Focusing on steady blood sugars — missing link to health in Peat Land

[yerrag]

Sorry, forgot to comment the above quote: The metabolism of isolated refined starch (glucose) vs. sucrose (glucose+fructose) or a glucose/fructose mix is not at all the same. See, for example:

J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2000 Dec;85(12):4515-9. Acute fructose administration decreases the glycemic response to an oral glucose tolerance test in normal adults. Moore MC, Cherrington AD, Mann SL, Davis SN. “In animal models, a small (catalytic) dose of fructose administered with glucose decreases the glycemic response to the glucose load.” “In conclusion, low dose fructose improves the glycemic response to an oral glucose load in normal adults without significantly enhancing the insulin or triglyceride response. Fructose appears most effective in those normal individuals who have the poorest glucose tolerance.”

This is why I mentioned above that if one must eat plain bread or white rice without (or not enough) fat, it would be wise to eat some fruit with it...

Yes, that is true of the effect of fructose in that it helps the overall absorption of sugars that are a combination of glucose and fructose.

I used to find that I get hungry quickly when I eat a piece of white bread by itself compared to eating a teaspoon of white sugar on an empty stomach. This was already when I have fixed my blood sugar issues to a large extent. But maybe I wasn't totally fixed, as I felt that I should be able to eat the white bread without quickly feeling hungry were I totally fixed.

 

[JohnA]

I totally agree with everything in this thread. I’ve seen some good health improvements over the last few months as I’ve tried to improve my CGM numbers while still sticking to Peat principles. When I first started wearing the sensors, I lost a lot of weight (that I didn’t want to lose) because the easiest way to minimize spikes is to eat fewer carbs. But that increased my cortisol and hurt my sleep. I think the holy grail is being able to maintain your carb intake (e.g., 50% of calories) while avoiding the spikes and extended periods out of the target range. Over the last few months that I’ve been using a CGM, my time in my target range of 70 - 110 has increased from 80% to 90%, and my average daily max spike has decreased from 140 to 130.

Liquid calories really spike my blood sugar, so I’m sure I was spiking my blood sugar to levels well over 150 every day for the many years I was drinking tons of OJ and eating heavy carb meals all day!

Things that have helped the most (in no particular order):

1. Staying active during the post prandial period. This involves taking a 15-30 minute walk immediately after the meal and then generally trying to limit sitting in the larger 2 to 3 hour post prandial period. Get up from your chair and do a lap around your space every 20 minutes, walk around when sending text messages / reading websites on your phone/Ipad, etc. Unsurprisingly, my numbers are much better when I’m at 12000 steps in a day versus 5000.

2. Not eating another meal until your blood sugar has returned close to baseline after your last meal. If I start a meal with my blood sugar at 90, I’ll probably only spike to 115 / 120. If I start a meal when my blood sugar is already at 110, I’ll probably spike to 140. Before I get ready to eat my next meal, I’ll check my levels. If I’m above 100, I’ll try to delay eating for another hour or so. If I can’t delay eating, I’ll probably skip fruit during that meal (I have starch with every meal). CGMs are super helpful here because I honestly feel no different when my BG is at 90 vs 110.

3. Not drinking excessive fluids during or immediately after eating. Apparently, large amounts of liquids accelerate gastric emptying and force the sugar into your bloodstream sooner. This is probably why liquid calories cause such large spikes.

4. The Glucose Goddess tips around eating fiber, fat, and protein before carbs. However, as someone else mentioned, too much saturated fat at a meal does seem to impair insulin sensitivity and leads to blood sugar staying higher for longer once it eventually increases.

 

[Old Irenaeus]

Still a work in process. I have found that minimizing swings is good. Minimizing hypo episodes is essential. Setting yourself up with a good breakfast assures the rest of the day is good. You can have fruit juice or Coke but only after you’ve eaten protein. Don’t have too much protein at a sitting — avoid having a steak. Just have 1/4 of the steak. Too much protein sets up huge swings which can result In hypoglycemia.

Broda Barnes book on Hypoglycemia advocates a low carb diet, but I don’t believe that’s good. With good carb intake, I am spending most of my time in a reasonable range and last night I had NO hypoglycemia.

I’m also doing 2g of taurine three times daily after meals, and oral NAD+ twice daily.

I can see why Dr. Peat says the whole day is your opportunity to load up your liver to prepare for the period of fasting during sleep. As usual he is 1000% right.

I’m spending more and more time in the zone of around 90 ng/dL for hours at a time now.

What's the role of the 2g of taurine?

 

[A-Tim]

My guess is he hopes it will increase his glycogen stores in the liver. Theoretically, taurine ought to have that effect.

 

[ecstatichamster]

taurine does supposedly raise glycogen stores.

Dr. Peat said that all day was for loading glycogen so you could sleep through the night and I think he was 1000% right. I eat carbs all day and I sleep very well as usual. I haven't tried the CGM lately but I suspect I am not hypoglycemic. I may try to use it again soon just to see how this diet has affected my sleep and other patterns.

 

[A-Tim]

taurine does supposedly raise glycogen stores.

Dr. Peat said that all day was for loading glycogen so you could sleep through the night and I think he was 1000% right. I eat carbs all day and I sleep very well as usual. I haven't tried the CGM lately but I suspect I am not hypoglycemic. I may try to use it again soon just to see how this diet has affected my sleep and other patterns.

I tend to wake up in the night at least once. Do you eat a meal right before you go to bed, or do you stop eating several hours before sleep? Just ordered a CGM. I'm looking forward to seeing what spikes and sinks me.

 

[ecstatichamster]

I tend to wake up in the night at least once. Do you eat a meal right before you go to bed, or do you stop eating several hours before sleep? Just ordered a CGM. I'm looking forward to seeing what spikes and sinks me.

I don’t eat for several hours before bedtime. I think Dr. Peat said that the whole day is an opportunity to load glycogen stores. I find that eating a lot of carbs all day makes it easy to sleep all night for me most of the time.

 

[yerrag]

I don’t eat for several hours before bedtime. I think Dr. Peat said that the whole day is an opportunity to load glycogen stores. I find that eating a lot of carbs all day makes it easy to sleep all night for me most of the time.

Are you grazing or do you eat only at regular mealtimes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

 

[cs3000]

I don’t eat for several hours before bedtime. I think Dr. Peat said that the whole day is an opportunity to load glycogen stores. I find that eating a lot of carbs all day makes it easy to sleep all night for me most of the time.

how many carbs do u go for typically? & how much as sugars and whats your bodyweight? cheers

 

[ecstatichamster]

how many carbs do u go for typically? & how much as sugars and whats your bodyweight? cheers

I don’t usuallly count but I eat as many starch carbs as I can, basically. I don’t eat that much sugar. I’m about 86.5kg and 1.85 meters.

 

[David PS]

I like the idea that insulin can keep the glucose under control until things are so far out of balance. I found that the first 10 minutes are so of this video explains the concept well. As for his food choices, I suggest filtering them through a Ray Peat lense.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrsMd_zGrek&t=3s

 

[Old Irenaeus]

I don’t usuallly count but I eat as many starch carbs as I can, basically. I don’t eat that much sugar. I’m about 86.5kg and 1.85 meters.

Sound like you have low body fat % too.

 

[ecstatichamster]

Sound like you have low body fat % too.

it's about 24 BMI.

 

[jet9]

I totally agree with everything in this thread. I’ve seen some good health improvements over the last few months as I’ve tried to improve my CGM numbers while still sticking to Peat principles. When I first started wearing the sensors, I lost a lot of weight (that I didn’t want to lose) because the easiest way to minimize spikes is to eat fewer carbs. But that increased my cortisol and hurt my sleep. I think the holy grail is being able to maintain your carb intake (e.g., 50% of calories) while avoiding the spikes and extended periods out of the target range. Over the last few months that I’ve been using a CGM, my time in my target range of 70 - 110 has increased from 80% to 90%, and my average daily max spike has decreased from 140 to 130.

Liquid calories really spike my blood sugar, so I’m sure I was spiking my blood sugar to levels well over 150 every day for the many years I was drinking tons of OJ and eating heavy carb meals all day!

Things that have helped the most (in no particular order):

1. Staying active during the post prandial period. This involves taking a 15-30 minute walk immediately after the meal and then generally trying to limit sitting in the larger 2 to 3 hour post prandial period. Get up from your chair and do a lap around your space every 20 minutes, walk around when sending text messages / reading websites on your phone/Ipad, etc. Unsurprisingly, my numbers are much better when I’m at 12000 steps in a day versus 5000.

2. Not eating another meal until your blood sugar has returned close to baseline after your last meal. If I start a meal with my blood sugar at 90, I’ll probably only spike to 115 / 120. If I start a meal when my blood sugar is already at 110, I’ll probably spike to 140. Before I get ready to eat my next meal, I’ll check my levels. If I’m above 100, I’ll try to delay eating for another hour or so. If I can’t delay eating, I’ll probably skip fruit during that meal (I have starch with every meal). CGMs are super helpful here because I honestly feel no different when my BG is at 90 vs 110.

3. Not drinking excessive fluids during or immediately after eating. Apparently, large amounts of liquids accelerate gastric emptying and force the sugar into your bloodstream sooner. This is probably why liquid calories cause such large spikes.

4. The Glucose Goddess tips around eating fiber, fat, and protein before carbs. However, as someone else mentioned, too much saturated fat at a meal does seem to impair insulin sensitivity and leads to blood sugar staying higher for longer once it eventually increases.

Thanks for sharing your findings!

 

[GorillaHead]

I am trying to blunt my adrenaline response when gaming. Any ideas how maintain blood sugar can fix that?

 

[Andy316]

I am trying to blunt my adrenaline response when gaming. Any ideas how maintain blood sugar can fix that?

Interested to know as well. I loose some hair particularly after playing video games. Adrenaline spike or low blood sugar or both?