How to test the impact of specific foods?

[Tex Gore]

Hi everyone-completely new to this so forgive the basic question. I’ve learned from this forum that everyone is different in their response to foods, so my question is when to test after eating the food?

I don’t have a Libre only an Accurate-check mobile meter. I’m type 2.

Thanks in advance

 

[KennyA]

Hi Tex Gore and welcome.

The usual food testing regime is to test just before you eat, and then two hour later. I'll explain.

The first test establishes a baseline. Then you eat.

Assuming there are carbs in what you eat, within 20 minutes or so those carbs will start to be digested and pass into your blood. This happens at varying rates. it can be affected by how efficient your digestion is, what else you've eaten along with the carbs, the type of carb, whether the food is hot or cold, for example. Not all things affect all people all the time. GI has no impact whatsoever for me, for example, but hot milk hits me really quickly for even a very small amount.

As the glucose hits your blood stream, this also triggers the production of insulin. It will immediately start to shift the blood stream glucose into muscle and central nervous system cells. So for a period glucose will be being added and taken away at the same time. This usually means that peak blood glucose level is reached somewhere in the first hour.

What you're actually testing for at +2 hrs is how efficient your body is at clearing the glucose - you are not testing to see "how high you go". What you want to see (ideally) is that your levels have returned to where you started, or at least very close to that - within two points. You also should be under the "normal" BG figure, which is usually said to be 7.8 for non-diabetics or 8.5 for T2s. I just go for under 7.8 myself.

So starting at 5.3, +2 hrs 6.5 - fine
Starting 5.3, +2 hrs 7.8 - more than two points above start, too many carbs to be dealt with properly
Starting 5.3, +2 hrs 9.5 - more than two points above start and out of normal range.

If your levels aren't where they should be on the second test, that means there were too many carbs in what you ate for your system to deal with properly. The excess glucose will both hang around in the blood (high blood glucose over time can cause damage) and be stored as bodyfat.

You can do all this with fingerprick tests. Libres and other CGMs show you what happens when you're not testing, which can be very informative once you've worked out what's going on.

Does that help? Ask questions please, it's a lot to take in.

 

[Rachox]

Hi @Tex Gore and welcome to the forum. Basic testing would be to test at first bite of the food/meal you want to look at, then test 2 hours after that first bite. Ideally you are looking for a rise of no more than 2mmols/l and lower than around 8 in any case.
You could check at the one hour mark too, where you may catch the peak.
Another thing to do if you are interested in more information is to apply for the 14 day free trial of the Freestyle Libre, a continuous blood glucose monitor

 

[Zippy1st]

I found that useful as a newbie too. Can’t believe I am in this place. I am stick thin and now feeling starving all the time. Seems like high dose statins has put me here. Your numbers were helpful. I was 5.2 before lunch and then 7.8 two hours later. Does it matter if it just happens once a day? I am wondering because I only had a desert spoon of rice, Turkey mince, coriander and sweetcorn. I am losing weight ( I am only 7.5 stone) so I really don’t know what to do. I want to avoid meds.

 

[Antje77]

I found that useful as a newbie too. Can’t believe I am in this place. I am stick thin and now feeling starving all the time. Seems like high dose statins has put me here. Your numbers were helpful. I was 5.2 before lunch and then 7.8 two hours later. Does it matter if it just happens once a day? I am wondering because I only had a desert spoon of rice, Turkey mince, coriander and sweetcorn. I am losing weight ( I am only 7.5 stone) so I really don’t know what to do. I want to avoid meds.

Are you trying to eat low fat as well as low carb? If you feel you are starving, and you don't have any weight to lose either, there is no need at all to reduce fats, and if you're cutting carbs you'll need to replace those calories.
Rice and sweetcorn are quite carby, and the rest of your meal sounds like it's pretty low fat.

There is absolutely no need to cut calories and starve yourself. What about having a nice creamy sauce and grated cheese on your veggies, choosing fattier cuts of meat, or have bacon and eggs for breakfast?

 

[Zippy1st]

Are you trying to eat low fat as well as low carb? If you feel you are starving, and you don't have any weight to lose either, there is no need at all to reduce fats, and if you're cutting carbs you'll need to replace those calories.
Rice and sweetcorn are quite carby, and the rest of your meal sounds like it's pretty low fat.

There is absolutely no need to cut calories and starve yourself. What about having a nice creamy sauce and grated cheese on your veggies, choosing fattier cuts of meat, or have bacon and eggs for breakfast?

Hi. Thanks for that. I hadn’t thought of sweetcorn being sweet ! I guess I’m trying to avoid fats too because I am familial high cholesterol and have been told to cut out fats. Statins are making me ill so the suggestion is to try a pcsk9 inhibitor route. I am hoping this will mean I can ditch the statins which might help my blood sugar. So I am currently in a fix with trying to avoid carbs and fats. Weirdly, red wine last Friday do not affect me! All joy.

 

[MrsA2]

Hi. Thanks for that. I hadn’t thought of sweetcorn being sweet ! I guess I’m trying to avoid fats too because I am familial high cholesterol and have been told to cut out fats. Statins are making me ill so the suggestion is to try a pcsk9 inhibitor route. I am hoping this will mean I can ditch the statins which might help my blood sugar. So I am currently in a fix with trying to avoid carbs and fats. Weirdly, red wine last Friday do not affect me! All joy.

Read Dr Malcolm Kendricks The Clot Thickens

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clot-Thickens-enduring-mystery-disease/dp/1907797769

So relevant to you!

 

[Resurgam]

Hi. Thanks for that. I hadn’t thought of sweetcorn being sweet ! I guess I’m trying to avoid fats too because I am familial high cholesterol and have been told to cut out fats. Statins are making me ill so the suggestion is to try a pcsk9 inhibitor route. I am hoping this will mean I can ditch the statins which might help my blood sugar. So I am currently in a fix with trying to avoid carbs and fats. Weirdly, red wine last Friday do not affect me! All joy.

Rice and sweetcorn - two grains, in one meal.
Statins along with Metformin made me feel suicidal in a few weeks, I was so ill but my cholesterol is down from the levels I saw when eating low fat and high carb foods.

I thought that there was little correlation between cholesterol in foods and cholesterol in the bloodstream as someone tested using a tag on the foodstuffs.
If you want to eat low fat meats and avoid natural animal fats then you could try stirfry cooked in olive oil, with mushrooms to accompany it. You'll have far more to eat as the carb content is so much lower.

 

[Zippy1st]

Read Dr Malcolm Kendricks The Clot Thickens

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Clot-Thickens-enduring-mystery-disease/dp/1907797769

So relevant to you!

I bought that today… thanks for the heads up.

 

[Zippy1st]

I’m now halfway through the book. I try to avoid polarities but he does
Mention clotting mechanisms and Lp(a) which is highly relevant to me. Take home messages a:
LDA does not cause heart disease / stroke
Lp(a) does.
LDL and lp(a) are similar but not the same
Diabetes is a massive marker for cardiovascular disease/stroke

Entertaining read but do read research papers from mainstream too and consider all evidence . He does have a skill in explaining medical jargon et al to the novice reader.