What was your fasting blood glucose? (with some chat)

ziggy_w

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,019
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hello all,

Lots of great fasting levels today, well done everyone.

4.7 for me today.

@nutribolt -- Absolutely wonderful achievement re numbers and fasting. Will they do blood lipids too? If yes, you might want to consider the possibility that fasting for several days before might skew your results. Based on what I have read, fasting somewhere between 12 hours to 14 hours before the test, seems to give the most realiable results. Just a thought though. Again, good luck on your HbA1c -- I am confident, your results will be great. Please report back.
@Bindahnee -- Welcome to the forum and to this thread.
 

nutribolt

Well-Known Member
Messages
523
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
@nutribolt -- Absolutely wonderful achievement re numbers and fasting. Will they do blood lipids too? If yes, you might want to consider the possibility that fasting for several days before might skew your results. Based on what I have read, fasting somewhere between 12 hours to 14 hours before the test, seems to give the most realiable results. Just a thought though. Again, good luck on your HbA1c -- I am confident, your results will be great. Please report back.

Hey thanks for the tip.. I had no idea about numbers being skewed. I have no idea if they will be testing blood lipids or not... the report that comes after these HbA1c tests usually includes the BG average (HbA1c number) and some details on cholesterol. Is that what this lipid test thing do?

Do you reckon I should eat on 08/02 as normal to get test results that are a fair representation of truth then? I have been so focussed on getting the number down I did not think if cholesterol number is high that can cause a completely different kind of conversation with DN.
 

ziggy_w

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,019
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hey thanks for the tip.. I had no idea about numbers being skewed. I have no idea if they will be testing blood lipids or not... the report that comes after these HbA1c tests usually includes the BG average (HbA1c number) and some details on cholesterol. Is that what this lipid test thing do?

Do you reckon I should eat on 08/02 as normal to get test results that are a fair representation of truth then? I have been so focussed on getting the number down I did not think if cholesterol number is high that can cause a completely different kind of conversation with DN.

Hi @nutribolt,

Yes, a blood lipid test is a cholesterol test -- and often includes the subfractions of cholesterol such as HDL, triglycerides and LDL (though LDL most often is not measured but calculated based on the other three: TC, HDL and trigs).

My explanation is probably overly simplistic, but this is what my understanding of this is. When we fast, our metabolism as a rule burns stored fat for energy and thus, fat particles in the blood stream increase. This then may lead to artificially high cholesterol levels when tested -- incidentally also often the reason why cholesterol levels are elevated when we lose weight).

If you really want out more about this and get some more expert information on this, I can recommend Dave Feldman's website https://cholesterolcode.com/ who for many years now has conducted experiments on himself to find out how food (and some other things) have affected his cholesterol levels. (Btw, he calls himself the human pin cushion due to the many cholesterol tests he himself has taken, sometimes on a daily basis).

Mind you -- imho, cholesterol is very variable and I sometimes wonder how helpful testing especially total cholesterol really is (HDL and trigs might be more helpful, though). However, many HCPs still worry about total cholesterol and it might make recommendations based on this.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: DJC3

nutribolt

Well-Known Member
Messages
523
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi @nutribolt,

Yes, a blood lipid test is a cholesterol test -- and often includes the subfractions of cholesterol such as HDL, triglycerides and LDL (though LDL most often is not measured but calculated based on the other three: TC, HDL and trigs).

My explanation is probably overly simplistic, but this is what my understanding of this is. When we fast, our metabolism as a rule burns stored fat for energy and thus, fat particles in the blood stream increase. This then may lead to artificially high cholesterol levels when tested -- incidentally also often the reason why cholesterol levels are elevated when we lose weight).

If you really want out more about this and get some more expert information on this, I can recommend Dave Feldman's website https://cholesterolcode.com/ who for many years now has conducted experiments on himself to find out how food (and some other things) have affected his cholesterol levels. (Btw, he calls himself the human pin cushion due to the many cholesterol tests he himself has taken, sometimes on a daily basis).

Mind you -- imho, cholesterol is very variable and I sometimes wonder how helpful testing especially total cholesterol really is (HDL and trigs might be more helpful, though). However, many HCPs still worry about total cholesterol and it might make recommendations based on this.

Thanks @ziggy_w . This really is informational indeed. I knew from the literature I have read that LCHF and fasting can show slightly elevated cholesterol levels but the same literature also says that the overall balance between good and bad cholesterol is tilted in favour of good cholesterol which in turn is actually good news specially when combined to the fact that my sugar level is far better controlled now than it has ever been. I will as a result of your tip be better prepared when I go into conversation with DN. She is a very nice person and is generally open to ideas so long as there is positive change which to be honest I am hoping I will have plenty this time round, fingers crossed. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJC3 and annabell1

nutribolt

Well-Known Member
Messages
523
Type of diabetes
Type 2 (in remission!)
Treatment type
Diet only
5.3 today after the eating day yesterday. :)

I will be following the advice of @ziggy_w and fasting just today and make tomorrow a normal eating day before the blood test on Tuesday. I am hoping weather remains decent, so I can take Magic for some long walk today.

On a separate note, I have some interesting observation from yesterday. On all my eating days the last thing I eat is one keto chocolate bar (sometimes even 2) along with a small cup of decaf coffee, and it does not impact my BG adversely. Now they do advertise only 2g net carb per bar but when I was looking at ingredients I noticed carbs as 7g (Carbs 7.0g, Stevia 2.0g, Fibre 9.5g, Protein 8.5g, Salt 0.25g) which confused me especially because if carbs are that high then 2 of those surely would have made my readings go high. So I checked the FAQ section on Amazon and sure enough someone had the same question which was answered thusly:

The bars are 7g total carbs but you can deduct 4.5g for the polyols because of the sweeteners used which makes them 2.5g per bar.

This was new for me as I did not know that fibre from polyols can contribute towards reducing net carbs but then when I look at the packaging of Erythritol it says net carbs 0 suggesting that they have already accounted for the fibre in it and all this has left me completely confused on this net carb business. I am not going to stop this one treat especially because evidence suggests it has no adverse impact, but I am not much wiser on the "How" of it.
 

ziggy_w

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,019
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
On a separate note, I have some interesting observation from yesterday. On all my eating days the last thing I eat is one keto chocolate bar (sometimes even 2) along with a small cup of decaf coffee, and it does not impact my BG adversely. Now they do advertise only 2g net carb per bar but when I was looking at ingredients I noticed carbs as 7g (Carbs 7.0g, Stevia 2.0g, Fibre 9.5g, Protein 8.5g, Salt 0.25g) which confused me especially because if carbs are that high then 2 of those surely would have made my readings go high. So I checked the FAQ section on Amazon and sure enough someone had the same question which was answered thusly:

The bars are 7g total carbs but you can deduct 4.5g for the polyols because of the sweeteners used which makes them 2.5g per bar.

This was new for me as I did not know that fibre from polyols can contribute towards reducing net carbs but then when I look at the packaging of Erythritol it says net carbs 0 suggesting that they have already accounted for the fibre in it and all this has left me completely confused on this net carb business. I am not going to stop this one treat especially because evidence suggests it has no adverse impact, but I am not much wiser on the "How" of it.

Hi @nutribolt -- In Britain as in the rest of Europe fiber has already been deducted from the figure for carbs, however polyols (or sugar alcohols) are still included -- so often you can just deduct them from the total.

It might still be helpful to pay attention to the type of sugar alcohol/polyol used. I find that some may still raise blood sugars -- especially maltitol and isomalt. Erythritol seems be fine for almost everyone, though, and also xylitol seems mostly fine (except you will have to careful if you own dogs as it is poisonous to them).
 
  • Like
Reactions: DJC3