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How damaging is it?

Cocosilk

Well-Known Member
Messages
818
Location
Australia
Type of diabetes
Gestational
Treatment type
Insulin
If you eat a meal that does this:

Before: 5.6 mmol
1h - 7.3 mmol
2h - 8.0mmol
2h 20 - 6.7mmol
3h - 5.7 mmol


And it happens once in a blue moon - as in when you eat at a party or at Christmas time or some other celebration.

Would you think anything of it even though the 2h is not exactly where you want it, but it didn't stay there too long.

My husband made a traditional dish, which he makes about once a year: Sarma - picked cabbage rolls (plenty of preserved meats) and polenta on the side (the carb that got me here).

I'm glad he only makes it once a year because I find it hard to stop at one helping. This was the first time I have eaten polenta (corn meal) since I've been testing my blood glucose.

I took a chance (couldn't help myself) and had a second helping... Kind of regret it now, and not just because I saw an 8.0 at the 2 hour mark.

Even my husband complained about the "food coma" it gave him.

If this only happens a few times per year, it would be a while before serious issues would set in, wouldn't it? Or will I regret it sooner?
 
Impossible to say.

Speaking only for myself, I long ago decided that focusing on blood glucose alone was not the answer to my problems. All-body glucose and circulating insulin concentrations are what's important to me. Neither of which can be measured at home, but both of which are more damaging than blood glucose, and both of which require lifestyle adherence irrespective of what my glucometer thinks.
 
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The complications associated with diabetes are due to long term high blood sugar so I wouldn't expect occasional and not very high readings to have any effect. Most Type 2's will have been experiencing high levels for some time prior to diagnosis and change of diet or medication. Occasional peaks, especially only just over the recommended maximum, are not likely to make any difference. Of course, "occasional" is the key factor.
 
Honestly, if it's once a year, and you went back to fives a little later than usual, but you got there... Just savour the memory of a good meal, and don't sweat it.
 
So not asking your body to make insulin is basically the only sensible thing to so from here on in really is what you are saying. Not worth the risk. I thought that might be the case.
 
I wouldn't worry about those levels; they are quite good. I was 16 mmol when I went to bed last night as I had missed an insulin shot! Anything below 10 is fine short-term.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but a spike of 8.0 isn't bad I'd be more concerned if your BG continued climbing and never came back down or took too long to come back down and you did come back down nicely. Its damaging when your BG stays high and continue being high.
 
Cocosilk said:
So not asking your body to make insulin is basically the only sensible thing to so from here on in really is what you are saying. Not worth the risk. I thought that might be the case.
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No I'm not saying that at all. It's my strategy, but it doesn't have to be yours. It's not really possible to determine any level of damage caused by an isolated blood glucose rise, since elevated blood glucose is merely a symptom of hyperinsulinemia and all-body glucose. Neither of which can be readily measured.

I look to my entire lifestyle to gauge my metabolic health and likelihood of complications, rather than what my meter tells me is in my blood. Blood glucose is only one part of the extremely complex subject of metabolic syndrome. In summary if you are happy with your overall management then don't stress over individual numbers on a glucometer.
 
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PS: You're not supposed to go above 8.5. Relax!
 
JoKalsbeek said:
PS: You're not supposed to go above 8.5. Relax!
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At the 2 hour mark?
The stress of that half a mmol might make it worse than the actual number does, right?
In any case, I can only endeavor not to repeat it too often. No point stressing about what's done now I guess.

One helping probably would have been fine but it's hard when there is a massive clay pot of tasty sitting in front of you.
I've toned down my previous sugar addiction. Now I have to smack my own hand when I reach for seconds obviously. More calories than I can burn can only end badly if it happens too often.
Now I know without a doubt it's not just what but really how much too.
 
Cocosilk said:
I guess sometimes you have to die a little to live a little, right?
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Sorry, but those are not my words. Or what I meant. I do not share that opinion.

I don't like seeing an 8 either, but what's done is done. I don't dwell on it, but I do what I have to do in order to get that 8 down lower and move on with life.
 
If bloodsugars are above 8.5 often, and don't come down from that, there's damage being done. You had a little peak that was still under it. It seems like you're dead-set on kicking yourself around over this, but... It's alright. Really. You're not having this type of meal 3 times a day, every day. It was a one-off. And there's a lot of people who do a lot worse over Christmas and such.
 
Tophat1900 said:
Sorry, but those are not my words. Or what I meant. I do not share that opinion.

I don't like seeing an 8 either, but what's done is done. I don't dwell on it, but I do what I have to do in order to get that 8 down lower and move on with life.
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I have been known to run up and down our staircase over and over to bring a number down too. Can't always get out of the house for a walk with 3 little kids so I understand that you do what you have to.
 
I kick myself for it because if I don't, I'll just get complacent and fall back into my old eating habits.
 
Cocosilk said:
I kick myself for it because if I don't, I'll just get complacent and fall back into my old eating habits.
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Well you could give yourself a slap on the wrist rather than a kicking..

But it completely depends on how you view your health and the lengths to which you want to go to preserve it for as long as possible. You're still quite young so should have a far more flexible metabolism than an old f**t like me.

But you know it was most likely the polenta so why not just not eat that next time and eat the stuffed cabbage leaves?
 
Cocosilk said:
I kick myself for it because if I don't, I'll just get complacent and fall back into my old eating habits.
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Alright then. I'm an all-or-nothing type myself, so I do get it. If that's what you need, okay. (But I still hope you enjoyed the heck out of that meal. )
 
Cocosilk said:
I kick myself for it because if I don't, I'll just get complacent and fall back into my old eating habits.
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Potential complacency is the only reason I still test my blood glucose. I don't need to, but I do anyway just to keep myself honest and remind myself what might happen if I ever lost my mind and decided to go back to eating grass seed and cooking "food" in engine oil
 
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