How long for blood glucose to go down on a low GI diet?

[greyshark]

Theoretically, after starting a strictly no-carb diet (which wouldn't be healthy, I know), how long do you think it would take for the symptom of excessive thirst to go away? Because I've switched to a low-carb diet - I'm not eating anything with a GI greater than 35 - about 3 days ago, and I am still excessively thirsty, going to the toilet once a hour, etc. How long do you think it would take for blood glucose levels to go down if you stopped eating carbs? I mean, the body must be able to get rid of excess glucose pretty quickly, I would have thought, no?

 

[Rockape671]

Hi greyshark,
The only way to find out would be to test your blood sugar, but if you're urinating that frequently you should get yourself off to the doc asap. I've no idea about your medical history, and I'm certainly no doctor, but if you're not diagnosed and haven't been to the docs then changing diet may have no effect and even if it did it would only be masking the symptoms and not dealing with the problem. Good luck.

 

[Deanna_Griff]

Hi!

I'm not sure if you're diabetic or not, so sorry if you already know this but

there are many diets out there and one is the low-carb & high protein diet, a ketogenic diet. This diet isn't very healthy, especially if you're T1. Reasons why is because you're hardly eating any carbs which means you're hardly injecting insulin, instead you're replacing carbs with fats and protein which is going to make your bg levels high. We need insulin to break down carbohydrates to turn into glucose for energy. You're body is lacking insulin, therefore it's not having energy, that's when ketosis starts, your body will start to burn its own fat for energy, this causes ketones, high levels of ketones can poison your blood and you will become very ill.

Your having the symptoms of ketoeacidosis and if I were you I'd go to the doctors. I was in hospital for 3 days with this when I was diagnosed, it takes a while for your bg levels to come down. Not only that, you could be lacking vitamins and things your body needs desperately, like without knowing, my body was lacking potassium, so I was on the drip for a while.

This is all come from the top of my head from what I experienced at the start of the year, just be careful and take my advice and visit your gp.

 

[CollieBoy]

Greyshark ,
what kind of Diabetic are you T1, T2 etc it may help us to give you advice
Deanna_Griff,
While I agree that ketoacidosis is bad news, It is due to lacking insulin and having too much glucose in your system and tends to be a problem for T1s. Most of us with a partially functioning pancreas manage to pump out enough insulin to avoid this.
Ketosis, on the other hand is a NORMAL biological process and unless taken to extremes won't be dangerous.
snip...
you're replacing carbs with fats and protein which is going to make your bg levels high. not quite true IMHO
snip... that's when ketosis starts, your body will start to burn its own fat for energy, this causes ketones, high levels of ketones can poison your blood WRONG, you will start to burn fat, hopefully dropping weight.

 

[greyshark]

I haven't been diagnosed, I haven't seen a doctor yet. I'm living in another country but will fly back to the UK next week to get this looked at properly.

It's surprising I didn't think much of my water drinking habits earlier. I recorded myself a couple of days ago, and in one day I went to the toilet 12 times and drank 5 litres of water... and I was still thirsty throughout the day. I thought I was being super-healthy, drinking so much water. It's only last week I realised it isn't normal and I've been doing it because I'm thirsty. I did go to get checked for diabetes several years ago, because I thought I was excessively thirsty even back then. I was essentially told I was prediabetic and was told to eat less carbohydrates and sugars. It was one of the blood prick tests in a Lloyds pharmacy. I ignored the advice, I was just a teenager at the time.

Your having the symptoms of ketoeacidosis

I've started only eating low GI foods just a few days ago, I don't think ketoeacidosis would start so quickly.

 

[mpe]

there are many diets out there and one is the low-carb & high protein diet, a ketogenic diet. This diet isn't very healthy, especially if you're T1. Reasons why is because you're hardly eating any carbs which means you're hardly injecting insulin, instead you're replacing carbs with fats and protein which is going to make your bg levels high.

The only way that could possibly happen would be through uncontrolled gluconeogenesis (GNG). AFAIK it isn't even possible for GNG in a human to operate at rates high enough to produce severe hyperglycemia.

We need insulin to break down carbohydrates to turn into glucose for energy.

Insulin is a peptide hormone. Which regulates the uptake of glucose into cells. Enzymes which break glycosidic bonds are typically found in the digestive system. Insulin has nothing to do with the process of glycolysis either.

You're body is lacking insulin,

We don't know if the original poster is T1, T2 or MODY. Only the first involves lack of insulin.

therefore it's not having energy, that's when ketosis starts, your body will start to burn its own fat for energy, this causes ketones,

The process of "burning" fat is called "beta oxidation". In some cells it's prefered over glycolysis. (Drugs such as metformin encourage muscle cells to use glycolysis.) Interestingly the product of glycolysis is pyruvate, a ketone...
Ketosis is a different metabolic pathway. With the ketones being used as "food" for neurons.

 

[mpe]

Theoretically, after starting a strictly no-carb diet (which wouldn't be healthy, I know), how long do you think it would take for the symptom of excessive thirst to go away?

It would depend if your thirst is due to hyperglycemia or something else... Some blood glucose readings would be useful.

Because I've switched to a low-carb diet - I'm not eating anything with a GI greater than 35 - about 3 days ago, and I am still excessively thirsty, going to the toilet once a hour, etc.

Low-carb and low-GI are not the same thing. Your total glucose ingestion may be a more important number than GI. Also published GI values can be misleading, since the actual values can vary between individuals. The only really useful method is that of "eat to your meter".

How long do you think it would take for blood glucose levels to go down if you stopped eating carbs? I mean, the body must be able to get rid of excess glucose pretty quickly, I would have thought, no?

If you really want to know that then the only way to find out is to try it. (So long as you are not taking insulin or any drugs to stimulate insulin production.)

 

[jane1232]

for 2 weeks l have been following low carb high protein high healthy fat- l feel so much better and my blood sugars are also much better with no bad high spikes. i have a pump that gives me a controlled basal rate and take insulin bolus for the homemade protein shakes consisting of avocado pea protein coconut milk chia seeds and berries at breakfast.
my question is ketones in urine is showing 4mmo/l ( middle reading)is that safe and ok.
Thank you

 

[Brunneria]

Greyshark's original question was ' how long on a low carb diet before it impacts on blood glucose levels?'

In my experience, you're looking at about a week. Different people have different bodies (and different starting glucose levels!), so that probably varies a lot. The fastest I've ever reached ketosis was 5 days, basically eating nothing but meat and fat. Not a good idea for more than a very short time, and I wouldn't do it again.

Based on my reading and personal experience, Deanna_griff's advice is of limited use. I am not Type 1 and cannot comment on that, or her personal experiences, but will hazard the opinion that, until you get a definitive diagnosis, you are much better eating low carb than high carb! Especially since you think eating high carb may have contributed to your current situation.

 

[borofergie]

there are many diets out there and one is the low-carb & high protein diet, a ketogenic diet. This diet isn't very healthy, especially if you're T1. Reasons why is because you're hardly eating any carbs which means you're hardly injecting insulin, instead you're replacing carbs with fats and protein which is going to make your bg levels high. We need insulin to break down carbohydrates to turn into glucose for energy. You're body is lacking insulin, therefore it's not having energy, that's when ketosis starts, your body will start to burn its own fat for energy, this causes ketones, high levels of ketones can poison your blood and you will become very ill.

This is wrong is so many ways that I don't know where to start:

1. Surely minimizing your insulin dose (and therefore your margin of error) is a good thing? Do you want to inject more insulin?
2. Replacing carbs with fats and protein will not make your BG high - both have a minimal impact on BG levels.
3. Insulin doesn't convert carbohydrates to glucose, digestive enzymes do that. Insulin promotes the transfer of glucose molecules to muscles or fat tissue.
4. Ketosis and ketoacidosis are two different things. Ketosis is a natural mechanism against glucose starvation and is largely benign. You can't "low-carb" your way to ketoacidosis.

 

[andcol]

I had these very symptoms (for about 6 months according to my wife) and it took me about a week to reduce my levels enough to remove them (just before I went to the doctors when I had a fasting of 9.4). For your info I had sugar in my urine but no keytones so I wasn't in ketoeacidosis so although the doctor was concerned he didn't send me to hospital and I just went through the HbA1c/fasting tests - although with urgent turn around times, and kidney/liver function tests, cholesterol and god knows what else. All ok except the high sugar.

Hopefully a few more days and you will start to see the benefits but make sure you get yourself off to the doctors at the first opportunity

 

[Yorksman]

Because I've switched to a low-carb diet - I'm not eating anything with a GI greater than 35 - about 3 days ago, and I am still excessively thirsty, going to the toilet once a hour, etc. How long do you think it would take for blood glucose levels to go down if you stopped eating carbs? I mean, the body must be able to get rid of excess glucose pretty quickly, I would have thought, no?

It takes a few weeks. Low GI is just an indication of how long the carbs take to be turned into glucose. You also need to think about how much you eat.

The body needs about 220g of glucose per day so, if you eat less than that, it will create glucose from it's own stores of things like fatty acids. Over time, you will lose weight because of this but, it's a long process for the weight to come off and the BGs to come down.

Unless yu are on strong medication, your body won't let your BG fall much below 4.0. It will always top it up, even if you eat nothing at all. But, your body also adjusts. None of it is fast. The changes take time. Took me 3 months before I started to see the first signs of BG levels falling and at 6 months there was a noticable physical improvement.