Re: Harry -- Testing Glucose Affect

[Guest guest]

My experience tells me your results will be skewed, if you test to see how a

single carb affects your blood glucose level, when your pretest bs is either

high or low. It would be best to test the effects of a single carb on your bs

level when your pretest bs is in the normal range 80-120. If your bs is in the

normal range consume say 12 grams of carbs or three 4 gram glucose tablets, and

take another bs test 72 minutes later to see what the reading is. For example

assume your bs is in the normal range, say 100. Now eat three glucose tablets

or consume 12 grams of carbs. The glucose tablets are recommended, because they

contain an exact amount of grams of carbs in each tablet. Now after doing this,

take your bs once again. Suppose your new bs level is 220 an hour after

consuming all of those tablets. You now know three things. Your pretest bs was

100 and it is now 220. You consumed 12 grams of carbs. These carbs caused your

bs to rise 120 points. Now derive what I call your C factor. Divide 120, the

difference between 100, your pretest bs level and 220 by the number of grams you

consumed, which is 12. Now you know your C factor or how much 1 gram of carb

will affect your bs level. In this example your C factor is 10. 120/12=10.

Now you know a single gram of carb will raise your bs 10 points.

Glucose monitors traditionally do not make precise measurements when the bs

level is extremely low, below 45 or when the bs is very high, even though they

seem to be more acdurate at the high bs measurements than at the low ones.

Harry -- Testing Glucose Affect

Harry, you have often talked about seeing how you are affected by intake.

So, you say measure BS and then take a known carb amount, such as a glucose

tab, and measure again in two hours, etc.

I am wondering if it matters when you do this. For instance, if you fast

for a given time to get your BS low or what about if it is very high, say

after a sugar binge. I just wonder will the results be skewed by jumping so

much or dropping.

I hope that was clear as mud. Thanks for your help, as always!