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Type 2 Sugar paradox

A

Al44

Active Member
Messages
40
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hesitate to post this fearing an angry or impatient response.
Bear with me, I believe eating sugar is bad, particularly so for diabetics.
Sugar leads to various horrible blood glucose complications, and likely abets cancer, ageing & Alzheimers.

So can someone explain the following paradox:
I aim for a low-carb diet, but 2 hours after eating, blood glucose very rarely below 7
I practice intermittent fasting, that's fasting for 24 hours one day a week, blood glucose at the end of that never below 6.1
BUT, occasionally, I 'treat' myself to a cappuccino with 2gm sugar; 2 hours later my blood glucose 5 to 5.5
What's going on?
For me, a coffee with 2gm sugar is always the quickest way to reduce my blood glucose to its lowest levels.
 
If you could let us know a typical day's menu that may help us to iron out some niggles.
On fasting days I suppose you might have been unlucky and caught liver dumps when testing. Are you taking your Metformin as prescribed?

As to the 2g of sugar in your coffee, my first thought was why bother but we are all different and have different tastes etc. The 2g may mean that that is your tolerance level.
 
Hi Guzzler, thanks for your interest.
Typical day:
Breakfast of small amount of no-grain granola & coffee with milk; I find quantity more relevant than glycemic index, so small amount is important, blood glucose rises 0.5, medium/large helping rise 1.5.
Lunch, a sandwich of 2 slices bread with butter and cheese or ham or beef or salad.
Dinner, a meat with green vegetables. Sometimes fish.
Been diabetic 12 years (now am 74) on Metformin 10 years, 3 daily, one with each meal.
HbA1c has worsened over last 3 years to 53, so since last check have added 1 evening Berberine, it seems to have lowered my fasting blood glucose from around 8 to around 7.

Am very aware we are all different and respond differently: in my case, sugar seems to lower blood glucose, not raise it.
Perhaps it's preventing the liver dumping glucose into my blood?
Nan bread raises blood glucose hugely, other carbs - pasta, potatoes, bread - in MODEST quantities raise it about 1 as measured after 2 hours, but if I'm in Mr Greedy mode then raise of 2, 3 or even 4.

Interesting you say "Why bother" with 2gm sugar, it makes all the difference in the world to me; without the 2gm I drink it but dislike it, with the 2gm I enjoy it.
 
My advice would be to reduce your carb intake even more. And try using a continuous glucose monitor (e.g. FreeStyle Libre) to get a better idea of what's going on.

As for the 2 g (1/2 teaspoon) of sugar in your coffee, I can't imagine that makes any difference with respect to blood glucose levels. Or taste. But I could be wrong.
 
Sugar is fast release and triggers a huge amount of insulin response. I suggest you will have spiked quite high not too long after drinking it (along with the lactose in the milk) triggering a big insulin release, which carries on working long after the 2 hours. High circulating insulin is as bad as high blood sugars. Had you continued testing every 15 minutes after the 2 hour mark, you may have seen an even bigger drop until such time as your liver kicked in with a helpful glucose dump. It happens a lot to people that have oral glucose tolerance tests with 75g of pure glucose. It happened to me.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Sugar is fast release and triggers a huge amount of insulin response. I suggest you will have spiked quite high not too long after drinking it (along with the lactose in the milk) triggering a big insulin release, which carries on working long after the 2 hours. High circulating insulin is as bad as high blood sugars. Had you continued testing every 15 minutes after the 2 hour mark, you may have seen an even bigger drop until such time as your liver kicked in with a helpful glucose dump. It happens a lot to people that have oral glucose tolerance tests with 75g of pure glucose. It happened to me.
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I agree, but I doubt 1 g of glucose (2 g of table sugar is 1 g fructose and 1 g glucose) would result in much of a spike.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
He also had a cappuccino, so that will have enhanced the spike a bit.
Click to expand...
Agreed, but the OP asks about the 2 g of sugar specifically. They would likely get the same response without the 2 g of sugar in their cappuccino.
 
Aging itself can mean that we become even more inefficient at metabolising carbohydrates. I would try to drop the amount of bread and I am sure I would be looking closely at the "no grain granola", what are the ingredients, please?
 
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