The FastDay Forum

Hi,
I know it seems like a ridiculous question but I periodically check my blood glucose using a finger prick device (obsessive, moi?), though I'm not diabetic and I have noticed over the past couple of weeks that my glucose level post 'feast' day is HIGHER in the morning (when I haven't eaten since 8pm the night before) than I would expect...almost to the point of being outside of the normal range and a few weeks ago it wasn't. I would have expected the opposite to be honest. I looked online and found one article (admittedly done using normal weight men and women) but that found that in some cases insulin sensitivity actually DECREASED (they were talking about IF not 5 2 I suppose). I just wondered if anyone had any ideas on the subject? I do eat a fair amount of carbs on my 'feast' days but I don't binge and I stick to my TDEE - my weakness is bread however. I am going to try and reduce my carb intake on feast days to see if it makes a difference to my blood glucose (my brother has diabetes, which is why I'm a bit paranoid) but I don't know whether this is a blip or really something to be concerned about. Any ideas/thoughts?

Thanks

@PhilT is your man I recall he has mentioned it in his posts. Sorry and @Carorees would also be up with that I expect

As Gillymary has said, PhilT could be our best bet here or Caroline, but I'm wondering if you are having liver dumps. Its coming at the end of a fasting period and when your glucose drops low (assuming you don't do a ketogenic diet so that you are fat adapted) your liver will release stored glucose and dump it into your blood stream. Its an old response dating back to our hunting days when you would get hungry overnight but need enough energy to go out and hunt for your food when it got daylight.

When I first had BG problems I had very bad dawn phenomenon. I could go to bed with my BG normal and wake up with it well into diabetic levels. Try saving a few calories for a little snack at bedtime if its worrying you. Some people favour something like oatcakes, others, like me, go for a small cube of cheese. If its only on the fast days and not every day then maybe you don't need to worry. Its a consistently high BG that does the damage.

My OH is a Type 2 diabetic & finds his blood glucose level is down following a fast day & fasting seems to improve his bloods all week compared to how he was before starting 5:2ing.

[carorees]

Hi sorry to be late replying.

Various things can cause high BG in the morning. As you have seen there is some evidence that fasting may result in reduced insulin sensitivity in certain circumstances. It seems that there can be a delay in insulin secretion in response to a meal following a prolonged fast or even following late evening eating. But you are talking about before breakfast BG following a normal, non-fast day without late night eating.

miffy49 has it right that your liver can make glucose (gluconeogenesis) which is presumably the source of the glucose but why it should be making more glucose overnight nowadays than before I don't know. Do you think you are eating more carbs on feast days than previously?

Thanks for your responses to this thread. I am fasting today and after that initial one of 6.0mmol, my blood glucose has been fine (of course I'm now completely paranoid!) I don't think I'm eating more carbs than I was before but I did have sandwiches for my meal last night so maybe that explains it. I read on here how fasting can benefit people who actually have type 2 diabetes and their blood sugars so maybe it's just a blip. What I will do is try and cut down on the carbs (been thinking about it anyhow to see if I can speed up the weight loss because it seems to work for people on here) and just keep an eye without going OTT. I can only see how continuing to lose weight and decrease my waist measurement can be beneficial (if I am heading down the 'pre diabetic' route). Cheers for all your advice though!

6mmol is still in the normal range. 6.1 and over is prediabetic. I think that you are going in the right direction with low carb. I held off for ages due to a passion for all things sweet but I honestly never looked back once I got my head round it. I did have a slight blip when I started 5:2 fasting but changing to 16:8 with the lowcarb has sorted both the bg and the weight.