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How long to recover after bad spike? Normal?

2K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  Carel 
#1 ·
Totally my fault and learned my lesson. [friends invited me to big Chinese dinner which I knew was bad but wanted to be polite. Wrong! Never again!]

But my question is about the slow spike.
0 time before eating: BG 90 [rather proud of that]
1 hour after eating Chinese: 181
2 hrs: 186
3 hrs: 190
4 hrs: 201

The trend up this long after eating is common?

5 hrs: 184
6 hrs 140

Finally coming down. I had to eat so further tests would be skewed. I'm planning for a 12 hr fast and begin checking again.

Thanks for any opinions
 
#2 ·
The amount of time it takes to come back down from a spike like that is highly individual. I do know that some foods have a kind of "delayed burn" effect so that they're bumping up BG well after the usual two hours is up. Protein can have that effect (gluconeogenesis); another product that has/had a reputation for that is Dreamfields brand pasta, I remember seeing many reports from diabetics about how it pushed up their BG well outside the usual two-hour window, in part because it took longer to digest. It's unlikely you had that pasta last night, but the effect does show up with other foods.

I hope that, given the hit your BG took, the event was enjoyable and worthwhile!
 
#3 ·
Love western chinese food but I don't have it often because it can be like eating candy and I usually need to give a significant amount of insulin to get it back down.

If you're not on insulin or any sulfonylureas class drugs it would take a while for your BG levels to drop.

The problem with western chinese cuisine - it not only has a lot sugars and carbs, it also has a lot of fat. This results in the body taking longer to metabolize the food thus continuing to convert it in to sugars at a much longer duration.

The times I've indulge in the old all you can eat buffet I usually have to give another shot 2 hours later to compensate.
 
#5 ·
Which is why they say test, test, test everything against your meter. Foods that impact you this severely should be avoided like the plague.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
#6 ·
On this point, please help me, if I have say oats, or a big banana, should I or shouldn't I take for example quality nutbutter beforehand?
I thought fat blunt the carb/sugar spike?
But some posts like this one seems to indicate it makes things worse for BG or insulin.
Thanks.
 
#8 · (Edited)
@Carel

One should definitely consider all carbs eaten at a time (even nuts have some carbs). What fats do is slow digestion down, but doesn't stop the rise in BG from said carbs. The spike can show up later rather than sooner.

The best strategy is to count carbs, test before a meal, test 1hr and possibly 2hr after the first bite. This will tell you that X amount of carbs raised your BG X points. Then you can make informed decisions about what to eat and what not to eat based on your past tests. It clears up any confusion when you read or hear that certain foods are "good for diabetics" (like oats). You KNOW if they are good for you by knowing if they spike your BG.

Oats and bananas are not on my diet plan. From testing I found that my metabolism can only handle 8-10g of carbs per meal. And the spike is not so high if those carbs come from non-starchy vegetables.

Being "pre" diabetic, which is actually early stages of real diabetes, you are in an excellent position to make dietary adjustments and at least delay the progression into full diabetic range, if not avoid it.

I would highly recommend reading on www.bloodsugar101.com to help understand diabetes more fully.
 
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