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Can protein cause BG spikes

M

MadMat

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Can protein cause blood glucose to spike?

I tested at 7.8 first thing today. And ate a larger than normal almost zero cooked brunch (sausage bacon eggs and mushrooms) as I was feeling hungrier than normal at around 11am

At 4pm I tested 9.6! Nothing to eat in between. No real exercise either. Could the high protein meal push BG that much higher??

Mat
 
As someone with Type 1 (sorry I don't know about type 2), if I eat protein but no carbs such as a cheese omelette, I need to take insulin. Otherwise, my BG will rise as my body breaks down the protein to produce the glucose that it needs.
However, there are many things which can affect our BG in addition to food such as stress and foot on the floor.
 
It's possible (because this is what happened to me) that a near-zero carb intake will initially result in higher BG. In my case, I think this was because my liver started dumping as much glucose as it could make, in response to next to none coming from food. Over time, this has lessened as my liver has come to accept that I don't need as much glucose as it thought I did.

That said, you're looking at a seven or eight hour gap between tests. A lot can happen in that time, as In Response says. And your readings are not really that far apart, it's not a "spike". Your second reading is around five hours afetr you ate - I would normally expect any impact from food eaten to have come and gone by two hours.

There's also the permitted 15% inaccuracy in fingerprick testing 95% of the time - so it's entirely possible that a true BG value of (say) 8.8 could give valid test results of anywhere between 7.5 and 10.1. Or that one of your readings was a rogue "one in twenty" that's even farther off.
 
MadMat said:
tested at 7.8 first thing today.
Click to expand...
Was this test done at 11am just before you had your breakfast or sometime before?
If you were hungry but left it until 11 to eat, the chances are that your liver would have dumped some glucose into your blood. If you just checked your levels first thing and not at 11 when you ate your meal. By 11am your blood sugar could have been much higher than 7.8
9.6 five hour's later is a rise of just 1.8mmol, if you were higher than the 7.8 it might not actually be a rise
 
It was at 9:30am. Watched the grand Prix and then ate. I'm on rybelsus so can't eat first thing.

I've gotten into the habit of doing a fasting test as soon as I get up and take the rybelsus, and then not testing unless I eat something new I want to check up on or something "carby"

Mat
 
There's your possible explanation , the 7.8 was at 9.30 and you didn't eat until 90 min later at 11.
Our blood sugar levels are constantly changing, there are many things that can cause your sugar levels to change. Occasionally people post the graph's from their cgm's, They are never a straight line.
I suppose it's possible that your sugar level could still have been 7.8 an hour and half later but I would think it's unlikely.
Even if it was I find it hard to believe that your body would feel the need to manufacture some glucose from your bacon, sausage and eggs, when at 7.8 @9:30 it already had plenty on board.
 
Some sausages can be quite carby. Added to the info given above, this may have added to the higher reading. I eat sausages about once every 2 weeks and they are as high meat content as I can get, but they have to have some carbs in or they don't stick together. How about trying your fry-up without, just as an experiment? No need to deprive yourself of the occasional sausage, just be aware of how much they might contribute.
 
I found that I needed to eat something with a few carbs in - up to 10gm, in order to stop my BG continuing to rise. If I didn't, my liver probably thought it was being helpful.
It really helps to test at particular times so the results can be compared. The 2 hours after starting to eat a meal test was really useful to show both how the meal agreed and how I was improving my results.
 
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