Type 2 Opposite to expected Blood sugar results

TonyHBS

Member
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11
Type of diabetes
Type 2
If I have a cereal (full of carbs) for breakfast after my half hour walk at midday my BS drops to 4.5-5.5.
But if I have egg and bacon (all protein no carbs) after my half hour walk at midday my BS is 9-10, opposite to what I would have expected. Can anyone give me an explanation?
 

JohnEGreen

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It could be that as when you have had no carbs and go for a walk your system thinks you need extra energy and your liver releases glucose into your blood stream to compensate.
 

Kristin251

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I'm having issues with protein at BF lately. I don't eat cereals or grains and am very low carb so I have no reference to that. Today I just had half an avocado with celery and I'll see how that goes.

It must have been quite a surprise!
 
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Lamont D

Oracle
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15,796
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There could be many reasons for an anomalous reading.
It could a rogue reading from your test strip or your monitor itself.
Or you tested to late or even early because it was a low carb meal.
It could be your liver responding to your previous high readings and adjusting where your body was, in other words, a liver dump.

What I would suggest is have the same meal again and see what happens.
Testing is not about a single specific reading, it's about seeing trends in your progress towards getting control and your blood glucose levels down to normal levels. Keep a food diary and record what you are doing and then you can show your GP and dsn.
Hope this helps.
 

Resurgam

Expert
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Perhaps you need to mix in a few carbs - that is what I normally do, even on very low carb I divide them between my meals. I don't have very many BG readings as I have only had the meter for a few days, but I was seeing the numbers drop day on day - until I decided to eat extra carbs yesterday evening and my readings have gone up and have stayed up ever since. Lesson learned there then.
I used to eat up to 80gm of carbs a day and that probably helped to stave off diabetes for a long time, but I stopped low carbing and have paid the price.
 

Kristin251

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Some people have problems with eggs. Especially in the morning.

When you had cereal did you test at one hour? Carbs generally spike fast and then drop fast. Protein and fat spike slower. I'm wondering if you missed your spike after cereal by not testing at the one hour point? You probably did spike.

Also too much saturated fat spikes me higher than plant fats like avocado or nuts. Some people don't have issues with saturated fat but many of us do.

The whole key to finding foods / meals that work is to test before the first bite, then one and two hours later. If it's a high fat or loads of protein even three and four hours later.

Breakfast is tricky for a lot of us. I can't have much protein and very few carbs. I have half an avocado with celery. Then at lunch and dinner I eat my proteins. Different meals at different times of day act differently. As the day progresses we typically become more insulin sensitive.
 

Bluetit1802

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Messages
25,216
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When our livers think we need extra glucose, either after fasting (overnight for example) or exercise, it will dump glucose in our blood stream. Knowing that may explain your readings.

Your high carb breakfast will have dumped a lot of glucose in your blood stream, so your liver was happy and didn't dump anymore when you exercised. Your walk will have used up a lot of this carb induced glucose hence the low readings after the walk. (I would like to bet they were high beforehand though)

Conversely, after your protein and fat breakfast there would be no carb induced glucose available to sustain you through your walk so your liver kicked in and dumped some. Hence the high numbers after your walk.

Does that make sense? It is just an assumption on my part.
 

Ange G

Active Member
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Type of diabetes
Type 2
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How do you stop your liver from joining in the glucose party?
When our livers think we need extra glucose, either after fasting (overnight for example) or exercise, it will dump glucose in our blood stream. Knowing that may explain your readings.

Your high carb breakfast will have dumped a lot of glucose in your blood stream, so your liver was happy and didn't dump anymore when you exercised. Your walk will have used up a lot of this carb induced glucose hence the low readings after the walk. (I would like to bet they were high beforehand though)

Conversely, after your protein and fat breakfast there would be no carb induced glucose available to sustain you through your walk so your liver kicked in and dumped some. Hence the high numbers after your walk.

Does that make sense? It is just an assumption on my part.
When our livers think we need extra glucose, either after fasting (overnight for example) or exercise, it will dump glucose in our blood stream. Knowing that may explain your readings.

Your high carb breakfast will have dumped a lot of glucose in your blood stream, so your liver was happy and didn't dump anymore when you exercised. Your walk will have used up a lot of this carb induced glucose hence the low readings after the walk. (I would like to bet they were high beforehand though)

Conversely, after your protein and fat breakfast there would be no carb induced glucose available to sustain you through your walk so your liver kicked in and dumped some. Hence the high numbers after your walk.

Does that make sense? It is just an assumption on my part.
 

Bluetit1802

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How do you stop your liver from joining in the glucose party?

If we knew the answer to that we would all be happy bunnies. :) It is a natural occurrence, it happens to everyone, not just diabetics. It is our body's safety net against starvation, inadequate fuel for the brain and cells, and so forth. It happens also during illness, when in pain, or when stressed. Those are times our cells need extra fuel. Our livers look after us. Sometimes too much!
 
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Ange G

Active Member
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Type of diabetes
Type 2
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If we knew the answer to that we would all be happy bunnies. :) It is a natural occurrence, it happens to everyone, not just diabetics. It is our body's safety net against starvation, inadequate fuel for the brain and cells, and so forth. It happens also during illness, when in pain, or when stressed. Those are times our cells need extra fuel. Our livers look after us. Sometimes too much!
Thanks for your reply, I was hoping for a simple..."take this supplement" and that will keep your liver happy! I kind of realise that this diabetic thing is not so simple, when hormones, organs etc all want to jump onto the glucose wagon!
 

TonyHBS

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 2
There could be many reasons for an anomalous reading.
It could a rogue reading from your test strip or your monitor itself.
Or you tested to late or even early because it was a low carb meal.
It could be your liver responding to your previous high readings and adjusting where your body was, in other words, a liver dump.

What I would suggest is have the same meal again and see what happens.
Testing is not about a single specific reading, it's about seeing trends in your progress towards getting control and your blood glucose levels down to normal levels. Keep a food diary and record what you are doing and then you can show your GP and dsn.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for your reply, I have noticed this effect many times, it seem to be quite consistent. I have seen that after the cereal BF I do have a spike in BS. Your suggestion of a food diary is a good one.
 
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TonyHBS

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 2
When our livers think we need extra glucose, either after fasting (overnight for example) or exercise, it will dump glucose in our blood stream. Knowing that may explain your readings.

Your high carb breakfast will have dumped a lot of glucose in your blood stream, so your liver was happy and didn't dump anymore when you exercised. Your walk will have used up a lot of this carb induced glucose hence the low readings after the walk. (I would like to bet they were high beforehand though)

Conversely, after your protein and fat breakfast there would be no carb induced glucose available to sustain you through your walk so your liver kicked in and dumped some. Hence the high numbers after your walk.

Does that make sense? It is just an assumption on my part.
Thank you your answer seems to make sense to me. Livers! can't they get anything right.
 
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Robbity

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@Ange G: But your liver is actually getting it right in that it's dumping fuel to keep you going when it believes your energy tank's a bit empty. :D

However I'm on a pretty low carb higher fat diet and I find that if I eat a fatty-ish supper it helps to reduce my need for an extra wake up dose of glucose. Our bodies can store a lot more fat that we can carbs and so our liver should hopefully feel less need to intervene to top up our fuel rations on this type of diet.

Robbity
 

TonyHBS

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 2
@Ange G: But your liver is actually getting it right in that it's dumping fuel to keep you going when it believes your energy tank's a bit empty. :D

However I'm on a pretty low carb higher fat diet and I find that if I eat a fatty-ish supper it helps to reduce my need for an extra wake up dose of glucose. Our bodies can store a lot more fat that we can carbs and so our liver should hopefully feel less need to intervene to top up our fuel rations on this type of diet.

Robbity
My remark about liver was a bit tongue in cheek.
 

TonyHBS

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Thank you your answer seems to make sense to me. Livers! can't they get anything right.
Next chapter of the saga... I had BF of cereal today and as predicted my BS spiked at 12.5, later (13.30) after 2 hours of stacking logs, it was 5.9. So my dilemma is do I have a cereal for BF with spike, then have low BS for the rest of the day or have eggs & bacon and have my BS steady most of the day but at a rate of about 8.5+ What is best?
 

Bluetit1802

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It is believed it is the high spikes that cause the damage and that it is best to aim for as little variance as possible. In other words, steady is best.

However, being steady at 8.5 isn't good. I wonder if it perhaps because you exercise at the wrong times? Exercising after a carby meal appears best, rather than just before the next meal. Also, how do you know you are spending the rest of the day at 8.5+? Whilst exercise can push levels up it doesn't normally last very long.

If I were you I would experiment with timing your exercise differently, and cut out the morning cereal.
 

Brunneria

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Next chapter of the saga... I had BF of cereal today and as predicted my BS spiked at 12.5, later (13.30) after 2 hours of stacking logs, it was 5.9. So my dilemma is do I have a cereal for BF with spike, then have low BS for the rest of the day or have eggs & bacon and have my BS steady most of the day but at a rate of about 8.5+ What is best?

You are making the assumption that blood glucose remains steady with the eggs and bacon for most of the day.
Have you tested that? For me, eggs and bacon would give a gentle sloping rise then fall (maybe 1mmol/l in all) which would last 2-3 hours. Then my bg would drift nicely downwards and then coast til my next meal. But I only know this through steady testing every half hour or so, all day.)

And - this is key - what are your bg levels before you eat either breakfast? Do you test your fasting blood glucose, and your pre-breakfast blood glucose?

Have you heard of Dawn Phenomenon? AKA morning glucose dumps? Your raised bg after the protein breakfast could be more to do with Dawn Phenomenon than what you ate for brekkie.

As @bluetit says, it is the rise from the food that is most important. So you need to measure before eating, and then 2 hrs later, consistently, to be able to compare different meals. And in order to compare them properly, you would need to have the same amount of exercise after each meal, otherwise you are introducing some pretty wild card variables (time, exercise AND carbs).

Sorry if I am making it sound complicated. It isn't. We just have to be consistent during the testing phase, then once we have learned our body's reactions to set meals, we can be much more free flow about it all.
 
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TonyHBS

Member
Messages
11
Type of diabetes
Type 2
You are making the assumption that blood glucose remains steady with the eggs and bacon for most of the day.
Have you tested that? For me, eggs and bacon would give a gentle sloping rise then fall (maybe 1mmol/l in all) which would last 2-3 hours. Then my bg would drift nicely downwards and then coast til my next meal. But I only know this through steady testing every half hour or so, all day.)

And - this is key - what are your bg levels before you eat either breakfast? Do you test your fasting blood glucose, and your pre-breakfast blood glucose?

Have you heard of Dawn Phenomenon? AKA morning glucose dumps? Your raised bg after the protein breakfast could be more to do with Dawn Phenomenon than what you ate for brekkie.

As @bluetit says, it is the rise from the food that is most important. So you need to measure before eating, and then 2 hrs later, consistently, to be able to compare different meals. And in order to compare them properly, you would need to have the same amount of exercise after each meal, otherwise you are introducing some pretty wild card variables (time, exercise AND carbs).

Sorry if I am making it sound complicated. It isn't. We just have to be consistent during the testing phase, then once we have learned our body's reactions to set meals, we can be much more free flow about it all.
Thanks for your reply, it does seem that I am getting more and more complicated! My fasting BS is around 9-9.5 After exercise following the Eggs&bacon my BS seems to stay around 8 and yes I have checked this later in the day. But my testing is haphazard. I think I need to approach this in a much more controlled way and understand exactly what is going on!
 

Lamont D

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Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
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I do not have diabetes
Sudden fluctuations is a definite no no!
The science is complicated, but, your body would like you to be as near normal through the day. That's why testing is so important.
Finding what is spiking you two hours after first bite, and if it's two mmols higher than your pre meal reading, then some part of that meal is giving you a too high reading!

Be consistent and keep recording your results.
 
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