Eat to the meter...

[MikeTurin]

I have a curiosity.
First an example.
If I eat a mix of fatty foods like a salad with olive oil and 150 g of cheese and then I eat 300 g of fruits namely apples and kiwis and after two hours the post prandial level is say, 6 mmol/l, one could assume that eating fruit is not a problem for glucose spikes.

From what I have read about low carb diets fruits are normally high carb and high sugar things, but I like fruit, apples, pears, kiwi, oranges. The best think I could do is to check after a "fruity" meal if I haven't spikes after two hour.

More in general: when I try to find if something I eat makes me to have postprandial spikes, Is a sensible strategy is to check after two hour of the start of the meal where I have the food to test?
I'd like to minimize the bg test, because I have to pay for strips and anyway taking a blood drop isn't a pleasure...

 

[GrantGam]

I have a curiosity.
First an example.
If I eat a mix of fatty foods like a salad with olive oil and 150 g of cheese and then I eat 300 g of fruits namely apples and kiwis and after two hours the post prandial level is say, 6 mmol/l, one could assume that eating fruit is not a problem for glucose spikes.

From what I have read about low carb diets fruits are normally high carb and high sugar things, but I like fruit, apples, pears, kiwi, oranges. The best think I could do is to check after a "fruity" meal if I haven't spikes after two hour.

More in general: when I try to find if something I eat makes me to have postprandial spikes, Is a sensible strategy is to check after two hour of the start of the meal where I have the food to test?
I'd like to minimize the bg test, because I have to pay for strips and anyway taking a blood drop isn't a pleasure...

Are you implying that you're eating the salad, olive oil, cheese and fruit one after the other? If so, the fats from the olive oil and cheese can dampen the spiking action of the fruit. The resultant effect is your pancreas gets a chance to keep up with meeting the glucose levels with the appropriate amount of insulin.

If you ate the fruits by themselves, you may notice a bigger, sharper spike than that when eaten with the fatty stuff.

For the best monitoring of post-prandial BG spikes, you'd be best to test at 1hr and 2hr intervals (you can even throw in a 30min reading if you like). It can be possible to spike later than 2hrs when combining a decent amount of carbs with fat - so you'd be best testing at 1, 2, 3 and 4 hourly intervals for a carb/fatty meal.

Once you work out your spikes for a specific food and subsequent portion size; you could probably assume that you'll get a similar spike each time you eat that particular meal.

 

[MikeTurin]

Are you implying that you're eating the salad, olive oil, cheese and fruit one after the other?

Exactly. I've eaten a salad with olive oil, then some cheese and then the fruits.

If so, the fats from the olive oil and cheese can dampen the spiking action of the fruit. The resultant effect is your pancreas gets a chance to keep up with meeting the glucose levels with the appropriate amount of insulin.

I was supposing that, ie. a full meal with fats and protein will flatten the spikes becuse lowers the GI of the foods.

If you ate the fruits by themselves, you may notice a bigger, sharper spike than that when eaten with the fatty stuff.

So a better fruit test is to eat them alone or wit say some tea o coffee?

Once you work out your spikes for a specific food and subsequent portion size; you could probably assume that you'll get a similar spike each time you eat that particular meal.

But if one eats a mized meal with fats and proteins this will flattens the spikes... is the same problem of the 'raw' GI tables.

 

[GrantGam]

Exactly. I've eaten a salad with olive oil, then some cheese and then the fruits.


I was supposing that, ie. a full meal with fats and protein will flatten the spikes becuse lowers the GI of the foods.


So a better fruit test is to eat them alone or wit say some tea o coffee?


But if one eats a mized meal with fats and proteins this will flattens the spikes... is the same problem of the 'raw' GI tables.

Yes, addition of fats to a carb based meal will generally reduce the glycemic load of the carbohydrate.

Tea or coffee shouldn't make a difference, but if you want the best post-prandial BG accuracy, then leave out all fluids apart from water.

I have no idea what you mean by your last sentence, I'm afraid it doesn't make sense...

 

[azure]

@MikeTurin Yes, mixed meals affect the GI - which is why it's important to consider the overall meal's Glycaemic Load.

If you can eat fruit as part of a meal without spiking, then that's good. Remember we're all different and will have different reactions to certain foods.

 

[MikeTurin]

Sorry, I was doing three things at once...
I've read about the glycemic index of foods.
What I've understood about the glycemic index is that is published for a meal of a particular food alone and doesn't take in account any interaction with other foods.
So a food with a high GI, if eaten in combination with other foods with a low GI results in a lower and less predictable combined GI. Also the preparation of the food affects the GI of food.
In other words a fatty food (that has a low GI) and a sugary food (with a high GI) results in a lower glycemic spike due the averaging and interaction between the foods.

 

[GrantGam]

Sorry, I was doing three things at once...
I've read about the glycemic index of foods.
What I've understood about the glycemic index is that is published for a meal of a particular food alone and doesn't take in account any interaction with other foods.
So a food with a high GI, if eaten in combination with other foods with a low GI results in a lower and less predictable combined GI. Also the preparation of the food affects the GI of food.
In other words a fatty food (that has a low GI) and a sugary food (with a high GI) results in a lower glycemic spike due the averaging and interaction between the foods.

Yes the glycemic load of a carbohydrate food can be varied with the addition of other carbs (such as fibre), protein and fat.

The GI scale is designed to identify the effect of that specific food on your BG. The scale does not take into consideration combinations of foods, etc. It would be about a trillion pages long otherwise