it like Poanoi did earlier in this thread. I explained how it can be done cheaply at the lab.

However, based on your FBS of 103 mg/dl, buying a glucometer would be a good investment as this will not just go away if you forget about it - it will get worse until one day you'll be full diabetic.

Edited January 27, 2013 by tropo

[tropo]

A Glucose reading of 103 is in the normal range but at the high end, I don't understand the significance of the HbA0 and HbA2 tests.

It would seem that some confusion has prevailed due to my beloved GF wanting me to do another test for

Thalassaemia

which i think the two tests are..i think she read about it in a magazine...... therefore the more important test that I wanted has not been done... TIT

Either that or the lab have no clue what they are doing.. I will find out tomorrow.

OK, that's why.

Actually a normal CBC will tell you if you may have Thalassemia or not. A visual inspection of the red blood cells is done under the category of "Red Blood Cells morphology". In people with Thalassemia the shape and structure of red blood cells is irregular.

[tropo]

I would urge the OP to buy a glucometer and begin testing at home. My glucose levels came in at 105 during my last physical in November and the doctor said there was nothing to worry about, "you are simply the high end of normal", she said. On a whim I decided to start testing at home and within a week I could see that my FBG was in the 120's, subsequent postprandial testing showed over 200 on occasion.

Today I test about six times daily and I'm getting close to understanding what makes my metabolism tick, exercise does nothing for my numbers but by controlling my diet is crucial. My numbers yesterday were the best I've seen yet, fasting at 110 and postprandial numbers of around 118/120, I've managed a 20% reduction in the numbers in two months plus I've all but elimintaed the spikes. But I know that if I were to eat rice, a pizza, a piece of bread or similar I would be back at 200 in no time hence this whole thing is an educational process. And Tropo has loads of good info. so pay attention, there'll be a quiz later, fail the quiz and you loose your feet and go blind.

Good work!

Even this morning I had an FBS of 106. Other mornings it's in the 90's and occasionally in the 80's.... for no explicable reason. I would have liked to test again but I have to conserve my strips.

[thaicbr]

Is it still worth getting the HBA1C done. Because it seems I can go back now for that???

[chiang mai]

Is it still worth getting the HBA1C done. Because it seems I can go back now for that???

I think so although others may disagree. The test measures the number of red blood cells to which blood glucose molecules have become attached, such cells die after an average life of 90 days hence they can be counted accurately. But, the life of red blood cells is in fact anywhere between 80 and 114 days, 90 days is only an average across the population, the problem with that is the threshold for Type II Diabetes for example, using this test, means that anyone over 6.5% (?) is in but anyone below is out. If you happen to be one of those people whose red blood cells live for something other than the average number of days, you may be misdiagnosed. However, whilst the test has that flaw it is reliable in indivuduals to track progress, get one test done today and compare the results against a second test in a month to monitor progress and direction.

[thaicbr]

Thanks. I'm at the lab now awaiting the results.

[thaicbr]

Test results. 6%

[chiang mai]

Test results. 6%

At the hospital I tested at 5.9% and one week later at 5.7%, my home test results told a much different story and indicated 6.9% equivelent, when spikes were considered my home test results translated to much higher numbers. So, which one is right? Neither is the answer, at least not 100%. The HbA1C test is accurate to -10% and plus 22%, home glucometers are adrift by as much as 20%. What I have done and what I suggest you do is to take your 6% figure and store it away, in another four weeks go get the same test again and see which way the result has moved, up or down.

In the meantime I would buy a home test glucometer and beging testin, test when you wake up each morning and again two hours after each meal, record the results along with what you ate when. At some point you may begin to see a relationship between the hospital test number and your home test results, if nothing else your home test results will show you what foods affect your blood glucose levels and what foods to avoid to make them go down. Make sence?

[thaicbr]

Test results. 6%

At the hospital I tested at 5.9% and one week later at 5.7%, my home test results told a much different story and indicated 6.9% equivelent, when spikes were considered my home test results translated to much higher numbers. So, which one is right? Neither is the answer, at least not 100%. The HbA1C test is accurate to -10% and plus 22%, home glucometers are adrift by as much as 20%. What I have done and what I suggest you do is to take your 6% figure and store it away, in another four weeks go get the same test again and see which way the result has moved, up or down.

In the meantime I would buy a home test glucometer and beging testin, test when you wake up each morning and again two hours after each meal, record the results along with what you ate when. At some point you may begin to see a relationship between the hospital test number and your home test results, if nothing else your home test results will show you what foods affect your blood glucose levels and what foods to avoid to make them go down. Make sence?

Yes. Thanks for that. Just have to find a reasonable G meter now. And take some time to read up on foods. My diet has been high on bread for a long time.

[chiang mai]

Test results. 6%

At the hospital I tested at 5.9% and one week later at 5.7%, my home test results told a much different story and indicated 6.9% equivelent, when spikes were considered my home test results translated to much higher numbers. So, which one is right? Neither is the answer, at least not 100%. The HbA1C test is accurate to -10% and plus 22%, home glucometers are adrift by as much as 20%. What I have done and what I suggest you do is to take your 6% figure and store it away, in another four weeks go get the same test again and see which way the result has moved, up or down.

In the meantime I would buy a home test glucometer and beging testin, test when you wake up each morning and again two hours after each meal, record the results along with what you ate when. At some point you may begin to see a relationship between the hospital test number and your home test results, if nothing else your home test results will show you what foods affect your blood glucose levels and what foods to avoid to make them go down. Make sence?

Yes. Thanks for that. Just have to find a reasonable G meter now. And take some time to read up on foods. My diet has been high on bread for a long time.

I would urge you to drop bread, rice, cakes/cookies and potato, as a second step I would urge you to research the Glycemic Index (GI) of foods and to go low glycemic, Tropo will be along momentarily I'm sure to urge you to go low carb, but I'll let him explain that one, you'll just have to find out what works for you, in the meantime test test test..

BTW - the glucometer by Code Free is a good one, I can recommend.

[scotto]

Does anybody know of a blood glucose meter that you can wear

sort of like a watch that will give you a reading when you are

exercising or at work without having to stop and do a test with the current

machines my fingers get sore from testing.

thanks

scotto

[tropo]

Is it still worth getting the HBA1C done. Because it seems I can go back now for that???

I think so although others may disagree.

................................................................

................................................................

However, whilst the test has that flaw it is reliable in indivuduals to track progress, get one test done today and compare the results against a second test in a month to monitor progress and direction.

I'm guessing you consider me as one of the dissenters. For the reasons you stated in your last sentence I believe the test still has value, but not as a standalone for diagnosis.

[tropo]

Test results. 6%

At the hospital I tested at 5.9% and one week later at 5.7%, my home test results told a much different story and indicated 6.9% equivelent, when spikes were considered my home test results translated to much higher numbers. So, which one is right? Neither is the answer, at least not 100%. The HbA1C test is accurate to -10% and plus 22%, home glucometers are adrift by as much as 20%. What I have done and what I suggest you do is to take your 6% figure and store it away, in another four weeks go get the same test again and see which way the result has moved, up or down.

In the meantime I would buy a home test glucometer and beging testin, test when you wake up each morning and again two hours after each meal, record the results along with what you ate when. At some point you may begin to see a relationship between the hospital test number and your home test results, if nothing else your home test results will show you what foods affect your blood glucose levels and what foods to avoid to make them go down. Make sence?

Taking his 6% HbA1c and FBS of 103 mg/dl into consideration I have no doubt Thaicbr has insulin resistance, the extent of which cannot be determined until he starts testing after meals.

Why do you only test 2 hours after meals? I consider a 1 hour test more important as it indicates my maximum (or near maximum) spike. My 2 hours are always good. One hour readings do spike.

Usually, these days, I only test 1 hour. If it is high I test again at 2 hours.

Edited January 27, 2013 by tropo

[tropo]

At the hospital I tested at 5.9% and one week later at 5.7%,

Imagine how I felt when the same blood sample tested first at 6.2% and then 5.7%.... and on another occasion it was 6.5% one day and the next day it was 5.6% (I went back because I was not happy with the first result)....I expected much better based on my diet modifications and regular self testing.

[tropo]

Test results. 6%

At the hospital I tested at 5.9% and one week later at 5.7%, my home test results told a much different story and indicated 6.9% equivelent, when spikes were considered my home test results translated to much higher numbers. So, which one is right? Neither is the answer, at least not 100%. The HbA1C test is accurate to -10% and plus 22%, home glucometers are adrift by as much as 20%. What I have done and what I suggest you do is to take your 6% figure and store it away, in another four weeks go get the same test again and see which way the result has moved, up or down.

In the meantime I would buy a home test glucometer and beging testin, test when you wake up each morning and again two hours after each meal, record the results along with what you ate when. At some point you may begin to see a relationship between the hospital test number and your home test results, if nothing else your home test results will show you what foods affect your blood glucose levels and what foods to avoid to make them go down. Make sence?

Yes. Thanks for that. Just have to find a reasonable G meter now. And take some time to read up on foods. My diet has been high on bread for a long time.

I would recommend you choose you meter based on the cost of testing strips. This is the big ongoing expense which you must consider. Also choose a meter of which the strips are likely to stay in supply. I've had a problem where the shops here in Thailand stopped stocking my test strips and I had to buy a new meter.

[tropo]

I would urge you to drop bread, rice, cakes/cookies and potato, as a second step I would urge you to research the Glycemic Index (GI) of foods and to go low glycemic, Tropo will be along momentarily I'm sure to urge you to go low carb, but I'll let him explain that one, you'll just have to find out what works for you, in the meantime test test test..

BTW - the glucometer by Code Free is a good one, I can recommend.

I would base that decision on how he spikes after carbs when he tests them. If he tests well, then go moderate carb. If he tests high, then low carb.

With your results I would go low carb. I now go moderate carb as I can handle them well, established by trial and error with frequent testing.

Just for the record, I never go zero carb.

Edited January 27, 2013 by tropo

[chiang mai]

Is it still worth getting the HBA1C done. Because it seems I can go back now for that???

I think so although others may disagree.

................................................................

................................................................

However, whilst the test has that flaw it is reliable in indivuduals to track progress, get one test done today and compare the results against a second test in a month to monitor progress and direction.

I'm guessing you consider me as one of the dissenters. For the reasons you stated in your last sentence I believe the test still has value, but not as a standalone for diagnosis.

You guess wrong, we already discussed this elsewhere and we agree on its purpose and the degree to which it's useful.

[thaicbr]

Thank you all for the advice. And now a lot more reading about the different aspects of diet, testing and diabetes. Thanks again. Allan

[chiang mai]

Test results. 6%

At the hospital I tested at 5.9% and one week later at 5.7%, my home test results told a much different story and indicated 6.9% equivelent, when spikes were considered my home test results translated to much higher numbers. So, which one is right? Neither is the answer, at least not 100%. The HbA1C test is accurate to -10% and plus 22%, home glucometers are adrift by as much as 20%. What I have done and what I suggest you do is to take your 6% figure and store it away, in another four weeks go get the same test again and see which way the result has moved, up or down.

In the meantime I would buy a home test glucometer and beging testin, test when you wake up each morning and again two hours after each meal, record the results along with what you ate when. At some point you may begin to see a relationship between the hospital test number and your home test results, if nothing else your home test results will show you what foods affect your blood glucose levels and what foods to avoid to make them go down. Make sence?

Why do you only test 2 hours after meals? I consider a 1 hour test more important as it indicates my maximum (or near maximum) spike. My 2 hours are always good. One hour readings do spike.

Usually, these days, I only test 1 hour. If it is high I test again at 2 hours.

I've recently gone to testing at one hour, I was only able to do that once I'd got the 2 hour numbers into reasonable territory, to have checked the 1 hour numbers sooner than that would have scared me to death!

I've now got a basic meal set down that keeps my numbers under control, an all protein breakfast, sausage and eggs usually - heavily mixed sald with grilled chicken breast or similar for lunch - the same type of salad but with tuna, fish or meat for dinner, it's basically meat and three veg with a slight difference. Note: my salads have everything in there apart from lettuce so they are interesting as well as healthy . But that routine is getting fairly boring hence now the search is on for new/other food stuffs in order to add variety and that's not easy, I've taken the approach now that everything is ruled out before being sampled/tested and potentially ruled in vs the other way around which I see as risky and time consuming.

Finally, old habits die hard and yesterday, whilst gloating over my daily numbers, I went to Starbucks for a coffee and a read of their newspapers - I ordered the coffee and out of habit put in half a sache of sugar and drank it, silly boy, the numbers later hit 160 but settled down afterwards, it's aslways the simple things in life!

[robblok]

Hi chiang mai, my numbers were never as bad as yours so i might not have any right to speak. However i have been on a diet for a year and lost considerable weight, but once in a while i let go for a meal a day or whatever. Is that still possible with your numbers ? The secret is making sure that once in a while stays once in a while and does not get regular.

[chiang mai]

I wish it were Rob, that way I'd feel morecomfortable about the whole thing. This morning was a classic example, I'm hunting around for breakfast but I don't want to eat eggs again so I settle on some plain yogurt, some cottage cheese, a piece of ham and four prunes, not exactly the Ritz gourmet breakfast but it works and gives the desired carbo's vs protein ratio.

So I start with a fasting level of 109, eat my breakfast and one hour later I'm 167, <deleted> I ask myself! But then at 2 hours I'm back down to 112 - methinks I have some way to go on the education front of all of this.

[robblok]

I wish it were Rob, that way I'd feel morecomfortable about the whole thing. This morning was a classic example, I'm hunting around for breakfast but I don't want to eat eggs again so I settle on some plain yogurt, some cottage cheese, a piece of ham and four prunes, not exactly the Ritz gourmet breakfast but it works and gives the desired carbo's vs protein ratio.

So I start with a fasting level of 109, eat my breakfast and one hour later I'm 167, <deleted> I ask myself! But then at 2 hours I'm back down to 112 - methinks I have some way to go on the education front of all of this.

Ok yes those numbers are a lot higher as mine, i don't really mind eating the same often as it helps me keep track of calories. But im quite easy and people are often amazed i can do it. Though at the moment i have a soft spot for peanut butter (high calorie) so have to be careful.

My FBS is usualy in its 90's and an hour after a meal im back to 100 or so usually stays at 100 through the day.

[chiang mai]

I don't want to become a blood sugar bore but it seems to me that the postprandial reading in isolation is perhaps not that useful, OK it serves it's purpose for a particular meal and it gives a point of reference, but when comparing progress on one day versus another it's more useful to compare average daily readings (fasting+postprandial breakfast, lunch and dinner readings, divided by four). That would seem to iron out the ups and downs caused by individual meals and would show proportional progress from one day to the next. Using that method my numbers come out as follows: since the start of January my average daily reading has fallen from 138 to 114, that's my average daily postprndial value or volume of spike glucose in my system during that time. Yes or no?

[barefoot1988]

although not entirely related to lowering blood sugar with exercise but i would like to add in i had seen really outstanding results with my father blood sugar with organic apple cider vinegar

just a tablespoon in a glass of water every morning. just 5 days, the results are very obvious

[chiang mai]

I thought it was an old wives tale but it seems it's not, spinach actually does reduce blood glucose levels quite substantially. Had a warm spinach salad a few nights ago and my post meal reading came in at 95 whereas it would normally be around 115/120, repeated the exercise the following night with the same results. Google the subject and there's much evidence out there to confirm it does the job.

[onionluke]

I was looking for cinamonn tea , as i would like to try it as a bg friendly beverage , and I came across a guava tea in a Hong Kong supermarket . It is made in Thailand .

Manufacturer - Chin Huay Co. Ltd.

Brand name - Guava tea.

HK packaging name - Eros Guava Tea

The blurb on the packaging claims it can help reduce blood sugars and protect the labour .

I will post on results if any .

[tominbkk]

Eliminating the empty grain and sugar carbs will do wonders for your blood sugar levels.