BG levels have a life of their own!

[Sheepish1947]

Can anyone throw any light on what my blood glucose levels are doing and why?
My fasting level is usually between about 5.5 and 6.5 mmol/L. I eat a reasonably healthy breakfast - 0% everything Fage yogurt with xylitol to make it palatable and a handful of berries, or a boiled or scrambled egg with low carb (LivLife) bread and a mug of filter coffee and skimmed milk. I drink water during the morning but five hours later my BG level is between 7.4 and 7.9. It makes no difference whether I've done a 5 mile walk or sat at the computer all morning. This started happening at the beginning of February, before that my levels were pretty stable in the 5s and 6s. After lunch, everything goes back to (my) normal for the rest of the day.
All ideas gratefully received.

 

[Lucyr]

Your bgs sound perfect to me? The target is under 8.5 at two hours which you are on the readings you’ve given, but would be worth testing a bit earlier.

 

[Leadinglights]

Can anyone throw any light on what my blood glucose levels are doing and why?
My fasting level is usually between about 5.5 and 6.5 mmol/L. I eat a reasonably healthy breakfast - 0% everything Fage yogurt with xylitol to make it palatable and a handful of berries, or a boiled or scrambled egg with low carb (LivLife) bread and a mug of filter coffee and skimmed milk. I drink water during the morning but five hours later my BG level is between 7.4 and 7.9. It makes no difference whether I've done a 5 mile walk or sat at the computer all morning. This started happening at the beginning of February, before that my levels were pretty stable in the 5s and 6s. After lunch, everything goes back to (my) normal for the rest of the day.
All ideas gratefully received.

Some people find artificial sweeteners can affect their blood glucose so I suggest you try to cut the xylitol and avoid the low fat yoghurt and have full fat instead.
Then if you test at 2 hours and see what your reading is, as long as it is below 8mmol/l that is fine.

 

[Sheepish1947]

Thank you. I can't bear unsweetened yogurt and was told to have low fat because of my cholesterol. I don't know what I'd do without xylitol, things I make with it make life just about bearable. Other sweeteners leave a bitter aftertaste and erythritol is ok for cooking but has that peculiar cooling effect.
I'll try the yogurt with more fat but will be a bit anxious about it.

 

[Sheepish1947]

Your bgs sound perfect to me? The target is under 8.5 at two hours which you are on the readings you’ve given, but would be worth testing a bit earlier.

Thank you. I was told to try to keep my BG below 7.

 

[harbottle]

Sounds like a liver dump/glucose intolerance causing high levels rather than the food if it's that low in carbs. Or maybe you're a bit more stressed in the mornings than before? (I find stress causes my BG to go up more than food.)

Non T2s tend to be more sensitive to glucose in the morning (Unless on a low carb diet, which can cause some insulin resistance) and become less sensitive in the evenings.

However, this is inverted a bit for T2s with raised levels in the mornings/lower tolerance and increased sensitivity as the day goes on.

 

[Lucyr]

Thank you. I was told to try to keep my BG below 7.

Why? Non diabetics go over 7.

 

[harbottle]

Thank you. I was told to try to keep my BG below 7.

When? After a five hour fast it shouldn't be this high for a non-diabetic, but it can be in someone with T2 diabetes...
Even non-diabetics can be over 7 after a high carb meal (I've seen non-diabetics using Libre sensors go into double figures!)

 

[Sheepish1947]

Sounds like a liver dump/glucose intolerance causing high levels rather than the food if it's that low in carbs. Or maybe you're a bit more stressed in the mornings than before? (I find stress causes my BG to go up more than food.)

Non T2s tend to be more sensitive to glucose in the morning (Unless on a low carb diet, which can cause some insulin resistance) and become less sensitive in the evenings.

However, this is inverted a bit for T2s with raised levels in the mornings/lower tolerance and increased sensitivity as the day goes on.

Thank you that seems to make perfect sense, especially since, if I try to exercise before I eat my levels go up to 9+. I’m fairly sure my liver is more of a problem than my pancreas, calling for more glucose every time I exercise or get stressed (most of the time!). I’m not really worried about the actual numbers, just curious about why this should suddenly be happening when nothing else has changed.

 

[harbottle]

Thank you that seems to make perfect sense, especially since, if I try to exercise before I eat my levels go up to 9+. I’m fairly sure my liver is more of a problem than my pancreas, calling for more glucose every time I exercise or get stressed (most of the time!). I’m not really worried about the actual numbers, just curious about why this should suddenly be happening when nothing else has changed.

Well the liver is partly responsible for high blood sugar in T2 diabetics - it starts producing extra glucose via gluconeogenesis when it doesn't need to and this leads to high blood sugar. (And why metformin helps out.)

This might be because insulin doesn't stop the muscles and far from releasing substances used for gluconeogenesis and when there's an abundance of them... the liver happily uses it to make glucose.