When to test after eating

Evie-D

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So here’s the thing. As a newly diagnosed T2 in April I got myself a meter and have been testing for various foods 2 and 3 hours after eating. I had something recently which had a small spike at 2 hours and back down to before the meal at 3 hours. I had the same meal a few days later but checked it after 1 hour, then 2 and 3 hrs after. This time at 1 hour My BS had increased by 2.5 to 8, dropping to 6.5 at 2 hrs then back to 5.7 at 3 hrs. The point is that if I hadn’t taken the 1st hour reading I wouldn’t have known about the initial spike and assumed everything ok. Is this right? Should I have been testing from 1 hr after eating instead of 2? Can anyone please clarify for me? Worried in case I’ve been doing it wrong all these weeks!
 
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kaylz91

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Ideally your looking for no more than a 2-3mmol rise 2 hours post meal so 2.5mmol at 1 hour still isn't anything to worry about, perhaps if your worried about that then a short walk after the meal may help lessen the spike at 1 hour xx
 
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Suz2

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Your initial spike is not a problem since it levels out at hour 2 and hour 3. Prolonged high blood sugars are the problem, not brief spikes that resolve in an hour or two.

I would recommend you not drive yourself crazy testing and testing. This is a serious diagnosis, yes, but you can obsess too much and worry isn't good for you either.

Test before eating and 2 hours after eating. Track your results. If you are within a good range before meals and 2 hours after, you are probably doing what you need to do to control your sugars at this point. I have been diabetic for over 30 years. It never gets easier, but you can learn to live with it.
 
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There is no Spoon

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I had the same meal a few days later
Hi Evie-D what was the meal?

Did you know the order you eat a meal can effect how much it raises you bg levels. Example: Cajun fried butter chicken with avocado, broccoli and toasted almonds.

Eat the avocado first, then the chicken and nuts and finally the broccoli. This way your eating the fat followed by the protein and finally the carbohydrates. The idea is you are taking longer to digest the carbs this way which means less of a spike in bg levels.

Try cooking the same meal and eating it this way to see if it can reduce the glucose spike. ;)
:bag:
 

ert

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Hi Evie-D what was the meal?

Did you know the order you eat a meal can effect how much it raises you bg levels. Example: Cajun fried butter chicken with avocado, broccoli and toasted almonds.

Eat the avocado first, then the chicken and nuts and finally the broccoli. This way your eating the fat followed by the protein and finally the carbohydrates. The idea is you are taking longer to digest the carbs this way which means less of a spike in bg levels.

Try cooking the same meal and eating it this way to see if it can reduce the glucose spike. ;)
:bag:

This is really interesting. I will try your eating order today.
 
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Evie-D

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Ideally your looking for no more than a 2-3mmol rise 2 hours post meal so 2.5mmol at 1 hour still isn't anything to worry about, perhaps if your worried about that then a short walk after the meal may help lessen the spike at 1 hour xx

Thank you, this is really helpful.
 

Evie-D

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55
Your initial spike is not a problem since it levels out at hour 2 and hour 3. Prolonged high blood sugars are the problem, not brief spikes that resolve in an hour or two.

I would recommend you not drive yourself crazy testing and testing. This is a serious diagnosis, yes, but you can obsess too much and worry isn't good for you either.

Test before eating and 2 hours after eating. Track your results. If you are within a good range before meals and 2 hours after, you are probably doing what you need to do to control your sugars at this point. I have been diabetic for over 30 years. It never gets easier, but you can learn to live with it.

Thank you. I’ll just carry on testing before and 2 hours after meals. I tend to do this after adding something new back into my diet. I don’t test as much as I did at the start of diagnosis but found it great for identifying how various foods affected me. I tend to try something new around once a week, and I test on wakening
 
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Evie-D

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Hi Evie-D what was the meal?

Did you know the order you eat a meal can effect how much it raises you bg levels. Example: Cajun fried butter chicken with avocado, broccoli and toasted almonds.

Eat the avocado first, then the chicken and nuts and finally the broccoli. This way your eating the fat followed by the protein and finally the carbohydrates. The idea is you are taking longer to digest the carbs this way which means less of a spike in bg levels.

Try cooking the same meal and eating it this way to see if it can reduce the glucose spike. ;)
:bag:

Wow that’s really interesting! I didn’t realise that the order of eating affects bg levels. I’ll try this tonight at dinner
 

There is no Spoon

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Wow that’s really interesting! I didn’t realise that the order of eating affects bg levels. I’ll try this tonight at dinner
Think of it this way 4 double vodkas in 5 mins is gong to hit you hard and fast, but space them out with diet coke and snacks over a longer period of time and you are pleasantly merry, or dancing on the tables I wouldn't like to pigeon hole you. Same amount of alcohol but less effect.;)

A little video on the overly dramatic effects of glucose spikes. It's where the idea comes from and you can see it working in real time with peoples bg being monitored as they eat. @ert its worth watching if your interested.
:bag:

 
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Bluetit1802

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Everyone, including non-diabetics, will spike around an hour to 90 minutes. There is nothing to worry about unless that spike does not come back down by 2 hours, and stays down. Sometimes we can have a double spike, depending on the meal.
 

Evie-D

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55
Think of it this way 4 double vodkas in 5 mins is gong to hit you hard and fast, but space them out with diet coke and snacks over a longer period of time and you are pleasantly merry, or dancing on the tables I wouldn't like to pigeon hole you. Same amount of alcohol but less effect.;)

A little video on the overly dramatic effects of glucose spikes. It's where the idea comes from and you can see it working in real time with peoples bg being monitored as they eat. @ert its worth watching if your interested.
:bag:


That makes a lot of sense. I feel more reassured as well, thank you.
 

Evie-D

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55
Everyone, including non-diabetics, will spike around an hour to 90 minutes. There is nothing to worry about unless that spike does not come back down by 2 hours, and stays down. Sometimes we can have a double spike, depending on the meal.

So as long as the spike comes down to a reasonable level ( within 2?) at 2 hours then no damage has been done and nothing to worry about. It seems I have been testing ok but just got a bit worked up when I took the test at 1 hr. Thanks for explaining this for me
 

Bluetit1802

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So as long as the spike comes down to a reasonable level ( within 2?) at 2 hours then no damage has been done and nothing to worry about. It seems I have been testing ok but just got a bit worked up when I took the test at 1 hr. Thanks for explaining this for me

Under 2mmol/l rise at the 2 hour mark is fine, initially. The ideal aim is to get that rise as low as you can.
 
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Ellenor2000

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I'm going to contradict everyone here because I'm worried that some extremely high glycemic impact foods won't show if people only test at 2 hours.

Testing at 1 hour, if you feel it provides you with actionable information (say, why you don't feel good after a sandwich, if that's what is happening) that testing at other times does not, is, in this layperson's opinion of the matter, indicated.

Eating to the meter testing at 1 hour will give you a more restrictive set of foods, but the 15 oclock slump is less likely to be a problem (if you're finding that that is related to glycemia instead of coffee). If you are finding that going off the 2 hour figure is what's giving you the best control of your blood sugar, do that, but if you find it's easier to live your life outside of food if you go off the 1 hour figure, consider doing that instead.

If you want to be completely pedantic, you can test at 1 and 2 hours rather than just either-or.
 
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UsmanMo96

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Type of diabetes
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Tablets (oral)
So here’s the thing. As a newly diagnosed T2 in April I got myself a meter and have been testing for various foods 2 and 3 hours after eating. I had something recently which had a small spike at 2 hours and back down to before the meal at 3 hours. I had the same meal a few days later but checked it after 1 hour, then 2 and 3 hrs after. This time at 1 hour My BS had increased by 2.5 to 8, dropping to 6.5 at 2 hrs then back to 5.7 at 3 hrs. The point is that if I hadn’t taken the 1st hour reading I wouldn’t have known about the initial spike and assumed everything ok. Is this right? Should I have been testing from 1 hr after eating instead of 2? Can anyone please clarify for me? Worried in case I’ve been doing it wrong all these weeks!


I find that testing after a hour it gives me the same number. 2 hours it shows a spike and 3 hours and onwards it shows a steady decline.
 
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Evie-D

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I'm going to contradict everyone here because I'm worried that some extremely high glycemic impact foods won't show if people only test at 2 hours.

Testing at 1 hour, if you feel it provides you with actionable information (say, why you don't feel good after a sandwich, if that's what is happening) that testing at other times does not, is, in this layperson's opinion of the matter, indicated.

Eating to the meter testing at 1 hour will give you a more restrictive set of foods, but the 15 oclock slump is less likely to be a problem (if you're finding that that is related to glycemia instead of coffee). If you are finding that going off the 2 hour figure is what's giving you the best control of your blood sugar, do that, but if you find it's easier to live your life outside of food if you go off the 1 hour figure, consider doing that instead.

If you want to be completely pedantic, you can test at 1 and 2 hours rather than just either-or.

I was in this instance testing the effect of a food I was trying to re-introduce to my diet. I don’t normally test at 1 hr and that’s what confused me. This is the only time I test other than on waking in the morning. As far as I now understand it, I should not need to test at 1 hour as the real effect is at 2 and 3 hours and this should be enough to show if any food adversely affects my bg levels. I’m trying hard not to be too obsessive and so far it seems to be working. I just wasn’t sure if I should be testing at 1 hr because of the difference it made, but on balance I think I’ll carry on at 2 and 3 hrs only. My original hba1c diagnosis was 96 but now I seem to be around 5.5mmol which I believe is nearly normal. I get my first 3 month hba1c test tomorrow so hopefully it will confirm this.
 
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Ellenor2000

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I was in this instance testing the effect of a food I was trying to re-introduce to my diet. I don’t normally test at 1 hr and that’s what confused me. This is the only time I test other than on waking in the morning. As far as I now understand it, I should not need to test at 1 hour as the real effect is at 2 and 3 hours and this should be enough to show if any food adversely affects my bg levels. I’m trying hard not to be too obsessive and so far it seems to be working. I just wasn’t sure if I should be testing at 1 hr because of the difference it made, but on balance I think I’ll carry on at 2 and 3 hrs only. My original hba1c diagnosis was 96 but now I seem to be around 5.5mmol which I believe is nearly normal. I get my first 3 month hba1c test tomorrow so hopefully it will confirm this.

Testing at 1 hour post tells you things that 2 and 3 hours post won't tell you.

2 and 3 hours tells you if your body can get the spike down quickly, which is good to know, but they don't tell you directly if there is a spike to bring down in the first place.
 
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