In Ketosis... with high blood sugar

fasting
bloodglucose
(David Orris) #1

Hi,
I’ve done 16:8 intermittent fasting off and on for over a year. Inspired by Dave Asprey’s new book (and the ‘challenge’/course he’s offering with the book purchase right now), I am forging ahead and doing my first longer fast right now and am shooting for 36+ hours this time. It’s feeling pretty good. But here’s the crazy thing and my attendant question:

I am fully in ketosis. I just tested (via finger prick - keto blood meter) and I’m at 1.1 right now. Well enough into ketosis. But also, my blood glucose is 111 right now.

This is typical for me. I technically have a diabetic diagnosis (though most of my biomarkers for it are basically gone-- A1C is currently 5) and when I wake up in the morning, that is almost the only time I ever have high blood glucose. “High” meaning 130 at most, but considering I eat keto and my A1C is 5, that seems strange. I’m aware of the blood sugar fasting spike phenomenon. But this just seems odd.

Also, I did use a far-infrared sauna a couple hours ago-- after which my blood glucose was 140-ish. Very high but again, that is also typical for my body after using the sauna.

Anyway, I’m just wondering if anyone else has been through something similar and might have any insight regarding this weird phenomenon of high blood glucose BECAUSE of fasting (whether when sleeping or purposefully fasting for longer periods).

Just to overshare a bit more, I do take Metformin. And when my blood sugar spikes like this, I pound supplements like Gymnema and New Chapter’s “Cinnamon Force” along with chromium picolinate, which all seem to help.

But I’d love to know of other people’s experiences and helpful hints-- whether anecdotal/experiential or science/research-based.

Thanks for making it through all this. :slight_smile:

(FRANK) #2

David,

I too have high blood glucose numbers (<130) first thing in the morning due to whats known as the “dawn effect”. My A1C is 5.4 and ketones are usually around 0.6. I wouldn’t be too concerned about your blood sugar numbers. More important is controlling your insulin and if your ketone levels are 1.1, you are in good shape.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #3
(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

Dawn phenomenon and physiological insulin resistance (also called “adaptative glucose-sparing”) are almost certainly what you are experiencing (a forum search on those terms should yield quite a bit of useful information). They are perfectly normal, and with an HbA1C like yours, not a thing to worry about.

(Bob M) #5

I think Dr. Bikman is using “glucose insensitive” or “glucose sparing” or something similar to describe this.

He says it bears no resemblance to actual insulin resistance.

#6

Hi David. You are fasting. I’m eating meat. You are 16:8. I’m NoFUN (No Food Until Noon). That works out regularly to be 16:8. Last HBA1c was 5.4. I’m fending off T2D with low carb and low crap eating.

When I’m eating keto my fasting blood glucose is 5.0 to 5.6 mmol/L and blood ketones are usually around 0.5mmol/L. When I’m eating ketocarnivore my fasting blood glucose is 5.8 mmol/L to 6.5 mmol/L and fasting blood ketones are usually around 0.1 mmol/L.

What are you eating when you do eat?

#7

You have an A1C of 5… you have zero to worry about my man. Having elevated (and to a degree) high isn’t a problem as long as we don’t sustain it for long. Per your A1C you’re not. Our blood sugar and especially A1C’s can be weird as well.

I’m a weirdo biohacking guinea pig and do a lot of weird stuff to myself, when I was super strict keto my A1C (towards the end) was around 5.2ish most of the time. I’m now eating around 150g/carbs a day and did one the other day and it came back at 4.1! Shouldn’t even be possible! I’m literally going to grab another test this weekend to double check that but I’ve been using the DIY ones for years and they’ve always matched what my labs have come back with so I dunno. Don’t worry about it, as long as you’re trending towards improvement, you’re winning the battle!

(David Orris) #8

I’m pescatarian(/ovo/lacto). I eat a decent amount of seafood (and a whole lot of chlorella, glutathione and milk thistle), egg, and I do also include collagen protein and bone broth into the mix as well (so no longer strictly pescatarian). I fleetingly eat romaine salad, usually with a small amount of avocado oil based dressing (low or no carb). A good amount of bulletproof coffee.

The ‘worst’ things I eat are junk keto-- Atkins brand ‘sweets’ which I notice do spike my blood sugar-- sometimes. Not uniformly. I’ll occasionally make a Quest brand keto cheese pizza as a ‘cheat day’. I sometimes bake up the Lakanto brand (and sweetened) baked things like muffins and brownies (again, these are keto). And I sometimes snack sparingly on nuts-- mostly organic walnuts or pecans. And seaweed snax.

I am also nigh on addicted to Zevia sodas (stevia-sweetened sodas) and they don’t impact my blood sugar at all.

Those are the broad strokes.

(David Orris) #9

Thanks, fellow biohacker. I just finished Fast This Way by Dave Asprey. And because I’d already been doing IF for over a year, I ran off the proverbial reservation and went ahead and did my first 36 hour fast. It wasn’t easy per se, but not hard either. But the day AFTER, after being hardcore keto for months, I lost my mind, I guess using the fast as my excuse. Had a bean and cheese burrito. And a Chinese noodle dish later. (Sorry to turn this into my keto confessional).

Now for the last several days, my blood sugar numbers have been bonkers (for me, anyway) throughout the day. Not just upon waking up. I’m trying not to freak out about it, but it is weirding me out to see my glucose at 130-ish throughout the day and this morning it was 168. I haven’t seen a number that high in eons.

I don’t know if this is just down to one bad day of eating (three days ago now). Or if this was somehow kicked of by the 36-hour fast (IF has been great for my glucose numbers heretofore). No idea what’s going on.

#10

I found after years of strict keto my body went crazy when I threw some carbs in there, I wound up hopping on the metabolic flexibility wagon and started strategically adding in carbs here and there so my body wouldn’t freak out when had them… it worked.