Eating low carbs but High readings

SZB2357 said:

This spike after a breakfast of just one egg is confusing for me to understand. Since most days my breakfast too is just a cup of unsweetened tea and a boiled egg but my results do not change. Moreover, I have seen many of the others on the forum promoting intermittent fasting/skipping breakfast. Does it mean that everyone does not have a liver dumping stored glucose? and everyone's body reacts differently to intermittent fasting?

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Everyone's liver will dump glucose in a morning, but only those with either a wonky pancreas that produces insufficient insulin, or produces sufficient insulin but they have insulin resistance/fatty livers will notice it. The worse the insulin resistance/fatty liver, the worse and longer the dump will be. As we are all at different stages of this disease, we will all react differently. Also, it is our hormones that regulate liver dumps/insulin production, so sometimes some people also have wonky hormones. The Growth Hormone is one of the regulators, and it is known that these deplete in number as we age.

It could have been that your wife was rushing around while she was out. Perhaps there was a difficult phone call or conversation. Maybe she felt a bit tired or achey. Or could have been something on her skin - did you retest with another finger?

Crazy readings happen to us all, and it could be anything from having a worrying thought (that sudden sinking feeling when you think you've forgotten something? That's a cortisol dump and a BG rise right there) to a phone call to... really anything. If you are both feeling anxious about a reading, sit down, breathe, relax, wait 10 minutes and then retest. If it's still high, you know there's something to work with.

Chances are, there might be a little anxiety about the readings which, ironically, would push the BG up, too.

It's going to take a while for things to calm down and normalise, but compare how much more upbeat and confident you sound now to some of your earlier posts - and read back on how some of your wife's readings were just a short time ago when you first found us, and you'll see that you're both doing so much better already.

Also hi and welcome to @Erika1 ! Your information was super-interesting; it's been known for a while that protein also produces BG rises, though they're longer and flatter than carb spikes, and though it seems like a no-brainer, I've never seen anyone think aobut this in the terms you mentioned in your post. Then again, I'm T2 and don't really browse the T1 and Insulin posts, having very little to offer in terms of knowledge or experience.

Why don't you post a little about yourself on the Introductions board so that we can welcome you properly?

It's good to have you,

Sock x

SZB2357 said:

Moreover, I have seen many of the others on the forum promoting intermittent fasting/skipping breakfast.

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Intermittent fasting could also mean skipping dinner too... So you can have a big breakfast...

Hi @SockFiddler, thanks for the welcome and yes, I'll go check out the Intro board.

While I understand that T2 is a different experience, a low carb diet really should be what we're all aiming for. Many cases of type 2 can be reversed by diet alone. Dr Bernstein (himself a type 1) has led many type 2 patients to normalise their blood sugars, allowing for beta cell recovery and therefore a decrease in insulin resistance. He outlines a low carb diet in his book 'Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution'. I'm sure a few of you would have heard of it. His approach is very similar to the ketogenic LCHF (low carb high fat) diet I outlined in my previous post.

Btw, Marty Kendall, the engineer I mentioned earlier, has a family history of type 2 and was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. He followed the ketogenic diet along with his T1 wife and has reached his ideal weight and lowered his BGL, reversing his pre-diabetes.

P.S. @Stay healthy... while red kidney beans aren't the worst carbs to consume by any means, they are relatively high in carbs, approx 35g net carbs per 100g. If you are considering opting for a LCHF diet, a 100g serving would be close to your total carb allowance for the day (I personally aim for around 25g per day)

Stay healthy said:

hi, we have been eating quite low carbs 30-40g / day) which seems to be largely working for us however sometimes we get a higher reading with no obvious reason.
Today we had two eggs for lunch and tested 2 hours later which came out to be 9.1 which is higher than what we usually get? Any ideas if there is anything else contributing to high BG readings ?

Many thanks

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Hi, I have learnt through a low carb diet that when you eat protein only meals (no carbs) then you will still need to take insulin (I’m type 1). When you eat protein with no carbs some of the protein will turn to carbs it will take a lot longer so I have stopped having meals without carbs as I need to inject regardless and protein adjustmentvis a lot harder that counting carbs.
Hope that helps? Good luck

Stay healthy said:

hi, we have been eating quite low carbs 30-40g / day) which seems to be largely working for us however sometimes we get a higher reading with no obvious reason.
Today we had two eggs for lunch and tested 2 hours later which came out to be 9.1 which is higher than what we usually get? Any ideas if there is anything else contributing to high BG readings ?

Many thanks

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Hi, Were the eggs ,boiled, fryed or other, because fried eggs adds oil ( even if put on a paper towel ,to get rid of excess oil ) and the body digests differently to boiled eggs , I often do a fasting day with just protéine to check my Basel BG needs and have noticed the difference between fryed and boiled foods, I also take fish so sardines would not be the same as steamed cod

Bluetit1802 said:

I take it you mean a 30 minute walk?

If she only had 1 egg for breakfast and nothing else, then later on went for a 30 minutes walk just before lunch, the reason could be right there. I suggest her liver was dumping some stored glucose because it thought she needed more energy, and the walk will have made this worse. Exercise can raise levels, especially on an empty stomach. All you can do now is record it on your data stats and move on.

I would like to add, though, that she isn't eating enough! 3 eggs and half a bowl of soup in a day is far too little and will not be helping her. Our bodies can go into starvation mode on too few calories. She needs to eat a proper balanced meal, with meat, fish, vegetables and fats. As long as the carbs are kept very low, this will keep her healthy.

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I would have thought 3 eggs and a half a bowl of soup is ok unless they were including tea time,. I find that when I do house work on an empty tummy my BG reading will be higher,yes exercise does seem to push up Levels on an empty tummy

Stay healthy said:

hi, we have been eating quite low carbs 30-40g / day) which seems to be largely working for us however sometimes we get a higher reading with no obvious reason.
Today we had two eggs for lunch and tested 2 hours later which came out to be 9.1 which is higher than what we usually get? Any ideas if there is anything else contributing to high BG readings ?

Many thanks

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I couldn’t get my readings to come down or lose more weight but had bloods checked again and apparently I have an under active thyroid. Now on tablets and bs readings going down and weight going in right direction too!

Oh don't say we cannot do housework..I love doing housework lol..Not giving that up he he

derry60 said:

I would have thought 3 eggs and a half a bowl of soup is ok unless they were including tea time,. I find that when I do house work on an empty tummy my BG reading will be higher,yes exercise does seem to push up Levels on an empty tummy

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The 3 eggs and half a bowl of soup was over all 3 meals.

Stay healthy said:

Just when we thought we learnt a way forward something else unexplained comes along!
So today after the salad lunch (about12:30) we were 6.5 at 2:30 pm . We had planned red kidney beans dinner .
She came home and had some cucumber and cheese but we decided to test before dinner in order to establish if red kidney beans are any good. To our great surprise we were at 10.8! Shocked ! I am not able to understand this at all.
How can you be :
6.1 fasting
10.1 two hours after breakfast
6.5 two hours after lunch
Have cumumber slices and cheese as a snack
Then be at 10.8???

Waiting for after dinner reading now but not feeling confident...

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Just a thought my blood testing kit said to do the control test weekly to keep it as good as x

You dont say if your wife is still having periods or menopausal. That can affect blood sugar levels for no apparent reason.

what did you have with the red kidney beans? Its not only certain foods, its the whole meal to be considered.

If i dont eat often enough, or sufficient food, my liver will dump randomly and i can end up with 10+ before a meal as my liver has over-compensated and thinks I am starving.

Bluetit1802 said:

The 3 eggs and half a bowl of soup was over all 3 meals.

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Oh that is not a lot then