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Ouch! Horrible spike on default food

4K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  derasd 
#1 ·
Over the years I have feinted a few times, off to ER and put on hours of potassium drips. My body cannot absorb potassium [long story]
So I've been on potassium rich foods for a few years, potatoes, bananas, OJ, orange juice, dried apricots, etc.

YES --since coming here and learning, I've dropped them all.

But kept with my low sodium V8, 2 glasses with loads of potassium but 18 carbs. I figured it would be okay since dropping all the others.

My one hour BG is 149, but two hours is only 110. So I am conflicted, terrified of that one hour number but rather pleased with the two hour. Should I be happy or worried?

I am now looking at other high potassium foods but many have high carbs and sugars.
 
#3 ·
To interpret that 149 level at 1 hr, you'd need to know what your BG was before you had it so you know just how much it raised it. Good news, though, that at 2 hrs your BG had already gone down.

Here's a bit of bioscience that may help you understand what's going on. The pancreas secretes insulin the moment a person starts eating and this insulin is from what has been previously store for this purpose. Then, the pancreas begins to produce a new batch of insulin, which is then used if needed, and it continues to make more so that it can store it for the next meal. The release of stored insulin is called the 1st phase. The newly produced is called the 2nd phase.

All this works beautifully in non-diabetics to keep BG low, even when a high carbohydrate meal is eaten. Not so with T2 diabetics. For them, little if any insulin is stored so the 1st phase isn't happening to any great extent. Therefore, digested carbs put glucose into the bloodstream and BG rises unchecked. For most T2s, there is some level of 2nd phase (newly produced insulin) which takes about an hour to hit the bloodstream. Hense, by 2hrs BG should start coming down. How much and how fast is an individual thing depending on how well the pancreas does in making new insulin.

So. That's why we test at 1hr to make sure that the carb load for a meal wasn't so much that our BG rises too high. Too high would be levels above 140. That 149 wasn't too far off and wasn't for very long. We test at 2 hrs just to make sure that BG is going down as expected and if it doesn't we can try to determine why that was so (a very fatty meal with carbs, like pizza, can delay the digestion of those carbs so the spike can be delayed.)

Your 110 BG at 2 hours is something to be happy about. It means your 2nd phase insulin response is working.

Re: potassium rich foods that are low carb and diabetes friendly... here's some I found with a quick search:

cooked spinach and broccoli
mushrroms
cucumbers
zucchini
eggplant
leafy greens

Just curious - why are you on low-sodium?
 
#4 ·
To interpret that 149 level at 1 hr, you'd need to know what your BG was before you had it so you know just how much it raised it. .....- why are you on low-sodium?
It was 109 just prior to the V8. [which was 12 hour fast] Low sodium is the result from my high BP years ago. Not sure I still need that version.

I want to test another two weeks then med lab tests and doc appt.
 
#7 ·
Dark leafy greens, nuts, avocados, and seeds are all low carb foods that are high in both magnesium and potassium.
 
#9 ·
Avocados supply more potassium than bananas with minimal impact on blood sugar.
 
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#11 ·
I'll re-second avocados as a good source of potassium and use a Himalayan sea salt for sodium. Stay away from regular table salt.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Statisticians claim that the modern population does not receive enough potassium. There is enough potassium in such products: meat products, many bowls of cereal, potatoes in uniform, wheat bran, green peas and beans, and wheat germ. There are many trace elements: carrots, pumpkin, beetroot, radish, pepper, cabbage, cucumber, and avocado in greens, especially in parsley and spinach. You should include vegetarian or Greek dishes in your diet, as there are many greens there. When I was throwing a party at The Best Party Venue In Orlando | Taverna Opa, then even asked for recipes for several dishes with a high content of greens. I also like meat more, but I understand the benefits of green foods.
 
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