Whisky as a meal chaser ?

[CherryAA]

Over the last few days, my morning blood sugars have been higher than the previous week when on holiday. On holiday my favorite tipple was whisky though it is always limited to three single shots. of an evening There is a clear correlation and it seems from other postings on the website its something others are aware of.

I'm not actually into drink much so rarely get round to it unless actually " on holiday"

This got me wondering about using whisky to bring down my blood sugars on a slightly more planned basis.

So today before lunch I had a single shot of whisky as an aperitif and sure enough my blood sugars did not spike as much as without the alcohol ( 7.6 pre 7.3 @ 1 hr, 6.5 @ 2 hrs) ( yesterday (7.4 9.2 @1 hr and 7.1 @2 hrs ) Latest government guidelines (for what they might be worth !) suggest that one could have 16 single shots of whisky in a week, and being an over 55 yr old female, the alcohol would also be protective of my heart.

Currently my blood sugars are highest in the morning and lowest in the evening, so I'm considering trying having a whisky chaser instead of a cup of tea for breakfast and maybe lunch, so breakfast would then be a fry up with a glass of single malt ! - this sounds too bizarre to be possible - but hey..... I thought before I embarked on this daft experiment, I should ask if anyone else has tried it as a means to improve numbers during the first half of the day and did it work.

Also from a medical perspective, I know that the alcohol shot serves to redirect liver attention to dealing with that instead of producing extra sugar, ( indeed that's probably why apperitif's exist in the first place) , is there any other mechanism that people are aware of that would mean that this method of consuming my weekly allowance of drink - i.e 16 shots before 16 meals is likely to be harmful compared to having a three on five nights a week. ie is the alcohol stopping something important happening that should be happening, ( other then the blood sugar effect)

 

[Talfryn]

Whisky is known to thin the blood, but personally I would not want a fry up. We really need to eat healthy foods. Although the Whisky sounds good. Another one in moderation, is a small glass of red wine.

 

[hornplayer]

Whisky is known to thin the blood, but personally I would not want a fry up. We really need to eat healthy foods. Although the Whisky sounds good. Another one in moderation, is a small glass of red wine.

Define healthy.

 

[ellagy]

Whisky is known to thin the blood, but personally I would not want a fry up. We really need to eat healthy foods. Although the Whisky sounds good. Another one in moderation, is a small glass of red wine.

But @Talfryn surely a fry up, bacon, eggs, tomato, mushrooms is a healthy meal!

 

[CherryAA]

Interesting that the comments are mainly about the fry up not the whisky lol

 

[bobrobert]

Whisky is known to thin the blood, but personally I would not want a fry up. We really need to eat healthy foods. Although the Whisky sounds good. Another one in moderation, is a small glass of red wine.

First post and you seem to be off to a poor start. Once you learn from the forum then you will realise that a fry up is healthy. Ironically I once thought the same as you but this forum changed my mind. I am not sure about a malt whisky in the morning. If someone smelt your breath then they might draw the wrong conclusions?

 

[Indy51]

I'm beginning to wonder if there's a real need for the "AA" in your forum name, lol

 

[Tonyreynard]

Sounds great, but how do I convince my wife that the whisky is medicinal?

 

[spendercat]

It doesn't have to be whisky. Water with a little wine works equally well, and your head stays clear.

 

[CherryAA]

Well I mentioned it to my lodger, he said his granddaddy had a whisky every day with breakfast and lived to be 90. So that works for me. I did actually record my lowest afternoon blood sugar since diagnosis yesterday after my lunchtime shot. The morning one today hasn't coped quite so well, but then I did go for an Indian last night and despite avoiding all the naan and rice, God knows what was in the delicious sources, so it may well be the whiskey is actually doing a sterling job given I haven't hit 10 even at the highest point!

@Talfryn - yes its hard to get your mind round the fact that everything one has been told about healthy food is probably back to front. Having seen the evidence with my own eyes, not just in terms of the easier weight loss and the improved blood sugars but also the improved cholesterol and inflammation markers, all I can say is - it is worth suspending disbelief for a while until your own evidence provides the confirmation you need for you personally. I, myself, fully intend to make bacon or sausage, plus eggs , tomato and mushrooms ( cooked in goose fat ) pretty much part of my staple diet - it has been by far the highest component of the improvements in my own bio-markers and weight loss over the last six weeks,

@Indy51 - the AA is actually my name, though I can absolutely see why the confusion might arise !! as a person who can go for weeks without remembering to have a drink, the very idea of putting it into my diet as an integral component is nearly as odd as the goose fat . but hey I'm game to try anything....

@bobrobert - what conclusion could they possibly draw other than that I am a very conscientious woman strictly following her diet ? Frankly it can hardly be worse than ketone breath ..... for now probably best to try not to breathe on anyone !

@Tonyreynard - surely you just need to show her the BS figures for a couple of comparative whisky and whisky free days - I have mo doubt that a bit of creative puncturing could ensure the best possible result. The trick is to do the test privately first and then the instant the number looks real good, call her in and do it again pretending this is a sight unseen test with the most spectacular results [ ha ha maybe I shoulda been a man - hope my hubby isn't reading this ]

@spendercat - so far I haven't seen the beneficial effects of wine, though I did notice that white wine seems to be quite a lot worse than red and all wine makes me sleepy, especially if drunk before dark. I doubt 1 whisky shot is going to turn me into a lush incapable of thinking straight yet quite just yet - and by the time I've hit three it will be evening again anyway. If it does that will have to be my next project once this one is sorted!

 

[ellagy]

Interesting that the comments are mainly about the fry up not the whisky lol

Do you think Jack Daniels will do the same? Not a straight whisky fan

 

[hornplayer]

Vodka is good.

Last Christmas, on the obligatory night out with "the boys" from work, I found a bit of a snag though....
I know that alcohol lowers your blood sugar, so I took my test kit and a had a few bits of chocolate in my pocket, which I ate on the train down (no drink driving here ) I drank either neat vodka or vodka with slimline tonic all night. Lots and LOTS of vodka. Doubles, in rounds with the boys drinking pints, for about five hours. Testing and eating maybe two or three Celebration type chocolates throughout the night. My sugar levels stayed below 7. Yeay! Yippee!!! - but, at the end of the night, when I'd finally run out of chocolate and was starting to get a bit low, I was the only stone cold sober person in the group!!
Okay, so I don't think for a minute that I'd have passed a breathalyser, and there's no way I would have tried to drive, but I was totally, completely, clearheadedly sober. .....and hungry.
We only really go out at Christmas, so I haven't had chance to try it again yet, but I don't seem to be able to get drunk anymore. Not even nicely tipsy.

 

[CherryAA]

@hornplayer that is interesting, before I was actually diagnosed I did go on a whisky bender myself and surprised myself that I did not fall over or end up with a hangover . I had put it down to the magical properties of whisky, but perhaps its one of the unforeseen benefits of the disease!

@ellagy looking at the figures the calorie count for Jack Daniels and whiskey per flid ounce are the same, they both have no carbs -so even though JD tastes sweeter to me, I think its effect is similar to Jamisons or Laphroig. ( I am an equal opportunities whisky drinker)

 

[spendercat]

I have heard whisky described as the water of life, so there may well be some truth in that!
I get drunk too easily for this solution, also I have noticed that I sleep badly after an evening drink, getting very hot in the night, and although my BG after a drink is lower, the next morning it is higher.
Of course nobody in danger of a hypo should drink, the crashing BG is well known.

 

[Freema]

I am in for one single shot tomorrow morning trying to see the effect too on my blood glucose . I find it interesting that old folks in my childhood used to have a morning bitter which is strong alcohol with herbs in claiming it was Healthy. Maybe they were right there

 

[CherryAA]

I will be interested in what you find out !

 

[Freema]

I will be interested in what you find out !

it works !!!

to stop my liver in the morning, today my blood glucose was 5.9 mmol
after a tiny whisky half an hour later only 5.3 mmol

maybe even lower later but didn´t measure it...

it should be able to lover with 1.0 mmol from only 1 target alcohol

but I think in the mornings it would be able to stop ones blood glucose from raising even more... by kind of blocking the liver...blocking the dawn effect...

 

[CherryAA]

That's great. I'm not going to do it too often, I'm a bit concerned about whether its actually good thing to block the liver like this, but in moderation its nice to know that something nice does help a bit!

 

[col101]

Not so much fun and I'd not recommend it regularly but I find that paracetamol does the same for me, presumably it keeps the liver buddy got a while too.

 

[Shar67]

Alcohol spirits over a long period of time can cause problems with a pancreas that isn't functioning correctly. People will blame the diabetes and it being a complication not the alcohol. If you drunk a whiskey after/before every meal you would be well over recommended units. Also it is like a slippery slope, with wine you will fill a glass to top, with whiskey you will have a splash in the glass, but how long before your taking a bit more and a bit more, before you know it you've got half a glass of whiskey.
if it was a good idea don't you think it would be recommended by more diabetics.