Prediabetes When to do a postprandial finger prick test

[Mauriac]

I've read that if you're doing a 1 or 2 hour postprandial finger prick test the clock starts as soon as you've had your first bite of food (or sip of drink if it has carbs in). I can see that that would work if you don't take very long eating your meal but what if the meal takes longer than 15 minutes say? It is often 45 minutes or an hour or more from my first bite to my last and the carbs can often be skewed to the latter part of the meal.

If I started my meal at 7pm and finished at 7.55 I would have to do the 1 hour test at 8pm, so the carbs I'd eaten towards the end of the meal wouldn't have even hit my bloodstream. Tonight, I had my first bite at 19.05 (a glass of wine and some nuts) but didn't have my last bit of food (two chocolates) until 20.15 so I would have been testing before I'd even finished. Could someone explain it to me please or have I got it wrong?

 

[Resurgam]

I rather thing that they would have hit your bloodstream - but the thing to do is test your suspicions and try testing at - for instance, one, two and three hours from the premeal test - you would only need to do that a couple of times and write out the results in line on a sheet of paper to see how high you are peaking - watch out close to the end of the meal as you might have food on your hands which could give a false reading.
Once you see if the food choices in a particular meal push you high or not you can chose the most significant time to take a reading - the one which changes most if you eat a low rather than a high carb choice with your protein and fat.

 

[Mauriac]

Thanks for the advice. With regard to food on my hands, even if I've used cutlery for everything I always wash my hands thoroughly in soap and water and dry them before doing the finger prick test.