Frustrated over rising blood glucose readings

(johnp71) #1

Been keto for 1.5 years. Lost over 70 lbs, and stalled late last year. Ever since the holiday season, where I loosened up my carb intake, I haven’t been able to get my blood sugar back down. My last A1c numbers were 5.6, and I now usually don’t see glucose readings below 95. I got back on the horse in January and am pretty strict with my eating and carb intake. I used to regularly have 75-85 for my morning readings.

Now I’m up 15 lbs. and can’t shake it off. I know it’s related to elevated insulin and blood sugar but what can I do? My doctor won’t do metformin because he considers my A1c “normal” but I don’t eat badly. Not a fan of fasting, short of the usual 16:8 IF I usually do. Ugh.

(Consensus is Politics) #2

Here’s what I would do.

Zero carb. Cold turkey. As long as possible. Change IF to 18/6 or even 20/4 (is how I eat now). Make sure you don’t have any maltodextrin sneaking in something that never had it before. I changed supplements once and had a big stall. Later discovered what maltodextrin was, and sure enough it was there, in high quantity. Maltodextrin is worse than sugar for BG spikes. About 2x worse. Worse than that, you can’t taste it. You won’t even know it’s there. They even put it in iodized salt for crying out loud!

To go with all that, go very low protein as well. I’d do it for a week or two. If you begin feeling the reduction then reintroduce the protein, but try to lay off the carbs, still, as long as you can.

[i am not a doctor, nor have I played one on TV]

(Consensus is Politics) #3

Oh duh! Check your BG Test strips. Make sure they having been left in conditions outside their normal storage parameters. Like frozen? Or too hot? Etc… it left exposed to open air. Too much O2 I’m sure will affect them.

I have three meters. One I can’t get strips for anymore, the other two meters are consistently inconsistent with each other. One or the other is always 20 points or so higher or lower than the other. They are allowed a 20% variance. Which could be a lot, if your REAL BG was at 100, and you tested at 80, that within tolerance. And the next time you tested, it reads 120, but you really are at 100, that is still within tolerance. But that’s a 40 point increase.