Mine varies so much during the day that I am testing 3 to 4 times, typically on waking, just before lunch, right before suppertime, and occasionally at bedtime. I’m on extended release metformin to get around the diarrheal side effects, so testing sooner than 3 hours after a meal doesn’t tell me much.
Huh. I see them at my local Pete’s, at Jewel, and Whole Foods. All three on line at Amazon too. Weird range of prices though!
I buy sardines at Costco. I like in olive oil even though I drain most of it off. Brand is “Standard” and they come to well under $2 a can. I get my chia and hemp in big bags there too. I keep the hemp and ground flax in the fridge once opened but chia in the cabinet.
Again, NOT claiming what I do is “right” or “best”. But these seem like options that fit your stated preferences and goals reasonably well. And while a mixture of those seeds in unsweetened Greek yogurt with kefir and maybe some Kashi Go and All Bran Buds depending on mood is my standard breakfast I more often skip lunch (snack on nuts and an apple or a banana at work instead). When I do bring lunch it is though often some leftover salad from last night’s dinner with that can of sardines. I cook dinner more with my wife’s tastes in mind, and she doesn’t like beans as much as I do. We eat meat and chicken along with our vegetables and potatoes are fine for us.
Repeating what many have said: a nutrition plan only works if you follow it, so finding something that fits YOUR tastes, lifestyle, and preferences matters mightily.
I really do appreciate the tips! I do like flaxseed and have All Bran Buds and Greek yogurt around all the time, so those are definitely things I already like and can see how they work with my A1c and blood sugar testing. I also do love pasta with vegetables, so if I can get hold of a lower glycemic index type of pasta or grain, that would be very suitable for me if it agrees with my meter readings. I bet they would have the fonio or red/purple rice at Whole Foods, but it’s a little out of my way to get over there. Might cave and get it from Amazon. I usually shop at HEB, which is a Texas thing, and they just don’t have those AFAICT.
I am testing more often right now, and my fingers are turning into pincushions! I’m running out of finger real estate.
Unsweetened.
What was your usual daily diet before diagnosis?
I admit I do like to use the zero sugar sweetened kind of yogurt but can deal with the totally unsweetened. That’s pretty bland, though!
I have been a junk food junkie for years. Pizza, hamburgers with large fries, ice cream, anything with melted cheese (i.e., nachos), Cheetos, etc. It’s been the last couple of months since I’ve really begun using my glucose meter regularly (and taking Ozempic) that I have made some changes - not having the ice cream at all, maybe having “a” cookie or “a” cherry turnover once a month instead of eating a whole package every weekend, etc. I like salads okay. Am trying to find dressings with olive oil and low or no sugar and using smaller amounts of them. I do also like pinto beans.
I really have made some changes, but I know there’s room for improvement. Cutting the occasional sweet treat to even less often. I must admit that not using artificial sweetener is going to be a tough row to hoe. I cut out any yogurt with sugar in it but going the next step to nothing is going to take out a bit of quality of life. I’ve taken to using low-sugar Slim Fast or a Premier Protein shake, which is probably not the best way to go about things. It is hard to get very much protein without those.
So any of these plans is a big change for you.
I am on record on these boards stating that the constant hedonic hit of sweet is bad for us in many ways including with the non nutritive sweeteners. But they are a lesser evil harms reduction for those addicted to the hit. Maybe mixing the zero sugar sweet one with plain and some fruit gradually cutting down amount? You can also add some vanilla whey powder to your yogurt.
The plus side of them all being big changes is that any change is a big improvement!
That’s a good idea about the vanilla whey powder.
Yes, these are all big changes! The thing that’s really been helping me with that the most is the Ozempic. I really am eating SO much less, and it’s easier to resist the siren call of the pizza and ice cream. But I have to learn the changes and get them ingrained into my brain, I feel, so that if I ever go off the Ozempic or can’t get it because of shortages or whatever, I’ve developed new habits and no longer “expecting” to eat all the rich foods I used to.
Sorry to be posting so much and going off subject a bit - but do also work exercise into your lifestyle! There a little goes a long way, as posted by someone earlier, even a short walk after a meal has a big impact on control and also health overall.
Here is a smattering of previous threads on diabetes that contain some discussion of diet as well. Lots of info to digest (heh 
).
There are varieties of pasta (technically, pasta-like foods) that are made from legumes. Red lentil spaghetti, for example, or chickpea rotini or black-bean macaroni. They are either all or part legume, therefore containing protein, but I think less carbs than pasta made from wheat.
Here are some examples from Walmart, so you know that you should be able to find them in a lot of other stores. Heck, I picked up my black-bean pasta from Aldi.
It still contains carbs, but it also has protein and fiber so for most people (I’m told) it has a lower GI number.
Don’t know if it will work for you but you might want to look into it.
Ask your doctor whether you can use alternate-site testing. I test on my forearms. I work with my hands and don’t want them any more sore than they get from the work.
You may find it a bit harder to get enough blood for the reading.
And the amount of sugar you like in things is to some extent a matter of habit (as is the amount of salt.) Most processed foods are made very sweet and/or very salty, and people who eat a lot of them come to perceive that as normal. It may be possible to re-train your tastebuds so that food with much less of either tastes good to you (and what you had been used to eating may then taste much too sweet.)
As to blood samples…
I use 4 spots on each fingertip including thumbs. On the side about halfway down the length of the nail, call it the 9 o’clock position, then halfway from there to the tip, so 10:30 position but still on the side, not on the pad, then 1:30, then finally 3 o’clock. Never right on the tip (12 o’clock) where I handle other things. Once I’ve done all 4 spots on one finger, move on to the next. That’s 40 pokes before I get back to the same area of the same finger. And none of the pokes are on parts of my fingers that routinely grasp stuff.
At the very most I was sticking myself once at wake-up and once after each of 3 meals, since all snacks are always verboten. So it takes 10 days to work my way around both hands. That oughta be enough healing time for most people.
Nowadays I only test after suspicious or known-cheat meals, so maybe once every 3 days. I can easily forget which finger I’m on at that rate. Never had the forgetting problem when I was poking 4x/day.
I went absolutely zero sugar / zero artificial sweeteners for about 5 years. When I did inadvertently eat something with some sugar in it it tasted positively nasty: weird and syrupy and gross. I’m not so hardcore anymore, but still something modestly sweet to most people is very sweet to me. And sweet is definitely a mixed bag sensation. Part of me enjoys it, part is still repulsed by it.
Our OP will (probably) grow out of their taste for sweet if they quit rather than just cut down. Which may not be their closest snake as they learn to wring the carbs out of their diet. I found that ounce for ounce, white flour and white sugar were almost equally dangerous. Real progress happened when I recognized that and went zero bread and zero pasta. Even non-white breads and pastas are still mostly white flour. The truly flour-free gluten free ones are the exception. But I found that glycemically, most (not all) of those were nearly as bad.
I have a hard time “aiming” at a particular spot on my finger with much precision, either with a lancing device or with the stupid Pogo machine. I’ve got bruises on almost every finger from the stupid Pogo. But sometimes I don’t get enough of a droplet with the lancing device.
It’s going to be REALLY hard to give up artificial sweetener. I’m not sure I can make it, especially on a cold-turkey basis. Everything is so dull. Eating is a chore now, like everything else.
And exercise…yes. So important. Haven’t done it. It’s SO hot here right now and will be for months yet. I can’t imagine going outside for a walk after a meal or any other time. Even overnight, the temp doesn’t get down much. Even worse than usual. It’s still like high 80s to 90 overnight. I’m not sure at all what to do for exercise.
As to lancing devices I use the basic OneTouch like this:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C14TF6H7/
and its predecessor type. Your aim doesn’t have to be precise; just put the business end solidly against the side of your finger, keep pushing gently, then fire. If you often don’t get enough blood, follow the instructions to wash hands with warm water first, then dry, then lance. Makes a huge difference in blood flow. For me at least and I suspect for you too.
Also be sure to adjust the tension. A setting of 3 will usually do my pinkies, but I occasionally need a 6 to get through my thumb. I normally just leave it at 4 and need to reshoot maybe one in 10 or 20 attempts. Too high a setting is all pain and no gain. Too low is a retry, and each time you retry is psychologically unsettling. Soon this will be as routine as brushing your teeth. And about as aversive, which is to say, not at all.
I use the 33 gauge “extra fine” lancets. Paradoxically, the thinner ones give better blood since they get in deeper for the same discomfort. I often don’t even feel it go in. Once in awhile I hit a nerve dead on and that stings pretty good. But not for long. No worse than a static electric shock on a doorknob. I found the 30s are barbarically uncomfortable compared to the 33s. Why they ship 30s with new meters is a mystery to me.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FXTQ2ML/
For me spicy was the saviour. Although be careful, because spicy + sugary is all the rage now. Many “hot” sauces as much sugar as anything else. Sriracha especially.
If you’re not into hot, think about whatever other intense flavors you might enjoy? Vinegar, olive oil, strong cheese, more salt (not without its own problems), intensely flavored veg, etc. Eating has to remain fun, or at least not miserable. Focus on what you can eat, not what you can’t.
For me that was:
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All meat / birds / fish / seafood. Critters are tasty and there are lots of kinds prepared lots of ways.
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All dairy (except sweetened like ice cream or non-plain yogurt). All milks, creams, cheeses, sour cream, plain yogurt, cottage cheese. Hard cheese, soft cheese, cow cheese, goat cheese, sheep cheese; it’s all good. There’s hundreds of kinds to pick from.
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All non-white vegetables. Asparagus, zucchini and everything else in between. There are dozens of kinds once you get past the basics of broccoli and iceberg lettuce. Heck there are a dozen kinds of lettuce alone.
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All beans. Which come in a hundred varieties and spicings.
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All herbs and spices.
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Berries. All but unlimited blueberries but go easier on the sweeter strawberries; 2 or 3 is plenty.
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If you do alcohol, drink non-sweet red or white wine or straight booze. Not beer, sweet wines, or sweet cocktails. Viva Martinis!!
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A couple bites of non-white rice, non-white bread, or potato. Potato ideally with some skin. But just a couple bites and if you can’t stop there, don’t start.
I appreciate the ethical issues of animal eating, but your back is sorta to the wall here. You need a diet eating lifestyle you can live with long term. You can die or be crippled to protect some chickens, or you can eat some chickens. Trust me, they’ll never know the difference. But you’ll sure know the difference after they cut off one of your feet or you can’t see to read. Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good enough.
I’ll also say, having been doing this for 12+ years now, that how you need to eat to establish your habits and preferences, and to drive your A1C and excess body fat down to where they need to be for longevity and health is much more extreme than you’ll need to sustain yourself once you’ve arrived. Said another way, the first chapter is more hardcore than all the subsequent chapters will be. So you’ve got all that to look forward to.
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I now eat ramen. A bowl of noodles. But they’re wheat noodles and I put in a lot more other ingredients (meat, cheese, tofu, veggies, mushrooms) and a lot less noodles than an authentic (= poor) Asian would.
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I eat pasta w red sauces of all sorts. But it’s a small side dish to, say, chicken cacciatore, veal scaloppini, or a cioppino, not a huge bowl of spaghetti as the entree. And the pasta is whole wheat.
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I eat a tall e.g. pastrami sandwich. Meat, cheese, letttuce, tomato, onion & condiments. But I take the top bread off and only eat some of the bottom slice. And it’s good rye, not wonderbread. Same idea with an e.g. cheesesteak or Italian meatball sandwich. Eat the innards, taste the bread, you’re done. Most sub shops will now make sandwiches in a bowl on a bed of lettuce. All the same goodies and convenience with none of the bread. That’s a winner.
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I eat hamburgers with all the fixings. But with a knife and fork and wrapped in lettuce, not with a cheapass whitebread bun. If I have to have a bread bun, remove the top half and eat only half the bottom half.
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I go to Indian restaurants and order whatever with basmati. Again I eat more of the whatever and much less of the rice. But still maybe 1/4-1/2c total volume.
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I eat tacos but served on lettuce, not on tortillas. Pick the ones without pineapple or other sweet sauces.
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Fast food burritos (e.g. Chipotle) are great. Just have them put it in a bowl with no rice, just beans. After that everything else is good.
Many of these may not be the pizza, burgers, and desserts you’re used to now. But they’re not weird “unamerican” food. They’re all mainstream stuff. Just with less bread, potatoes, rice, and sugar added.
Do you set the 33s to a higher depth level than with the 30s? I have the Delica Plus lancet device and was given 30s to go with it from the pharmacy but ordered some 33s from Amazon. Problem is, sometimes I don’t get enough with the 33s, and it almost feels a little sharper. I wish they were beveled or something. My fingers get cold easily, despite the extreme heat outside, and even putting them under hot water leaves them still too cold to get a good sample. Every time I “miss” gives me the heebie-jeebies.
I appreciate all your food tips and will take them into account also. I do love a Pastrami or Italian type sandwich. Next time I will try the no-top-slice method or the bowl method.
I’m a little that way too. I never had great peripheral circulation in hands or feet. Which is part of why I’m so adamant about my diet and A1C; I was a prime candidate for foot amputation in old age before I got diabetic. That image, me without feet, is a powerful motivator. Saddle up that horse made of fear and ride it to success. Your horse may be different. But there is one for you too, so saddle that critter and ride!
IME it takes some time to warm hands up enough to get the blood really flowing. Try getting the water good and hot and soaking for a couple minutes. It’ll feel like an eternity, so use a watch to be sure it’s really a couple minutes, not 23 seconds before boredom sets in. Then dry off & stick promptly. If you succeed the first time it’ll be quicker overall than hurrying then needing to do it again. And less aversive.
It is funny to me that sticking and getting a dry hole is somehow more aversive than is sticking and getting a real oversized spurt of bright red blood. (If you haven’t done that yet, you will.) That seems backwards. But my experience matches yours. A miss is … unsettling. Work hard to avoid those until this whole thing is as routine as toothbrushing.
Good luck. Seriously, not snarkily.
Same for me, with the extra fine lancets. Occasionally it hurts - the Ozempic needle by comparison I barely feel - but I get a single good drop like 99% of the time.
That, and bread you make yourself.
But our OP isn’t a cook and by extension not a baker either. And most people find the texture of truly whole grain bread, that is, a bread made entirely from whole-grain flour, to be weirdly dense. Also, commercially made bread with rare exception contain additional and unnecessary sweeteners as well, which will not help your blood sugar in a positive way. Personally, I’ve come to like it, even in many ways prefer it.
You might be able to find true, whole-grain bread at Whole Foods, which are very good about revealing ingredients. Ask at their baking area if you happen to be in the store.
But you might have to make bread more of an occasional treat than a staple until you get things under control, and maybe afterward, too. Everyone is different.
There are cheap gyms. They aren’t perfect, far from it, but I maintain a basic-level membership at Planet Fitness (as one example I’m familiar with - you should certainly look at all alternatives) so I have a place to work out when the air quality is bad (I have a history of asthma) or it’s hot (I don’t tolerate heat well) or we’re getting pouring rain or it’s sub-zero weather. It’s $10 a month. Some months I use it more than others, but honestly, it’s cheaper than a Netflix subscription at this point.
Do you have a local Y?
Some community centers have indoor sports area that feature time/space for people to walk inside them.
Walk inside malls.
The big box stores I work at have some senior citizens of, shall we say, limited financial means who do laps around the store because we don’t charge for that (although if you have problems with impulse buying it can get expensive).
I think there is a Y near me and definitely a Planet Fitness. I can’t figure out whether it would be better to join a gym or just walk around a nearby mall. Based on my past history, I can see myself joining a gym and never attending!