Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- REVERSING my suggestion after my comparison test.
If you got a Diathrive glucose meter / home test kit:
In a thread about ketogenic food plan - I had recommended a particular blood glucose meter for anyone, even if not on a ketogenic diet.
I thought I had found truly Affordable testing strips - and glucometer.
Why I think every home should have a glucometer:
To see where - anyone - is & how certain foods affect glucose levels. The idea is to keep glucose fairly level. Spikes can cause damage not just from the glucose but, actually, also by excessive insulin surges. Too much insulin can be toxic.
Wanted to share news about a good home glucose meter / glucometer - VERY affordable - as are the test strips.
DELETING my suggestion for a specific meter - NOT suggesting the Diathrive at all anymore.
UPDATE on 5-14-19:
Sorry - I no longer recommend the Diathrive glucose meter. I have found it to be terribly inaccurate. Just borrowed a friend's One Touch Ultra 2 for comparison.
The numbers differ an average of 16 points with same time, side-by-side comparison. Sometimes 5 points different, twice about 25 points different.
The OneTouch Ultra2 is one I would trust & is consistent (but can't afford to get one of my own).
It's the Diathrive meter that I can't trust. Even repeat tests in the same minute on my meter are sometimes wildly off.
I had not been testing that much so I did not notice it so much but did question how my glucose would often be.
After my series of 5 comparison tests with the two different meters yesterday, I tried calling Diathrive today. Can't get through. Even their online chat is not "on" right now.
I will contact them but - after also going to Amazon and seeing some new reviews for this kit others have bought since my purchase, some are having the same experience with inaccuracies.
The thing is, that unless someone has another brand meter to compare, they won't know. And, well, if we could afford a top brand meter, we would not have found this deep discount one.
Now, all meters can be a few points off, there is even "allowed" a range of 15% points to be "off" but what I've found is not suitable.
Sorry I recommended Diathrive and hope no one got one upon my recommendation. -
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Results, side-by-side comparisons for some pre and post meal times. First number is immediately after last bite of my lunch as that's when my friend arrived with her meter and I was curious to get going with the test.
That first 72, after just eating makes no sense at all. It took me about 20 minutes to eat that lunch and glucose had to have risen beyond that.
The second number of the sequence is for one hour after a meal. That 78 makes zero sense.
Diathrive: . . . . . . . 72 . . 78, 79, 86, 84
OneTouch Ultra2: . . 99, 103, 84, 94, 98
Highest discrepancy: 27 points; lowest: 5.
Both units had been properly calibrated with their respective solutions (and solution and test strips were all within active dates).
Each unit's relatively fresh batteries just two months in place.
I had been getting so many readings in the '70's and '80's for the two months I've owned the Diathrive unit - and I thought I was just doing so super duper good.
The OneTouch makes much more sense and is still very nice range I have to see my very low carbs are keeping me in safe range.
I don't need to be testing any more foods, though, really as I've got the ketogenic / very low carb hang of it at the nearly a year mark now. If I do get a meter, it will be one with ketone readings, too, though for now food is the priority.
For those with diabetes, though, the quality of a glucometer is key & and life saving -- or threatening -- when they need to adjust medication in line with the reading.
And, for anyone on their own, testing out which foods spike their glucose, they still a meter that will be as accurate and reliable as possible.
I still think every home should have a good glucometer, though to see how certain foods can keep us in the safe zone or others might spike us into dangerous patterns. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Finally connected with Diathrive. They will send me a replacement meter as it may be I just received a defective one. To be fair, that could have happened.
We'll see how that goes. I still have trust issues, though. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- The replacement seems to be working well. I determined that a few strawberries barely raise my blood glucose, however a few cherries, well, too much for my system.
It's so handy to have feedback right away to determine certain foods that do / do not work for stability. Testing at 30-min., 60-minutes and then 90-minutes &/or 2-hours tells a lot.
Most glucose meters can be off by 15% yet if you get one that seems way off one way or the others, always check to be sure of it. Most times, a replacement can be arranged.
It's good time to time to compare with that of a friend or family member, too.
And if a lab blood draw is done to check glucose, take along your meter and at the same time of the blood draw, test your meter and keep that record to compare with the lab results.
Whether diabetic, pre-diabetic, insulin resistant or whatever passes for normal these days, it's a good idea for each family to have a glucose meter on hand and test out certain foods every now and then to stay on track.
Many folks may be diabetic and not even know it. Yet, most often Type 2 Diabetes can be controlled, even reversed, by making good low carb choices.
Virta Health website is one place to get more detail on how - and why it matters. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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TX Lyme Mom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3162
posted
Keebler, you are one smart gal to think about testing blood glucose because that can be a major factor for anyone who is especially sensitive to it.
One of our family members tends to get pretty bad hand cramps and/or foot cramps and/or leg cramps after eating anything with too much sugar in it.
I don't remember if Bb feeds off of glucose or not. Maybe someone else knows.
Also, I do know that higher blood sugar tends to make the blood thick and sticky, thereby reducing blood flow, especially in smaller capillaries. So it's logical to see how sugar could affect symptoms in a major way.
BTW, our PCP told us that any blood glucose meter is good now because the technology is so well established, so we chose one which had the cheapest test strips to save costs. He also said that the only time you need to bother with the solution to calibrate the meter is in settings such as long-term care facilities where they are checking a lot of patients regularly.
Losing weight can help with blood sugar control, too -- helps to lower it. Needless to say, going on a strict low sugar diet will indeed help with weight control, too.
Oddly enough, persons who are predisposed to high insulin levels are the ones who have the greatest problems with obesity -- which is logical since insulin is the hormone which helps to escort glucose into the host cells where it is quickly stored as fat.
"Fat doesn't make one fat. Carbohydrates make one fat." I mention that because it's extremely difficult to stick to a low carb diet and a low fat diet at the same time -- although complex carbs (as in veggies) are digested more slowly than simple carbs, so this is when the currently popular ketogenic diets are helpful.
Posts: 4563 | From TX | Registered: Sep 2002
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- TxLymeMom,
Thanks for your note. Glad to see the wisdom of dietary "fat doesn't make one fat" making headway.
I've been on a ketogenic food plan for over a year now. Two meals a day also works well for me so that I get a good 16-hour window of ketosis.
I can't imagine that I would ever want to eat any differently now - for so many good reasons.
Gone are the days when I would even consider going low fat. Twenty grams of carbs a day works very well for me.
But even at that, when I ate 20 grams of butternut squash, my blood sugar surged up 50 points. Glad I had the glucometer then to see that so I know: not for me at all.
Eating more good meat from pastured ruminants and saturated fats has had many benefits in my case.
For anyone wondering about low carb / higher health fats and moderate proteins one good place to start is YouTube search for:
Virta Health, Dr. Sarah Hallberg - her team has helped REVERSE diabetes in the majority of patients on Virta's plan.
Dr. Eric Westman's Duke University clinic is similar in nature and he's been a long time director of LCHF / ketogenic plans.
Low Carb Down Under - several conferences per year
Low Carb USA
Many, most, some (?) people do fine with various vegetables. However, for anyone who has GI or body pain or even mental health issues, etc. it might be worth it to listen to:
Elliot Overton, a nutritionist from the UK with great lectures on some of the downsides to certain plants like oxalates and lectins,
Sally K. Norton also speaks to some of the trouble with some plants for some folks.
Dr. Georgia Ede also has many talks and articles about why some folks just can't do some of the plants.
For anyone thinking of an elimination period of time to see which plants might do best away from you:
L. Amber O'Hearn has been carnivore for about 8 (or 10?) years now because plants caused her so much trouble. She's got lots of nutrition detail in her talks.
Ivor Cummuns talks a lot about heart health and dismisses the old myths of saturated fats. Dr. David Diamond, too.
Dr. Gary Fettke speaks to the ultra dose of sugar even in some fruits as they've been engineered to be super duper sweet and what we need to do to avoid the hits.
These are just some of the names of the best presentations I've seen in over a year's time. Watching two or three a day has helped me learn a great deal.
Another topic that comes up is that SEED / so-called "vegetable" oils can be toxic.
Look at YouTube for: Ivor Cummins "are we sinning with seed oils?"
The guest on that podcast found that by elimination all seed / "vegetable" oils his decades long GI trouble disappeared.
& Nina Teicholz "vegetable oils" YouTube presentation also explains the toxicity and how that came about. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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