Blood sugar reading--80
1:00PM
Spinach salad (spinach leaves, cheese, eggs, bacon, sunflower seeds, and Ranch dressing
1 lobster tail with butter
Diet Coke with lime
3:15PM
Blood sugar reading--78
5:00PM
Blood sugar reading--72
5:15PM
Fresh, locally-grown blueberries and blackberries with Truvia and whipped cream
7:15PM
Blood sugar reading--93
10:00PM
Blood sugar reading--81
10:15PM
7 ounce sirloin steak
1 lobster tail with butter
Mashed cauliflower with butter
Broccoli with butter
11:45PM
Blood sugar reading--102
NOTE: Testing my blood sugar levels just prior to every meal and then two hours later has shown to be quite the adventure in the first two days of doing this. Yesterday there seemed to be a pattern of higher blood sugar in the morning ostensibly from the "dawn phenomenon," a sudden drop in blood sugar after my first meal of the day, then a slow rise in blood sugar the rest of the day, and seemingly higher blood sugar overnight (we'll be confirming what is happening at like 2:00 or 3:00AM coming up sometime this next week).
But today threw a monkey wrench in what I thought I knew because my blood sugar levels were all over the place. Starting with my baseline measurement at noon which is the same time I checked it yesterday, my fasting blood glucose was 80 today. That was a full 10 points lower than Friday's reading. I ate that salad and lobster tail meal an hour later and then checked my blood sugar two hours later for only a slight decrease to 78. Hmmmm, this was a whole lot different than the 23-point drop yesterday.
By 5:00PM I wanted to consume some berries and cream, so I measured my BS again for a reading of 72--which means it had gone down from two hours earlier. That wasn't so unusual considering your blood sugar will drop when you haven't eaten for a few hours. Then I had the berries and was a bit surprised to see my blood sugar levels take a typical jump when you eat a meal consisting of primarily carbohydrates (not a large amount with berries, but carbs nonetheless). The reading of 93 confirmed a normal blood sugar response took place--a 21-point jump.
Then it got interesting. I was out with the neighbors shooting fireworks until nearly 10:00PM and wanted to eat something before bedtime. So I measured my BS before a meal one more time to see a reading of 81--a 12-point drop from just a few hours prior. I ate the steak and lobster tail with broccoli and mashed cauliflower and LOTS of butter and then waited until close to midnight to see what my two-hour reading would show. Much to my surprise, it went up 21 points to 102 when I tested at 11:45PM. What in the world is going on here?
Let me say from the outset here that I'm not at all worried about my blood sugar levels being a detriment because they never climb much higher than 100 and never lower than the upper 60s. But being a non-diabetic, I find these movements in my blood sugar levels quite fascinating--although I have no idea what any of it really means. As always, any feedback or insights you would like to share with me are valued and appreciated. THANKS so much!
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17 comments:
Just to note, while an HbA1c equates to around 104 mg/dl, most meters read low. The Aviva meters, like the Aviva Accu-Chek will read about 15 points higher.
Your meter probably just reads low.
I have to say that your blood sugar readings make a diagnosis extremely difficult for an amateur like myself. One set of circumstances seems to contradict the another in terms of level experienced.
BTW, I hope you get that meter and strips from Stargazey soon. Some of this could just be strips/meter that are off? You never know but it is the trend up or down that is important with testing and your strips seem to accurately measure that. Strips have a level of inaccuracy. The only way to baseline a meter and strips is to compare a reading with the meter against a reading taken at a lab just after they draw blood for a fasting glucose level. As far as cost, I get mine off of Ebay for a decent price. Usually 50% less than the retail price. Manufacturers give the meters away so one can choose the strips that cost the least but are the most accurate if one goes the Ebay route.
When you get more strips as I mentioned before it might be useful to not only test at 1 hour but also at 3 hours to see when your blood sugar returns to its pre-prandial levels. Certain foods like for instance Dreamfields pasta can produce a delayed response in raising blood sugars (from what I have read) as well as a condition called gastroparesis (delayed stomach emptying) although since you are not diabetic I don't give that diagnosis a whole lot of credence based on my limited knowledge of that condition.
What is confounding is that based on one set of blood readings you can be hyperinsulinemic with a bit of hypoglycemia and then another set of readings suggests an impaired Phase II response POSSIBLY. Since you are not testing at 1 hour can't say much about your Phase I insulin response. All of this suggests more testing but since you are not experiencing any hypoglycemic symptoms or diabetic blood sugar levels it does not seem to be of much concern? I have no clue.
you know truvia contains other stuff in it, i wonder if that made your blood sugar go up a tad, (Dr. Heidi says truvia is better than sugar but still not good) you might try Stevia in the Raw, I really like that one and nothing else in it. I just got it at the grocery store, right next to Truvia.
oh and maybe you are consuming a little too much protein, isnt consuming too much protein supposed to turn into glucose at some point?
Thanks Nancy! Truvia contains the rebiana from the stevia leaf along with the blood sugar-neutral erythritol. I've tried some of the straight stevia products and they're just okay. The blends like Truvia are much better. The blood sugar rise was likely from the berries themselves. :)
Thanks Nancy! Yes, I'm aware of the effects of gluconeogenesis as I've blogged many times previously. That said, my conscious effort is to eat high-fat, moderate protein, low-carb diet. I'm pretty sure I'm accomplishing that well right now.
Jimmy, thanks for the effort you're putting into this! I'm plotting everything out on a spreadsheet to see if any patterns emerge. Also, unless I have some sort of crisis, I shall UPS the meter and strips to you tomorrow.
It was good to see your blood glucose go *up* at two hours in response to the steak, lobster and veggies. I'm no physician, but I think the 2-hour blood glucose is supposed to be somewhat higher than the pre-meal glucose, so that's a good sign.
I just hope your fingers aren't too sore!
Just to clarify... we know that you know that protein supplies the body with glucose through gluconeogenesis; I think that people are simply wondering if perhaps you're getting too much protein and therefore are manufacturing too much glucose, and therefore have higher insulin levels as a result. But it also seems to me that your blood sugar levels aren't really a problem, that maybe they are normal for you, and without having insulin levels checked, those might be ok too:-)
Thanks Stargazey! This has actually been pretty fun so far. Today I went to get more test strips and the pharmacy was closed. So I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a BG monitor with strips to hold me over until I get your shipment later this week. Thank you again! This will be a fantastic experiment regardless and I've gotten good at drawing blood with my lancet and very little pain. Numbing up my finger with an ice cube helps. :)
I appreciate that DHG! I don't have the exact numbers, but I would suspect my fat intake is around 70%, protein about 20%, and carbs 10%. This falls in line with my high-fat, moderate protein, low-carb nutritional goals.
Why are you surprised at the increase after the steak and lobster? Insulin is for "putting the groceries away" in a way, that's why it goes up with protein and carb.
Are you familiar with the "insulin index" ? Beef is pretty high. If insulin goes high from the beef, your liver will make sugar so the extra insulin doesn't make blood sugar go too low. backwards I know - it seems like insulin should only go high after carbs.
I have Type 2 diabetes, and my blood glucose readings bounce around a lot, independent of meals. I think there are many more factors at work than just food intake.
Actually, Connie, we have no idea what's happening with insulin since it is not being measured...just blood sugar.
Since you have interviewed Dr. Davis not sure if you were aware of his latest blog post on creatine: http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/creatine-not-just-for-muscle-heads.html Didn't seem to do you much good.
Connie. The insulin index was a one time study that has never been repeated. It is used all the time to show how insulin goes up when eating meat. The problem with that study is that it was done only once and never confirmed by another research group which is just good science. The other major issue with the insulin index study that even Taubes has commented on is that all the meat was LEAN meat. Fat tempers insulin and glucose. Besides who ONLY eats LEAN meat. Like the glycemic index, mixing foods leads to mixed responses in glucose and insulin.
Nope, didn't do me much good at all, JD.
this is a very interesting thread to me because I keep trying to figure out a way I can eat late at night and keep losing weight (LOL) It just doesnt work for me to eat late at night no matter what I eat.
So my guess here would be if you ate the exact same foods in a day, but ate that last heavy meal with steak and lobster at 4 pm (or earlier) instead of as late as it was, I wonder if your blood sugar would have risen less.
I'm not tyring to be a know it all here, I am wondering too!!!! I think its great you are doing these tests, it benefits all of us.
:-)
THANKS Nancy! I don't normally eat that late, but it was out of necessity today because of my schedule. I suppose I could have gone to bed hungry, but that's not an option I wanted to do. This blood sugar testing is certainly going to show some interesting things. Thank you for following the journey.
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