What Are "Good" Post Meal Glucose Readings?

(Liam) #1

i am assuming the best time to test is 2hrs after eating? And what are considered good levels? Under 115?

#2

Not sure, but my last one at the docs was 65

(matt ) #3

We have to drill down a bit.
I assume you are eating keto?
What is good in general or what is good for you?
Are you diabetic?
Pre-diabetic?
Insulin resistant?

(Liam) #4

I have none of those conditions and I’m just coming out of a 5-day fast and I’m thinking about slowly introducing carbs while monitoring ketones and glucose levels to see what happens and see if I learn anything, aiming for between 5 to 3 Ketone levels but don’t know much about glucose response to food

(Richard Morris) #5

2 hours after the beginning of a meal is a standard diagnostic for determining bolus insulin injection (ie: the amount you took WITH your meal if you are an insulin dependent diabetic - IDD).

I suspect everyone else (ie: non IDD) uses 2 hours so we have a like for like comparison. It should tell you how well your body is producing insulin in response to your meal. If you measure before a meal and again at 2 hours, if you are healthy it will have returned close to where it started.

You’ll soon see how your body reacts to glucose if you are measuring ketone levels too. Ketones are a weak inverse proxy for insulin so as ketones are growing your insulin is probably dropping, and vice versa.

(Liam) #6

Thanks Richard! So you’re saying I could measure just glucose before a meal and two hours later correct? Damn ketone strips are making me have to get a second job lol, measuring ketones two times a day though

(Richard Morris) #7

It’ll indicate if your body is using insulin efficiently. If your glucose is still up 2 hours after the meal then you are either not making enough (unlikely unless you are type 1 diabetic), or using it poorly (type 2 diabetic, or non-diabetic but with impaired fasting glucose). The more sugar and starch in the meal the greater the challenge.

As an example, I am severely insulin resistant. With a high fat meal my glucose before is close to my glucose after. Maybe 5.2 before the meal, 5.8 after an hour, and 5.2 again after 2 hours.

When I used to eat high carbs meals, my normal baseline of glucose was 6.5 and would go up over 10 in the first 30 mins and at the 2 hour mark it will still be over 10. At hour 3 i’ll still still be over 8.5 and then about 30 mins later it’ll be down around 4 as my oversecretion of insulin began to overcorrect. I’d usually eat something around that point and get on the next roller coaster.

(Liam) #8

Thanks Richard, ok, I get it, if levels return to pre meal levels that’s a good thing, but in general, pre and post meal readings, even if they are the same, what levels are considered TOO HIGH from just an optimal health perspective?

(Richard Morris) #9

I have a different opinion than most health care practitioners.

The standard in Australia is as follows;

Normal glucose response would be fasting glucose between 3.5 mmol/l (65 mg/dl) and 6 mmol/l (110 mg/dl), and 2 hour post-postprandial glucose below 7.8 mmol/l mmol/l (140 mg/dl)

Impaired fasting glucose starts when fasting glucose is between 6 mmol/l (110 mg/dl)and 7 mmol/l (125 mg/dl), but 2 hour postprandial glucose still below 7.8 mmol/l (140 mg/dl)

Impaired glucose tolerance starts when 2 hour post-prandial glucose above 7.8 mmol/l (140 mg/dl) and below 11.1 mmol/l (200 mg/dl)

Type 2 Diabetes starts when fasting glucose at or above 7, and 2 hour post-prandial glucose above 11.1 mmol/l (200 mg/dl)

As far as I am concerned fasting glucose and 2 hours post-prandial should be below 6.1 mmol/l (110 mg/dl) which is the point above which we kill off beta cells faster than we can make new ones … and that therefore marks the beginning of the slippery slope.

(Liam) #10

Thanks very much, <110 it is, will watch for this, so far have not seen one that high but have only been testing through a 5 day fast and now have been out of it for a few days and numbers are creeping up while ketons are creeping down and I am pretty sure I am not eating that many carbs. lettuce?! … this afternoon ketones down to 1.3 and glucose up to 94 …

(Richard Morris) #11

Insulin reroutes the path of energy that would normally go into making ketones, into making new fat instead. So it’s not really carbs that affect ketones directly, but the insulin produced in response to carbs.

You also make insulin in response to eating protein (at about 50% of the rate you would from carbs). And you may make a little insulin in response to thinking about food.

These things are mostly unavoidable, but carbs are something we can do without.