• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Alcohol and BG levels

Silver Hammer

Silver Hammer

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,879
Location
Bucks
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Since diagnosis I have deliberately reduced and at times eliminated alcohol from my diet; but now I have reached the weight that I want to be and have generally good control I sometimes "indulge". I have noticed that beer, despite the 17g of carbs per pint, seems to significantly drop my BG readings, how does this work? I can now combine something like steak and chips with 3 or 4 pints of beer and 2 hours after - 5.1! This seems like a free ride, although the morning after BG reading may be a little higher than normal - is this the only drawback?

Maxwell
 
Hi Silver Hammer

my understanding is that with alcohol, the liver is so busy dealing with it, that it puts glucose release on the back burner giving you a temporary reduction.

jim
 
The other question is, after your weight loss, what are you like with the steak and chips without the beer?
 
Jim
Thanks, does this just delay the BG rise, smooth it over time, or eliminate it entirely? While I intend to keep my alcohol consumption low generally I will certainly not be avoiding it entirely and this effect seems like an added bonus.

Douglas
While I try to keep my carbs to around 100g per day on average and usually go out of my way to avoid unnecessary carbs; when I do go out and have something with significant carbs like a pub meal portion of chips I do get higher than usual readings (for me) after 1 and after 2 hours, but these will not be higher than around 7.5 maximum. So they are not really a problem on an occasional treat basis.

Maxwell
 
Back
Top