My levels are higher at 2 hours than 1 hr pp

[fendel]

Can anyone shed some light on this...

First a quick background - I am "unofficially" prediabetic and have started testing at home again after a long lapse. Right now my fasting bg runs about 85 if I've been careful with carbs the day before, or about 100 otherwise. ("Unofficial" = my doc hasn't diagnosed this - I prefer to handle this on my own unless it reaches a point where I can't control it with low-carb.)

What is weird is, my postprandial readings are routinely higher at 2 hours than at 1 hour. All the stuff I see on the web about postprandial readings seems to assume that people peak at 1 hour, but I seem to peak at 2 unless I eat something unusually high-GI (in which case, wham, bg shoots way up in half an hour). What does this mean?

I've been searching but haven't found an explanation. Help? :help:

[RobLL]

This is only a stab, there are others on the forum who are knowledgeable. If your initial insulin response is shot, typical for most type 2s, and your second insulin response is slow that could explain it. Remember that much of your meal may take more than an hour to digest and enter your blood stream as glucose.

[dina1957]

some food spikes you faster than the others, like protein takes longer to digest and may spike you 2 or 3 hours after, while carbs spike in 30-45 minutes and then BGs go down faster.
JME

[fendel]

Thanks you guys. Sounds like the GI thing is at work here... I looked over my notes on what I've been eating over the last week, and the only time my BG was higher at 1 hour was when I ate a granola bar -- all my "normal" (lower-carb, more fat and protein) meals have caused a slower rise in blood sugar.

Maybe the reason so many sources show a 1-hour spike as typical is because that's what the "standard American diet" (i.e., high-carb, high-glycemic) tends to produce.

[danbrown]

Check out (google?) Gastroparesis (delayed stomach emptying).

[dina1957]

Check out (google?) Gastroparesis (delayed stomach emptying).
I was about oto suggest it too, granola bar is very high GI/GL I imagine and it should spike you rather sooner than later, so delayed stomach emptying may be to blame.

[pauleo]

Fendel - I also am prediabetic, and have noticed exactly the same phenomenon. As stated in the previous replies, it seems gastroparesis may be an explanation. On the other hand, I got the impression that gastroparesis is more a complication that follows the development of full diabetes rather than preceding it. But I'm not sure about that.

The Dr Bernstein book (and web page) contain a suggestion for improving gastroparesis. There's a yoga breathing exercise where you breathe out and at the same time pull your stomach muscles in. Then you breathe in and fully expand the diaphragm and the abdomen outwards. I started doing it while I walk to work. No sign of any change in my glucose response (but it's only been a week or so).

p.s. It's an interesting theory that a 1-hour peak may be the normal response to high-carb SAD, but later peak may be normal for low-carb.

[dina1957]

p.s. It's an interesting theory that a 1-hour peak may be the normal response to high-carb SAD, but later peak may be normal for low-carb.
This conclusion I made after managing diabetes since 2002, for almost 5 years. While carbs will spiked BGs in 30 minutes, protein/fat meal will do 2 things:
1) delay stomach emptying
2) spike Bgs sometimes after 3 hours, not too high, but keep them steady higher than if I consume more carbs at meal time
Could be just my own unique issue too, we all are different.
As prediabetic, you hardly have gastropharesis, unless your Bgs were high for years, that constinuted for nerve damage in Gi tract.

[pauleo]

This conclusion I made after managing diabetes since 2002, for almost 5 years. While carbs will spiked BGs in 30 minutes, protein/fat meal will do 2 things:
1) delay stomach emptying
2) spike Bgs sometimes after 3 hours, not too high, but keep them steady higher than if I consume more carbs at meal time


If it's true for people generally that low-carb food gives a longer shallower BG curve, then that would be an argument I have not seen before in favor of low-carbohydrate diet (for anyone). At least it seems intuitively reasonable that long slow energy release is better than short, sharp energy release. (But I know that's not a very scientific statement).

[dina1957]

If it's true for people generally that low-carb food gives a longer shallower BG curve, then that would be an argument I have not seen before in favor of low-carbohydrate diet (for anyone). At least it seems intuitively reasonable that long slow energy release is better than short, sharp energy release. (But I know that's not a very scientific statement).
In my observation, long shallower Bgs curve indeed contribute to higher H1C overall, which is a factor of time as well. Normal non-diabtic curbe showes some Bgs spike within 45 minutes, and then drop to pre-meal levels, VLC diet does not follow same pattern, for me at least, between meals liver fills in, so it keep BGs overall at higher level, but does not correlate with the same level of energy.
JMO

[eddiemcm]

I read in my glucose monitor manual that
goal PP for diabetic should be 160 after 1 hour
and 120 after 2 hours.I'm not an expert on this
subject but that profile comes pretty close to
me when I eat a medium carb lunch.I do take
one sulfonylurea diabetic pill a day.
Eddie

[violethour]

Thanks you guys. Sounds like the GI thing is at work here... I looked over my notes on what I've been eating over the last week, and the only time my BG was higher at 1 hour was when I ate a granola bar -- all my "normal" (lower-carb, more fat and protein) meals have caused a slower rise in blood sugar.

Maybe the reason so many sources show a 1-hour spike as typical is because that's what the "standard American diet" (i.e., high-carb, high-glycemic) tends to produce.

I wanted to agree with this post; I am following the Insulin-Resistance Diet and it suggests you link eating good carb foods with a protein at a balance of 15g of carb to 7g of protein, adding in veggies; they consider protein to also include a lot of low fat dairy and legumes and beans. Anyway, what this does is the protein delays the digestion of the carb, making for a smoother gentler rise in insulin. This avoids the over-production of insulin and having the carbs be digested and stored immediately as fat (not a good thing). It also suggests that you eat no more than two carb servings for every 2 hour period (30grams).
So apparently this is working that way for you. I agree about the typical American diet spiking insulin within an hour then dropping, leaving way for hypoglycemia to take effect. A big circle.