Spicy food and BG

M

Maple

Active Member
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Hi... wondered if someone could help me out... I enjoy the occasional hot Indian dish, namely vindaloo. I try to keep it to a minimum because of the rice, nan etc. However, it still wreaks havoc on my BG levels. I've looked at the amount of carbs and adjust accordingly yet I still get readings into the mid or upper teens. This can last for a day or more sometimes. Bottom line, I've decided that I will keep my delicious vindaloo to a special occasion such as my birthday....

What I'm wondering is does the spice of the food have an impact as well? I've heard that your liver has to processes very spicy food in a similar way it has to process alcohol so I thought maybe my BG went up due to my liver dumping glucose as part of this process. I could be very wrong but thought I would ask...

Thanks everyone.

-Andrew
 
S

smidge

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Hi Maple!

I don't find that spicy food has any different effect on my BG than any other food and when I cook a hot curry I work out the carbs and jab accordingly - but I cannot tolerate rice or naan, I just can't seem to get the correct dose at the correct time for those foods and spike all over the place when I try. However, whenI eat in an Indian restaurant, I find it very difficult, becaue they often use a lot of sugar in their curry sauces (which I don't when I cook curry). So, you might be having seriously more carbs than you think? If it's the same restaurant you use all the time, it might be worth phoning, explaining the issue to them and asking if they do put sugar in the vindaloo - I'm sure they'll tell you.

Also, don't forget they tend to use lots of onion and tomato as the base, so maybe you're underestimating your insulin needs?

Smidge
 
noblehead

noblehead

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Can't comment really on whether spicy food pushes up bg, I know I have to give a split insulin dose when eating Indian or Chinese food to stop bg rising later in the evening (due to the fat content).
 
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pinkjinks58

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noblehead said:
Can't comment really on whether spicy food pushes up bg, I know I have to give a split insulin dose when eating Indian or Chinese food to stop bg rising later in the evening (due to the fat content).
Click to expand...

I'll bear that in mind next time I have a chinese, my BG about 2-3 hours after seems to be lower than the next day when I wake up, it just rockets throughout the evening!! Learn something new every day eh?! x
 
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