Worried that your fasting blood sugar was higher than the post-meal level, just relax! You’re neither alone nor abnormal.

Generally, fasting blood sugar (the value you get when you’re tested upon waking without any food intake) is also the baseline blood sugar level. But people with type 2 diabetes may have much higher morning blood sugars than the level they achieve after meals, for the rest of the day. So what spikes the blood sugar abnormally and how do you control it?

 FPG (fasting plasma glucose) test is the popular choice mainly because of its simplicity and low cost. In most cases it is accurate too. However, it is ideal that you get tested for both FPG and PP to understand how well you are managing your blood sugar. In fact, it is essential to focus on the number of hours a day your blood sugar lies in the range that causes complications (above 140 mg/dl or 7.7mmol/L). Obviously, if you start the day with a fasting level over 140 mg/dl, which goes up after each meal, then you are spending many hours a day in the danger zone. Some of the factors that raise fasting blood sugar levels are listed below.

 

High post-meal blood sugars

A high calorie/high carb meal results in excess glucose in the system, which cannot be metabolized easily. A heavy and late dinner is a common cause of elevated fasting blood glucose level.

 

Damaged basal insulin secretion

Irrespective of what you eat, tiny amounts of insulin are squirted into the blood stream in small pulses every Continue reading “The rise and fall of sugar ;)” »