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Good or bad spikes

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K

Kanga

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Type 2
I need some advice please. I understand from reading on the forum the need,as a newbee, to test regularly to see which foods raise my levels too much so should be avoided. My question is what am I actually looking at? My levels go up 1 to2 hours after then come down, but what constitutes a too high a reading is there some literature that will explain it to me please. Hope this question makes sense
 
My DSN advised me to try and keep my BGs between 5.0 and 9.0 and this is a good guide. Anything under 4.0 is a hypo though few treat anything over 3.5 and anything over 10.0 is hyper. If you're 5.0 before a meal you should hope not to see a rise of more than 2.0 after an hour or two (depends how much fat is in the meal as fat can slow the rise). Any more of a rise can be called a spike, but I wouldn't worry too much about it unless you're going into double figures after eating. I hope that helps.
 
Kanga said:
I need some advice please. I understand from reading on the forum the need,as a newbee, to test regularly to see which foods raise my levels too much so should be avoided. My question is what am I actually looking at? My levels go up 1 to2 hours after then come down, but what constitutes a too high a reading is there some literature that will explain it to me please. Hope this question makes sense
Click to expand...

You can also work out in advance what sends your blood sugars up.
You look at calories and glycaemic index.
Anything over 300 calories, varies per person, will take longer to come down.
High glycaemic index, with more free sugar, as opposed to complex carbohydrates which take time to break down, will have a higher spike.

Some things you just have to observe for yourself, such as that an orange has a lower spike than orange juice.
 
Yes and no Hobie, from all I can tell the conversion process is the same whatever type we are, it's the way our bodies cope with that process that differs. A T1 can take insulin to cover whatever they eat but that won't work well for a T2 who has insulin resistance and may need medications to help them use the insulin they already produce.

Any diabetic can benefit from the food testing regime and learn from it, it's just what we do with that information that changes.

I hope that makes sense? I think I've confused myself and I'm not sure it actually answered your point.
 
Hi Alison. It depends on what you are up to & I use a lot of squared bolus with my pump. What % you put in & time for it to peak etc. It is a minefield for T1. Pumps are ex for sorting these things but you don't get it right all the time 🙂
 
But I never need to consider glycaemic load as 'GL'. Fruit v frut juice is a no brainer because oranges for example have dietary fibre - which always slows things down. Hence as a T1 you can drink OJ as a hypo remedy whereas eating the equivalent amount of carbs in oranges would a) take too long to eat in the first place and b) wouldn't act so fast on your BG because of the fibre.

A 'normal' portion of pasta which is 75g dry weight according to pasta packets (white pasta or green - not brown as I don't like brown) takes 5 or 6 hours to spike me - but when it happens it's immediate and HUGE. Like you've just eaten the equivalent amount of granulated sugar. As you don't know exactly when this will happen, that's murder to bolus correctly for, and I don't think any diabetic should eat food that does that to them, spikes (in a not too bad otherwise BG) are the things that cause the damage, after all.

However - does this really happen to Type 2s where there is endogenous insulin whereas with T1s it's all exogenous and added sporadically?
 
Yes indeed Hobie - we are! - that WAS the point of my post ! LOL


PS I don't believe there is such a thing as a 'good' spike unless you are struggling with low BGs and then you are grateful cos it's finally sorted ! Otherwise, not.
 
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