Im a 44 year old female with type 2 diabetes. I'm having trouble managing my sugar levels with the medication my doctor prescribed. I really want to control my sugar with diet and exercise so I've been reading up on using the glycemic index. Any advise?
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Hi Ginger , Welcome to DF. We used to live in Fairfax County when our kids were little. What med does your doctor have you on and what type of diet are you on. I was dx'd in 2007 and find so much of gaining control is trial and error. I learned early on that if I was going to manage this I would have to educate myself. Sometimes I feel like a science experiments. The most important thing is to test a lot and keep logs of what you eat, how much you exercise and everything you do. My doctor told me to test 2 times a week. If I had done that I would have never figured out how my Diabetic body works. I am very insulin resistant, which means even small amounts of carbs will spike me a lot. I eat very low carb (10-15) per meal and exercise a ton. I am a thin diabetic but I have to take metformin to control my bgs. I take the maximum. I try to keep my bgs as close to normal as possible. I only eat foods that will keep my spikes under 20-30 points. It sounds strict but the LC/HF diet works for me. I can eat tons of calories a day (2000+), I just don't eat more than 40-50 carbs per day. I make cookies, muffins and all sorts of comfort foods.
My doc prescribed metformin for me, and it's the only one I use. I employ the LC/HF (low-carb/high-fat) way of eating that jwags mentions, and it serves me very well - trying to understand the GI/GL business just tied knots in my poor old brain. :dizzy: Have you tried eating to your meter? That's what finally got my numbers dropping, even though at the time it was counter to what my doc advised. Now that we're a coupla years into it, doc's beginning to come around! 
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·welcome GingerBug I use the glycemic index myself as a guide. But I basically stick to wholegrain for my carbs... I can eat pasta and rice. I don't fair too well eating vegetable carbs... I just crash quick. Low GI is what you want when eating carbs as it gives you sustained energy release... so you don't get the nasty spikes that you would with high GI foods such as potato. The GL I don't follow as closely... although my understanding is the lower the better. The Glycemic Index page gives you reading for both GI and GL. I personally eat carbs regularly thoughout the day but I only have small serves at a time and try not to overdo any food group really. Keep us posted with how you're going.
I use the glycemic index myself as a guide. But I basically stick to wholegrain for my carbs... I can eat pasta and rice. I don't fair too well eating vegetable carbs... I just crash quick. Low GI is what you want when eating carbs as it gives you sustained energy release... so you don't get the nasty spikes that you would with high GI foods such as potato. The GL I don't follow as closely... although my understanding is the lower the better. The Glycemic Index page gives you reading for both GI and GL. I personally eat carbs regularly thoughout the day but I only have small serves at a time and try not to overdo any food group really. Keep us posted with how you're going.Thanks to everyone for your advise. I'm currently taking Glyburide/Metformin 5/500mg twice a day, which my primary care physician prescribed. He's had me try a couple of other medications, which I had adverse reactions to, so I'm back on Glucovance. I guess my doctor has pretty much left it up to me to figure out the rest (e.g. diet & exercise). A LC/HF diet sounds like the best course of action for me, plus I can incorporate using low GI foods too. Wish me luck!
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