I'm at 333, and even if I had toast with breakfast, a sandwich and a banana at lunch, a big serving of spaghetti at dinner, and a cup of blueberries for dessert, I'd be around 200. Guess I'd better eat a couple of candy bars and a bowl of ice cream to stay healthy.

That statistic cracks me up! When I ate lots of carbs, I had 'brain fog' and was definitely sluggish. I credit my low-carb diet and supplement regimen to helping that fog lift. I'm a hell of a lot sharper than I was when I was eating a carb-laden diet.

Kat

Well carbs from like sweetpotatoes, beans, oats seem to give me a great boost, but I always have them with plenty of fat and protein. I've always wondered just how much of a glucose spike I would get after eating one of my meals, I always eat sweet potatoes for example.. Meals typically can contain upto 40-50% of carbs with min of 30% fat.

Glucose monitors all the same? will a cheap one do?

It would be good to see what things I can change so that my postprandial glucose spike is not big. All I know at the moment is my fasting glucose level is at 81mg/dl

EDIT:

One thing I did learn though is not to eat a high carb meal without protein! that makes me feel a bit weird sometimes.

According to my glucose meter, I check 1 hour and 2 hours after every meal, I can not tell the difference between carbs. Anything over about 15 grams of carb per meal, whether that be a potato, a piece of dense, whole-grain bread, or a donut, shoots my blood sugars up into the stratosphere.

Whole, unprocessed carbs vs. fruit juice, soda, and even full fat ice cream....makes only one different in my BG readings. With the fruit juice, donuts, etc. my highest reading will be at the 1 hour. The 2 hour reading will still be quite high but have come down slightly. With whole, unprocessed carbs, my 1 hour reading is high but the 2 hour reading is even higher.

So, yeah, while it might process a bit slower, it will still give me unacceptable spikes in my blood sugars. It just takes a tad longer for it to happen.

ETA: This is why most of my carbs come from vegetables with only a small amount of carbs from cheeses. Even too many vegetables in one sitting, like a huge salad, will give me unacceptable blood sugar spikes.

I don't think what brand matters all that much. I can do you one better than cheap - you can usually get the glucose meter itself for free (look for coupons). In my case, the pharmacist had a coupon in a stack of flyers and gave one to me.

It's the test strips and lancets that aren't cheap, sad to say. And get the tiniest finest lancets you can find, because they hurt less (as long as you're getting a drop of blood).
Also important: wash your hands before testing, and dry them well.


Wow! Nice 'n' low!

I don't count carbs in my lettuce, I eat huge salas at least once a day with lettuce, cukes, tomatoes,bell pepers, etc. and my BG spike no more than 10-20 points. I can't imagne that lettuce can give any diabetic a huge spike in a glucose. When 10 caps contain 13 g carbs minus 10 g of fiber! A cup of cukes - 3 g carbs. a cup of cherry tomatoe has 7 g carbs, and almost 2 g of fiber. All together it will make 23-12 = 11 g total carbs. But I doubt you can eat this slad in one sitting , so regular salad averaging about 6 g of carbs. I can't imagine getting BGs spike from 6 g of carbs. Cheese has negligible amount of carbs too, but some ppl even count carbs in coffee.

I read ACV drink [natural cider vinegar] before meals will prevent BG spikes.

I like BIG salads also, that may be why I seem to get hungry 2 hrs after a meal when I include one. When I am fasting my BG goes up >100, after I eat it goes down <100.

I got my inControl meter for only $10, the cheap ones need a bigger drop of blood so I don't test very often; the strips are $20 for 50. The case is of poor design. http://www.thesmartchoice.com/products-2.asp

Sweet potatoes are a near perfect food, I had them on SBD without problems and I may try them again after goal I don't eat the white ones.

Full fat ice cream is actualy lower GI than skim milk. So combining carbs with fat and protien is a bit safer IMHO.

Dr. Bernstein relates a story in his book (page 95 of the most recent edition if anyone cares to look it up) of a patient of his that was getting large spikes in blood sugar after her afternoon swimming workout. Her blood sugars were going from 90 pre-workout to 300+ post workout. Upon investigating, he discovered that she was in the habit of eating an entire head of lettuce prior to her workout (now that's a huge salad!). He credited the dramatic rise in blood sugar to something he terms the 'Chinese restaurant effect' in which a large but very low carb meal can cause a rise in blood sugar that cannot be accounted for by the number of carbs consumed (roughly 10 for an entire head of iceburg lettuce).
The explanation of this effect is that the upper small intestine secretes hormones when it is stretched as it would be in a large meal. The larger the meal, the greater the stretching and also the greater the amount of hormones released. These hormones will in turn trigger the release of insulin and also glucagon. In a diabetic, the insulin release would be small or even none at all but the glucagon would cause gluconeogenesis and glycogenolysis leading to....a large rise in blood sugars from a relatively low carb meal.

The moral of the story? If you're diabetic, stuffing yourself with even very low carb foods can cause an undesireable spike in blood sugars, so don't stuff yourself.

I said salads....not simply lettuce. Add some dressing, even if it's simply low-carb mayonnaise, a few slices of cheese, etc. and I get a spike. I have tried eating things like Chef's Salads, Cobb Salads, etc. when I've gone into restaurants. I have even brought my own low-carb dressings because I realize that restaurant dressings often have sugar in them. And if I eat a large amount of salad, enough to take me from hungry-to-satisfied, even with low-carb dressing on it, I can spike 50-80 points. Even more if I've been relatively inactive that day. Just because it hasn't happened to you, don't assume that it can't happen to others.

I have read the book and this story too, and with all my respect to Dr.B, the explanation is sounds anecdotal. First, swimming burns sugar mostly, this is a near perfect workout for diabetics. So, if this women was T1 or T2 who does not make much insulin already, the spike in BGs could be more due to the liver sugar dump because of low insulin and not enough carbs eaten prior to workout, not the lettuce itself . If I skip a meal or eat very little carbs and get a long and streneous workout, my BGs can jump up to 180, and swimming session is streneous enough!
"Chinese restaurant effect" in my book, results in Bgs spike but only y due to a large amount of hidden sugar in chinese food. Chinese food is loaded with sugar, and gives me a decent BGs spike too, unless I eat only steamed fish and vegetables.


This has nothing to do with lettice itself, all diabetics both T1 and T2 advised to either inject insulin or have a carby snack before workout to get insulin going so to speak (in those who still have a good phase 2 insulin response), which inhibits gluconeogenesis, and post-workout BGs spike. BGs spike to 300 is a sign that she was most likely T1, and did not inject enough insulin to avoid hypos on 6-12-12 plan, or T2 with a poor control.
I wonder if anyone else had BGs of 300 from eating a whole head of lettuce, which is basically freebee, and nothing else.
I am going to try it, eat enitre head of lettice alone, and check my Bgs after. See, if I can reproduce the results.

Here is some info from Medscape on Incretins, I suppose is what you refer to as intestinal hormones.
The enitre acrticle can be read at
http://www.medscape.com/viewprogram/3075_pnt



Many folks have genetic defect resulting in lack of incretins, and this alone put them in diabetic cathegory. Incretins slows rate of glucose entering blood stream, inhibits gluconeogenesis, and stimulates insulin release.


Can't agree more with it more, and this is a good idea for everyone, not diabetics only

The brain may need 100g/day of glucose to function, but your body can easily make the glucose you need by breaking down fat &/or protein. You don't have to EAT it!

My brain is also fogless & sharper on LC.

The same people who believe a Twinkie will make their brain function better are the ones who believe the egg-yolks you eat will plaster themselves on the walls of your arteries. In fact, only 25% of the cholesterol you eat ends up in your arteries; 75% is made by your body (often to protect the walls from the inflammation caused by the huge amounts of sugar consumed in the "typical American diet").

Did you read Funkycampe's post above? Seems Dr. Bernstein's patient isn't the only one who experiences this phenomenon. I've seen enough 'anecdotal' reports of similar experiences to discount that it happens or poo-pooh its existence. In Dr. Bernstein's definition, the Chinese restaurant effect has nothing to do with hidden sugars but with the amount of protein and slow-acting carbs contained in them along with a higher amount of fiber. According to Dr. B, it wouldn't matter if it had been sawdust...the same effect would occur.
I'll be interested to hear the results of your experiment.

BTW...Dr. B is type 1 and does not carb load before his workouts which, by his account, are fairly strenuous.

I wonder if her Bgs will shoot to 300g if she just ate a head of lettuce and did not go swimming.
I know what he meant by it, but what I am sure is due to hidden cabrs in all chinese food, even soup has added sugar, not to mention all the sauces. Portions of protein in chinese food are rather small, and if you stick to steam green veggies, it will be mostly indigestibe fiber. I wonder who can actually eat so much broccoli to get Bgs to shoot to 300, I would be bloated after 2-3 cups.
As for sawdust, I wonder if Dr/B's himself or any of his patients tried to experiement with, and how much they actually ingested

I will not commit to sawdust, but can commit to head of lettuce (can it be romain lettuce instead, I don't eat iceberg), and will let you know. I actually can tell you right now, that I eat huge salad everyday: with 4-5 cups of lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, some onions, bell pepper: red and yellow ( no-no per Dr.B.) about a cup together, olives, and always some protein with it: chicken breast and cheese, and my BGs always <100 after this meal. I even eat a small fruit for desert, this is why it is hard to believe that T2 with good control can get such a high number after a few grams of carbs from lettuce. BTW, iceberg lettuce is rather small head, and it won't stretch intestines much after partically being digested.


No, he does not carb load, he does not need to, HE SIMPLY iNJECTS INSULIN BEFORE THE WORKOUT, and he states it in his book.
This is a common practice for T1 to inject before working out to cover for "liver dump" while T2 with farely good control can just have a snack. I consider having a farely good control, and just have to eat something if I workout 1st thing in the morning, once I have any food to get the insulin going after a night fast, I normally have no problems with the spike. It does not matter is the glucose is ingested orally or the liver produces it via gluconeogenesis, the end results - BGs spike due to lack of or ineffective insulin.
There is no need to carb load for non-diabetics, however, they will experince low Bgs after workout instead.
Hope this makes sense.

I can't imagine that anyone justifies for eating Twinkie to fuel brain, but I definetely getting foggy after cutting carbs to 20-30g.
As for cholesterol, body does have to make it from something, and this something - is saturated fat. Onyl TRG are made from excessive glucose, LDL and HDL need saturated fat as a raw material. No one says cholesterole from food matters, it is the dietary saturated fat, and fat in general, that is needed for cholesterol. Try a totally vegan diet, and see your cholesterol plammeting (both HDL and LDL) and if you avoid sugars and simple carbs, TRG will go down too.

So it is not just a lettuce, then. I am not sure if you T1 or T2 with poor control. If you catch the spike after 30 minutes, it's not a biggy, but if you Bgs still 80 points higher after 2 hours, it is a problem. Then I can't imagine what you can eat to stay in control, and I don't know if you just control by the diet or inject insulin. Could be that you do not produce much insulin on your own, so as that women was most likely T1 and did not think a freebee will cause huge BGs spike.
I do not assume, I communicate to other T2 with good control, and barely know anyone who would get 80 points spike from a very low carb salad.