Can I eat if BG is over 130?

I am a newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic (female, aged 49, very overweight, otherwise in good health. I do circuit training/aerobics 30 minutes, 3x/week). My doctor wants me to attempt to control my blood sugar through diet, increased exercise, (and weight loss, of course), before starting me on medication. (Recent Hg a1c test was 5.9). My blood sugar is very slow to fall to desireable levels after a meal. A recent fasting plasma glucose level was 116 after a 20 hour fast. What do I do if my fasting or before meal blood glucose is above 130?  Do I eat something anyway, or wait until my blood glucose drops below 130, or perhaps below 110? Sometimes my before meal number is 145-185, but I still feel hungry (happens usually if I have eaten a carb heavy meal the night before... I'm trying to stop doing that).  Should I exercise before meals in an effort to bring my before-meal blood sugar down enough for it to be OK to eat something?  (I do not experience low blood sugar, even when I fast for a few days).

[JDRF-Team-SS]

Hello  itsaholliday,

First I want you to know that I am not a medical professional, so my input is based on personal experience and knowledge.

My son was diagnosed with type 1 over 6-1/2 yrs. ago at the age of 3.  My sister was diagnosed with type 1 8 yrs. ago at the age of 24.

To be completely honest with you, I do not feel qualified to answer your question.  I am only familiar with type 1 and needing to give insulin to cover meals.

Please call your physician about this matter.  130, 145 or even 180 isn't that bad, HOWEVER, I am unsure what the advice would be considering you have type 2.  With my son, we have to give insulin to cover his food.  I do know that before he went on the insulin pump, if he was on the higher side and hungry, he would eat what we call a "free food" such as cheese or a hotdog without a bun, chicken (no breading).

Please ask your doctor about this matter because I do not know enough about type 2 to give you an adequate answer.  

I am certain that others will comment in regards to your question.

Please take care of yourself and I do apologize that I could not answer your question.

[itsaholliday]

Given my (relatively) low HG a1c results (5.9), my doctor didn't think my condition warranted being overly aggressive right away. He started me on a 20g net carb diet (similar to Atkins) and has me checking me blood sugars 6x per day so I can see what my body is doing (and then he promptly went on vacation). Yesterday, I ate nothing all day, exercised for 30 minutes, and my blood sugar never went below 145. At 8 p.m., I ate a salad with diced ham, a little cheese, a very low carb dressing, and a few mini-tomoatoes (no starches, no sugars). Two hours later, my blood sugar was 135... but when I woke up this morning, it was 175!  I am taking quite a few supplements: do any of you know of supplements or vitamins that could raise fasting blood sugar like this?  I am also on atenolol for blood pressure.

[Christie2004]

I agree that you need furthur evaluation and discussion with your doctor.

In general, I think you are not heading down the right path in not eating or exercising vigorously in order to "bring down your blood sugar so you can eat something".

I am not an expert either, but from general knowledge as a nurse I would expect you to follow your diet plan as given, eating perhaps 4-5 small meals a day (if that is what your doctor has instructed you) and keeping near the 20 gm net carb limit, no matter what your blood sugar is.  Just keep a log of what you eat and when, and a log of when and what your blood sugar is.  That may help the doc figure out what YOUR body needs.

You might not see much in the way of changes in your blood sugar until you have followed this diet for a month, or even several months.  Losing weight may help your blood sugar control in the long run, but don't expect immediate results.

Again, don't focus on what your blood sugar should or shouldn't be at this point, and don't try to affect it by fasting or vigorous exercise right before eating.  Eat when and what you need to.  Keep the log, complete with times, results, and meals eaten to give to your doctor in a month or so.

Good luck!  And if your doctor has instructed you to do something different than what I have suggested, it goes without saying you need to follow your doctors advice.

[itsaholliday]

Christie, thank you for your comments.  I have been following the 20g low carb diet for about 10 days now, and I am seeing better numbers already.  My fasting BG when I first got up was 110 this morning, which is the lowest number I've seen since I started testing. One weird thing I have noticed is that my blood sugar rises after I wake up even if I don't eat anything (I'm not fasting, but sometimes I'm in a hurry, or I'm not really hungry).  But I have not recorded any levels over 200; most of my levels have been in the 125-150 range, with a few ranging up as high as 190, but those were in the first couple days of the diet.  I am trying to exercise 30 minutes 5x/week, and gradually work up to an hour a day.  I am keeping a detailed log to show my doc when he gets back from vacation in a couple of weeks.  I am eating about 1500 calories per day, and I thought that I would lose weight readily on this diet, but that does not seem to be the case, so far, anyway.  I have only lost about a pound and a half (when I need to lose at least 120).  But I am encouraged by the better blood sugar numbers.  I don't know whether my weight loss is stalled by eating too much or too little. Since I weigh 270, 1500 calories doesn't seem like all that much.. or is it?