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Food spikes

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J

JoeJOns

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi guys,

Just wondering what foods make your blood levels spike? I have noticed after eating canned beans my blood sugars spike slightly. Anyone have the same experience?
 
My worst spike was potato, but also baked beans, rice and pasta. I've cut them out now and have things like cauliflower, carrot/swede puree, roast squash, boodles, protein noodles instead of potato, rice and pasta, and grilled mushrooms and tomatoes instead of baked beans. A small amount of wholemeal bread does not affect me much, but I know it does for some people. It may be different for me, as I'm Type 2 and not on medication, and I see you are Type 1.
 
What type of beans? What did you eat them with?

The DAFNE advice for baked beans in tomato sauce is to halve the carbs on the can, cos the beans shouldn't spike you but the sauce will. OTOH if you have em on toast - the whole meal is a bit of a carb fest and likely to spike T1s to some degree.

There again how long did YOUR spike last after the beans? Was it still evident before your next meal? How often do you intend eating them?

ie I know that beans on toast (a-hem AKA skinheads on a raft LOL) will send my BG too high too quickly and stay there for too long - hence I don't make a habit of eating that. I may have a couple of spoonfuls of beans as an accompaniment with something else for a meal and only jab for the sauce - but B on T not even once a month - if I want to have something quick then it's poached (or fried if your my husband) egg on toast, or cheese on.
 
Mashed tatties, can eat them boiled roasted as chips but not mashed. Never had problem with beans, only eat them now with greasy fry up.
 
Eggs, and there's no rhyme or reason to that, except that I have a slight intolerance to them - but I can't eat them now, they send my blood sugar into the high teens every time, no matter how much insulin I have for them.

Ripe bananas. Sometimes, not always, but I am rather wary of them. Yellow bananas aren't such a problem.
 
Pasta, any form of, very sad as love Italian but a definite no-no for me
 
I have dolmio serves one heat in microwave pasta (with added by me peppers, onions, canned sweet corn and green pesto). Sends levels up by 2 mmol ish and 90 min later back down to same or lower than before eating. Something to do with cooked, cooled and reheated pasta and the change to the starches.
 
Anything that you eat, if it contains carbohydrate in any form will tend to send BG up!

By how much and how quickly depends on the food and the individual. The more sugar the food contains the more likely it is to send BG up quickly. Baked beans and ice cream, for example, are very likely to do so.

A spike is not a problem as long as it is not too high and not too long. What is "not too high", and "not too long"? Talk to your health care team.

You can do several things:
1. Avoid the foods that cause spikes.
2. Use more bolus insulin (as long as this does not cause a hypo)
3. Change the time relative to eating when you inject
4. Ignore the problem!
 
SueEK said:
Pasta, any form of, very sad as love Italian but a definite no-no for me
Click to expand...
Did you know you can get protein noodles with zero carbs? Bare Naked Noodles - very acceptable with bolognese sauce, or in stir fries
 
I'm surprised you mention ice cream in the context of spikes and sugariness, @leonS - maybe I just eat different types of ice cream from you, but it's a high fat lowish carb half a unit of insulin and no chance of a spike for me (on the other hand I spike when I eat eggs, so what does my body know!).
 
Potatoes definitely seem to be the thing that spikes me the most. Shame as I love them.
 
For me - grains in general, parsnips and watermelon (go figure). Maybe potatoes but I hardly ever eat them so not sure. By "spike" I mean I might go briefly over 8, which is no big deal & the sort of level that many non-diabetics would get. But having had out-of-control T2, I naturally still et a bit nervous ...
 
TheClockworkDodo said:
I'm surprised you mention ice cream in the context of spikes and sugariness, @leonS - maybe I just eat different types of ice cream from you, but it's a high fat lowish carb half a unit of insulin and no chance of a spike for me (on the other hand I spike when I eat eggs, so what does my body know!).
Click to expand...

I did not say that ice-cream will cause a spike, only that it is likely to. The clue is in the bit about the extra insulin that you use - you know that it contains carbs (mostly sugar) and rightly act accordingly.

I mentioned it as it is one of the foods which contain a relatively high sugar content, but does not taste particularly sweet. Easy to think that it will have little or no effect.

I, and I suspect, most people can eat eggs until the hens come home with little or no effect

And yes, we poor people often buy cheap ice cream with less fat and more sugar!
 
I take your point, Leon, but just to explain that I meant half a unit of insulin altogether, not half a unit extra insulin (I mean, I'd be putting my usual amount of insulin down if eating ice cream, rather than going up half a unit from my usual amount). I have multiple food intolerances so couldn't eat most ice cream though, I'm limited in my options by health rather than by price.
 
I tend to agree with @leonS, most carbs do to some extent or other. Can also depend on what ones doing, timings, what you’re having the carbs with etc etc etc.

I’m great with a mini bag of giant dairy milk buttons, easy to bolus for, causes me no problems, but along with Juliet eggs seem to cause me a delayed spike...particularly scrambled. Only noticed this in the last couple of years, thanks to this forum and Libre. Not a big pasta fan but am better with a small amount of ordinary pasta, no probs, than the wholemeal that I’ve been having for years. Seem to get a long delayed hill with that. Oh and when out recently ended up with a sandwich made with white bread, didn’t realise until it was put in front of me...yikes. Haven’t really had white bread ever...wont be having that again...with an eye on Libre and a bit of extra bolus, the line basically still shot straight up to 15. Just as well I didn’t like it.

The trick is learning how to manage potential spikes.
 
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