One hour postpradnial scare
 

I've been eating a little pineapple in it's own juice mixed in cottage cheese for lunch for sometime now. At two hours after, my bgs have always been below 130 or 120 depending on how much I ate or minor timing fluctuations. Yesterday, I looked at the time wrong and, accidentally, tested at one hour. It was 219...... ten minutes later it was 156 and at 2 hours back to the usual reading.... well below the 140 my doctor recommends.

My A1c has come down to 5.2 and I've read that the two hour postpradnial is more predictive of heart attack than is the A1c. Also, no one seems to be giving a STRAIGHT answer on the one hour postpradnial eventhough it is recommended to gestational diabetics. In fact, I've been on groups where questions are answered by doctors and, when asked about the one hour reading, that part of their question is ignored. I've always understood that anytime bgs exceed 150, damage is being done.

But I'm wondering. Doesn't the reading HAVE to be high at some time in order for First Phase insulin response to kick in? If you happen to check at that moment in time, wouldn't even a normal person get a high reading? Doesn't dropping to 156 in 10 minutes mean it did? Does anyone know about this?

Thanks

According to Dr. B, short-term high bg's have a cumulative effect. "Normal" people do not have readings that high, even after eating much more sugar than you do. (I've tested my wife a few times!)

The bad effects will be small, or postponed to late in life, if you do this rarely, but the more often you eat sugary foods, the more likely you will have complications later in life.

For me, I try to find low-carb sweets to eat when I have cravings. Some of the new low-carb ice creams are really good, and have almost no effect on my bgs. My current fav flavor is Blue Bunny Butter Pecan. My kids even love this! :p

- Danny

Actually, many type 2 diabetics no longer have a phase 1 response or it's very much diminished and ineffective. The phase 1 response starts immediately when you begin eating and is when stored insulin is released into the bloodstream and it's not based at all on what your current blood sugar reading is. Because many type 2's have little to no phase 1 response, this is why their blood sugars can rise quite high in the first hour after eating. The phase 2 response kicks in a little over an hour after you eat and is in direct response to how high and how fast your blood sugar is still rising an hour after you eat. In the phase 2 response, your pancreas produces new insulin to bring blood glucose levels back to where they should be. I believe what you saw with your testing is your phase 2 response kicking in.
As Danny already pointed out, most non-diabetics rarely go over 150 even with eating a high carb or high sugar meal because their phase 1 and phase 2 responses are still intact and their bodies react to them properly.
Personal opinion (but I believe Dr. B agrees with me here); a 100 point jump at any point after eating is not good for a diabetic even if it does return to normal within a reasonable amount of time and if something you are eating is causing that large of a jump, it would probably be wise to eliminate it for now. IIRC, Dr. B states to shoot for no more than a 30 point jump at any point after eating.
BTW...pineapple is a fairly high glycemic fruit (almost right up there with bananas). Maybe some strawberries would work better?

Thanks everyone - this has really helped. Sorry it took so long to get back.... I'm in the middle of moving.

Hi-

I'm a type 2 also. It's a good idea with any food to test at one hour, one and a half hour and two hours so you can see what your actual spike is. Then you can pick and choose what time of day and in what combo with other foods you are going to eat it. As others have said, IMHO that is too high for you at 1 hour. Cottage cheese can be carby too for some diabetics. Was the cottage cheese fat free? You may need some fat in it to slow down the carbs. You could try throwing some almonds in there. Instead, you may want to try plain LOWfat yogurt with pineapple sugar free syrup in it- DaVinci makes it and then test at one hour and see if it makes a significant difference. I aim for 140 and under at 1 hour and 120 and under at 2 hours. I use a whole blood meter. Some meters convert to Plasma, so if yours does, it means that your numbers will be about 12% higher. Doesn't mean I always succeed! The fruits I do best on are strawberries- one or two, and blueberries- no more than 1/4 cup at a time, or 1/2 cup of green apple. Here's a chart I use to compare carb counts of fruits. http://www.lowcarbvegetable.com/fruit.html

-Regards

Deb