Question aimed really at those with diabetes, I have been trying to have porridge for my breakfast for the last couple of months but instead of it being this wonderful filling, long acting food that it is portrayed as I cannot get on with the stuff, brekkie at 05:30 with bs around 6, 45g cho and by 08:00 am usually bs of 4 or less and absolutely starving, anyone else find carb counting and dose adjustment for porridge difficult?

You need to have red hair and wear a kilt to get the full benefit 🙂

The answer is eat more porridge. Make it thicker – are you cooking it overnight?

I read that the GI of porrige oats is 100 anyway… though I never bother cooking mine so that may slow digestion

Cooking overnight?!

According to the glycemic index, porridge ranges from 42 to 63 depending on the oats used so falls in to the medium GI range, a GI of 100 is the same as Glucose.

a GI of 100 is the same as Glucose

yes I know 🙂

I'm not diabetic but sometimes have pretty bad problems with hypoglycaemia… anyway here is my breakfast – also oat based (recipe just copied and pasted from another thread). Might be worth a try?

Bircher muesli. Basically soak oats in apple juice over night (1 cup juice to 2 cups oats, will last okay a few days). In the morning mix with joghurt or milk & quark, half a grated apple, and add whatever other fruits you like – frozen berries left overnight to defrost are pretty cheap and taste great.

I reckon I stay full for about 4 or 5 hours on this whereas with porridge I'm hungry 30 minutes later

ps. A colleague of mine got some stomach problems from eating uncooked oats wihout soaking them overnight. The same thing that horses can get?

A colleague of mine got some stomach problems from eating uncooked oats wihout soaking them overnight

wiki: "Rolled oats are traditionally oat groats that have been rolled into flat flakes under heavy rollers and then steamed and lightly toasted"

I've been eating them raw every morning for at least 5 years and I never get indigestion

but instead of it being this wonderful filling, long acting food that it is portrayed as I cannot get on with the stuff

It's not. Think about it – if you are making it with half a cup of oats as per the usual recipie, that's basically a handful of light fluffy carbs – ie bugger all!

I get the same thing – porridge keeps me full for about 45 minutes. And I'm not diabetic. I eat muesli, which obviously contains oats, and I'm full til lunctime. And I get it from a packet 🙂 (not Alpen, mind)

If I make porridge any thicker or eat any more of it, I find it impossible. Muesli on the other hand is yummy rather than an ordeal.

I'm fine until lunch UNLESS I eat anything, as soon as I eat things my digestive system kicks in and leaves me starving until 12, I've yet to find a food that stops that happening!

I've yet to find a food that stops that happening!

I'm almost constantly hungry, unless I'm riding my bike or having sex 🙂

Hey Votchy it seems to be perfect for me…still pretty new to this mallarkey but I have a big bowl of the stuff every morning, usually with some dried fruit and pumpkin/sunflower seeds in it and it seems to be the best brekky I've tried …sugar level is usually great till lunch, I only make it in the microwave though(3 mins)…not all the soaking and stuff.

Whytetrash,

I meant to contact you a while back as your thread about being diagnosed with diabetes led me to 'self diagnose' and get tested as i was suffering the same symptoms you described.

I'm similar to you, aged 37, non smoker, don't drink much and fit and active. It was actually the OP who i ride with that tested me a day or two after your thread while i was waiting for a GP appt but as i read 21 i was in the GP's office the next morning and the hospital for 36 hrs by the afternoon. I always wanted to say thanks as i would have been in a bad way had i left it the extra couple of weeks if i had not seen your thread.

How are you coping with it all? I'm 'aggressively honeymooning' and have had virtually all my insulin stopped and am down to just one long acting injection a day of only 4 units but am still going hypo nearly every day – i reckon i'll be off insulin altogether soon but have no doubts that my pancreas will give up the ghost at some time over the next few months. The upside of this at the moment is that i can eat pretty much what i want at the moment although i have stopped all fizzy drinks and sweets. I have Alpen and Weetabix for brekkie and seem fine as long as i snack though the day. Porridge is not something i've ever been too keen on so i don't want to have it every day.

How long did it take you to get back out on the bike? It was around a month for me, i was fine but just have to check my readings on the way around and afterwards. At the moment my diabetes is not really stopping me doing much but i know that will change at some stage in the not too distant future. I hope you are dealing with it all pretty well so far and it isn't changing your life too much.

a MASSIVE bowl of porridge will do me for about an hour or so, and leaves with such a crashing low that i find myself scanning the workshop floor for an apprentice to kill'n'eat.

i like porridge, but it's pretty useless really.

i like porridge, but it's pretty useless really.

it's food, it tastes nice, it has fibre – how complicated do you want it to be ?

The joys of us all being different then, must try something else for brekkie as tucking in to dextrose at 08:00 not my idea of fun.

Steve,

At the moment my diabetes is not really stopping me doing much but i know that will change at some stage in the not too distant future

– no it won't (unless you are joining the military, hgv driver etc), it just means you have to think about what you are doing a bit more

I'm almost constantly hungry, unless I'm riding my bike or having sex

– what difference does that make? 😀

what difference does that make?

I'm having too much fun to notice I'm hungry? I certainly get the munchies right after 🙂 [yes, I know, as well as during]

MrTall…going great TBH…think my honeymoon was non existent though! so think that makes it easier to cope with.

Had a few lows that have crept up on me but years of bonking on the bike seem to have made me a bit attuned to sugar levels dropping.

Started insulin on the friday did the Marin on the sunday (mid Jan) was testing a few times a ride but now just check before I set off and then mid ride, use a weak carb drink and munch a few jellybabies towards the end of a ride…if I can stop my riding buddies nicking them all 😆 done a couple of 4hr plus rides so far and going well…mates reckon insulin is performance enhancing :wink:…not worked that side of it out yet though!

No major drama involved when you do need to be injecting…just a case of balancing inulin against carb intake…common sense really..email me if you want any info…though not an expert yet…trick for me was taking charge and keeping a little diary of food consumed, insulin taken, sugar levels, ride intensity..eg 3hrs @ 156bpm avg…the little note book they gave me was too small, I find it useful to compare when not sure how much to inject.

Diabetes will not stop you doing anything!….I'm nearly as fit now as I was in uni 16yrs ago….prob be fitter but works been so nuts last 3 weeks I've not had time to ride…good luck mate

Ms TPT is Type I, she has 40 g of porridge oats in a morning and has similarly had hunger/lows/hypos about 10.30 or 11.
Wonders if her ratios are correct and all sorts. Currently she is taking a packet of oatcakes as top up before it happens.
It may be you have to cut a unit of the correction? See how you feel. Stuff isn't always linear in my experience with her responses to food and how quickly carb is absorbed.
Just one of those things?
Has everything settled down since diagnosis for you?

Has everything settled down since diagnosis for you?

– not sure who this was aimed at 😳 but was diagnosed 33yrs ago and been on an insulin pump for the last 2. Have tried different things with the pump including reduced bolus, square waved etc, etc and always drops

I never cook my porridge oats either, but not being diabetic, I haven't really got anything else useful to contribute to this thread

I haven't really got anything else useful to contribute to this thread

it never stopped me 🙂 And everyone understands porridge…

I am not diabetic but I there was a period a few years ago where I ate porridge every morning as it was supposed to be slow releasing and keep your blood sugars stable etc.

Did **** all for me – I would arrive at work hungry for all the wrong things.

it's food, it tastes nice, it has fibre – how complicated do you want it to be ?

well, after all the trouble of preparing it, and cooking it, i'd like it to satisfy my hunger for more than about an hour…

and it doesn't just leave me hungry, it leaves me Hungry.

well, after all the trouble of preparing it, and cooking it, i'd like it to satisfy my hunger for more than about an hour…

gosh and a medal perhaps too ? FYI I have never found any food meeting that requirement.

I have never found any food meeting that requirement

You're a freak tho. The rest of us have found loads of foods that fill us up – just not porridge.

"FYI I have never found any food meeting that requirement."

Cooked food might be worth a try?

I do know what you mean though – I tend to eat a little and often as I'm always hungry an hour later almost regardless of what I consume.

coffeeking – Member
Cooking overnight?!

That's the way it used to be made in the Highlands. Stuck on the stove overnight (solid fuel, ie wood, coal, peat) and be suitably softened up. Maybe a modern slow cooker would do the same job.

I suspect something has been done to the quick porridge because I get the hungers too when I eat that, but I don't remember getting it from the overnight cooked stuff.

You're a freak tho. The rest of us have found loads of foods that fill us up – just not porridge.

or just greedy :o)

Cooked food might be worth a try?

it may surprise you to learn that when I said "any" that included cooked things!

I tend to eat a little and often as I'm always hungry an hour later almost regardless of what I consume

yes, that's it 🙂

im with simon – no matter what i eat i can be hungry again within the hour – unlesss i stuff my self silly to the point of "cant move uncomfortable"