Elevated glucose

(Brandy Leigh) #1

Hey, noticed my glucose levels were higher then usual yesterday, so tested throughout the day today and it never dropped. Looking back at my readings though it appears they’ve been elevated for about 8 days. Initially I would test between 80-97 but the last 8 days are 100-110. One day was 133. I test at night before bed. I tried reading on this site about the topic but the science is all over the place. Should I be worried? Googling it makes it seem like I may be glucose intolerant, or pre-diabetic?? Is that something that would just appear?

(Cancer Fighting Ketovore :)) #2

How long after eating are you testing?
Did you eat the same things, the same amount of carbs, etc? What about stress?

Are you diabetic? If so, then a call to your doctor might be warned, to be safe. But be sure to track against what you are eating and how long after the meal.

Mine can do all different sorts of things…

#3

Are you still testing ketones and if so have they dropped in conjunction with a rise in glucose?

Any obvious changes in diet or stress, exercise routine, sleep in the same time frame?

(Brandy Leigh) #4

Before bed is usually about 2 hours after eating. But yesterday I tested in the AM as well and at the end of 16 hour fast and it was still above 100.
I am not diabetic

(Brandy Leigh) #6

Ketones are still good. Sometimes even higher then usual. My job is pretty stressful. And yes I was doing distance running since I started keto in January, and am now doing high intensity training with a trainer 2 or 3x a week. With moderate cardio in between.

(Carl Keller) #7

Physical and/or mental stress can elevate your BG levels. I would try to regularly commit to activitites that help you relax and try to keep your sleeping pattern as consistent as possible.

Anecdotally, I’ve read about a man who measured his BG after watching a scary movie and much to his surprise, it was up 10+ mmol because of the stress his body perceived as an actual threat to his well-being. Sadly, I can’t find the link to that article.

(Brandy Leigh) #8

Just tested 112 after a 16hr fast. I’m
Actually get worried…
and what does this mean for weight loss?

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #9

Hope these links are helpful:

What Amy Berger says
even more of what Amy Berger says
and more
and still more…

Amy does go on and on sometimes. But she knows what she’s talking about… :smirk:

(Brandy Leigh) #10

Wow that’s a lot of info. I honestly have no idea what to take from that. Could this just be a blip? I tested normal for months

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #11

I think the BIG take from Berger’s series of articles is that insulin is a more useful marker than glucose for detecting diabetes early enough to prevent much of the damage occurring and help start the healing sooner. According to the studies of Kraft and others insulin insensitivity is the first and most important signal, that elevated glucose only occurs way later after much of the damage is done, only after continuously greater and greater amounts of insulin fail to get cells to remove glucose from the blood stream.

Could it be a ‘blip’? I don’t know, depends on what you consider a ‘blip’. Have you consumed anything suspicious in the last couple of days? If the elevated glucose continues for a few more days and you haven’t changed what you’re eating or added something new, I’d probably like to get some blood work done - including insulin, which you will likely have to request specifically since it’s not included in the standard procedure. Berger describes Kraft’s 5 hour test in detail. Don’t know where you’d get that done.

I’m curious about what exactly you mean by ‘good’. Maybe I’ve misunderstood this, and if so please correct me, but my understanding is that generally glucose/insulin are antagonistic to ketones. In other words if one goes up the other must go down. It’s to keep glucose low that sub-20 grams of carbs are recommended. Ketone synthesis is depressed by elevated glucose/insulin and vice versa. In fact one of the best indicators of nutritional ketosis is lowered glucose. So much so, that measuring glucose is possibly a better measure of ketosis than measuring β-hydroxybutyrate. The flip side, of course, is that elevated glucose AND ketones is a huge warning sign of big trouble.

(Candy Lind) #12

You’ve been keto since January, right? Glucose can be influenced by so many things, it’s hard to pin down with posts. Would you give us an idea of what you’re eating & when, specifically how many carb & protein grams? How much exercise, and timing of it compared to your glucose tests? Do you take any meds now that you weren’t taking before? Is work or anything else causing more stress than before you started keto?

I do think it would be helpful to track ketones along with the glucose, if you have a meter.

(Brandy Leigh) #13

My ketone Levels are between 1 and 2.5 daily. My glucose is between 100 and 112 daily. Like they aren’t fluctuating that much… but about 10 days ago it 80-90 was my normal. With some 100+ spikes

(Brandy Leigh) #14

I track both. See below comment.

I just added high intensity training to my routine 2 weeks ago. 3x a week. Light cardio 2x a week

I’m an executive chef my job is Insanely stressful.

I literally eat the the same things daily basically.
Fast through breakfast
A salad with spinach/egg/avocado/tomato/blue cheese/ chicken thigh or steak
Some sort of protein and light carb for dinner
Snacks would be like a BPC coffee, a dang bar, a fat bomb PB, keto protein with mct oil after a workout. :woman_shrugging:t2: I average
1900-2000 145/25/90-120

(Candy Lind) #15

First thought: try not to snack. If you are hungry enough to snack, you should have eaten more at your meal time. Every time you eat, even a little, you trigger an insulin release. Your body generates glycogen in response to high insulin levels. Vicious circle.

Second thought: your body might just be generating more glycogen because of all that exercise. Are you exercising that much because you like it and/or it makes you feel good and/or helps stress? Have a good reason for it.

You might want to try cutting back on your protein. Theory: if you are eating too much protein, it goes to glycogen or is stored as fat. If you get hungry as a result of decreasing protein, add fat. It does not generate the insulin response protein does.

In short, you need to learn what your body is responding to with increased blood sugar. This is your big chance to do your own “N=1” experiment(s) to see what works best for you. It doesn’t sound like you’re way off track. Just make one change at a time - drop one HIIT day, or decrease protein a bit (compensating with fat), or stop snacking and eat more at meals. See how it goes for a week. Keep or revert based on outcome. Then try something else.

No Changes in Meds or supplements?

(Brandy Leigh) #16

I like your thoughts! All these medical
Studies and google telling me im glucose intolerant is stressing me out more. I feel like I’m
Doing things right and was fine up until about 8 days ago.

I used my protein a bit due to the working out aspect of it.
I love working out. I was long distance running but my hip is wonky now so I’ve started working with a trainer.
And I snack a lot! I’m a chef so my hours are wonky and I’m always around food. I can try eating bigger meals, I’m not your typical keto person who is so full they eat once a day. I do try my hardest to follow 16-8 fasting eating… usually 1-9 are my eating hours because I’m often still at work or gym until that late at night

#17

If the increase in both glucose and ketones is caused by an increased release of fat from adipose tissue because insulin has dropped below a threshold, then it can be a sign of improvement in the root cause - insulin.

I have similar readings right now in an active weight loss stage. But they are steady throughout the day. Maybe a little higher first thing in the morning. We might be talking about glucose sparing, where the body is not constantly trying to eliminate glucose from the bloodstream.

With this detail I’m seeing some oils that raise ketones and may be giving you a false high ketone reading. Could cut out the MCT and/or coconut oil, etc for a while and see where your ketones and glucose are from just burning bodyfat alone?

(Brandy Leigh) #18

So I went today with no mct oil no extra ketones zilch.
Glucose at 8am 112
Ketones and glucose at 9:30 pm 2.1 and 103, and I just ate about an hour ago.

So I’m basically just not gonna worry about it, I’ll keep testing and until I see a crazy spike or something I’m chill

I did wake up 2#s lighter today which could mean absolutely nothing, but I’ve been unable to get past 155lbs for weeks. Today I was 153. I don’t put much credence into the scale, but thought it was interesting…

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #19

Excellent point! I did not think to ask about exogenous mcts. Thanks.

#20

One more thought - did you recently start a new batch of glucose test strips? I usually test the last old one against the first new one to see if there’s a significant difference.

#21

An article about “physiological” insulin resistance (PIR - not a bad thing) on keto. Hat tip to @atomicspacebunny for the link to this in another topic.