Effect of porridge on blood sugar

As the day progresses insulin resistance does increase. I used to do porridge at a 35 gram serving; I had a 42 / 41 HbA1c; I replaced this with nuts, Greek yogurt and berries 36 / 35.

Mbaker said:

As the day progresses insulin resistance does increase. I used to do porridge at a 35 gram serving; I had a 42 / 41 HbA1c; I replaced this with nuts, Greek yogurt and berries 36 / 35.

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I find exactly the opposite. My IR definitely decreases as the day progresses.

Yup, I can tolerate more carbs in the evening than I can at breakfast time too.

I have posted this before but it is pertinent again perhaps. Starbucks spent a fortune on a survery/research about porridge oats some 8-10 years ago now. Their findings were such that porridge was the finest food they could possibly supply for breakfast with the health of their customers in mind: especially with regard to the effect upon blood glucose levels for Diabetics and for those on weight control diets and it became the headline of their menues. Personally, when I learned about this I immediately followed suit and found to my great delight that it could do what Metformin could not do for me and that was to MAINTAIN MY BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS CONSISTENT UNTIL MY LATE LAUNCH ALWAYS - a period of about five hours generally.

Porridge maintained my blood glucose levels somewhere between 15 to 17 mmol/l when I last tried it.

Sometimes I think it's the milk that can raise your levels

Well.
In the end I had to give up on porridge for breakfast it was fine for about 3-4 years then for reason unknown my morning level were rising 5 or 6 after porridge which in the past had only risen 1-2 I now go for fry up typical English breakfast eggs, bacon,sausage and tomatoe so far no problems and I love porridge so not happy to give it up.

I sometimes have it and i find my levels Drop typically from 7.something to 5.something. But I do find that I'm ravenous mid morning!!

Inchindown said:

I like a bowl of porridge for breakfast most mornings and it normally doesn't affect my blood sugar readings badly.

For example this morning my fasting / pre breakfast reading is 7.7 and 2 hours after a bowl of porridge my reading had dropped to 6.7.

The other evening I fancied a bowl of porridge instead of my normal evening meal. This time my pre meal reading was 6.2 and 2 hours after the porridge my reading had risen to 9.6.

So I'm wondering why the porridge has such a different effect on my blood sugar depending on what time of day I have it.

FYI, in the examples above my level of physical activity was similar after both bowls of porridge.

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My experience is that oatmeal porridge first thing in the morning is that it raises my blood sugar quite a bit - from say 5.1 to 8.5 or even 9.5 at one hour. If I eat it in the evening it might add +1.5 or +2. I have now basically decided to avoid it.

I first realized that I had a issue with glucose intolerance when I had a blood test for something else and a (non-fasting) glucose was also taken at the same time. I had eaten a big bowl of oatmeal porridge with apple and dates about an hour before. My “random” glucose came back at 8.5. That was quite a shock since my fasting glucose previously had been in the upper 4s to mid 5s and my A1c was 5.0%.

I am trying to figure out how to eat low carb enough to keep my blood sugar from spiking over 6.5 most of the time and never over 7.8 while not losing any weight. (I need to gain weight.) If I have eaten a carb and checked at one hour and my blood sugar is over 7.8 then it goes on a black list of things I just shouldn’t eat - even if it is much lower at 2 hours. I check at one hour because I find that when eating carbs my blood sugar is higher at one hour than at two hours. My understanding is the really short peaks like at 20-30 minutes aren’t that relevant for health but elevated blood sugar for more than an hour starts to do damage.

Interestingly porridge and sweet potatoes that have the reputation to be “healthy” cause me problems, but a dense whole grain and seed bread doesn’t seem to raise my blood sugar much - and everyone says avoid bread.

Bluetit1802 said:

I find exactly the opposite. My IR definitely decreases as the day progresses.

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Very interesting. In trying to optimise you see all sorts of advice, make your biggest meal your first, no carbs after a certain time, protein and fat only as your first meal. As per usual the meter is the best adjudicator, and what suits your lifestyle.

DCUKMod said:

On the other hand, as the day progresses, some find their insulin resistance eases. It's all a bit personal.

@Inchindown , before your evening porridge, how long before it was your last eating or drinking episode and what was it? I'm sort of wondering if you could still have been digesting from earlier.

I find some foods take a long time to show up on my blood glucose and others are much moore immediate. Fatty meals tend to take longer to show any rise, to me anyway.

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I would wager this is the 20 in the 80 / 20 rule. I have seen studies showing the same meal at different times of the day, usually raise bs and insulin on the second meal.

I have seen that strength is meant to be optimum at around 16.00, and that up to around 21.00 the body slows down. I can't prove it but I suspect the same meal at say 11.00 am, eaten again at 20.00 would illicit a greater bs and insulin response.

DCUKMod said:

I'd be interested to read that, please?

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I am going to slowly categorise all of my research, but I never lie to try to prove a point (what would be the point in that); I rely on memory points, without always having the study / documentary to hand.

I would be surprised if others who research areas around this condition have not read / seen everthing I said before. Another one for example is that when sleep deprived the same meal takes more insulin and gives a higher bs rise - could I say where and who showed this, I think a Michael Mosley BBC documentary, bottom line. I repeat what I believe to be true, it is to be taken or rejected.

I avoid bread .. my bg shoots up really high.
It also goes high after porridge.
My diabetic nurse has advised me to try natural yogart with fruit ... so far so good.

@MbakerI wish that applied to me. Food eaten before 2pm requires twice as much insulin as that eaten after. And food eaten after 6pm requires even less.