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Interesting thread... I am not diabetic. I have never had any reason to think I am and have never been tested. I would imagine with non-diabetics some spiking would be normal, as everything expands and constricts... how much I am not sure, it would depend on the condition of the vessels. We have over 60 thousand miles:) Meds mask blood pressure symptoms.

Aloha, patty

yes, everyone spikes. The problem is that if you have t2 and you are insulin resistant, the spikes could go pretty high.

Nordgirl, like your husband, mine sometimes spike then come down. I do not know if I have mentioned this before but did you say you were going to try a little fat in the form of nuts or some other fat with his meals? I tried this once when I read Barry Sears Zone book in which he claims adding fat to carbs brings down the blood sugar and prevents spikes. Here is what I found: He is right. If you add fat the one and two hour blood sugars will be lower. However, if you continue to test then you will find as I did that the three, four and maybe five hour test will show spikes. All the fat did was prevent the sugar passing through the digestive system at the speed it would without fat. Thus when it is time to eat your next meal instead of the blood sugar having returned to normal, it is higher than it would have been without the fat. I do not want to start a meal with a high blood sugar. Sounds like a version of the shell game.

I do not know what would happen if you add nuts, seeds or avocados to the meal--I only tried it with olive oil. If I do eat one or two walnuts I am more likely to do it with a big luncheon salad.

I have yet to hear anything about my spike question from Dr. McDougall. However, after twenty years I do not have any complications that I know of. The low carbers say that spikes will cause sugar to stick to your cells and cause complications. However, wouldn't blood sugar sticking to cells show up as high HbA1c? Isn't that a measure of glycation which means sugar has attached itself to proteins? So low HbA1c would mean no danger of complications from spikes?

Didi (My blood sugar this morning was 68.)

hmmm I would be really careful with nuts/seeds and avocado as they could just be masking.

Aloha, patty

Wow, Didi that's almost too low! Hope you ate something straight away

As husband has been on the MWL plan, I hadn't considered it, but I am going to some experimenting with chia seeds. The other night he had a large plate of Quinoa salad, then a dessert of chia seed pudding, and his 1 hour reading was 109 which is very low. I'm tempted to try an experiment with a baked potato and chia seeds afterwards on him soon to see what happens. I might play around with the fat idea now that he's reached his target weight but I'm not that keen on the idea.

Wow Nordgirl, your husband is wonderfully compliant with your experimentation. Do you actually mention to him that you are experimenting? Or does he just eat the meals you make without question and he always tests his blood sugar anyway so you just find out the results 'naturally'.

If my DH thought he was the subject of any experimentation he would refuse to 'play ball'. I have to be very canny, if I appear to be concentrating on him he wants to know 'whats up?'

I have developed nonchalance!

Sue

ooohh, good, nordgirl. I don't mind having your husband as my own lab experiment. Did you also test at 2,3 and 4 hours after the meal with the chia seeds?

Didi

The month prior to starting this way of eating my fasting blood sugar was normally in the 250-350 range. I was taking 2000 mg of Metformin and Glipizide daily. I expected my blood sugar numbers to get better as I followed the "diet" and lost weight. I was not expecting to have to stop taking all my diabetes medicine after two weeks of eating this way.

For the next 2-3 months my fasting blood sugar was usually under 115, and I would spike after meals, normally to the 130-160 range, but sometimes a little over 200. As time went on, the spikes got less and less. I honestly felt that my body had to relearn how to maintain my blood sugar levels without medicine.

I still check it on occasion, just for my own amusement. Don't think I've seen it spike higher than 125 after eating in a couple of months. I don't really consider myself diabetic anymore.