My aim is just to have really perfect blood sugars after months of high ones and putting my body through torture. I just don’t know the right foods and when to eat. This has been such a problem for me lately. Any tips?
I think it depends on what you mean by perfect blood sugars ? Do you have realistic goals ? Do you do frequent BG tests ? Do you do carb counting and log your foods, then test 2-3 hours later to see if you matched your food and insulin ?
As for what to eat, I learned a lot from reading the book Eat to Live, by Joel Fuhrman. I don't agree with all of it, but my key learning was to think more about the nutritional value of food, and to choose more unprocessed/lower carb/'whole' foods and healthy fats. When choosing foods, I ask myself how nutritious is it, and how well can I match my insulin to it, to avoid a high spike. That took a lot of experimenting, measuring and logging. Have realistic expectations, this takes time !
Having a goal of 'perfect' is just a setup for failure. Strive for continuous improvement, and learn from the times you miss your target - what can you do different next time. And accept that sometimes, you do everything 'right', and your BG isn't where it 'should' be.
i agree with the two above-testing, counting carbs, logging exercise, insulin and everything you put in your mouth. i hate loging but it always gets me back on track when i have a bad couple of weeks.
i also completely agree with this idea of perfection-just cant be done-not every time, anyway.
the other thing that i can think of that made a difference for me was the timing of my fast acting insulin before my meals. i use novorapid and my cde told to inject and eat straight away. i now wait 20 or thirty minutes and get much better post prandial numbers.
good luck and let us know how you do!
I'd suggest that instead of "perfect blood sugars" it might be more useful to think of "continuously improving" your control from wherever it is now to somewhere else. I've been able to string together as many as 3 very nice days on my CGM but the third, maybe 4th day I seem to run into worse dawn phenomenon to spoil the streak. It's hard to get the 3 days "on board" to go for it but I don't mind trying.
I agree with all of the above. As diabetics, I believe we all have a bit of OCD in our brains. But, we also need to be realistic with our expectations. Perfection will never be achieved....I'm sorry to burst your bubble. Be patient with yourself and try each day to do something better than you did the day before.
Here's a quote from Vince Lombardi that might help you:
"We are going to relentlessly chase perfection,knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we
are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process
we will catch excellence. " Vince Lombardi
Good Luck
Just a quick comment about perfection from the book "Psyching out diabetes":
"Don´t try to be perfect. Try for good control, to be sure. But perfection lasts for a moment, and diabetes lasts for a lifetime."
Plenty of excellent advice here. I will just reinforce one piece of it: prebolus for meals if you want the flattest possible blood sugar. Find out how long your insulin takes to begin working. You must determine this by testing -- there is no other way because each of us responds individually to things. I could tell you how many minutes Novolog (for instance) takes for me, but that number wouldn't tell you anything. You need to find out what the right number is for you.
Then, inject that many minutes before eating. That way the insulin will begin working just as the food does, thereby keeping your BG as even as possible. That's straight out of Bernstein, and it works for everyone I know who has tried it.
you all gave good advice.what works 1 day does not work another day.i use the pump but i also use my brain.good luck. just try your best.there is no such thing as perfection.