I am now performing an experiment on myself, to see how much 2 grams
of carbs raises my BG.
I just took my BG and it was 102.
Then
I ate a tootsie roll midgee and set the timer on the oven for 15 minutes.
Mmm,
this is almost as exciting as a drugstore pregnancy test.
15 minutes has now elapsed
And now I am at 116.
So I guess that 2 grams of carb raises me 14 mg/dl.
Now I am wondering whether that is low, medium, or high compared with everyone else.
You should test again at 1 hour because it can take up to one hour to see the full effect. Fifteen minutes isn’t enough. We’re all told the 15/15 rule, but that’s a faulty guideline.
1 gram of glucose raises me 10 pts. I’m small.
I truly don’t know what a " tootsie roll midgee " is …fat content , if any ??..or similar to a glucose pill ?
I agree with Gerri , to see the result , one needs more than 15 min. for a follow up , if not a " glucose pill " .
Good on you for checking this out !
Good point, Nel, if there’s any fat in a tootsie roll. It’s chocolate (may just be chocolate flavoring), so there may be some. Better to test with pure glucose. Even with glucose tabs, it can take longer than 15 minutes to know. People can end up over-correcting with that 15/15 thing.
It can be hard measuring this as a T2. The best way to do this is to start absolutely fasted and take a quick acting carb of precise quantity, like a glucose tab. And then see how much your blood sugar rises. For a T2, you will probably have a highly variable reaction and it will be non-linear, 1-2 grams of carbs may not trigger an insulin release, but 5-10 may trigger a release.
I estimate that I rise 2-3 mg/dl per gram of carbs, but I am 200 lbs.
ps. And if you read Using Insulin, the math behind the rules can be used to “derive” this factor. Simply divide your “correction factor” by you “carb factor.” For others, this would be dividing your ISF by your I:C ratio.
pps. Dr. B suggests that normally a gram of carbs raises your blood sugar 5-10 mg/dl.
One gram of carbs raises me about 15. At first I went by the 15/15 rule but would sky rocket. I now take 8 grams if me readings are in the 50’s. I would rise to about 170+/- then settle back down.
Interesting about the non-linear aspect! I had no idea. I’ll try this again first thing in the am sometime, with something like a glucose tab.
I don’t know why I care, since I never have lows to correct. Actually, the great thing about it is that now I have empirical evidence to stay away from tootsie rolls!
No offense, but that seems like an overcorrection. Given your numbers, unless you have major insulin on board, I would think a better amount would be like 3 grams and then retest in 15 minutes to half an hour.
I’ve tried that. When I say I settle down my bg drops about 40 points in 2 hours.
That is a good little test to find you personal triggers. Everyone is different due to size, meds, exercise and reaction time. A true way would have to be the Glucose tabs and fasting you have to do it several times to see how the results compare. It is good to know your triggers and keep track of them in medical history. If you use a service for you records as many people do or however you have yours setup then have them there for EMS this may save your life at some point. One thing about triggers is that a general assumption is not always the way to think. Example is French Fries raise me up to ____ so all potatoes will do this to me not true maybe you could eat Pringles or a baked potato with only some salt and get different results. Good luck on a personal journey to find the answers and keep up posted as we all can learn from each other.
ok, I stand corrected, besides, you’ve been at this far longer than most of us.
For sure! They are terrible. When I was a kid I would use them to raise BG. Essentially, my bosy takes about 3-4 hours to break one down and end the effects. Those things sit in your system forever!
As bsc has pointed out, the pre trend of your BG has a large effect on your tests outcome. Also (not sure about T2) but if you have any soft of dawn phenomena that will also have to be factored in if testing in the AM. Id say the best time to do it is if you have a 4+ hour window where you dont eat, place your test in the middle.
1 gram of carbohydrate raises my blood glucose by 4 mg/dl.