Re: Recommended Blood Testing Intervals to Audition New Foods

[Guest guest]

Here is another excellent post from Ron Sebol from our LC-DIABETES ListServ

group:

Date: Tue, 25 May 1999 21:54:35 -0700

Subject: Re: Great new food(s)

Kathi Bruce wrote:

>

> Stupid question here - but I'm new. If I want to see how something

(carrots)

> affect my BG - how soon after eating a serving should I test my blood

> todetermine the result?

> Kathi in Cinci

Carbs peak in 30 to 90 minutes depending on how hard they are to digest.

Protein takes about two hours to peak. Both are delayed if there is a

large amount of fat included in the portions. For carbs, take readings

every 15 minutes from minutes 30 to 90. It is the peak that you are

trying to catch. If the GI of the specimen is below 40 then start at 60

minutes.

The signature of a peak is first an increase and then a decrease,

eventually to baseline/premeal. Once the peak is located, it is ok to

jump to 30 minute readings to track it back down to baseline. You should

have two questions when auditioning a food. One is: how much will a

portion of such and such elevate my BG? Second is: given I eat the

portion I am acustomed to, how long will it take for my BG to return to

normal? premeal value.

Don't bother to run the test on a teaspoon. That is, you need to eat

enough to produce a large enough change to be measurable. Changes of 5

mg/dl or less are too small to be useful because test strip to test

strip random error is of that magnitude. Changes of 50 mg/dl are more

the ticket.

Ron