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Am I OK to eat this...

Starfish18

Starfish18

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,080
Location
Sutton-in-Ashfield
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I had 20g of Lindt 85% dark chocolate about 8pm my level was 7.9 mmol before and 2 hours later my level is 8.6 mmol. I'm sure it is as its not gone up more than 2 but I just wanted to confirm.
Feel a bit silly asking tbh
 
Starfish18 said:
I had 20g of Lindt 85% dark chocolate about 8pm my level was 7.9 mmol before and 2 hours later my level is 8.6 mmol. I'm sure it is as its not gone up more than 2 but I just wanted to confirm.
Feel a bit silly asking tbh
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No such thing as a silly question. Personally, at 7.9 I wouldn't have eaten anything. At least you didn't go over 2. We all have to find our own way, procede with caution :)
 
xfieldok said:
No such thing as a silly question. Personally, at 7.9 I wouldn't have eaten anything. At least you didn't go over 2. We all have to find our own way, procede with caution :)
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Ah right. Eeek! I'm a newbie and my levels are a bit high atm but they've not spiked all day as eaten low carb food so I stupidly thought the chocolate would be ok to try, and test. I'm learning. Thank you for your reply
 
Lots of learning to do, don't sweat it. Everything is trial and error, particularly as this condition is highly personal. What might affect you may not affect me in the same way. Eat to your meter!
 
Yeah 7.9 preprandial means you likely already had elevated insulin levels before even taking a bite. Not ideal but at least the postprandial reading was reasonably promising in relation to the start point. When I occasionally eat chocolate it’s of the 100% variety, but it’s a bit hardcore for most people.

Anyway, you live to fight another day :)
 
Hi @Starfish18, I like the 90% Lindt variety but restrict myself as a T1D to a 10 g piece - that is about 1.4 g carb.
The fat in the chocolate helps to stop the carb being absorbed as quickly than if there was less fat.
Chocolate is also said to be a pre-biotic, it helps feed our bowel bugs.
As a general rule carbs from a meal cause BSLs to peak at about the 2 hours mark, whilst some of the protein in the meal is converted to glucose and forms a lower peak at around the 3 hour mark.
It may have been that when you ate the chocolate that the BSL was peaking at ? 2 hours or so after a meal?
If so, unfortunately the carbs from the chocolate might have pushed the BSL just that bit more.
At a different time there may not have been that result.
With diabetes timing is everything. And having a glucose meter to test BSLs is a great boon.
We all have done some version of what happened with you. We live and learn, no harm done.
Smile and enjoy a piece of chocolate on another occasion.
 
Jim Lahey said:
Yeah 7.9 preprandial means you likely already had elevated insulin levels before even taking a bite. Not ideal but at least the postprandial reading was reasonably promising in relation to the start point. When I occasionally eat chocolate it’s of the 100% variety, but it’s a bit hardcore for most people.

Anyway, you live to fight another day :)
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Yes, it's definitely a lesson learned. The chocolate will be going away until I can get my levels down even more
 
kitedoc said:
Hi @Starfish18, I like the 90% Lindt variety but restrict myself as a T1D to a 10 g piece - that is about 1.4 g carb.
The fat in the chocolate helps to stop the carb being absorbed as quickly than if there was less fat.
Chocolate is also said to be a pre-biotic, it helps feed our bowel bugs.
As a general rule carbs from a meal cause BSLs to peak at about the 2 hours mark, whilst some of the protein in the meal is converted to glucose and forms a lower peak at around the 3 hour mark.
It may have been that when you ate the chocolate that the BSL was peaking at ? 2 hours or so after a meal?
If so, unfortunately the carbs from the chocolate might have pushed the BSL just that bit more.
At a different time there may not have been that result.
With diabetes timing is everything. And having a glucose meter to test BSLs is a great boon.
We all have done some version of what happened with you. We live and learn, no harm done.
Smile and enjoy a piece of chocolate on another occasion.
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Thank you for that information. That's very interesting. I do have a lot to learn. The chocolate will be going away until I can get my levels down even more
 
Geordie_P said:
Agree with the above: the raise from eating the chocolate looks OK, but you were a wee bit high to begin with. Try again from a lower starting point and see how it goes
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I will do thank you. The chocolate will be going away until I can get my levels down even more
 
I’ve seen posts from non diabetics spiking to over 9 from eating a banana.
I doubt you’ve done any lasting harm from the experiment and generally I allow myself some 80% or even 70% chocolate from time to time but usually when I’m below 6.0. May affect my morning reading though the next day.
Keep asking questions- before long you’ll be answering other people’s.
 
rhubarb73 said:
I’ve seen posts from non diabetics spiking to over 9 from eating a banana.
I doubt you’ve done any lasting harm from the experiment and generally I allow myself some 80% or even 70% chocolate from time to time but usually when I’m below 6.0. May affect my morning reading though the next day.
Keep asking questions- before long you’ll be answering other people’s.
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Thank you for your reply. I've put the chocolate away until I can get my readings down. I got 6.5 this morning which is lowest reading I've had in a morning so hopefully I'm still heading in the right direction
 
Hi Starfish

While I agree with people that IDEALLY your bg should be a bit lower than 7.9 before meals, that is an ideal, not a rule set in stone.

It all depends how your general bg mamagement is going, and how you feel. This whole diet controlled thing is a bit like a never ending fluid dance that you play by ear on a minute by minute basis.

So, if your bg is usually higher than that before meals, and 7.9 is a good number for you, and it only raised you by about 1mmol/l, then the odd treat of very dark choc is a great thing. Low carb, enjoyable, and something you can award yourself with comparative confidence.

On the other hand, if your numbers are usually in the 4s and 5s, and you see a 7.9 before eating, then you might want to give a moment of thought about why it is at that level (exercise? dawm phenomenon? stress? that sweet salad dressing on your lunch?) and then make a decision on whether you want to drive your bg up higher...

So I am basically saying that we all of us have different bodies and different starting points and different carb tolerances, and that generic guidance doesn't necessarily fit. Some people arrive on the forum with bgs that have been in the teens and 20s for months. And then it takes them weeks or months to inch their pre-meal bgs down below 10mmol/l. Denying them even a couple of squares of dark choc for all that time, because they are higher than 7mmol/l or some other arbitrary rule, may not help them. It is terrible to think that every treat and every joy is going to be denied you, for ever.

Best not to compare yourself with people who have been doing this for months or years.
What you are looking for is a general downward trend to your numbers, showing that yes, you are getting the hang of this, and yes, you are seeing benefits, and yes, this is a long road, but you are firmly on it.
 
@kitedoc you eat what I do, 90% Lindt. One square at a time. It is my after meal desert with a handful of nuts. It’s amazing how you get used to that bitter chocolaty taste. I wouldn’t thank you for normal chocolate now, far too sweet. If you had told me 10 years ago that this is what I would eat, I would have thought you were bonkers. (Not you personally of course lol!)
 
becca59 said:
@kitedoc you eat what I do, 90% Lindt. One square at a time. It is my after meal desert with a handful of nuts. It’s amazing how you get used to that bitter chocolaty taste. I wouldn’t thank you for normal chocolate now, far too sweet. If you had told me 10 years ago that this is what I would eat, I would have thought you were bonkers. (Not you personally of course lol!)
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Bi @becca59, all us Aussies are bonkers in some way !! I also heard that people who cut down on salt seem to lose some of their sweet taste as well. And others can pick when the chef in the restaurant smokes as smoking supposedly affects their taste and they add too much salt. But, yes, who would guessed that more bitter tasting chocolate, which in the distant past I tended to associate with Dutch chocolate, would be palatable now !!
 
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