Highs post Breakfast

Hi friends,

I've noticed a trend that my 1 hour post-meal spike is much higher after breakfast than my other meals. I know the dawn phenomenon is a reality for many of us, but the last two mornings I even went up on my insulin to carb ratio just for breakfast.

To give some context, I ate the same thing this morning and yesterday morning. 2 hard boiled eggs and 1 cup of Barbara's multigrain shredded cereal with skim milk. I waited 15 minutes after my injection (Humalog) before eating and both times I was starting with a good blood sugar (e.g. 92 today). 1 hour later, I was 200+ both yesterday and today. I know that is the spike and that it will come down some in this next hour, but I don't want spikes in my life esp now that I'm pregnant.

I wonder how something that, while it has carbs, is really low in sugar can have such a high spike. Should I just give up on carbs at breakfast? I'm wondering if the HCG hormones are making me that much more carb sensitive in the AM.

Do others experience this? What has worked for you?

Thanks!
Natalia

I've also wondered if the high protein and fat (right?) in the hard boiled eggs is only adding to the problem. Maybe that isn't the best regular breakfast choice either. Especially not after my mother-in-law showed me this today: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/15/is-eating-egg-yolks-as-bad-as-smoking/ NICE. lol.

Although I am a type 2, I think I am like many T1s and am more insulin resistant for breakfast. Certainly eating protein and fat can slow your digestion of carbs, but it is quite possible that it is really about being pregnant. For a variety of reasons, you can become significantly more insulin resistant when pregnant.

I used to try to eat things like steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. It never worked. In the end I just chose a very low carb meal, typically a cheese omellete, perhaps with some sausages or bacon on the side. Maybe you will be able to adjust your ICR for breakfast and deal with it, but in the end (at least while pregnant) you may need to choose a lower carb option.

I cheat by having the basal rate on my pump increase around 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM or so. This seems to cover DP fairly well. A lot of the time, I don't eat more than a piece of toast w/ egg beaters for breakfast. Not so much the cholesterol, as that's ok for me, but b/c I am lazy and it's easier to pour it out than mess around w/ shells? I have a couple of real eggs a couple of times/ week. I also toss in chia seeds and then spinach and broccoli, occasionally other stuff if there's any interesting leftovers lying around. I think it's sort of important to eat carbs when you're pregnant so you can't really do the "no carb" thing by just eating eggs. That gets my BG much flatter more easily.

With MDI if you can find a basal "peak", maybe you could adjust the timing to get it to happen in the AM? I know some people have reported using 2x or 3x basal shots to spread the bumps around on that.

I eat a max of 6g of carbs at breakfast. I spent several years attempting to eat my beloved oatmeal (which then became oat bran, or wheat bran or even amaranth), and finally gave in. I now eat eggs and sausage with tomatoes *every single morning*. Otherwise, no matter how early I pre-bolus, I will spike to about 200 after a breakfast with carbs.

I hate to tell you this, but you need to drop the carbs at breakfast while you're pregnant. BTW - a cup of cereal and milk has got to be about 60-75g of carbs, right? I mean, I haven't found a cereal that was below 23g carbs per 1/2cup serving. And milk is pretty high in carbs, too.

I agree with Kimberly. I truly love oatmeal. The steel cut kind is "the BOMB" lol. But canot do any grain carbs,rice, corn ( Is oatmeal a grain carb, too? in the morhing, too spike-inducing. Dawn phenomenon and insulin resistance in the a.m, are real for me, especially as I get older.. But omelettes , or turkey suasage, steamed green veggies or a salad, will fill me up and And will I not spike. Greek yogurt with a bit of naturally low glycemic blueberries or strawberries mixed in, is good ;and filling, too. I try to keep breakfast under 20 carbs, if I can.

God bless,
Brunetta

With the disclaimer that I know nothing about pregnancy and D: Yes, most of us need more insulin at breakfast. My own ratios are 1:5, 1:10 and 1:18.

But I think the problem is the cereal. I have tried every healthy sugar-free cereal in my store and they all spike me...badly. I would switch to eggs of some sort!

My I:C ratio for breakfast is 1:5. I think hormones, insulin resistance, the phase of the moon, etc all play a part. I think most people vary during the day as to their insulin resistance or sensitivity. I have figured out through a lot of trial and error that there are certain trigger foods that can spike my bs. Bagels are killer, fried chicken, most cereals, white rice, potato chips can all spike it regardless of how much or little I eat of them. Or even how careful I am about counting them and taking the correct bolus. For me what has worked for breakfast is a couple pieces of whole grain or white toast with butter and marmite (if you're not from the UK you probably wouldn't know what that is, but it is a yeast extract spread that has been around forever). Which although has a similar carb count to a bagel,does not wreak havoc with my bs. And of course at least 2-3 cups of coffee. If I am really hungry which is not often the case I will have some greek yogurt with whatever berry I have in the house.

Like many here, I've learned that I cannot consume many carbs in the morning without a 1 & 2 hour post meal high. I've also learned that the quality of the carbs makes a difference on post-prandial BGs. If I eat 10 grams of carbs of tomatoes and onions in an omelette, it will be much easier on my post meal BGs than if I eat a carb equivalent serving of toast or processed cereal. Like some have already posted, even if I eat an unprocessed whole grain like steel cut oats, my BG still goes too high.

If I eat more than about 15 grams of carbs for breakfast, whether vegetables or processed carbs, my post meal BGs will be higher. I've found that a post breakfast 20 min walk is another useful tactic that will keep my after breakfast BG excursions within reason.

As a pregnant female you will, of course, be influenced by variables that don't impact me. It's good that you are noticing your body's reaction to breakfast and it's especially good that you're interested in tracking the details. If you experiment a little bit with a variety of foods, you will soon identify food choices that produce the effects you want. Keeping a log will greatly aid your ability to draw good conclusions.

Good luck and congratulations on your pregnancy!

I actually can eat quite a few carbs at breakfast (72 today) without spiking. But I cannot avoid a bad spike if I eat cereal.

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for the feedback. The culprit was in fact the cereal. It has a pretty low carb count (32g in 1 cup) and low sugar (7g in 1 cup), but I just did another 'experiment' starting with a great blood sugar AND now in the middle of the evening and still had a 213 one-hour post spike. It's officially out of rotation.

I think you're all hitting on something I may need to accept- cereal, especially while pregnant, may not be for me. I have eaten cereal with no big problems in the past, but it's seemingly too much with all these hormones. The other thing I noticed--corn is the second listed ingredient. DUH. So the glycemic index is super high.

My endo followed up on my week's BG chart today and recommended Uncle Sam's cereal--which is basically bird seed. I'm going to try that tomorrow. I am wary about the egg article, but my cholesterol is fine and obviously many of us rely on egg's low-carb aid for breakfast. I'll also look into bringing steel-cut oats back. My nutritionist recommended it months ago, but I spiked with oatmeal for some reason.

Thanks, Kimberly. I posted in response to everyone below, but I'll mention it's Barbara's Multigrain Shredded Spoonfuls which only has 24g carbs per 3/4 cup, and 5g sugar. That said, corn is the second listed ingredient which I call foul on as being the main culprit of my highs. So with skim milk, it comes to 45g carbs a serving but that's more than needed. I love eggs and sausage... may look into some turkey sausage. Thanks!

Fascinating! Cereal is really not our buddy, is it?

Another hedge I do is to eat small bowls of cereal. When I was a kid, and during the first 20-some odd years of T1, I would just dump the cereal into a bowl and munch away, perhaps explaining that not *all* the highs were due to DP? When I got a pump and started weighing stuff regularly I "discovered" how much a serving actually was. I still eat Lucky Charms and other cereals but usually only about 1/2 a serving. We use the cute little plastic "kid bowls" from Ikea (which you may need soon anyway) and the smaller serving makes less of an impact?

Good point! I was measuring with a cup measure (never did that before preggo to be honest), but I think cereal just may not be working for me. Still, you make a good point about not relying on the box's 'serving size' as MY serving size. I'm living in America, after all! :/

I have also given up cereals for breakfast ! With cereal, I'd be done in minutes as I hated soggy cereal, and zoomed up to 240+ frequently.

I've been able to get good results with a fruit/yogurt smoothie for breakfast (40 carbs), and usually stay below 140. With a smoothie, I can take my time, especially if I see my CGMS rising. I make it with protein powder and greek yogurt to help slow down the carbs, frozen strawberries and blueberries, and almond milk for lower carb count.

MegaMinx, if you do just a little almond milk and a few ice cubes with that mixture, you have a decent substitute for ice cream.

Uncle Sam's cereal is still cereal, it didn't work for me except maybe a tablespoon of it on top of my cottage cheese, as a crunchy addition.