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When do BG levels spike after a meal?

mummygemma

Member
Messages
5
Location
Beccles, Suffolk
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Finding it near enough impossible (or so it seems) to lose weight without eating like a rabbit!
When I had gestational diabetes I had to test 4x per day: upon waking and then 1 hr after each of my 3 main meals. I was told to do it at 1hr as my BG levels would have spiked by around then after the meal. Since having my little girl I am now prediabetic (last hba1c was 45) and test my levels at the same times. Tonight after dinner (1hr 15mins) I tested and it was 4.5 which I was delighted at. Thinking it was too good to be true I then tested 30mins later and it had gone up to 5.5. I hadn't eaten anything since I first tested so why would it have gone up?
 
Hi @mummygemma it depends on the food, carbs are converted to sugar by our bodies with absolute ease, some quicker than others. If you carbs are mixed with fat that conversion is slowed. Google the 'pizza effect' on blood sugars. So some foods will spike after 1 hour others between 1 and 2 etc. The only way to find out is to test after both 1 and 2 hours, and if after 2 it is still going up, again at 3 hours. If the readings get too high, revise that dish next time around
 
It may not even have been anything to do with your meal.

4.5 is low, your liver could well be trying to raise your BG, and 5.5 is normal, and still very low. Dawn phenomenon is also pretty much the same effect. Many see a rise without eating at all when they drop into the 4's during the day. I certainly do as my liver dumps to keep my BG in a reasonable place.
 
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