Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I got a blood sugar tester for free, so due to curiosity I decided to measure some pre and post meal levels. But I can't seem to find anywhere what the ideal numbers are. I've looked through some of the big paleo-type blogs but it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. The westonaprice blog has a big fat article about ideal blood sugar but doesn't give any actual numbers anywhere.

Can anyone tell me more? What else is interesting about blood sugar levels?

Thank you!

edited Mar 9 2010 at 20:19

Beth
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asked Mar 9 2010 at 18:02

Jaap
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That's thrifty Jaap! Reminds me of when my husband was diagnosed with type 2 and got his new blood glucose meter. I cut my finger cooking and decided to not waste the blood and test myself. I was fine. – henny Mar 9 2010 at 21:35

Beth · Accepted Answer · 2010-03-09 19:24:09Z UTC

Here's what Dr. Davis says on his blog (emphasis mine):

What are ideal blood glucose levels? From the above discussion, you can see that a perfect consensus does not exist. It is also clear that risks from both fasting and postprandial glucose are continuous with no clear cutoff between no risk and the beginning of risk. However, for our working purposes, the data suggest that ideal fasting blood glucose is 90 mg/dl or less; one-hour postprandial 100 mg/dl or less. At the start of your program, before weight loss, exercise, and the improved insulin responses of the Track Your Plaque diet have taken hold, one-hour postprandial blood glucose of ≤110 mg/dl is a good starting point. Long-term, ≤100 mg/dl is a better target that likely provides maximum plaque control and reduction of risk.

My fasting level is about 90; when I eat paleo, my post-meal bg stays about the same. Then there was the time I ate a Big Mac and fries right after the holiday and spiked a 157. Yeah, sometimes this testing can be useful even for the non-diabetic!

I'm going mostly low-carb now, but plan to see how I respond to starchier veggies soonish.

Rick Kiessig · Answer 2 · 2010-03-09 23:13:37Z UTC

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I've found the following graph from Wikipedia to be pretty helpful:

alt text

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Suckale08_fig3_glucose_insulin_day.jpg

However, keep in mind that people who have been on Paleo for a while tend to have lower insulin levels and slightly higher fasting blood glucose--but with a lower HbA1c (glycylated hemoglobin), which is a much better predictor of long-term health than cholesterol levels, even in non-diabetics.

answered Mar 9 2010 at 23:13

Rick Kiessig
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	Rick, Don't answer if you feel I'm prying, but what is your profession? You sound like someone who has read a lot of medical literature. – Glenn Mar 9 2010 at 23:31
	My day job is an engineer (see my profile), but yes, I've read lots (and lots) of medical literature, plus a good-sized bookshelf full of health books, as well as majoring in chemistry and biology. It started out as a hobby, then went into high gear when my kids developed health problems when they were very young. – Rick Kiessig Mar 9 2010 at 23:47
	HbA1c is not a good predictor of long-term health when you have low iron/ferritin levels, correct? In that situation, would C-Reactive protein be a better predictor? THX – vmary Apr 24 2010 at 2:24
	"which is a much better predictor of long-term health than cholesterol levels, even in non-diabetics." According to what? – cliff Oct 19 2011 at 9:17
	I don't think cholesterol is much of a long-term health prognosticator. A1c will precede many other ills: it presages insulin resistance, fatty liver, CVD, AGEs. It's probably the best indicator of how fast you're aging (no suprise since less insulin, less glycation). – Namby Pamby Oct 19 2011 at 14:22

rht · Answer 3 · 2010-03-10 01:17:10Z UTC

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www.bloodsugar101.com is the website that can answer this question and more - like how to adjust your at home OGTT to compensate for eating low carb

answered Mar 10 2010 at 1:17

rht
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Cheers for mentioning this website :) – Jaap Mar 10 2010 at 1:30

Steven · Answer 4 · 2010-03-09 19:27:57Z UTC

Robb Wolf discuss BG levels on the episode of his podcast.

http://robbwolf.com/2009/12/08/the-paleolithic-solution-episode-5/

Show Topics:

Thoughts on the role of dairy in a Paleo diet Blood glucose levels Transition to Paleo Diet Nut intake and substitutions Lower carb vs higher carb diets

Hope that helps!

Mikael Jansson · Answer 5 · 2010-03-09 19:30:23Z UTC

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At wakeup and after exercise, my BG is 5.5 mmol/L (100 mg/dL), otherwise it seems to keep at a steady 3.8 mmol/L (68 mg/dL). Anything between 72 and 108 mg/dL is considered healhty.

Out of curiosity, I did an OGTT (75g dextrose dissolved into 300 mL water). One hour later I had 7.5 mmol/L (135 mg/dL). You're supposed to get under 8.6 mmol/L (154 mg/dL) after two hours, so I passed it.

If you read Swedish (or care to run it through Google Translate), http://kostdoktorn.se/blodsocker is an excellent resource.

answered Mar 9 2010 at 19:30

Mikael Jansson
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Cheers, will try OGTT myself to see what my results are :) – Jaap Mar 9 2010 at 19:32

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Just a head's up, if you're normally a low-carber, you're supposed to reintroduce carbs (at least 150g/day for 3 days) before you do an OGTT. – Beth Mar 9 2010 at 19:47

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... or you might fail it, yes. Another thing you can do is to fast for a while before taking the test. I did the OGTT to break my 22-hour fast. Fairly good insulin sensitivity at that point. – Mikael Jansson Mar 9 2010 at 20:25

thanks for putting that out to me. will try it after a long period of fasting then :) – Jaap Mar 9 2010 at 22:39

Barbara · Answer 6 · 2012-09-21 01:39:33Z UTC

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http://chriskresser.com/how-to-prevent-diabetes-and-heart-disease-for-16 heck out Chris Kressers website for how he monitors blood glucose and what levels he recommends. I found it very helpful.

answered Sep 21 at 1:39

Barbara
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em · Answer 7 · 2010-04-24 00:15:18Z UTC

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i am also wondering what ideal fasting bg should be. i recently tested at 92. is that slightly above what it should be?

answered Apr 24 2010 at 0:15

em
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Knarf · Answer 8 · 2011-10-19 06:24:48Z UTC

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Recommended levels are 72-100 mg/dL, fasted. Mine was 85 mg/dL. What does that tell me? I'm...not sure.

answered Oct 19 2011 at 6:24

Knarf
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72-100 is the lab range. 85 is good. Low 80s is better. But a reliable number is like a weekly (or monthly) average of your fasting BG readings. – Namby Pamby Oct 19 2011 at 14:17

Paleo2.0 · Answer 9 · 2011-10-19 13:31:50Z UTC

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According to this article from the Life Extension Magazine, the "optimal" fasting level is 70-85 mg/dL. I have seen other bloggers/commenters say "optimal" is <85 or <80.

answered Oct 19 2011 at 13:31

Paleo2.0
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Correct, but probably not below 65. If you really have no insulin resistance, then your fasting should be around 80. – Namby Pamby Oct 19 2011 at 14:18

Ideal blood sugar levels

9 Answers