@richard mentioned to me on this thread that since that blog post he’s learned the 20% variance is from machine to machine.
I’ve been testing as well and getting some confusing responses. I’d love an episode of 2KetoDudes that focuses on both the testing and the science behind it (hint hint 
). I have been researching on my own but my responses are still confusing me.
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I did a glucose test today and it came back baseline at the 3 hr mark. This is the first time it’s come back that quickly. However, this is the first glucose test I’ve run since starting metformin too. Which is encouraging to me.
Instant Pot crustless cheesecake
Made with 1C Swerve, 2 eggs, 2tsp Olivenation lemon emulsion, 16oz cream cheese. I ate 3 of 8 slices for this test.
T0. 90
T30. 90
T60. 85
T120. 83
T180. 90
That does seem like a significant glucose drop at T60, especially since the cheesecake test gave you very steady readings. I don’t have a Ketonix, but I suspect the ketone reaction might lag behind the glucose?
@tomseest might have some insight on that.
So I’m wondering if any level of drop below T0 is reactive hypoglycemia or is there a threshold? Most things I’ve tested do create a drop. Zevia is the largest I’ve tested so far.
If you drink lots of liquid, the ketonic results are surpressed for a while: acetone is water-soluble and I’ve seen from experience that being well hydrated has an impact on breath output, if nothing else than because your throat has additional surface moisture for a while.
I drank a 12oz can as rapidly as I could. It wasn’t pleasant. The fact that my ketones were up at T30 is confusing to me if it was diluting my reading. Hmmm…
I’ts worth trying again as an experiment. And then with just sparkling water. And then with sparkling water sweetened with Stevia. And then with sparkling water sweetened with erythritol. If you’re willing to take one for science 
Between you and me, I’ve found that breath ketones are like a changeable breezy day - they’re all over the place, and are only useful for showing trends. The reason is that they measure very recent specific metabolic action, and you body can be making adjustments over time for all sorts of reasons. As such, I would never take one reading as particularly significant.
@bokkiedog That’s kind of how I see the ketonix read outs too. Even though the inventor says they track to BG, that’s not my experience. I really only used it to see if it would be a viable alternative to ketone strips. I think not.
And I like your suggestions for what to test. I’ve been ruminating about it overnight and I’m def going to test all sweeteners now. I’ve been stalled for awhile now. This reactive hypoglycemia might be my answer. Although, I’m a bit bummed out that I might have to take them all out if my testing comes back poorly. I wasn’t really planning on being one of the “I kicked all my addictions to the curb” kinda person. My life is stressful right now and I don’t see an end for the next 19 years (I have a toddler).
Okay. I did this with Diet Cherry Dr Pepper. No Ace-K. I may have some confounding variables. But I’m still showing with a mild drop from T0 to T30 and T60. I’m beginning to think that stomach stretch is a confounding factor. 12oz def feels over full to me.
I’m thanking I will begin testing all my beverage options again over the coming weeks with only a 4 oz intake.
I was just thinking that. I love the Zevia product. Feels like I’m cheating.
I wish I could love it, but I detest the flavour of Stevia. Pure erythritol is fine for me, and that it’s not that sweet is a mere bonus. I’d love them to make a much less sweet erythritol-only version. Except they’d have to call themselves Rojia or something.
Still a newbie, so please forgive the misunderstanding!
I’ve read Richard’s BG curve (and listened to the Non scale Victories/Sweeteners Podcasts), but for some reason this still isn’t clicking for me. I’m trying to go through the sweeteners now and see if I could get kicked out of ketosis, but I’m honestly not sure how I would know. I guess I’m assuming I could get kicked out if my BG reaction is too high?
For example, my reaction to stevia is below
T0 - 87 (4.8)
T30 - 96 (5.3)
T60 - 90 (5)
T90 - 89 (4.9)
T120 - 87
Is this too much of a BG reaction to stevia, where I shouldn’t consume anything with it? Unless I’m doing this incorrectly, 20% margin of error would be up to 5.76?
Try that test again with pure sparkling water and see if you get similar numbers. I predict you will.
Definitely try with control test.
Pure water, whatever beverage youre testing, and nothing at all.
Then compare.
Most of what I see (I think) in this thread is about glucose and ketones. Has anyone tested insulin response to sparkling water?
As I recently reread Good Calories, Bad Calories, Taubes emphasizes the gut response to any perception of sweetness. Is sparkling water sweet enough to generate such an effect to stimulate the receptors? And if so, how much does it take to cause a rise?
I seem to recall that the entire point of Dr. Kraft’s assay was to demonstrate that though glucose may be normal range, insulin could still be high. Just curious. It would be interesting to me to see the outcomes of various N of 1s with sparkling water (and even Zevia).
This is about using glucose response to determine if there was an insulin response. Watching what happens after drinking the water by determining if glucose dips below fasting levels afterwards. If you saw a significant drop you could presume that it was due to insilin.
Yep. I totally get it. However, what Dr Kraft learned was (if memory serves me) that glucose and Insulin do not always behave that way. He found that many “healthy” individuals with "good’ glucose levels would still have a high insulin response during his assays.
In fact, I believe that was the whole point of him doing the assays - to show that insulin spikes can occur independently of glucose levels, and so it’s beneficial to know how we respond individually to foods not only as glucose is concerned, but equally with insulin. And as the two can trend differently, that’s where my question was really headed.
Since insulin can trend differently than glucose, has anyone tested - even done a Kraft assay - using sparkling water? Just curious 
Yeah since we don’t have a home insulin assay the best we can do is a proxy of either glucose lower than baselines or ketones dropping post-parandial. I don’t remember how they test those foods for the insulin index charts, but it seemed like it was one test 30 minutes after eating… which of course could miss a delayed response. I don’t think they run a GTT type test for those. I agree that’s the best way to tell, but at $150 a shot it would get pretty pricey to test different foods that way.
Agreed. N=1 gets costly. Last fall I did a “ghetto” Kraft assay on myself with 80 g of glucose, by making three trips back and forth into Quest’s local lab. I did learn what I was after, though not very cheap or convenient to do it.