Hi

My mother has recently been diagnosed as diabetic, and is planning to go on the Bernstein diet as soon as possible. However, firstly she's off for a two week holiday, so doesn't want to try starting the diet till she comes back. She's not on meds as yet; the doctor is monitoring how well she does on his diet (she got worse on it, so hasn't told him she's stopped!) before progressing further.

She's been taking chromium to help regulate her blood sugar in the meantime, and that's been working fantastically well... so far. Then on Friday she had two small glasses of champagne (I know, I know... I told her off as soon as I found out!), and ever since then her blood count has been way up again.

Is there any advice you could offer which might help her to regain a balance for the time being?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... I'm really worried about her.

Hi Urban Gypsy!

A question I would ask your mom is whether or not eating whatever she pleases on holiday is worth feeling tired, run down and generally awful while she's on holiday? If the answer is no, then what's to stop her from starting to get her blood sugars under control now?
If she wants to regain balance, about the only way that I know of without medication is to start cutting the carbs and the high glycemic foods.
If she doesn't want to do that, it's her choice, but I know that I feel rotten when my blood sugars are up and I certainly wouldn't be as able to enjoy a vaction in such a state as I would if my blood sugars were well controlled.

Hi Lisa

Thank you for the observations; I appreciate that, and it is a fair comment.

She has no intention of being so irresponsible whilst she's away, don't worry! She will certainly already be lowering her carb intake (I'm starting her on 40g per day for the duration of her holiday, and taking it from there after she gets back) and eating sensibly...

But we're all human and we all mess up. Especially if you're new to something like diabetes. She messed up. She's been eating properly since but her bgs don't seem to be coming down. Up until that point she had them 100% stable and normal.

So I was simply asking for help from those who have better experience of how to rebalance them again.

Well...after a bit of research, it appears that alcohol can either raise your blood sugars or lower it. It raises blood sugars by increasing insulin resistance. It can lower it by inhibiting gluconeogenesis. It appears to have had the former affect on your mother. Since she's noted that alcohol has this effect on her blood sugars, it might be wise to avoid it for the time being.
What to do? Her blood sugars may gradually drop back down again on their own, but she may have to cut her carbs to lower levels than 40 grams per day to get them to drop back down quicker. You didn't mention what her blood sugars have been running, so I'm not sure what you mean when you say that her blood sugars have been running high. High can be a relative term. For me, a fasting of 130 would be high but for someone whose blood sugars have been quite a bit higher, a fasting of 130 might look pretty good.

Lisa, I really can't thank you enough for going to all that trouble. You really have been a fantastic help... and I'll pass on all your advice to her straight away.

Her sugar levels have been holding steady at all testing times between 4 and 6 mmol/L (UK reading... translates to 72-106mg/dl for the US) right up until that drink. Now her fasting sugar is averaging around 8 mmol/L... 145 mg/dl.

Essentially she has non-stop visitors between now and going away (has had for a few weeks; hence her original plan to wait till she got back before going fully in to the diet), but personally I say everything comes second place to your own health...

So I guess its time to give her a shove.