I heard Megan Ramos suggest ACV a few things throughout the day to help regulate insulin. However, when I drank 1 Tbsp of ACV in water and later checked my glucose, I could see the ACV had cause a significant spike in insulin.
What does that happen – if it’s suppose to regulate insulin, why would my insulin go up?
Just out of curiosity, how did you check your insulin? Or do you mean your blood glucose dropped?
I check my Blood Glucose with a glucose meter – here’s what happened: I had been taking my Glucose readings every few hours because that was the first day that I fasted and I was just curious what would happen.
I’ve years of readings, so I had a sense of where tend to land after a meal, but during fasting I expected it to go lower – I was tracking about around the low 90’s and then I took the ACV and the next reading was 108.
So I had to have to had an insulin response if my blood reading went up … wouldn’t I? Am I getting something wrong?
An insulin response without an independent rise in blood sugar (due to some other cause, I mean) would have caused your blood glucose to go down, because insulin causes cells to take up the glucose, leaving less circulating in your blood. I’m not sure what caused your blood sugar to rise, but it wasn’t an insulin response. ACV is thought to prevent or modulate blood sugar spikes by raising insulin sensitivity, I believe. I know this doesn’t answer your question about why your blood sugar rose. Were you doing a water fast?
yes, it was a water fast, I had not eaten anything and only drinking water with salt. Nothing changed in between one reading to the next except the ACV.
My understanding is: if there is high glucose – 108 – insulin will be released to bring it back down. Which it did over time, but I wondered why my glucose went up shortly after I drank 1 Tbsp of ACV.
I don’t want my glucose to go up because there is the immediate response of insulin. Insulin is what I am trying to regulate.
Do I have something backwards?
So you’re saying the ACV would not have caused my glucose to increase, that it had to have been something else?
I’m not sure, to be honest. I just looked up the glycemic index of ACV and it’s not zero, so I suppose it could have. I’ve never tested myself before and after ACV but maybe I’ll try it out tomorrow (just started a fast). Another possibility is the normal variation of blood glucose even in fasting people. Here’s a study that shows some charts of this normal variation.
Also, things like acute stress can cause a rise in blood glucose.
No, you’re right about this. Blood glucose goes up and then insulin responds. I read it the same way as @Shortstuff because I thought you were saying the rise of blood glucose was a result rather than the cause of insulin rising.
Actually, correction: there are some examples of insulin rising on its own, such as in anticipation of a meal. But in general, it responds to a blood glucose increase as you said.
You’re all good. 
Are you going to keep taking your BG readings? I seriously doubt your efforts will be thrown off by the ACV. Maybe see what happens next time you take some.
I took 1 Tbsp ACV this morning before my Bullet Coffee.
I always take that Glucose reading shortly after my Bullet Coffees – today the reading was 15pt higher that it has been on the days I did NOT drink the ACV.
So many experts suggest it – I wonder why this happens, it’s driving me nuts.
Could it have been anything else? Did you sleep OK last night? Lack of sleep impacts. Did you eat anything differently yesterday? Are you feeling stressed at all?
ACV doesn’t work well for me either, never checked bloods after taking it but it gives me horrific heartburn complete with chest pains and nausea so it’s clearly not right for everyone.
NO, nothing is different except for the ACV. Each time my glucose spiked, I could track it back to the ACV having been taken within an hour. Oh well, I’ll keep my ear to the ground and maybe I’ll come across the answer in my travels throughout the Keto world.
It’s interesting to see how the ACV is affecting you during fasting. I never thought about taking it while fasting.
The only times I’ve taken ACV is before a meal. I forget where I read that before eating is the time that it will be most effective at helping to regulate blood sugar.
To be honest, I have a hard time getting it down at all. So I tend to stick more with lemon in my water, which is so much easier for me.
Have you tried acv plus lemon juice. The right combination seems to cancel the bitters and is pretty tasty.
Yes I find it interesting too, and makes me want to test it. I take it both when fasting and when not fasting, wondering now if that’s right for me or not.