Using a blood glucose meter to detect food's effects

crimsontech

Hi guys,

I have some diabetics in the family including my grandmother who passed away a little over a year ago. I have borrowed/inherited her blood glucose monitor to use for testing the low-carb diet. There are several foods out there that claim to be safe for low-carb diets (such as Dreamfield's pasta) and my fiance (who's on the low-carb thing as well) and I would like to test ourselves to make sure it's working. Has anyone done this and can give some advice?

I'm wanting to know when to test our blood sugar (I'm assuming right before the meal, but I don't know how long after to wait) and what changes in blood sugar to look for to determine if the net carbs are at a safe level to maintain ketosis and weight loss.

Thanks for any advice you can give!

paulwgun

I have a meter which i obtained free on the web, I was told I was in the diabetic waiting room, to test your blood sugar its done first thing in the morning before you eat a reading of 4/6 is about normal. If you want to test after a meal you wait for 2 hours after eating above 11 you should consult your doctor for further tests. (or below 2.8)

Hope that helps you

Sharonks

If you have no blood sugar problems then you may not be able to tell much except when something is extremely high in carbs. Healthy people get minimal BS fluctuations. Most healthy people are approx 70-90 mg/dl fasting and 90-110 2 hr after eating. Spikes will come depending on the food, regular pasta tends to be slower and usually peaks about 3 hrs. Lots of fat can slow down absorption of sugars. Exercise can change blood sugar.

I often check mine before I eat then two hours after I eat to see what something does. I also test after exercise since intense exercise temporarily jacks up my blood sugar whereas mild exercise tends to drop it.

Anything over 126 fasting/165 2 hr is considered fully diabetic by the ADA or 110/140 is the endocrinologist level. Getting below about 50 is very low and if you consistently are dropping like that then you should go see a dr. A healthy person's body will regulate the blood sugar to a level that is safe.

I encourage you to test. Many drs. believe that only certain people are diabetic. That is not the case. I was 34 and in a normal body weight range when I was diagnosed. There are a lot of people like me out there. At this point, no matter what I do, my blood sugar is not where it should be. I have to low carb because I can't my sugars under control but since most drs. go by ADA standards I am close enough that they won't do much to step up my drugs, especially since I get below 95 about once a week.

crimsontech

I have a meter which i obtained free on the web, I was told I was in the diabetic waiting room, to test your blood sugar its done first thing in the morning before you eat a reading of 4/6 is about normal. If you want to test after a meal you wait for 2 hours after eating above 11 you should consult your doctor for further tests. (or below 2.8)

Hope that helps you

I think you're measuring as mmol/l... I measure in mg/dl. So, what you guys are saying is to measure 2 hours after eating? If you've eaten 0 carbs, would that mean in 2 hours, your blood sugar level shouldn't change? What sort of change in blood sugar should I see if I've eaten too many carbs? That's what I'm trying to figure out here.

Thanks again for the help.

Sharonks

If you aren't diabetic you should see minimal changes if you truly eat no carbs, not even veg carbs. The fluctuations for normal people are not very big. If you eat massive, and I mean massive amounts, it may raise you from somewhere below 100 to maybe 140. That would probably be a large, thick crust pizza, breadsticks, and cake. A healthy person really should never go over about 140 regardless of what they eat. Recovery from eating like that should also be much faster than a diabetic, like a few hours. If I ate that much carbs it would haunt me for days.

The meter really isn't going to help you eat low carb if you are healthy and don't have any kind of compromised insulin/carb processing issues. For the most part, you will bounce around the same 20 or 30 pts throughout your day. Some times it will change in response to exercise, stress and other stuff but it will be a pretty narrow window. So, if you eat 2 pieces of bread instead of one it probably won't change your BS reading enough to be noticeable.

When people talk about eating to their meter it is because their system is messed up. For example, without eating anything I went up 11 points in an hour just because my system is messed up. If I eat half an apple it will raise me about 15 pts even if I eat some cheese with it. A small potato will send me up about 100 pts. 100 points is a fluctuation that a healthy person just wouldn't have.

If you are healthy I don't think the meter is really what you want to use. Count carbs, either net or total and stick to that. If you want to know if you are in ketosis get the urine strips. The reality is, there is no magic bullet. Eat a nice balanced diet with minimal junk and get exercise and you will lose inches/weight unless you have some kind of health issue that prevents it.