Ask most mainstream docs: What ought to my blood sugars be after a meal? They are going to invariably reply: “So long as it’s lower than 200 mg/dl, you’re wonderful. Is that this true?
No, completely not. Blood sugars after a meal of, say, 180 mg/dl, are harmful for long-term well being. What the physician is saying is “You don’t but have kind 2 diabetes necessitating insulin or different medicine to cut back blood sugar and I’m subsequently not involved in your near-term security.” In typical healthcare, not needing a drug or process is considered as “well being.” In fact, that’s not our definition of well being. What he/she is not saying is “It is a degree of blood sugar according to optimum well being.” In truth, you’re going to come to know that any blood sugar >100 mg/dl holds potential for damaging results on well being.
Let’s say your blood sugar previous to the meal is good at 87 mg/dl. (Excellent fasting glucose is 70-90 mg/dl). You might have a breakfast of stoneground natural oatmeal in skim milk with blueberries, a teaspoon of honey, and an 8 ounce glass of orange juice. You verify your blood sugar 30-60 minutes after the beginning of your meal 178 mg/dl—a degree your physician declares is okay. Docs additionally advise you to verify a blood sugar 2 hours after a meal, however that is to find out whether or not blood sugar returns to its baseline degree for functions of managing it with insulin or different medicine—that’s NOT what we’re in search of. We’re in search of the height blood sugar. Anytime blood sugar rises over 100 mg/dl, we all know that:
- Repeated cycles of excessive blood sugar contain excessive blood insulin. That is the method that results in insulin resistance that results in weight acquire (particularly in inflammatory visceral fats), kind 2 diabetes, hypertension, small LDL particles that result in coronary heart illness, fatty liver, and elevated potential for situations corresponding to Alzheimer’s dementia (“kind 3 diabetes”). In different phrases, that breakfast of oatmeal and orange juice units you up for quite a few power well being issues.
- The liver converts the sugars in your breakfast to triglycerides through the method of de novo lipogenesis, the conversion of sugars to fat (triglycerides). Triglycerides are launched into the bloodstream as very low-density lipoproteins, VLDL, that contribute to coronary heart illness and trigger formation of small LDL particles that additionally contribute to coronary heart illness. Some triglycerides additionally stay within the liver and contribute to the method of fatty liver.
- A big inflow of sugars (the amylopectin of oats, sugars in honey and orange juice) alters the intestinal microbiome, favoring proliferation of Proteobacteria (the species of dysbiosis and SIBO) and fungi like Candida albicans.
- An increase in blood sugar causes irreversible glycation, i.e., glucose modification of proteins. That is the elemental course of that results in cataracts, accelerated pores and skin getting older, deterioration of joint cartilage and osteoarthritis, worsens the guts disease-causing potential of small LDL particles, and dementia.
In fact, the upper the blood sugar rise after a meal, the extra these processes are set in movement. Excessive blood sugars after a meal are subsequently fairly detrimental to well being, opposite to standard recommendation. Because of this, I advocate what I name “The No Change Rule”: blood sugar 30-60 minutes after the beginning of a meal needs to be roughly the identical as blood sugar previous to the meal (accepting that finger stick blood sugars are correct to +/- 15 mg/dl). A blood sugar pre-meal of, say, 93 mg/dl ought to stay at about that degree 30-60 minutes after the beginning. You thereby don’t set off an enormous rise in insulin, don’t create insulin resistance, don’t trigger liver de novo lipogenesis, don’t trigger formation of VLDL and small LDL particles, don’t set off hostile modifications within the intestinal microbiome, and don’t trigger glycation—all main benefits for well being.
If in case you have entry to a steady glucose monitor, even higher—however nonetheless adhere to the No Change Rule for max well being profit.
