[Hayley]

It seems like most articles I read about what diabetics should eat recommend avoiding fats/eating low fat. Why? How do fats effect blood sugar negatively? I thought it was all about carbohydrates.

Also, I have noticed that if I have a beer or even half a beer with a meal that my BG never goes over 120s, no matter what I eat, even though the same meal even if I eat half as much without a beer can bring me up to 160-180. I tend to have 5-7 beers a week anyways, so I'm starting to plan my drinks around meals that are high in carbohydrates that I know will otherwise cause a spike in my blood sugar.

What are your thoughts on this? Does anyone else do this? I realize most people here are probably on medication so have to worry about low blood sugar and alcohol, but I am not on medication.

 

[breezeonby]

It seems like most articles I read about what diabetics should eat recommend avoiding fats/eating low fat. Why? How do fats effect blood sugar negatively? I thought it was all about carbohydrates.

Also, I have noticed that if I have a beer or even half a beer with a meal that my BG never goes over 120s, no matter what I eat, even though the same meal even if I eat half as much without a beer can bring me up to 160-180. I tend to have 5-7 beers a week anyways, so I'm starting to plan my drinks around meals that are high in carbohydrates that I know will otherwise cause a spike in my blood sugar.

What are your thoughts on this? Does anyone else do this? I realize most people here are probably on medication so have to worry about low blood sugar and alcohol, but I am not on medication.

There is alot of negative information on fat in the diet. I think that everyone needs to be careful about their saturated fat intake. Personally, I have to watch my fat intake because I have high trigs & cholesterol. If it wasn't for that reason, I would eat fats in moderation. I am talking about butter, mayo, salad dressing and so on. Fats DO NOT raise your blood sugar, carbs raise blood sugar. I don't drink so I can't comment on the alcohol part of your question, but I know that those using insulin need to watch their alcohol consumption.

 

[cathyy]

All the food you eat is eventually transformed into something your body can use, either amino acids or sugar. Fats simply take the longest time to be converted to sugar.

Since diabetics are at high risk of heart disease, they are encouraged to eat a "heart-healthy" diet. The current medical consensus on this is that a heart healthy diet is a low-fat diet, but it is by no means a universal opinion.

There are numerous studies showing saturated fats do not contribute to heart disease. There is evidence that the low-fat, high-carb diet recommended by the ADA increases the risk of heart disease over a low-carb, high-fat diet. Some of us on this forum choose to follow that low-carb, high fat diet. Some choose to follow the recommended low-fat, high-carb diet.

You will choose whatever you think is best for yourself. I can link you to studies supporting these claims if you are interested.

 

[kenoxla]

It seems like most articles I read about what diabetics should eat recommend avoiding fats/eating low fat. Why? How do fats effect blood sugar negatively? I thought it was all about carbohydrates.

Also, I have noticed that if I have a beer or even half a beer with a meal that my BG never goes over 120s, no matter what I eat, even though the same meal even if I eat half as much without a beer can bring me up to 160-180. I tend to have 5-7 beers a week anyways, so I'm starting to plan my drinks around meals that are high in carbohydrates that I know will otherwise cause a spike in my blood sugar.

What are your thoughts on this? Does anyone else do this? I realize most people here are probably on medication so have to worry about low blood sugar and alcohol, but I am not on medication.

*******
I have noticed that if I have a bit of wine with dinner - my numbers are definitely lower. I love wine and usually have 2 oz with dinner - same dinner without wine is usually a good 15+ points higher. I am still low carbing. I don't have any low blood sugar issues.

Thank you all for the information and advice given on this site - I usually don't post because I feel like I am still learning (from this forum) and usually don't have much information to offer. I appreciate the help given by all very much.

 

[breezeonby]

*******
I have noticed that if I have a bit of wine with dinner - my numbers are definitely lower. I love wine and usually have 2 oz with dinner - same dinner without wine is usually a good 15+ points higher. I am still low carbing. I don't have any low blood sugar issues.

Thank you all for the information and advice given on this site - I usually don't post because I feel like I am still learning (from this forum) and usually don't have much information to offer. I appreciate the help given by all very much.

Hi kenoxla! You would be surprised at how little tidbits of advice can help out alot of people. Don't be a stranger!

 

[ColaJim]

Hayley

It seems like most articles I read about what diabetics should eat recommend avoiding fats/eating low fat. Why? How do fats effect blood sugar negatively? I thought it was all about carbohydrates.

Also, I have noticed that if I have a beer or even half a beer with a meal that my BG never goes over 120s, no matter what I eat, even though the same meal even if I eat half as much without a beer can bring me up to 160-180. I tend to have 5-7 beers a week anyways, so I'm starting to plan my drinks around meals that are high in carbohydrates that I know will otherwise cause a spike in my blood sugar.

What are your thoughts on this? Does anyone else do this? I realize most people here are probably on medication so have to worry about low blood sugar and alcohol, but I am not on medication.

--------------------------

Hayley
This seems to support your observation :



Drink red wine, which is an agent to lowering high blood sugar levels. When alcohol enters into the bloodstream, the liver goes to work right away to rid the body of it. The liver treats alcohol as a poison and wants to clear the body of it immediately. The body will stop putting glucose out in order to clear the blood stream of the alcohol. This process in turn lowers blood sugar. Be careful, however, with combining medication, wine and carbohydrates. For instance a plate of pasta, red wine and meds can cause blood sugar to go too low.


REF: How to Get Your Sugar Level Down When It's Too High | eHow.com

And this is interesting : How to Lower Blood Glucose Levels Naturally | eHow.com

Joking, so could it be that i have high fasting blood sugar because my liver is bored and has nothing to do, maybe it needs a little alcohol to distract it? Just Joking .. Look out!! Here comes Shanny and her groupies!!

 

[onaughmae]

--------------------------

Hayley
This seems to support your observation :



Drink red wine, which is an agent to lowering high blood sugar levels. When alcohol enters into the bloodstream, the liver goes to work right away to rid the body of it. The liver treats alcohol as a poison and wants to clear the body of it immediately. The body will stop putting glucose out in order to clear the blood stream of the alcohol. This process in turn lowers blood sugar. Be careful, however, with combining medication, wine and carbohydrates. For instance a plate of pasta, red wine and meds can cause blood sugar to go too low.


REF: How to Get Your Sugar Level Down When It's Too High | eHow.com

And this is interesting : How to Lower Blood Glucose Levels Naturally | eHow.com

Joking, so could it be that i have high fasting blood sugar because my liver is bored and has nothing to do, maybe it needs a little alcohol to distract it? Just Joking .. Look out!! Here comes Shanny and her groupies!!

Actually alcohol almost always has a lowering effect on blood sugar in moderation. So, in that you are correct. I think the groupie comment was way out of line though. I might take you more seriously if you werent so snippy...just saying....

 

[kenoxla]

--------------------------

Hayley
This seems to support your observation :



Drink red wine, which is an agent to lowering high blood sugar levels. When alcohol enters into the bloodstream, the liver goes to work right away to rid the body of it. The liver treats alcohol as a poison and wants to clear the body of it immediately. The body will stop putting glucose out in order to clear the blood stream of the alcohol. This process in turn lowers blood sugar. Be careful, however, with combining medication, wine and carbohydrates. For instance a plate of pasta, red wine and meds can cause blood sugar to go too low.


REF: How to Get Your Sugar Level Down When It's Too High | eHow.com

And this is interesting : How to Lower Blood Glucose Levels Naturally | eHow.com

Joking, so could it be that i have high fasting blood sugar because my liver is bored and has nothing to do, maybe it needs a little alcohol to distract it? Just Joking .. Look out!! Here comes Shanny and her groupies!!

Thank you so much for the explanation on the correlation between alcohol and blood sugar!

 

[Hayley]

cathyy, could you link some of the studies? Thank you for your response.

ColaJim, that's very helpful, thank you! Too bad I don't like wine. So far beer seems to keep my blood sugar below 140 most of the time when I have a meal, even though it does have a lot of carbohydrates itself so I still have to be careful when I drink it.

 

[cathyy]

How about I just link to my blog post about this subject? It has the links. Uncategorized The TF Diabetic

 

[anthonynelson]

Having a beer a day wont be that harmful if your body's metabolism is supporting it.

 

[chickenhouse]

Having a beer a day wont be that harmful if your body's metabolism is supporting it.

I'm no scientist. But if you can't have a beer every now and then, what's the point?

 

[lia]

All the food you eat is eventually transformed into something your body can use, either amino acids or sugar. Fats simply take the longest time to be converted to sugar.

I can link you to studies supporting these claims if you are interested.

I've seen a couple of claims around here that fats turn to sugars and I always thought they didn't so I would really be interested in any study about that. I'm not saying they don't. I have to admit I don't know.

I just looked it up in wikipedia and here is the most relevant sentence. "fats, obtained from adipose tissue, or fat cells, are broken down into glycerol and fatty acids, which can be used to generate energy."

(that's from this page) Dieting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Since I don't really know what glycerol is and it does sound like sugar, I looked it up at wikipedia too, and this seemed to be the key sentence. "Although it has about the same food energy as table sugar, it does not raise blood sugar levels, nor does it feed the bacteria that form plaques and cause dental cavities."

So I'm a bit baffled. How can it be a sugar and not raise sugar levels? But it does sound like it could be a sugar.

The liver treats alcohol as a poison and wants to clear the body of it immediately. The body will stop putting glucose out in order to clear the blood stream of the alcohol.

This baffles me too, even if it is written in ehow. It's your digestion that is producing the sugars from a meal, not sure how the liver can shut that down. I checked the author who didn't list any medical or nutritional qualifications, so I'm not going to swallow that one just yet. (guess I could call it a low superstition diet) Any more info that might help me understand?

There really is an amazing amount of misinformation on line. Fortunately more communication usually helps clear it up.

 

[Shanny]

Protein and carbohydrate convert to glucose. Fat does NOT convert to glucose; fat converts to ketones. The human body, except for the brain, can utilize ketones the same as it does glucose.

This may introduce the confusion between ketosis and DKA, but that is a subject for another thread, another day.