Glucose spikes

[Whatsnext]

Can anyone tell me which causes the most damage. A high glucose spike that comes back down relatively quickly by let’s say going for walk or a smaller spike that stays at that level but for a longer period?
Sorry if it’s a silly question, just trying to understand how the whole thing works

Also is it beneficial to have small snacks during the day, and if so what would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[Martin.A]

Can anyone tell me which causes the most damage. A high glucose spike that comes back down relatively quickly by let’s say going for walk or a smaller spike that stays at that level but for a longer period?
Sorry if it’s a silly question, just trying to understand how the whole thing works

Also is it beneficial to have small snacks during the day, and if so what would you recommend?

Thanks

I've come across two schools of thought regarding snacking. One says that you should have a good breakfast, lunch and evening meal with no snacks in between. The other says that if you do that a graph of your BG would like like a Toblerone bar when you should really be aiming for gently rolling hills. They recommend smaller meals with a snack in between. I would interpret the latter as a suggestion for avoiding big spikes, implying that they're not good.

I do the latter and my snacks are generally nuts, a piece of apple or a couple of squares of 85% dark chocolate.

 

[Whatsnext]

I've come across two schools of thought regarding snacking. One says that you should have a good breakfast, lunch and evening meal with no snacks in between. The other says that if you do that a graph of your BG would like like a Toblerone bar when you should really be aiming for gently rolling hills. They recommend smaller meals with a snack in between. I would interpret the latter as a suggestion for avoiding big spikes, implying that they're not good.

I do the latter and my snacks are generally nuts, a piece of apple or a couple of squares of 85% dark chocolate.

Thank you for the reply Martin.
Never been much of a snacker, but sometimes find myself a bit peckish in between meals since cutting down the carbs, so thanks for the advice.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thank you for the reply Martin.
Never been much of a snacker, but sometimes find myself a bit peckish in between meals since cutting down the carbs, so thanks for the advice.

Eating enough protein and healthy fats with your meals should help you not to feel hungry between meals. Having a drink can help rather than food but if you are peckish then low carb snacks like nuts, cheese, veg sticks or a protein nut bar like the Nature Valley, KIND or shop own which are only about 10g carb per bar and a half of one may suffice.

 

[Whatsnext]

Eating enough protein and healthy fats with your meals should help you not to feel hungry between meals. Having a drink can help rather than food but if you are peckish then low carb snacks like nuts, cheese, veg sticks or a protein nut bar like the Nature Valley, KIND or shop own which are only about 10g carb per bar and a half of one may suffice.

Thank you,@Leadinglights a few more suggestions for my shopping list🙂

 

[SimonP]

Can anyone tell me which causes the most damage. A high glucose spike that comes back down relatively quickly by let’s say going for walk or a smaller spike that stays at that level but for a longer period?
Sorry if it’s a silly question, just trying to understand how the whole thing works

It's a good question, my thought has always been that it's more related to time above range, though I imagine it's a multi-dimensional problem. I've asked the same of my consultant but he (at that time) didn't know the answer.

Has anyone seen anything interesting in the literature - I suppose the things to search for are descriptions of the damage processes and then work out how these are affected by concentration vs time.

 

[helli]

Interesting question and maybe relevant to a conversation I had with my consultant recently.
I understand that the NICE advice is that everyone with diabetes over the age of 40 is offered statins because we are more at risk of CVD. I have always declined them as I have a healthy BMI, low cholesterol and am very active.
Recently, my endo told me one of the reasons for the NICE guidance is that wildly fluctuating BG (short sharp highs and lows) puts a strain on our hearts.
So, I always though the longer highs was worse that the short spikes but turns out there are downsides to both.

 

[Whatsnext]

Interesting question and maybe relevant to a conversation I had with my consultant recently.
I understand that the NICE advice is that everyone with diabetes over the age of 40 is offered statins because we are more at risk of CVD. I have always declined them as I have a healthy BMI, low cholesterol and am very active.
Recently, my endo told me one of the reasons for the NICE guidance is that wildly fluctuating BG (short sharp highs and lows) puts a strain on our hearts.
So, I always though the longer highs was worse that the short spikes but turns out there are downsides to both.

Thank you for that interesting information @helli

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Has anyone seen anything interesting in the literature - I suppose the things to search for are descriptions of the damage processes and then work out how these are affected by concentration vs time.

My memory is hazy, but I think there was something referenced in Pumping Insulin (Walsh / Roberts) which showed that retinopathy was found to progress more quickly with rapidly varying levels, 4-20 rather than levels which remained (more or less) steady at 20 I think? Though I’d have to dig back to find what it actually said, and what the study was! There was a build up of some chemical that caused damage, or something?!

But I do remember being surprised at the time I read it.

 

[Dave_Z1a]

Interesting, what is the definition of a spike?

 

[harbottle]

I've never seen a definition of a 'spike'. I'm not sure one can exist, due to the way the makeup of the intake & the gut's biome can affect how we react (the daals that we make reach their peak between 2-3 hours after eating, and that's only the high sixes). Low carb diets and fasting can also change the response as well, as can the level of energy expenditure post meal.

I've noticed that a lot of websites, mainly US based ones, state confidently that the peak is 7.8 and then it rapidly returns back to 5.0, but I've seen CGM graphs of non-diabetics where this is not the case and the return is a slope where the rate of change gets smaller over time. That guy behind 'Zoe' (Tim Spector) used to have a healthy breakfast of oats but saw readings in the 10s and stopped it (Replaced with full fat yoghurt and berries!).