I've grown accustomed to your carbs.

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Martha Gallagher - 21 Jan 2004 03:05 GMT

This is sort of a question/observation.

I've noticed when I add new, carbier, foods to my diet that the first day
I have them I get a moderate spike in my blood glucose readings, but that
if I keep eating them, the next day my post prandial results are back to
normal.

I've seen this twice now with spaghetti squash. I'd gotten out of the
habit of eating it, and then I had a very large amount - one half is more
than a serving size. <g> Up to around 115. The next day I have the second
half (this time budgeting my carbs to allow it to fit into my plan. BG ~85
even with several readings.

Likewise, when I reintroduced the Strive* bars back, I had a jump the
first day, but afterwards pretty normal readings, and, again, I did
several readings so that I didn't miss the bounce. And there was no dip
either.

Tonight, all my other nutrients were where I wanted them, but I was 10g of
carb short on my carb target and I'm trying to go up to my carb limit to
find my CCL. So, I helped myself to 2 stoned wheat thins for a total of 60
calories and 10 g. carb. They weren't particularly good, BTW, tasted
burned. Soon after, my meter said 115. Here's betting that tomorrow if I
have another 2 crackers my meter won't budge.

Yet, the weird thing is that I know I eat things that have a much higher
carb load on a routine basis and they don't have the same effect on me.
For example, I have egg foo yong a couple of times a week. Now I know it's
got some cornstarch and sugar in it ('cause I ordered it w/o once and it
was pretty punk), and yet I never get highs from that. It's almost like my
body has to relearn how to deal with the specific carby food rather than
carbs in general.

Anyone else noticed that?

Martha

*This seems to confirm that malitol plus chocolate is metabolized more
like glucose than the other a.s

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Jenny - 21 Jan 2004 14:10 GMT

Martha,

That's very interesting. My own experience is almost the opposite. I can
often get away with eating a carby meal without seeing much of a rise, but
if I keep the carbs up pretty soon the blood sugar goes much higher.

I suspect it might have something to do with maybe my body can store a bit
of insulin (i.e. first phase insulin response) when I stay very low carb but
once it is used up, it takes a few hours to make more.

OTOH, I can't maintain anywhere near the 85 mg/dl level even when I keep my
carbs very low. The 90s are as good as it gets and post meal values are
usually in the 100-110 range. Upping the carbs beyond 15 mg/dl will push
my blood sugar into the 115 range at one hour the first time but they'll go
to 130 or higher the next times.

-- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
hba1c 5.2.
Cut the carbs to respond to my email address!

Low carb facts and figures, my weight-loss photos, tips, recipes,
strategies for dealing with diabetes and more at
http://www.geocities.com/jenny_the_bean/

Looking for help controlling your blood sugar?
Visit http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/Newly%20Diagnosed.htm

> This is sort of a question/observation.
>
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
> --
> Begin where you are - but don't end there.

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Martha Gallagher - 21 Jan 2004 20:38 GMT

> That's very interesting. My own experience is almost the opposite. I can
> often get away with eating a carby meal without seeing much of a rise, but
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> of insulin (i.e. first phase insulin response) when I stay very low carb but
> once it is used up, it takes a few hours to make more.

That is interesting. I have no idea what the mechanism is either, but it
certainly does sound as if you have some sort of reserves that will
protect you from one slip but then get used up, while I don't have
reserves but can gear up for production w/in 24 hours of putting my body
on notice.

One thing this does make more apparent to me at least is the importance of
going off low carb for a little bit before a carb challenge test. If your
reserves are adequate to handle the load, you'd show a false negative and
I'd give a false positive.

> OTOH, I can't maintain anywhere near the 85 mg/dl level even when I keep my
> carbs very low. The 90s are as good as it gets and post meal values are
> usually in the 100-110 range. Upping the carbs beyond 15 mg/dl will push
> my blood sugar into the 115 range at one hour the first time but they'll go
> to 130 or higher the next times.

That's also interesting. I'd assumed that if the carbs were kept low
enough (esp. since you don't over-do on the protein), that the body would
have to keep the BG low. Clearly that isn't the case for you, and probably
many of the other T2s here.

Thanks,
Martha

> -- Jenny - Low Carbing for 4 years. At goal for weight. Type 2 diabetes,
> hba1c 5.2.
[quoted text clipped - 49 lines]
> > --
> > Begin where you are - but don't end there.

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emkay - 22 Jan 2004 02:46 GMT

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004, Jenny wrote:

>> OTOH, I can't maintain anywhere near the 85 mg/dl level even when I keep my
>> carbs very low. The 90s are as good as it gets and post meal values are
>> usually in the 100-110 range. Upping the carbs beyond 15 mg/dl will push
>> my blood sugar into the 115 range at one hour the first time but they'll go
>> to 130 or higher the next times.

>That's also interesting. I'd assumed that if the carbs were kept low
>enough (esp. since you don't over-do on the protein), that the body would
>have to keep the BG low. Clearly that isn't the case for you, and probably
>many of the other T2s here.

For me, it's not just carb intake -- it's also related to metformin dosage.
When I'm taking 1000 mg/day, my fasting BG is reliably in the mid 70's.
Post-meal numbers are 80's for very low-carb and 90's for moderately
low-carb. But when I'm on 500 mg/day, all of those numbers are 10 mg/dl
higher, without any changes in food intake or exercise.

I'm guessing it's because one of metformin's functions is to reduce excess
glucose release by the liver.

Em

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