Keto and High Blood Sugar Readings?
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sickandfat
Posts: 69 Member
Hello To All Of You! I am a type 2 diabetic and have been faithfully doing a Keto Diet for 2 months now. At first my blood sugar came down very well and I was able to stop all of my medicine but one metformin at breakfast. All of a sudden my blood sugars starting going back up?? This morning my ketones checked 1.1 and my blood sugar checked 183 before breakfast. I was shocked. What happened? I had not eaten anything different than I had been eating! Has anyone else had this happen? What can I do? Please help me with this problem if you can?
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My morning BG readings started drifting back up once my losses slowed down a bit, which was about 3 months into keto. For me, it is the dawn phenomenon. It is still my highest reading of the day. I even try to eat a light breakfast with protein, often protein powder, even when not hungry, because it brings down my BG faster.
Fasting for a day really helps bring my morning BG down. Exercise helps too. Some find alcohol or vinegar before bed helps (keeps the liver busier). TBH eating low carb helps too as it was higher before I changed my diet... But it is frustrating when it is not as low as I want it to be.
It could also be due to stress or lack of sleep. Those will rIse BG too.
Keep doing the right things. It could just be a blip.
ETA if you do have dawn phenomenon, moving the time of your metformin up to late at night could help. I am not on it myself, so hopefully others can give advice there.
Congrats on your success so far!0 -
Thank you so much! I will stay on my Keto and see what happens. I was sure disappointed this morning. I thought a Keto diet would help my diabetes? I guess I have a lot to learn. Thank you for the tips. I will try them.0
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A really good source for low carb T2D info is Dr Richard Bernstein. His book, Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution is amazing. He has a website with many videos too if you prefer fitting videos into your day. He can explain what is happening well.
http://www.diabetes-book.com/
Dr Jason Fung's book, Obesity Code, is low carb and uses fasting too. If fasting interests you, it could be a source for more info.3 -
Be aware of some sugar substitutes - they can spike sugar levels. There is a video on it - I will try to find it for you.3
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First off, if you are eating any carbs whatsoever, they should be spread out so as to minimize the BG spike.
Then don't forget that protein can raise BG. There is some disagreement as to exactly how and why protein increases BG for type 1's (like myself). For you, if protein raises BG, it would almost certainly follow Marty Kendall's explanation (which definitely does not hold true for me). Basically, his theory is that our liver releases glycogen when we eat protein. If you are still not using insulin efficiently, then the BG spike from that glycogen release will still show you as high in the morning.
How often do you test? Have you tried any testing before dinner and then every 2 hrs. after dinner and until breakfast to plot out how things change with your typical dinner and during the night?1 -
Are you eating any straight fats? Like adding butter to coffee or adding extra fat to already high fat foods?
As a T2D, you have resistant cells and any source of excess energy, even straight fat, requires insulin to shuttle it into those resistant cells. With that increased insulin from your insulin resistance your body seeks to offset it with glycogen because your system doesn’t function as smoothly as it should. That raises your total energy in your blood.
Your high ketones AND high blood sugar suggest you’re taking in some kind of dietary fat that converts to ketones easily. Like coconut oil or mct or even a straight fat like butter.
Could that be the case?0 -
I would look up Dr. Eric Berg on YouTube. He has several videos on keto and diabetes but his Facebook group would be extremely helpful in finding others who are going through the same thing as you. Maybe someone there can help as well.0
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I would look up Dr. Eric Berg on YouTube. He has several videos on keto and diabetes but his Facebook group would be extremely helpful in finding others who are going through the same thing as you. Maybe someone there can help as well.
What group is it? There are a couple that I could find.0 -
I second Dr. Bernstein. He's a type 1 going strong in his 80's with excellent blood sugar control using Low Carb. His book, The Diabetes Solution, is a great read.1
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Btw, one thing Dr. Bernstein mentioned in his book is that almost every time one of his patients, who had been doing great, starts seeing rising numbers upon testing, the problem has been thyroid issues. Might be a good idea to make sure yours is doing fine.3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYfqvTZWilw
