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Confused/Rollercoaster BS Levels

jenner68

Active Member
Messages
29
Location
Northampton
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Prior to having my lunch today my BG was in the normal range and 2 hours later my BS was still in normal range. Generally felt c**p all day. Thought I would have an apple for some natural sugar. Blood sugar is now 7.1mmol but it is like I can recognise when my BS are up. I am confused as to point do I have to do something i.e go for a brisk walk to get BS down again. Do I have to wait for say another hour and test blood again or do something while in the higher levels. I seem to be having rollercoaster rides between high and low BS levels.
 
Natural sugar will do you no favours. What are you eating? Do you test before eating and two hours after?
 
Why did you eat the apple? That is what caused your rise.
A brisk walk may help, but in future, leave the apples alone! On low carb diets, fruit is not a good idea especially as a snack. If you feel the need to snack a piece of cheese would help more than an apple. Natural sugar is still sugar, and fruit sugars are the worst type for T2 diabetics..
 
I imagine it is perfectly normal to have a little spike (and it is quite little) after eating an apple. This is not a problem as had you not had the kit to measure it, your bg would slightly rise and fall at different points in the day. Doubtless if you go for a walk that will burn off the excess sugar which will mean that less insulin will be needed to deal with the mini spike. But if you do feel ropey then it is perhaps an indication of your body fighting something and that in itself can cause further insulin resistance as will unnecessary fretting about the odd 7 when its the overall pattern that really matters (your HBA1c is a good measure of this for a type 2).
 
Are you on inslin or any drugs? Otherwise the roller-coaster is mostly due to you choosing to eat food that contains csrbs.
 
I do not understand why an apple would be castigated as a bad snack for a type 2 bearing just because ultimately it turns to glucose plus fructose. If that combo was in the form of fruit juice or a 'healthy fruit snack bar' then fair enough but when it comes wrapped up in fibre and other nutrients, and is probably eaten at a slower pace than juice, surely a rise to 7 is not problematic? I would agree that snacking isn't always necessary for adults who are not professional athletes but is usually an indication that the previous meal wasn't satiating enough and the OP craved some sweetness or something else that the apple provided.... Yes cheese might work better or how about a few slices of the apple plus some cheese then rewind to lunchtime and eat a bit more fat and protein to ward off the mid afternoon snack attack!
 
ringi said:
Are you on inslin or any drugs? Otherwise the roller-coaster is mostly due to you choosing to eat food that contains csrbs.
Click to expand...
I am not taking any diabetes meds as such. D/N said low carb diet is the best way. How I understand it is that I can have some fruit for natural sugar as your body needs some sugar for your body to work. I also read somewhere about once your BS is above a certain level it is damaging your cells.
 
Fruit, except for a few low carb berries, is a huge no no for T2'S. The fructose they contain can only be used by the liver, and yours will be working overtime as it is. Fruit juice is also out.
 

I agree, a 7 is not problematic.

Fructose is not a good choice in any guise for T2 diabetics because the fructose is separated from the other contents and broken down by the liver. The liver regards it as toxic (a bit like it does with alcohol). It is not used by the body so gets stored as fat around the liver. We strive to rid ourselves of fatty livers. Fructose hinders this. It isn't so much a question of the carb content, but of the fructose content. You can see from this chart that an average apple contains rather a lot of fructose.
http://janeshealthykitchen.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Fructose-grams-in-fruit.jpg?x59486

https://www.dietdoctor.com/fructose-fatty-liver-sugar-toxin
 
When you say "roller coaster" can you give us some idea of what your upper and lower levels are ?
7.1 isn't particularly high especially after eating an apple..
 
Hi ,I had a very low last night (2.1) and therfore toook some glucose sweets and then when I get up this morning the reading was (19.8) quite a fright but I have been battling T1 since 1960 and still breathing
 
Half the time I feel like I am starving myself and then when I eat I see my BS sugar levels go up. then feel lethargic and then my hands are trembling. I then think I need to go for a walk to get my BS back down again. Then when I get back from my walk, test BS again, but then feel hungry again later. I am trying to stick to 120g of carbs per day or less. Some days I feel ok and some days like today I feel cr*p.
 
A blood sugar of 7.1 after eating an apple won't do any harm, especially if that is a peak that falls later on.

7.1 isn't a level that does any harm. Even people without diabetes might expect to reach that level after eating carbs. Though obviously is blood sugars were continuously at 7.1 it would be a concern.

People with Type 2 diabetes all have very different experiences, and therefore different needs, and it's important to recognise that, and for you all to respect each other different needs.

Fruit is very healthy, it contains fibre, vitamin c, and numerous phytonutrients, that are very good for you.

Obviously if eating fruit spikes your blood sugar too much then avoid it, but if an apple only gives you a rise to 7.1 it probably means the benefits of eating the apple far outweigh the disadvantages.

There is no harm in walking off that small spike, as walking is healthy, but it probably isn't necessary.
 
Small amounts of fructose, as found in an apple, will be processed in the small intestine, and not reach the liver, it is fructose that is added as a sweetener to processed foods that is a problem, or probably in fruit juice.

Obviously, if fruit causes a blood sugar spike that is too high, avoid it, but avoiding fruit on the grounds of it's fructose content is a dubious argument, and should not be used to scare people off eating what is a very healthy food.
 
If you miss fruit, I suggest you have around 100 grams in total of anything that ends in berry, these tend to be around 6 grams of carbs per 100 grams (think of carbs as sugar), with a couple of generous spoons of full fat plain Greek yogurt. Apples have been unfortunately significantly modified over the years. Pink Lady apples are a cross of Golden Delicious and Lady Williams as an example. A medium Pink Lady is circa 20 grams of carbs which is 75% sugar, so between 3 and 4 teaspoons of sugar.

If you eat the types of foods in the links below you should find hunger and snacking is a thing of the past
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/60-seconds
http://www.burnfatnotsugar.com/WhatToEat2.html
(the only item I disagree with is the parsnip, but this low GI list I find compatible for Type 2 management on the whole):

 
Walking after meals lowers the spike height and length I do this after any meal, however I am optimising outcomes.
 
Sounds like you need to eat more low carb food? What are your meals usually like?
 
I understand that if you did a post mortem of someone who had died of alcoholic liver failure versus someone who had non alcoholic fatty liver you would not be able to tell the difference! Fructose in the form of juice or sucrose (half fructose and half sugar) is surely much more of a problem than an occasional piece of fruit though? That said, I don't like the way it is conflated with veg as if they are both equally healthy though as you can get all the benefit of fruit from veg. especailly when it comes to small children who are often given dreid fruit and juice in the belief that its healthier than the white stuff.
 
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