I’ve noticed lately that there are times when I will eat food with no carbs in it, and my blood sugar will still spike. I’m aware that many people have this experience with coffee, but what about real foods, such as fish or vegetables? Can anyone explain this?
A couple ideas:
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Protein from earlier meals takes 7 hours or so to be converted to glucose, about 58% of it.
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Dawn phenomenon makes blood sugar go up in the morning especially if you don’t eat.
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Counterregulation. This is a problem I have, and I don’t know how common it is for others, but if my blood sugar drops fast, I often get a burst of hormones that push it back up, so I’ll be in the low 90s and then wham, I’m at 108 without eating anything. Usually my pulse is pounding so I know that’s what is going on.
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Stress. Similar to above, something causes a release of fight and flight hormone which also raise blood sugar.
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Tiny bits of sugar on your fingers. . .
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Your body is fighting a cold.
Hope this helps!
I’ve eaten large enough amounts of supposedly carb free foods to get significant carbs, in the cases of vegetables.
I also have major blood sugar spikes in response to some artificial sweeteners that supposedly have no carbs- in my case, it’s much safer for me to drink non-diet soda than diet because the diet sends me soaring every time.
I don’t eat fish, but maybe it’s the protein.
Really??? Diet soda??? Man the things I learn here… and this one too
“3. Counterregulation. This is a problem I have, and I don’t know how common it is for others, but if my blood sugar drops fast, I often get a burst of hormones that push it back up, so I’ll be in the low 90s and then wham, I’m at 108 without eating anything. Usually my pulse is pounding so I know that’s what is going on.”
WHO KNEW!?!?!?!?
Samantha,
Counterregulation is what causes Hypo Awareness. Usually it adjusts to the blood sugar level your body is used to. People who have a lot of hypos lose this, though they can get it back if they avoid having hypos for long enough for the body to get used to a higher blood sugar level.
My experience with this is quite dramatic, but I don’t know if that is one of the oddities of my own kind of strange diabetes or more common. It took me a long time to figure out what was going on, because by the time I test I usually see a reading around 108 which doesn’t make a person think “too much insulin.”
Protein is a seldom-acknowledged culprit, but as Jenny notes, it is not really a “free food” as far too many CDEs and nutritionists imply, rather it takes about 6-8 hours to ultimately be metabolized. Basal insulin is supposed to cover this, but since it is not physiologically released, it doesn’t always work as well as we’d like it to. Note that your body may not respond to all protein the same way. My own experience is that animal meats (mainly beef and pork) do show up about 7 hours later, while fish, eggs and vegetable protein (soy, etc.) tend not to have as significant an impact. The key is to record exactly what you ate (including quantities and exact time) so you can determine if this is what is responsible for your numbers (perhaps a few hours later). I would also agree with Jenny that residues of ANY carbohydrates on your fingertips can show up, so its always best to wash your hands before testing. If that is not possible, try bringing some alcohol swabs with you so you can clean the fingertip before testing.
Doesn’t Dr Bernstein say something about eating large portions, regardless of carb content, raising BS? I forget the science, but remember the premise as I tend to over indulge!
Vegetables definitely have carbs in them, some have quite a lot of carbs so will spike your BG.
Coffee raises your blood sugar? Geez, is there anything that doesn’t affect your blood sugar?
Wait, don’t answer that…