Blood glucose meter newbie

(I like to post memes!) #17

@Morgan_Rose Not all monitors measure both ketone and glucose, so you’ll need to look for that specifically if you want both. I measure glucose only because if I keep my glucose down, there is less insulin requirement, which indicates that my body is becoming more insulin-sensitive. My goal is between 70-100 mg/dL. If my blood glucose is over 100 and I think I’m hungry, its probably just a craving and not true hunger. This book was really helpful:The Glucometer: A Self-Empowering Tool to a Healthy and Lean Body.

(Jo Lo) #18

Blood glucose is only half the story. You really want to know your insulin level. Get that tested and multiply that value times your A1C number. It should be below 400. This is called HOMA-IR.

Even with moderately high blood sugar (100-110) you can be OK if your insulin is low (less than 4).

I went to my doctor (Naiman), concerned that my blood sugar remained high even though I was very low carb/keto. But my insulin came in low (under 4), so there is no problem. I’m no longer worried about blood sugar readings of ~100. The body is using gluconeogenesis to make the blood sugar, although I am quite fat adapted. I’m going to assume that it knows what it’s doing.

(Morgan Rose) #19

Blahh I honestly have 0 idea hahaha I just wanna know if I’m in ketosis and test from time to time or after I try certain foods. I’m not a diabetic. I see the meters all the time but never the keotone strips?

I’ll def read the link u sent me tomorrow or tonight while I’m in bed lol thanks for your help

Edit: I just realized it’s for a book! Haha maybe I’ll purchase it! Thanks

(Becky Searls) #20

Wow! So just got a free glucose meter form my doctor just to test out of curiosity (not diabetic).
First of all you can’t set the normal range to be lower than 120 at the high end? Is that normal? I set my normal rage to 70-120

And second, my fasting blood glucose was as follows:

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:flushed: should I be concerned? I know levels are often higher in the morning…but I don’t even have PRE-diabetes. Is this weird, @richard ??

(Morgan Rose) #21

Finally got one and tested glucose !
My mom gave me this one, I don’t think I can get keotone strips for it. :confused: but better than nothing

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(Dave) #22

So I was told that you need to be in the range of 70-80 for glucose and 1.5-3.0 to be in Ketosis and be fat adapted. So what is the difference between fat adapted or being in ketosis the whole time.

My numbers would rarely get in the 70-80’s range but mainly would like to hang out around 85-94 Rane with a Keytone reading of 1.5 and greater. Although I was told on this Facebook group that I’m not fat adapted and perhaps not in Ketosis?

Also my glucose readings were always higher in the mornings with a few exceptions of being in the high 70’s.

Can anyone shed light on this, I feel that the keto community has different optimal ranges for what they think is correct?

Thanks in advance.[quote=“Fiorella, post:170, topic:4418, full:true”]
Yeah, best way is to test. I’m not diabetic so I don’t test regularly. I just used to test regularly a few years ago (both BG and ketones) blood testing just to see how I react to different foods. I wanted to see what would knock me out of ketosis, or spike my glucose levels. Today, I don’t test regularly, but will notice what effect the food I ate yesterday had on my body.
[/quote]

Yea same here, I’m not diabetic as well but its good to know what foods do what, thank you for the information in your experience. I’m beginning to test between foods for my own info, I remember reading about Stevia not spiking the bg levels but if it’s possible I and it has that effect on myself, I’ll more or less cut it out as well. Much appreciated!!!

#23

On my phone, otherwise I’d link some… The search works really well here.

Check out “Dawn” it’s called something like the dawn phenomenon or something similar. Hope that helps!

(Ashley Haddock) #24

I have been keto for awhile and have lost about 125 lbs so far but have never tested my glucose or ketone levels. I finally got a meter and tested this morning for the first time. I was mainly wanting to test how certain things (like sweeteners) affected me. I used @richard 's blog post for reference.
(http://easylocarb.com/glucose-curve/)

I woke up a little before 6 am. I took my fasting glucose level at 8:30 and it was 91. I made a cup of BPC using the sweetener I wanted to test (stevia/erythritol mix) at 10:15. It took me about half an hour to finish it so I took my glucose level again at 11:15 (so an hour after I started drinking and 30 mins after finishing) and my level was at 89. I took it again a half an hour later and it was 79.

I’m confused if this could be within the margin of error for these machines, or if maybe it triggered insulin, which made the numbers continually go down? Any insight would be appreciated. :slight_smile:

(Ashley Haddock) #25

I just re-read the post and this jumped out at me:

“Take a 3rd measurement – this will be your T60. If you had some glucose response at T30 then you should be heading back to your baseline under the direction of Insulin releases. If you had no glucose response but you still secreted some insulin (Sweetness being recognized by your brain and directing a “just in case” release) then you might find at this point that it drops below your baseline. That’s a reactive hypoglycemic response. It implies if you eat a lot of this food and you will be making more insulin than you should and over time that may work against weight loss and developing your insulin sensitivity.”

So I’m guessing this means I may have had an insulin response?

(Richard Morris) #26

I’ve since learned that machines have to be within a 20% variance of a calibrated laboratory measurement. Most are within a much tighter tolerance. But they are much more internally consistent. That is 2 machines with the same blood sample might show a different result, but if the persons glucose increased by 10% then both meters should show a 10% increase from their previous measurement.

I suspect that’s it. Can you try the same experiment with just stevia, or other non nutritive sweeteners. If the reaction is consistent then for you reducing dependence on sweetened foods may reduce your exposure to insulin.

One strategy might be if you really want something sweetened then have it near a meal with token amounts of carbohydrate or modest amounts of protein that will raise your insulin anyway - and then limit sweeteners for the remainder of the day… So you may be able to have a sweetened desert after a meal, but not chew sugarfree gum all day.

(Ashley Haddock) #27

Thank you, @richard! I will definitely keep experimenting and see if I have the same response with stevia or erythritol alone. I don’t have sweets much anymore so it wouldn’t kill me to give them up, but it is nice to have a little something every now and then. I will keep treating myself like a guinea pig until I figure it out. :slight_smile:

(Ashley Haddock) #28

@richard I went to link your glucose curve post for a friend and it says it’s unavailable.

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(ana g) #29

Thanks for leading me to this post, @WhoAteMyPsyche. Hopefully I’ll be able to refer to @richard’s glucose curve post soon.

My first set of glucose results this morning (T0/97, T60/84, T120/83) confused me some, and my initial googling made me consider reactive hypoglycemia, but of course more data is necessary to validate. My food intake was bacon, eggs, and coffee with HWC. I’m considering other possibilities, too…1/ dawn effect skewing T0 results (I overlooked measuring upon waking, though), or 2/ coffee potentially triggering a cortisol response leading to insulin release. What other variables am I overlooking?

Also, is there any reason not to test sweetener response later today? If not, what period of time should I allow to pass before I test sweetener after eating my last meal?

(Richard Morris) #30

Thanks I’ll look into it

(What The Fast?!) #31

Okay. Just got my strips today and can’t wait to try this. No health issues, I just want to see what my standard blood glucose is and what kind of response I get from different foods. I’m not quite fat adapted yet (I don’t think), not sure if that’s relevant for this.

I just read through @richard’s Charting Glucose post. It sounds like I need to wait until tomorrow to test since I’ve already eaten breakfast - or do I just wait 4-5 hours and take a baseline then?

(Karen Parrott) #32

I’d wait until tomorrow morning for a baseline fasting value

(What The Fast?!) #33

Heyyy!! Ok so I checked my blood glucose strip this AM and it was 66 mg/dl right after I woke up. I’m going to fast and check in a few hours as well…but can someone tell me if that’s good? I saw another thread where @richard said 70-100 is considered normal, so if I’m lower than that, that’s a good thing right? If 70-100 is normal, what’s IDEAL for keto?

I also measured my ketones and I’m 0.9 this morning which is the highest I have been!! I’m still 3.5 lbs up from the two nights of drinking this week, but I’m going to jump on my bike today and use up all my stored glycogen and I’m sure that will be gone soon enough. :slight_smile:

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(What The Fast?!) #34

Ok, I waited another 90 minutes after waking, no food or drinks, then tested again and I’m up at 73 (from 66 when I first woke up). Thoughts?

(Richard Morris) #35

We’re all going to be a little different. Early in the morning my glucose is higher than later in the day and my ketones lower. You see to be the other way round.

Our brains run on glucose and ketones. In the context of a normal diabetic on a mixed diet, 66 mg/dl (3.7 mmol/l) would indeed be considered too low.

The reason why a glucose of 66 mg/dl (3.7 mmol/l) is not too low for you is because you are making a decent amount of ketones and your brain is using so many ketones that it’s not asking for your liver to release more glucose.

I’d say that’s perfectly OK.

That could be your body waking up, releasing some fight/flight hormones to make sure you are alert … and they cause us to make a little extra glucose (useful if fighting or fleeing).

It all sounds fine to me.

(What The Fast?!) #36

Thanks!! I’m not diabetic and don’t have any other health issues (yay!) so had no idea what to look for. I’m going to be using your charting blood glucose method later to test Stevia and other sweeteners. Thaaaank you!!!