General Medical issues thread

[andye]

There is a distinct trend in the US to wear them to monitor your sugar levels for fitness / general wellness tracking.

I think its probably OTT but it does give an insight into food that affects blood sugar levels. High glycaemic index food (e.g sugary snacks or processed carbs like white bread) will spike more. It can therefore be used to guide a healthier diet.

A colleague of mine (young, slim and fit) found a significant spike after even a Maccas happy meal. Its one of the reasons you feel hungry again not long after faat food.

 

[Seat0B]

When I was having daily and then every second day blood tests during leukaemia treatment and immediate recovery period, I noticed some important things relating to direct links between foods and blood sugar.

Bearing in mind I was nauseous and not eating well anyway, porridge with full cream milk and a tiny drizzle of honey at 0900 would usually give a blood glucose reading of around 6 on blood taken at 1100 to 1130. Adding a few sultanas would take it to 6.5 to 6.7. Multi grain toast and jam about 7. Multi grain toast and Vegemite in the high 6 range. 2 boiled eggs and toast around 5 to 5.5 and a bowl of Nutrigrain was over 9 . Once it was 10.5. I now hardly ever eat sugared cereals knowing how bad they are for my blood sugar. Incidentally, if I was too sick to eat before the blood test, it usually returned in the range on 3.5 to 3.9. So I guess that was my fasting blood sugar.

I found this quite informative and it has definitely guided my food choices. I admit to still enjoying chocolate, and a pastry with my coffee from time to time, but do it knowing that I can’t do it all the time.

 

[tgh]

Lots of research and the science seems solid, pity there is not more education and interest from first contact medico's
I did a lot of reading on the subject a while back that led me to proactively start on Metformin even though the Hba1c trend was fine

Postprandial hyperglycemia as an etiological factor in vascular failure - Cardiovascular Diabetology

Postprandial hyperglycemia is characterized by hyperglycemic spikes that induce endothelial dysfunction, inflammatory reactions and oxidative stress, which may lead to progression of atherosclerosis and occurrence of cardiovascular events. Emerging data indicate that postprandial hyperglycemia...

cardiab.biomedcentral.com

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/215690#google_vignette

 

[prozac]

When I was having daily and then every second day blood tests during leukaemia treatment and immediate recovery period, I noticed some important things relating to direct links between foods and blood sugar.

Bearing in mind I was nauseous and not eating well anyway, porridge with full cream milk and a tiny drizzle of honey at 0900 would usually give a blood glucose reading of around 6 on blood taken at 1100 to 1130. Adding a few sultanas would take it to 6.5 to 6.7. Multi grain toast and jam about 7. Multi grain toast and Vegemite in the high 6 range. 2 boiled eggs and toast around 5 to 5.5 and a bowl of Nutrigrain was over 9 . Once it was 10.5. I now hardly ever eat sugared cereals knowing how bad they are for my blood sugar. Incidentally, if I was too sick to eat before the blood test, it usually returned in the range on 3.5 to 3.9. So I guess that was my fasting blood sugar.

I found this quite informative and it has definitely guided my food choices. I admit to still enjoying chocolate, and a pastry with my coffee from time to time, but do it knowing that I can’t do it all the time.

Very good you can remember it all. I'd have to check my record book as it appears I am not recalling numbers correctly.