Can meat spike BG levels?

[Languagelearner]

I have read on the forum here posts that imply each individual person has to work out what spikes their blood glucose and that you have to experiment with various foods yourself. Some internet sites say that red meat can spike BG. I think too much protein can also spike BG, albeit not as much as carbohydrate? I've taken to eating a leg of lamb a week - picking on it gradually over the week. I had say 300g of lamb carved off that around 9pm last night, and nothing else. And then at 8am this morning my BG was 13.0 mmol/l. I'm wondering how can this be?

 

[Ronancastled]

Nothing to do with the meat/protein.
How long have you been low carbing & are you aware of the dawn phenomenon ?

 

[Deleted member 527103]

For those of us who treat our diabetes with insulin, we need to take a dose for protein when we eat few or no carbs due to the spike from the protein as, in the absence of carbs, our bodies will break down protein to glucose.
Insulin dosing for high protein low/no carb meals is complex.

I have no experience and it is unfair of me to comment about spikes if you are not taking insulin.

 

[bulkbiker]

I have read on the forum here posts that imply each individual person has to work out what spikes their blood glucose and that you have to experiment with various foods yourself. Some internet sites say that red meat can spike BG. I think too much protein can also spike BG, albeit not as much as carbohydrate? I've taken to eating a leg of lamb a week - picking on it gradually over the week. I had say 300g of lamb carved off that around 9pm last night, and nothing else. And then at 8am this morning my BG was 13.0 mmol/l. I'm wondering how can this be?

What was your pre bedtime reading?
What are your usual levels?
Did you sleep well or poorly?
All of these need to be considered too.

For me my mainly solely meat diet ensures very stable blood sugar levels.

 

[HSSS]

in the absence of carbs, our bodies will break down protein to glucose.

Unless you are fat adapted and in nutritional ketosis, when there is no demand for the gluconeogenisis created energy you describe as you’ve already provided ketones to do the job instead. I think this is probably why keto type 2 don’t have the issues with bgl with protein that many type 1 seem to have.

 

[Languagelearner]

What was your pre bedtime reading?
What are your usual levels?
Did you sleep well or poorly?
All of these need to be considered too.

For me my mainly solely meat diet ensures very stable blood sugar levels.

Pre bedtime 13.0, after sleep 11.8. I went to bed at 8am and got up around 1.15pm. I always struggle to get more than 5 hours sleep. But I did sleep solidly for 5 hours. Last time I checked FBG was around 6 months ago - I couldn't even remember how to do it, and had to read the glucose monitor instructions again - and then I was 7.0. I'll check again tomorrow.

 

[LaoDan]

For me, I can get a slight raise from skinless chicken breast, usually no change with other meats.

if the meat was marinated in something sugary, that’s another thing

 

[bulkbiker]

Pre bedtime 13.0, after sleep 11.8. I went to bed at 8am and got up around 1.15pm. I always struggle to get more than 5 hours sleep. But I did sleep solidly for 5 hours. Last time I checked FBG was around 6 months ago - I couldn't even remember how to do it, and had to read the glucose monitor instructions again - and then I was 7.0. I'll check again tomorrow.

Sounds like your condition has deteriorated a bit since you were last checking regularly.

I'd recommend getting a new pot of strips and monitoring far more regularly. You should be fine with all meat meals but if you are starting from higher BG levels it might take a while to come down.

 

[KK123]

I have read on the forum here posts that imply each individual person has to work out what spikes their blood glucose and that you have to experiment with various foods yourself

I wouldn't put it quite like that exactly as the 'science' behind it is that very simply put, food with carbs in will cause your glucose levels to rise and food without carbs in won't so you have an excellent starting point. Now obviously as mentioned above, within that broad statement, some foods with no carbs but protein in will cause levels to rise as well in certain circumstances and other fairly complicated factors will affect levels too. So, what I'm saying is that it's not so much an individual having to work out whether bread, et al will raise them, you can pretty much rest assured it will, but it's that bread will raise some higher than others and some can tolerate it better. To all intents & purposes though, the obvious things that will raise our levels is universal, ie, pasta/bread/rice/potatoes and so on, whereas no carb stuff, cheese/meat/eggs and so on, won't. So, once you know the basics, people then start their experiments and that is where they can then work out what 'spikes' their glucose levels within the above criteria. For example, I might eat 2 slices of bread and be raised by 2 points, someone else (all things being equal) may shoot up by 4 points. Others may stay at the same level. I hope this helps.

 

[Burg]

I have always eaten meat as part of my diet. However, since reducing my protein intake by about 30% about 10 months ago my average fasting bg has dropped from 5.8 mmol/l to 4.8.
I had two consecutive protein heavier days and my fasting readings were 6.8 and 7.2. Haven't tried that again. Morning bgs are usually in the 4 to 5.5 range.

 

[Krystyna23040]

This is a really interesting thread. I am assuming that I have been in ketosis for years as I only have 20g carbs a day (since 2017) but since increasing protein from an average of 40g a day to an average of 130g a day my blood sugars have dropped to really good levels (especially fasting blood sugars)

 

[tayelola]

Thanks @KK123 for your comprehensive response to the post.

 

[Alexandra100]

I had say 300g of lamb carved off that around 9pm last night, and nothing else. And then at 8am this morning my BG was 13.0 mmol/l. I'm wondering how can this be?

What time did you go to bed? One possibility among many is that you did not finish digesting your meal before you slept, so its effects belatedly hit your circulation next morning. I have read that once we lie down, our digestion slows drastically. Another time you might like to test before eating and then just before bed as well as when you get up. I presume your 13.0 was taken fasting, before you ate or drank anything except water?
There is also Dr Richrd K Bernstein's "Chinese restaurant effect". He claims that eating a lot of anything, even pebbles, will raise bg. I can't say if 300g meat qualifies as eating a lot. Did you feel stuffed afterwards? He treats both T1s and T2s and even for the latter he often prescribes (sometimes tiny) doses of insulin to cover the protein they are eating. I strongly recommend reading the free extracts from his great book
http://www.diabetes-book.com/read-online-diabetes-solution/
and even buying a copy, or you can watch his free "Dibetes University" videos on Youtube.