Why Is Blood Sugar High In The Morning?
Here you'll find info about why blood sugar is high in the morning, along with tips and resources to lower those numbers! A while back I had a client sending me her blood sugar charts every few days and on those charts she always made some notes if she had questions. Every time she sent them through, I noticed she had 3 big question marks (???) against her morning blood sugar results. And on another morning when her morning blood sugar levels were high at 160 mg/dl (or 8.9 mmol/l). She had written: I don't understand. 97 mg/dl (or 5.5mmol/l) last night when I went to sleep. I didn't eat anything because I didn't feel well. Humm… I was also over in one of the online diabetes groups I'm involved in today and this message popped up. I'm struggling with my morning BS number. When I went to bed around 11PM my BS was 107. I'm waking up with my BS between 120 – 135. I did put two pieces of string cheese next to my bed and when I woke up around 3am, I ate one. Since I was told to eat protein at night. When I woke up 3 hours later my BS was 130. I didn't want to eat anything large since it's so close to 140 (my goal is to keep it below 140). So I had 1 piece of toast (sugar free wheat bread) and just a tiny bit of peanut butter. I checked it an hour later and it was 161! What am I doing wrong? Do these morning situations sound familiar to you? Are you constantly questioning: Why is blood sugar high in the morning? I mean, logically we'd think that it should be at it's lowest in the morning right? Well don't panic, there is a reason for it, so let's explore why morning blood sugar is often higher. And at the end, I'll also point you toward some resources to help you lower those levels. Why Is Blood Sugar High In The Morning? Although it would seem logical that your body would Continue reading >>
Why Blood Sugar Levels Rise Overnight
get the scoop When you go to bed, your blood sugar reading is 110, but when you wake up in the morning, it has shot up to 150. Why does this happen? To understand how blood sugar levels can rise overnight without your eating anything, we have to look at where glucose comes from — and where it goes — while we sleep. During the day, the carbohydrates we eat are digested into glucose and absorbed into the bloodstream. Some of this glucose goes to the liver, where it is stored for later use. At night, while we are asleep, the liver releases glucose into the bloodstream. The liver acts as our glucose warehouse and keeps us supplied until we eat breakfast. The amount of glucose being used is matched by the amount of glucose being released by the liver, so blood sugar levels should remain constant. what is the dawn phenomenon? A rise in blood sugar level between approximately 3 A.M. and the time you wake up is called the “dawn phenomenon.” The liver is supposed to release just enough glucose to replace what is being used, and insulin works as the messenger to tell the liver how much is enough. But if there's not enough insulin (as with type 1 diabetes), or if there's enough insulin but it cannot communicate its message to the liver (as with type 2 diabetes), the liver starts to release glucose much too quickly. In addition, levels of hormones such as cortisol begin to increase in the early morning hours, which can contribute to altered insulin sensitivity. The result? Blood sugar levels rise. This is why blood sugar levels can go up between the time you go to bed and the time you wake up. what can you do about it? You might be able to make changes in the timing of your meals, medications, or insulin injections to help prevent dawn phenomenon. First, keep a detailed rec Continue reading >>
Are You Non-diabetic? Your After-meal Blood Sugar Spikes May Be Killing You Softly
Something millions of people don’t realize is that non-diabetics do experience blood glucose spikes after meals. Yes, non-diabetics get blood sugar highs believe it or not. They just don’t know it and this phenomenon has implications for your health. Your doctor won’t tell you how important your blood glucose control is as a non-diabetic. I will. The reason your doctor fails to tell you this is mainly because it is generally thought that until a diagnosis of diabetes is made, you are assumed to be metabolically competent. But that is not always the case. In actual fact, this is the reason why a lot of prediabetes cases are missed. Prediabetes is the abnormal metabolic stage before type 2 diabetes actually bites. And before the prediabetes stage, you also develop insulin resistance which is largely silent as well. Doctors don’t pay attention to metabolic health in a run-of-the-mill consultation even if the consultation is for a wellness overview. There are so many individuals with insulin resistance, prediabetes and frank type 2 diabetes walking around totally unaware they have any of those conditions. If only we paid just a little attention to our metabolic health, we could prevent millions of cases of type 2 diabetes raging around the globe like a wild summer forest fire. Do non-diabetics have blood sugar spikes? I often get asked about whether non diabetics have blood sugar highs i.e blood sugar spikes. The short answer is they do but there is a caveat there. Not every non diabetic does. It all depends on what I call metabolic competence along with other variables. Before I talk about the variables involved, let me draw your attention to this study carried in Ulm University in Germany. They recruited 24 healthy volunteers into the study and made them eat simil Continue reading >>
How Does Eating Affect Your Blood Sugar?
Part 1 of 8 What is blood sugar? Blood sugar, also known as blood glucose, comes from the food you eat. Your body creates blood sugar by digesting some food into a sugar that circulates in your bloodstream. Blood sugar is used for energy. The sugar that isn’t needed to fuel your body right away gets stored in cells for later use. Too much sugar in your blood can be harmful. Type 2 diabetes is a disease that is characterized by having higher levels of blood sugar than what is considered within normal limits. Unmanaged diabetes can lead to problems with your heart, kidneys, eyes, and blood vessels. The more you know about how eating affects blood sugar, the better you can protect yourself against diabetes. If you already have diabetes, it’s important to know how eating affects blood sugar. Part 2 of 8 Your body breaks down everything you eat and absorbs the food in its different parts. These parts include: carbohydrates proteins fats vitamins and other nutrients The carbohydrates you consume turn into blood sugar. The more carbohydrates you eat, the higher the levels of sugar you will have released as you digest and absorb your food. Carbohydrates in liquid form consumed by themselves are absorbed more quickly than those in solid food. So having a soda will cause a faster rise in your blood sugar levels than eating a slice of pizza. Fiber is one component of carbohydrates that isn’t converted into sugar. This is because it can’t be digested. Fiber is important for health, though. Protein, fat, water, vitamins, and minerals don’t contain carbohydrates. These components won’t affect your blood sugar levels. If you have diabetes, your carbohydrate intake is the most important part of your diet to consider when it comes to managing your blood sugar levels. Part 3 Continue reading >>
13 Ways To Lower After-meal Blood Sugars
Learning to lower your post-meal blood sugars is a proven way to feel better and reduce your risk of diabetes complications, explained Gary Scheiner in last week’s “Strike the Spike” program at the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) conference in Philadelphia. As AADE’s Educator of the Year, founder of Integrated Diabetes and long-time type 1, he knows what he is talking about. Today, we will review the strategies that he shared in that program. These fall into two broad categories: slowing down your food and speeding up your insulin. Although it wasn’t mentioned, a thirteenth strategy is of course to eat fewer total carbohydrates during a meal. How Big Is Your Spike? Most people are taught to test their blood sugars two hours after meals. However, this probably doesn’t tell you how high your blood sugars go. When you eat a meal, most people experience their highest blood sugar one hour and twenty minutes after they eat. So Scheiner recommends testing one hour after the end of the meal. What should your goals be? Here are some recommendations from the major diabetes associations: American Diabetes Association – under 180 mg (10 mmol) at 1 to 2 hours after the meal American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists – under 140 mg (7.7 mmol) at peak European Diabetes Policy Group – under 165 (9.2 mmol) at peak In practice, these targets are not very realistic. For those with type 1 diabetes, one study found that only 10% of post-meal blood sugars were below 180 mg (10 mmol). So in practice, Gary talked about the importance of individual targets. For example, he has found that a realistic target for children is striving for a rise under 100 points (5.5 mmol). Talk to your doctor about an appropriate goal for your age and health. Slow Down Yo Continue reading >>
Why Your “normal” Blood Sugar Isn’t Normal (part 2)
Hi, I just found this site and would like to participate. I will give my numbers, etc. First, my last A1c was 6.1, the doc said it was Pre-diabetes in January of 2014, OK, I get it that part, but what confuses me is that at home, on my glucometer, all my fastings were “Normal” however, back then, I had not checked after meals, so maybe they were the culprits. Now, I am checking all the time and driving myself crazy. In the morning sometimes fasting is 95 and other times 85, it varies day to day. Usually, after a low carb meal, it drops to the 80’s the first hour and lower the second. On some days, when I am naughty and eat wrong, my b/s sugar is still low, and on other days, I can eat the same thing, and it goes sky high, again, not consistent. Normally, however, since February, my fbs is 90, 1 hour after, 120, 2nd hour, back to 90, but, that changes as well. In February, of 2014, on the 5th, it was horrible. I think I had eaten Lasagne, well, before, my sugars did not change much, but that night, WHAM-O I started at 80 before the meal, I forgot to take it at the one and two hour mark, but did at the 3 hour mark, it was 175, then at four hours, down to 160, then at 5 hours, back to 175. I went to bed, because by that time, it was 2 AM, but when I woke up at 8:00 and took it, it was back to 89!!!! This horrible ordeal has only happened once, but, I have gone up to 178 since, but come down to normal in 2 hours. I don’t know if I was extra stressed that day or what, I am under tons of it, my marriage is not good, my dear dad died 2 years ago and my very best friend died 7 months ago, I live in a strange country, I am from America, but moved to New Zealand last year, and I am soooo unhappy. Anyway, what does confuse me is why the daily differences, even though I may Continue reading >>
Normal Range For Blood Sugar After Eating A Meal
When you have diabetes your blood sugar levels can be quite fragile. What are normal blood sugar levels? Blood sugar levels depend on what, when and how much you eat, as well as how effectively your body produces and uses insulin. Your blood sugar levels are an excellent indicator of your risk of developing diabetes; the higher your blood sugar, the greater your risk. Chronic high blood sugar can be a wake-up call, telling you that it’s time to lose weight and make healthier food choices. Normal Blood Glucose / Blood Sugar Level Ranges before Eating Target blood sugar levels depend on the time of day and if you already have diabetes or pre-diabetes. Before you eat, called a fasting or pre-prandial glucose level, a non-diabetic should have a glucose level between 3.88 and 5.3 mmol/L.. If your reading is higher than 5.33 mmol/L. but lower than 6.94mmol/L, you may have insulin resistance or pre-diabetes. Glucose readings above 7 mmol/L indicate you have diabetes. Ideally, if you have type 2 diabetes you should have a fasting glucose level between 3.88 mmol/L and 7.22 mmol/L, when your diabetes is under control due to a combination of diet, exercise and medication if needed. Normal Blood Sugar Ranges after Eating Your blood sugar or blood glucose levels starts to rise soon after you start to eat and is at its highest 1 to 2 hours after your meal. Normal postprandial, which means “after eating,” glucose levels are 6.67 mmol/L and below for non-diabetics, 8.83 mmol/L. and below for those with pre-diabetes and 10 mmol/L for diabetics. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease suggest that two hours after eating, diabetics should have a blood sugar reading of 10 mmol/L or less. If your blood sugar is higher than 18 mmol/L two hours after eating, Continue reading >>
A1c Tip: Look At Your Blood Sugar After You Eat
Frustrated with your latest A1C test results? Your blood sugar levels within the 1-3 hours after you eat are just as important as your blood sugar right before you eat, especially when it comes to your A1C. For example, if your blood sugar is regularly rising to 240 mg/dL (13 mmol) after a meal, that means that you could be spending 2-3 hours after every meal with your blood sugar in that range…which adds up to at least 9 hours of the day! That’s a good chunk of the day spent with high blood sugars, and possibly the source of your A1C results. What can you do to prevent that blood sugar spike after a meal? Here are 5 tips: 1. Take your insulin or oral medication sooner before you eat. Today’s fast-acting insulin’s are designed to reach your bloodstream and start working within 10 to 30 minutes. That means that if you eat your meal and then take your insulin, you’re giving the carbohydrates in that food 10 to 30 minutes to start spiking your blood sugar, easily enough time to work its way up to 200 mg/dL (11 mmol) or higher by the time the insulin really gets going. 2. Talk to your doctor about a medication like Symlin. Symlin is an injectable medication designed to replace the hormone “amylin.” Amylin is a hormone in the human body that works to prevent food from digesting as quickly and it helps prevent high blood sugars after eating. People with type 1 diabetes make zero amylin and people with type 2 diabetes make some, but often not enough. While you can certainly live a healthy life with diabetes without Symlin (or amylin), it can be very helpful for those with insulin resistance or difficulty with high blood sugar after meals. 3. Fine-tune your insulin doses for meals. If you’re taking insulin with your meals, it’s vital that you test your insulin Continue reading >>
The Dangers Of Skipping Meals When You Have Diabetes
It's tempting -- and even sounds logical -- to skip meals: You're busy, you're not hungry, you're trying to lose weight, or your blood sugar is too high. Skipping meals, however, may actually increase your blood sugar and cause you to gain weight. Here are seven rewards of eating regularly scheduled meals when you live with diabetes. Reward 1: Improve fasting blood glucose numbers. During sleep, when you're not eating, the liver sends more glucose into the blood to fuel the body. For many people during the early years of having type 2 diabetes, the liver doesn't realize there is already more than enough glucose present. "Your morning (fasting) blood sugars have much more to do with your liver and hormonal functions than what you ate for dinner last night," says Kathaleen Briggs Early, Ph.D., RD, CDE, assistant professor of biochemistry and nutrition at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences in Yakima, Washington Get more information about why your morning blood sugar is high and tips to help control fasting blood sugar. Real-life example: Until recently, if Cheryl Simpson's blood glucose meter flashed a high reading before breakfast, she might delay eating until midafternoon in an attempt to lower that number. Now Cheryl, PWD type 2, won't leave home without eating breakfast. Her blood glucose numbers have improved. "Plus, eating breakfast makes it a whole lot easier to make good food choices later on," she says. Tip: Pack a grab-and-go breakfast with these 13 quick-fix ideas! Reward 2: Stay off the blood sugar roller coaster. Irregular eating can have you "bouncing back and forth between normal blood sugars and high blood sugars," Early says. A meager meal can give you a meager rise in blood sugar. If you take one or more blood glucose-lowering medications tha Continue reading >>
The 4 Foods That Will Steady Your Blood Sugar
Wondering what blood sugar has to do with you, if you don’t have diabetes? Keeping your blood sugar levels as steady as possiblenow may help you avoid getting diabetes later. “As you get older, your risk for type 2 diabetes goes up,” says Alissa Rumsey, Registered Dietitian and Spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “Since you can’t modify your age, it is important to take other steps to lower your risk, including maintaining a healthy weight, getting enough exercise, and balancing your diet to prevent spikes in blood sugar.” Controlling your blood sugar will also just make you feel better. “It’s best to control blood sugar—it keeps your energy stable,” says Leann Olansky, M.D., an endocrinologist at the Cleveland Clinic. “If your blood sugar doesn’t vary that much before and after a meal, that’s a healthier way to be.” Unrelated to diabetes, symptoms of occasional high blood sugar aren’t life-threatening, but rather unpleasant and only potentially dangerous if you suffer from other health problems. “When your blood sugar is too high, it can make you feel sluggish,” says Dr. Olansky. “When it’s higher still, it can lead to dehydration and make your blood pressure unstable, and cause you to urinate more often, especially at night.” But when your blood sugar remains chronically high, insulin, a hormone that’s supposed to help your body store sugar as energy, stops working as it should. “Prolonged high blood sugar levels can lead to insulin resistance, meaning your body isn’t able to use insulin properly,” says Rumsey. “Over time this insulin resistance can develop into diabetes, when insulin isn’t able to keep your blood sugar within normal levels.” Current research reveals an association between spik Continue reading >>
How Food Affects Your Blood Sugar
Thinkstock Q: How long after eating does food affect your blood sugar? When is the best time to test my blood sugar in relation to meals? A: Food is the number one reason for fluctuations in blood sugar, or glucose. Usually, food raises blood sugar while alcohol may lower blood sugar. Depending on what you are eating, blood sugar can rise beyond 300 mg/dl if the food contains sugar or simple carbohydrates. For example, milk and juices are used medically to correct hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, because they can quickly raise sugars after only drinking 3 to 4 ounces. If you are curious about what a particular food or a meal does to your blood sugar, check your glucose level just before you eat, and then check it again two hours after finishing your meal. The American Diabetes Association recommends that a safe postprandial sugar level should not exceed 180 mg/dl. If the sugar is higher than 180 mg/dl and you are taking insulin or medication, you may need to take a higher dose before eating that same meal again or adjust the meal — either by eating less or reducing the carb content. For people diagnosed with diabetes, it’s very easy to become obsessive about blood sugars and be tempted to check them multiple times throughout the day. But that’s usually not necessary. For example, someone who takes short- or rapid-acting insulin before meals should check sugars before each meal to decide how much to take, and then again at bedtime, which will help their healthcare provider know whether to adjust the daily dose of long-acting insulin. When monitoring blood sugar around meals, remember to check it right before the meal and then two hours after eating. Almost everyone — with or without diabetes — may have a high blood sugar while eating or right afterwards, which Continue reading >>
Does Red Meat Raise Blood Sugars?
Recently I have heard more and more people use the phrase “I don’t eat red meat because it bad for my blood sugars.” As red meat- along with any other cuts of meat- is a food made up of only fat and protein, eating red meat will have no immediate effect on your blood sugar. Crash course in macro-nutrients Foods can be broken up into three macro-nutrient categories: Carbohydrate, Fat and Protein. Blood sugars increase when we consume Carbohydrate foods- fruits, rice, beans, pastas, breads, milk, and starchy vegetables such as corn, potatoes and winter squash. As these foods are digested into their basic components- glucose is released into the bloodstream. This glucose is what causes blood sugars to raise after eating a food containing Carbohydrates. Protein foods however do not have glucose as part of their elemental structure, instead they break down into amino acids. Amino acids aid in building muscle and repairing cells in your body. Fats can be either saturated or unsaturated fats and fuel cells providing a required source of energy for our brains for survival. Red meat Foods are often a combination of these three macronutrients. Take red meat for example: Beef contains both protein and fat, but no carbohydrates. Where then does the misconception that red meat hurts blood sugars come from? Red meat is typically high in fats, especially saturated fatty acids. Foods containing fat are higher in calories which may lead to poor weight control if eaten in excess. As mentioned before, fats are essential for brain and cell health, but the American Diabetes Association recommends limiting fats to less than 30% of total calorie consumption with saturated fats making up less than 10% calorie consumption. Saturated fatty acids are the types of fat that stay solid at room Continue reading >>
When To Test Blood Sugar After Meals
For some reason the past week brought me a bunch of emails all asking the same question: Are we supposed to test our blood sugar one hour after we start or end a meal? As is true with everything involving diabetes the answer is not simple due to variations in individual blood sugar responses. The reason we test one hour after a meals is to learn how high our blood sugar goes in response to the specific meal. So we want to be testing at the moment when our blood sugar is at its peak. Studies tell us something about the average time it takes for the carbohydrate in our food to turn into blood sugar (carbohydrates are the main nutrient that causes elevated blood sugars). Such studies suggest that most Americans who eat our meals fairly quickly will see a peak somewhere between one hour and seventy-five minutes after we start eating. But because studies only come up with averages, they don't take into account individual variations--and you are, of course, an individual. And when we move from group averages to individual response we learn that when the blood sugar peak occurs depends on a multitude of factors that include how fast we eat our meals, how much we eat at each meal, how tightly bound the glucose is in the carbohydrates we eat, and how efficient our digestive system is at digesting the carbohydrate bound in our food. That explains why the same meal consumed at the same time by two different people may peak at different times--and why I can't tell you exactly when to test. That's why you might try varying the time at which you test a carefully chosen test meal to see if your personal peak is later than average. Choose a simple meal that contains a known quantity of carbohydrate--a single measured portion of something rather than a meal where you have to guess what Continue reading >>
Must Read Articles Related To High Blood Sugar (hyperglycemia)
A A A High Blood Sugar (Hyperglycemia) Whenever the glucose (sugar) level in one's blood rises high temporarily, this condition is known as hyperglycemia. The opposite condition, low blood sugar, is called hypoglycemia. Glucose comes from most foods, and the body uses other chemicals to create glucose in the liver and muscles. The blood carries glucose (blood sugar) to all the cells in the body. To carry glucose into the cells as an energy supply, cells need help from insulin. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas, an organ near the stomach. The pancreas releases insulin into the blood, based upon the blood sugar level. Insulin helps move glucose from digested food into cells. Sometimes, the body stops making insulin (as in type 1 diabetes), or the insulin does not work properly (as in type 2 diabetes). In diabetic patients, glucose does not enter the cells sufficiently, thus staying in the blood and creating high blood sugar levels. Blood sugar levels can be measured in seconds by using a blood glucose meter, also known as a glucometer. A tiny drop of blood from the finger or forearm is placed on a test strip and inserted into the glucometer. The blood sugar (or glucose) level is displayed digitally within seconds. Blood glucose levels vary widely throughout the day and night in people with diabetes. Ideally, blood glucose levels range from 90 to 130 mg/dL before meals, and below 180 mg/dL within 1 to 2 hours after a meal. Adolescents and adults with diabetes strive to keep their blood sugar levels within a controlled range, usually 80-150 mg/dL before meals. Doctors and diabetes health educators guide each patient to determine their optimal range of blood glucose control. When blood sugar levels remain high for several hours, dehydration and more serious complicat Continue reading >>
Strike The Spike Ii
Dealing With High Blood Sugar After Meals Eleven years ago, I wrote an article for Diabetes Self-Management about the management of high blood sugar after meals. It was called “Strike the Spike” and no article I’ve ever written has led to greater reader response. To this day, I still receive calls, letters, and e-mails thanking me for offering practical answers to this perplexing challenge. I’ve even been asked to speak on the topic at some major conferences. So when presented with the opportunity to readdress the issue, I jumped at the chance. A lot has changed in the past eleven years: we know more than ever about the harmful effects of after-meal blood sugar spikes, but we also have a number of potent new tools and techniques for preventing them. Now that I know how important this topic is to so many people, I’ll do my absolute best to bring you up to date. What’s a spike? After-meal, or “postprandial,” spikes are temporary high blood glucose levels that occur soon after eating. It is normal for the level of glucose in the blood to rise a small amount after eating, even in people who do not have diabetes. However, if the rise is too high, it can affect your quality of life today and contribute to serious health problems down the road. The reason blood glucose tends to spike after eating in many people with diabetes is a simple matter of timing. In a person who doesn’t have diabetes, eating foods containing carbohydrate causes two important reactions in the pancreas: the immediate release of insulin into the bloodstream, and the release of a hormone called amylin. The insulin starts working almost immediately (to move glucose out of the bloodstream and into cells) and finishes its job in a matter of minutes. The amylin keeps food from reaching the sm Continue reading >>
