Carb Tolerance?

[KateTheGreat]

Hey, I have a quick question. I've been low carb for almost a month now, and my sugar readings (aside from the morning fasting readings) appear to be fine, I've still yet to meet with my GP upon getting the results (it'll be a month from the phone call to the appointment, which I found a bit shocking). Based on the advice in this forum, I purchased a monitor and have been testing pre and post meals, as well as in the mornings. And though my FBG is still high, it's also starting to come down (was in the high 9s and even one 10, now in the low 8s). So all in all I feel like I'm well on my way to getting things under control and I have plenty of data to show my GP later this week.

I'm now kind of at the stage where I'm starting to experiment with my carb tolerance. I've actually found it not too tricky to make the switch, though I do miss certain things, but I do want to know how much I can tolerate. I've worked out that I can tolerate about 16g for lunch and around the same for dinner. Quite often my post meal reading is lower than the pre-meal reading, so even with the 15% difference, I think that's still a pretty good sign.

So today, I experimented with a snack that had 21g, I've actually given up on snacks during the day (one of the benefits of eating more protein, I don't feel as hungry...) but I thought I'd see what happened when I did. My pre test was 7.0, and two hours later it was 7.1. Does this mean I can handle that amount of carbs? I did do some walking, I'll admit, I walk at least 10,000 steps or more a day, so I do understand that could play into it. But am I right in that it's a decent result?

I don't plan on snacking on 21g each time, I mostly want to have a personal limit for myself, if that makes sense.

I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this. I'm fine with not being strictly keto, though I will if I have to, to keep my sugars contained. But if I can work in a few more carbs into my diet, I'm happy with that.

Thanks, sorry it's so long!

Kate

 

[Rachox]

Hi Kate
I would be very cautious about assuming that your test proves you can manage the 21g snack. You need more information. Maybe you spiked really high between your two reading? You should maybe repeat the experiment with several readings post snack, or use a Libre (they do a free trial if you haven’t already had a free one). You may have also muddied the waters by exercising, maybe try again and just rest?

 

[TriciaWs]

Several other things affect our blood glucose, including exercise, and if the snack was high fat that may delay the post snack spike.

A single day might not represent the longer picture.

 

[KateTheGreat]

Thanks both of you. That's why I was asking. I understand the exercises might have made a difference, but I figured that might be part of the equation at one point. I think I'll wait until I do a free trial of a Libre and do the experiments then. I'm trying to bring down my overall sugars before I do the trial, I'm still early days so the main goal is to bring everything down and then push boundaries a bit. Thanks again!

 

[Sax]

I'd second the above about using a Libre, I was surprised on recent Libre testing just how much going for a walk can disguise the impact of a higher than safe carb content in a meal.