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piranhai thought i would take this glucose testing relatively easy, but noooo, no, yesterday i started keeping track of my food intake as well, just like during the atkins experiment. the good news is that at least that prepped me sufficiently, and i still have all the bookmarks around. and the books. we both eat so badly, that whatever works to get us to eat better overall is a good thing, even if it doesn't last -- who knows, it might last the next time, and it'll be easier then.
i wish i had had this meter during the atkins experiment. the effect of carbs on blood sugar is just really astonishing, and while i read about all that before, seeing it born out by actual numbers from my own blood makes it real.
yesterday my fasting glucose in the morning was 6.7, and i was wondering whether it was maybe due to me having gone for sufficiently long without food (12 hours) that my liver was already cranking out sugar. today's reading after 9 hours is 6.0! i purposely had exactly the same food as my meal the night before (though the rest of the day i didn't), but that eliminates a little of the randomness. my suspicion about the liver already pumping glucose into my blood stream might be correct. the next time i take a fasting blood test i want to control my late night food intake; that high reading might have come from not enough food before sleeping, and too long a period before eating again. i'll probably experiment some with setting an alarm and measuring my glucose levels a couple of times during the night to see what they do.
the really good news is that it seems i can relatively easily push my levels into the normal range by eating differently. yesterday i started with a higher carb meal (and the glucose 2 hours later was at 8.1), while dinner was quite low carb (and the +2 hour glucose was 5.3). i can modify that higher carb meal without too much trouble to be a little lower. i don't want to go for modifications i'll never be able to keep up, so what changes i do make have to be relatively small for now.
the main thing is to be more conscious of what i eat because when i am, i eat better (because i already know what stuff is good for me). i realize i can't stick with this level of record keeping for more than 6 months at most, but maybe this time i can acquire enough knowledge to go on reasonably well after that, even if i drop most of the record keeping.
seirei no moribito is the most beautiful anime i've seen all year. even more beautiful than suzumiya haruhi, yes. and it has an excellent female hero, competent, with not a cute thing about her, and a nice, calm alto voice. is this really coming out of japan? *snrk*.
i wish i had had this meter during the atkins experiment. the effect of carbs on blood sugar is just really astonishing, and while i read about all that before, seeing it born out by actual numbers from my own blood makes it real.
yesterday my fasting glucose in the morning was 6.7, and i was wondering whether it was maybe due to me having gone for sufficiently long without food (12 hours) that my liver was already cranking out sugar. today's reading after 9 hours is 6.0! i purposely had exactly the same food as my meal the night before (though the rest of the day i didn't), but that eliminates a little of the randomness. my suspicion about the liver already pumping glucose into my blood stream might be correct. the next time i take a fasting blood test i want to control my late night food intake; that high reading might have come from not enough food before sleeping, and too long a period before eating again. i'll probably experiment some with setting an alarm and measuring my glucose levels a couple of times during the night to see what they do.
the really good news is that it seems i can relatively easily push my levels into the normal range by eating differently. yesterday i started with a higher carb meal (and the glucose 2 hours later was at 8.1), while dinner was quite low carb (and the +2 hour glucose was 5.3). i can modify that higher carb meal without too much trouble to be a little lower. i don't want to go for modifications i'll never be able to keep up, so what changes i do make have to be relatively small for now.
the main thing is to be more conscious of what i eat because when i am, i eat better (because i already know what stuff is good for me). i realize i can't stick with this level of record keeping for more than 6 months at most, but maybe this time i can acquire enough knowledge to go on reasonably well after that, even if i drop most of the record keeping.
seirei no moribito is the most beautiful anime i've seen all year. even more beautiful than suzumiya haruhi, yes. and it has an excellent female hero, competent, with not a cute thing about her, and a nice, calm alto voice. is this really coming out of japan? *snrk*.
no subject
on 2007-12-07 18:47 (UTC)Re: blood sugar regulation
on 2007-12-07 19:48 (UTC)His early books, 1995 and 1997, go into good explicit detail about how to avoid spikes using foods as if they are drugs rather than using drugs. The 1995 Zone goes into more detail regarding the biochemistry and the 1997 Mastering goes more into what you can be eating to get the best control/regulation. There's a little overlap.
Dull as dishwater, unless you're interested in regulating blood sugar and insulin reactions. He actually found a higher correlation between high insulin levels and heart disease than between high cholesterol levels and heart disease, btw.
Any way - just a suggestion.
no subject
on 2007-12-08 15:27 (UTC)In other news, I don't read mangas anymore! Do you believe it? I'm engrossed with "Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann, though I find it a bit tiring and difficult at some points.
Life's beautiful... reading, listening to classic rock bands(simon&Garfunkel, rainbow, deep purple, ac/dc, moody blues, king crimson) and drinking vermouth...I could die happy...
Have a nice weekend there!
Hugs,
platonios
more on blood sugar and eating habits
on 2007-12-08 21:26 (UTC)so go get a meter -- you can probably get it free if you shell out for 100 test strips. :) but i warn you, your body might not like the pain, even though it's really just a small prick. i can already feel mine protesting; it tries to flinch now when i push the pricker against a finger. my fingers are already complaining when i type -- even though i avoid the tips, a couple of them have pricks in bad places. i feel even more sympathy for type 1 diabetics than i did before; i only measure 4 times, they might measure 6-12. every day. *ugh*.
you mean what will happen to my blood glucose levels after 24 hours of fasting? not a stupid question at all. mind that i am not a biochemist or even particularly knowledgable about metabolism (which is a very complicated set of processes). this is what i think about how this works, very simplified: nothing much. i expect my metabolism to basically continue converting fat reserves to sugar to keep the blood glucose at a stable level (which might be too high for me personally, because of insulin insensitivity). it's not like the levels will fall and fall and fall until you eat again -- that only happens in people where the process is not working properly, like diabetics who'll end up with hypoglycemia (dangerously below-normal glucose levels).
metabolism has two major components: anabolic and catabolic. anabolic means the "building" part where the body takes apart the food you've given it and converts it into storable components (and uses some of it right away). catabolic is the "breaking down" part where the body uses existing stored components to fuel itself.
so when you eat, your body uses up some of the food immediately, and you get a big jump in blood glucose levels right after eating (this is also why exercising about 20 min after a meal is an efficient time; that's when the exercise pushes the metabolism onward while it's already going strong).
at some point, when the immediate food content has been used up, the body digs into glucose stores in the liver, and then starts converting fat into sugar.
fasting won't really take a serious effect until you do it for rather longer than 24 hours. it depends on how much fat you have stored, but at some point the body starts to attack the muscle to convert it into sugar. this is what happens to anorectics -- very dangerous.
...
i am reading relatively litle manga right now myself, but that's because i am watching a lot of anime. i go through phases like that.
sounds like a lovely weekend for you; enjoy!