Can a BIG portion of a non-carb meal affect next carb-meal's blood sugar values?

[resander]

I am a D2 beginner and have measured blood sugar for various foods I could eat before. Some of these, for example white rice and potato mash pushed the blood sugar values above 14 mmol/l, so I do not eat these now.

However, I can eat 'new potatoes' with chicken/fish/meat and after 2 hours the blood sugar value would be less than 7.8 mmnol/L.

But, if a previous NON-carb meal was fairly big (e.g. two quarter pounders (no buns) and poached eggs) then the blood sugar value shown on the meter was always higher than 7.8 mmol/l. Why? Coincidence?

Would like to understand this better.
Comments most welcome.

 

[Sprogladite]

Protein is eventually broken down into glucose which would account for the rise. It will take longer to cause a rise than carbs would but it will still be there.

 

[CathyB]

It may also depend on the burgers, like sausages they can contain something carby to bind them, I would suggest making your own, much tastier and you know exactly what’s in them 😛

 

[SB2015]

I was confused by this when I first started to reduce my carbs. I had some meals with virtually no carbs and then amazed to see the rise in BG afterwards. As others have said, in the absence of carbs to convert to glucose, your body will use the protein. This takes longer but does increase BG.

I find if I have a very low carb meal I have to take account of the protein in working out how much insulin I need.

 

[resander]

Thank you all for the useful comments. I am learning....

I knew I was D2 last year in November (I was then 66kg, height 1.71cm, male), so I changed my daily diet and carefully measured/remeasured blood sugar values 2 hours after meals, excluding foods like white rice, old (baking) potatoes, instant potato mash and others that were reported as non-starters. I found I could eat new potatoes combinations of chicken meat and fish and some other combinations too.

But, after about 8 months my weight had dropped to 61.2kg. That is too low. I am not getting enough calories, so I need to top-up these. How?

I have been thinking about continue eating 'the innocent meals' (new potatoes+) as before and eating add-on non-carb meals burgers, full-fat yogurts etc as energy top-up as required.

Comments appreciated.

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I found saturated fats pushed my cholesterol up, how about adding foods with more unsaturated fats into your main diet as well?
I found a good balance worked best for me, (although I do tend to be fairly low fat having said that, especially saturated)

 

[resander]

It may also depend on the burgers, like sausages they can contain something carby to bind them, I would suggest making your own, much tastier and you know exactly what’s in them 😛

CathyB:
Was curious to find out about amount of carbohydrates in frozen Quarter pounders (4 burgers per pack). Checked by reading some nutrition food labels at online ASDA, Iceland, Tesco, Sainsbury, Aldi and LIDL.

Result:
- between 0.5g to 6g carbohydrates per quarter pounder
- most of the stores had at least one choice with less than 0.5g per burger

 

[CathyB]

CathyB:
Was curious to find out about amount of carbohydrates in frozen Quarter pounders (4 burgers per pack). Checked by reading some nutrition food labels at online ASDA, Iceland, Tesco, Sainsbury, Aldi and LIDL.

Result:
- between 0.5g to 6g carbohydrates per quarter pounder
- most of the stores had at least one choice with less than 0.5g per burger

That doesn’t sound bad at all 😛

 

[Deleted member 21371]

I check all my carbs.
Thankfully, the bad old days of fillers seem to be gone.
But always stay vigilant.

 

[Martin Canty]

Comments appreciated

What works for me is to increase the amount of good fats, from quality animal sources & extra virgin oils (avoid the refined oils i.e. chemically extracted as they tend to increase inflammation) or oily fruit such as Avocado. Fortunately I have stabilized out at a weight which is easy to maintain with very little in the way of added oils. If I want to lose a few pounds then reduce the added oils.