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Alcohol vs Carbs

DisFanJen

Well-Known Member
Messages
144
Location
Lovely, Lovely, Wales
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Insulin
Ok, this is a silly one.

So I used to drink low alcohol drinks as I liked the taste and drive too regularly to get much alcohol in my system, but those are off the menu because they are empty carbs.

However, I'm off on a cruise in July and so don't have to worry about driving and was thinking, carbs make the numbers go up, but alcohol can make them go down.

So is there a "happy medium" where the carbs are offset by the alcohol so I can have a little tipple?

I realise we all react differently to carbs and alcohol so this is a "how long is a piece of string" sort of question but I was curious as to people's experiences.

Of course, as I never drink normally I'm what can be described as "a cheap date", so going for the hard stuff is probably pushing it unless watered down with a generous mixer.
 
Spirits and wine are fine.
Beer is a bit dodgy, though.

Bear in mind that alcohol doesn't cancel out carbs.
It just takes priority in the liver and delays the processing of carbs so you pay the price later on.
 

Hi,

To the best of my knowledge, the alcohol content just keeps the liver busy from dumping glycogen into the system.
However the carbs consumed may still affect the BG levels.
The issue can arise with BG lowering meds like exogenous insulin & the aformentioned alcohol retarded non- glycogen dump possibly resulting in more rapid BG drops if there was an error in insulin dosage? (Which symptoms could be masked by the amount of booze consumed?)
 
LittleGreyCat said:
Bear in mind that alcohol doesn't cancel out carbs.
It just takes priority in the liver and delays the processing of carbs so you pay the price later on.
Click to expand...

To be fair that is true. Honestly I'm on the fence about having any as I'll have to go from my strict carb count (I'm not keto or anything but am on a "lower" carb diet of less than 100g a day) to what I'll be offered on the cruise which is bound to be at least double my usual count for dinner (I imagine I can still get breakfast and lunch in the 25g - 29g range).
 
It depends what sort of alcohol you're talking about , if you say a pint of lager you're talking about 20 carbs if you say a slimline G&T your talking about 0 carbs it all still has to be calculated into the system whatever it is ,
 
Short answer - I think you'd have to try it, test for it, and see what it does to you. In my case alcohol brings my BG right down, so I can have a considerably lower reading after a meal than before. This doesn't seem to "defer" the carb rise - maybe I deal with them better over a longer period of time, I don't know. I don't spike even with things that would otherwise reliably lift my BG by 1 or 1.5. From discussions on this forum it's clear that others have very different reactions, so I don't think you should base your actions on my experiences. What I have noticed with beer is that my oedema recurs - this might be due to a lot of additional fluid and not the alcohol, as it doesn't happen with (eg) spirits.
 
Well, experiment time.

Just finished dinner and having a glass of Prosecco after (exactly 125ml).

Let’s see what it does to the numbers shall we?
 
Well so far my BG has done exactly what it would do with no alcohol.

Will keep monitoring until bed but it looks like the occasional tipple will be ok.

I’d still not do it often, as the saying goes I’m am a “cheap date” and felt the effects of the wine for at least an hour (yes, I can get slightly tipsy on 1 glass of wine), but it’s nice to know it’s not going to majorly screw things up.
 
Next morning and my BG is 5.8 which is about .3 - .5 higher than usual.

So experiment over. It looks like a glass isn’t enough to do much to my liver, and I just need to take account of the carbs (3 in the glass I had).
 
DisFanJen said:
Next morning and my BG is 5.8 which is about .3 - .5 higher than usual.

So experiment over. It looks like a glass isn’t enough to do much to my liver, and I just need to take account of the carbs (3 in the glass I had).
Click to expand...

Hi there, did you have to adjust your insulin at all? I don't drink much either, maybe 2/3 times a year at a do, but then I tend to lower my insulin by a unit or two beforehand and this seems to stop me going low in the hours after. As you are an insulin user I really wouldn't be bothered by the '.3 to .5 rise', two jabs in quick succession creates more of a difference than that, the '3' carbs are nothing either, well done, you have proven to yourself that you can deviate from your normal routine and have a drink or two! With the cruise, I reckon you can have as few carbs as you want, they will be very accommodating to your desires. x
 
I didn’t adjust as I’m now on a basal only regime.

That’s the main reason for the test as on basal only I couldn’t really adjust for it.
 
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