Newbie question-rising glucose

#1

Hi, I am new to the forum and to Keto. I started 6 weeks ago and although I am not diabetic, it runs in my family and i want to avoid it. I am 46 years old. My blood sugars have always been in normal range and since starting my Keto lifestyle journey, they have been even lower (high 60s - high 80s). The last 48 hours they have been in the 90s and I just checked and it is now 99. I am doing a 16:8 fast and have only had coffee with the tiniest bit of unsweetened cashew milk. I consistently keep my carbs under 20 net. Any thoughts on why this could be happening? Thank you so much for your patience with a newbie and for any feedback or advice you might have!

(Allie) #2

Sometimes keto causes higher glucose as it’s stored in the body fat that is being used as fuel, so the fat your body is eating can also contain glucose which will increase the readings but is only a temporary thing (until the stored pockets are gone). It could also be that you’ve got a cold or some other bug on the way as that will mess with it too.

#3

Thank you. That makes sense!

(Raj Seth) #4

And there is a fat sugar loop From adipocytes to liver then gluconeogenesis due to excess fatty acids. It will all stabilize as your metabolism gets repaired

#5

I wonder why it’s happening now and not earlier?

(Roy D) #6

Question 1) what are the macros you are eating? (These are the % Fat, Protein, and Carb of your daily diet) and how many calories are you consuming? If you are on a keto diet, the macros should be similar to the following;

5% Carbs
20% to 25% Protein, and
70% to 80% Fat

If your carbs are substantially higher, that could raise your Blood Glucose (BG) levels. If you are consuming excessive protein, that too will raise your BG levels (ref Gluconeogenesis).

Question 2) Assuming you have adopted the keto diet to loose weight, have you been successful in the last 6 weeks and what has been your weight loss?

Question 3) When have you been testing your BG? Have the BG readings been consistently taken 1st thing in the morning prior to digestion to any food, after meals, or at other times during the day? (BG readings will vary during the day and after meals.)

Item 4) Check the foods you’ve been earring against foods on a Glycemic Index (GI) list. Low/no calorie does not mean the food will not impact BG levels. (I’m not sure where the cashew milk falls, but it may contain a low calorie sweetener with a high GI.) This is especially true for artificial sweeteners as shown in the following link;

If the cashew milk contains Maltodextrin, Maltose, and/or Dextrose, these would be artificial sweeteners with high GIs.

#7

Hi, thanks for the responses.

Answers:

  1. yes, my macros falls within those ranges, consistently. 5% carbs (less than 20g, 69-73% fat, 22-26% protein)
  2. I have lost 18 pounds since I started 6 weeks ago
  3. I test first thing in the morning before food, when I get home for work, and before bed. Some days less or more depending on working from home or not.
  4. the cashew milk is unsweetened and ingredients don’t look to contain any sweeteners of any kind.

I did make some low carb cookies but only ate 1 and that was last night. It called for Swerve. I have eaten some swerve treats before and not had this issue.

Thanks for the links—very helpful!! I appreciate all of the feedback very much.

-Liz

(Diane) #8

Lots of good answers here. Just one more thought, if you are dehydrated, that can cause blood glucose measemurements to be higher.

#9

That could be it! Thanks!

(Roy D) #10

From the above, looks to me like you are doing everything correctly, and getting good results.

The other category I know that impacts Blood Glucose (BG) is stress. This category also includes illness & getting an adequate amount of sleep. See the following;

https://dtc.ucsf.edu/types-of-diabetes/type2/understanding-type-2-diabetes/how-the-body-processes-sugar/blood-sugar-stress/

Although trending higher than typical for you, it was my understanding that BG levels in the 90’s were not deemed excessive. The following article states;

“For someone without diabetes, a fasting blood sugar on awakening should be under 100 mg/dl. Before-meal normal sugars are 70–99 mg/dl. “Postprandial” sugars taken two hours after meals should be less than 140 mg/dl”

I’m not too sure it’s something to be too worried about.

#11

Thank you so much for the resources. Come to think of it yesterday was a very stressful day at work. I guess that could be part or all of the culprit!

Thank you!

(Raj Seth) #12

If excess fatty acids fueling excess gluconeogenesis is the cause then it would depend on what could be causing your adipocytes (fat cells) to be doing more lipolysis than before? You can analyze that. If not, could be some other reason…

Breaknutrition podcast is super geeky and sciency and talks about this process and other metabolic syndrome processes and science. I listen to that a lot. Still haven’t caught up

#13

I listened to that one the other day, but sounds like I should listen again. Thank you!

(Raj Seth) #14

Pretty dense stuff in breaknutrition