Testing to see if food will cause a glucose spike

(THERESA PITTS) #1

I’m testing various food items to see if it has an effect on my blood glucose and is something I should remove from my diet. For example, I make SF pudding with HWC. Pudding mix reports 0 carbs and 0 sugar. BG was 80 prior to eating it. BG was 101 an hour after eating it. Serving size was 1/2 cup. Would this spike be enough to determine that I should not eat this much HWC?

(bulkbiker) #2

HWC is not really zero carbs though… so it may be the carbs in that which caused a minor rise…also of course depends what was in the Mix…
Maybe try just having the HWC (I sometimes freeze it for 45 minutes to make iced cream) and see if that causes a similar spike.

#3

I have been testing too, and am also confused about how high a rise in BG should constitute a “spike.” Double digits? Only if it pushes it over some number, like 105? For instance, one particular meal raised my BG by 25 points, but it remained under 100 - so is that meal OK to eat, or something to avoid?

(What The Fast?!) #4

@richard has a post about charting your blood glucose (search it in the forum).

Does anyone know if there’s a lower end of the BG scale that you should be over? Sometimes my BG is mid 50’s. Today it was 61 (34 hours fasted) - I know the normal range is 70-100, is there a downside to being below that??

(bulkbiker) #5

In the UK we are advised to have a less than 2 mmol/l rise after eating which equates to I believe 36 dl/mg in US measurements. I personally try for much lower spikes (if any).

#6

Thanks, Andrea- found it Blood glucose meter newbie

(Jim Russell) #7

Just as important as how high your BG spikes is how long it stays elevated. If it spikes up to 100-110 and goes right back down, that would be much better than spiking that high and staying there for any length of time.

#8

If only we could test insulin. I am so confused as to what my glucose readings mean. Yesterday I tested before and after eating scrambled eggs fried in bacon grease (2 whole eggs, one extra yolk). Normal, expected results would be little or no rise. But mine fell:

T0 = 78
T30 = 77
T60 = 69

I would assume this is an overactive insulin response (and @Richard’s post suggested that foods causing this response might be best to avoid), but there were no carbs in the meal, and nothing sweet-tasting to signal insulin. Wondering if this means I am insulin-sensitive or insulin-resistant. Any theories welcome.

(Adam L) #9

This is something I am very interested in, seems ridiculous that the meal you mentioned would fall into the avoid category - if that’s not keto what is !!! Your BG fell just over 10% in an hour after that meal, perhaps it would have fallen by the same amount if you hadn’t consumed any food at T0 ?

I’ve read reports here and have experienced myself that there is a degree of variability in BG readings in that you can test multiple times on the same machine, test on different fingers one after another - even test multiple times in a row from the blood of a single pin prick - and get different results. I’ve seen variability of up to 15% doing this. Maybe test 2 or 3 times at T30 & T60 (even at T0) & see what results you get? I decided to test less frequently overall as I was letting the results affect my mood & drive me a bit mad at times! Good on you for testing & trying to work out what’s best for you. Wholeheartedly agree, if only we could test insulin.

(Jim Russell) #10

I agree with everything in this post. There is variability in your blood glucose and a 10% drop is within testing error range. Your body is always working to try to keep it in a pretty narrow range and worrying about small variations is not worth the stress.

Chasing numbers that are indicators of health is not the same as chasing health.

(Richard Morris) #11

I think what you are seeing is a moderate increase in insulin in response to protein.

We make 50% as much insulin in response to protein as we do to carbohydrates. In people with normal metabolisms protein also stimulates about the same amount of insulin’s counter regulatory hormone - glucagon. Which should cause you to release glucose. In normal people that’s nets out and you don’t see much of a change.

People who are insulin resistant however make a lot of insulin at the slightest provocation. That’s why it can get complicated. But I think your response could indicate slight insulin resistance.

I only really worry about glucose going low after a challenge when I am testing something that should cause no insulin release at all like an artificial sweetener. Glucose going high after a meal that you think has no carbs in it is worth knowing about - it’s a sign that the meal you are had some carbs in it.

I agree it would be a lot easier if we could measure insulin at home.

(Tony Phillips) #12

I was have been keto for 9 months and weight stalled for 3 months. I thought I would start measuring glucose response to some of the foods I have been eating. Just about everyday I eat a “low carb” Protein bar by Kirkland (costco). The package claims the bar contains 1g Sugar, 23g Total Carb, 4g Net Carb, 21g protein and 15g fiber. I LOVE the bar. However, I did a T-0, T-30, T-60 and T 120 test. YIKES. Here’s my results:
T+0 = 92mg
T+30 = 132mg
T+60 = 115mg
T+120 = 98mg

Does anyone have any thoughts on this result? 40mg spike in 30 minutes seems extreme.