Blood glucose through the roof

[CIO]

Hi all. I am 98% carnivore. I eat only meat (rump steak) and a bit of fish and chicken plus a bit of dark choc. The issue is since I started a month ago my blood glucose has been over 15 every day! Sometimes it hits 24. I feel fine but worried. Baker MD podcast mentioned increasing fat and lowering protein but I don't like too much fat and also I can't just eat fat/butter etc! Any advice appreciated.

[Geezy]

I’m not a diabetic so I have never monitored my glucose levels so I’m no help there but I would question your diet.
Dr. Baker is probably correct in his assessment of your needs.
From what you’ve described, you are eating too lean and chocolate has no business being in a carnivore diet.
Do you drink coffee or tea? If so you might increase your fat intake by going bulletproof. That’s blending one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of coconut oil to your beverage and emulsifying it together. It’s delicious.
Eat fattier meats and cook everything in butter, ghee, tallow or lard. Eat eggs, most especially the yolks. Use cream instead of milk. If you like and can tolerate cheese then make sure it’s made from whole milk and not skim.
There are numerous ways to increase your fat intake without just eating fat by itself.
A month is not a very long time for your body to adjust to your new diet. It must go through a lot of changes as it becomes fat adapted.

From my understanding what time if the day you test can be a factor also. There is something called the dawn phenomenon, where blood sugar droppong in the night triggers a cortisol response. The cortisol response can cause elevated morning blood sugar. This is often seen in diabetics. I would take a look at your daily cortisol curve to get a better idea if this is whats happening in your case.

“Prolonged cortisol stimulation will raise blood glucose levels,” notes Dr. Jason Fung, who wrote an entire chapter on the stress hormone in his 2016 bestseller The Obesity Code. In it he describes how cortisol, released from the adrenal glands, sends a message to the body to release glucose to prepare for a perceived threat, spurring gluconeogenesis in the liver. In prehistoric times, that surge of glucose energy was usually used up fighting or fleeing from the threat. But in current days, often that stress goes unreleased, the energy not used, which can lead to prolonged higher glucose levels (and higher insulin levels to try to bring it down.)
I don’t know if any of that helps but from what I’ve learned from others much wiser than me, things that are happening early on in carnivore should not be too concerning because our bodies are going through a lot of changes and the body will resist many of those changes but it will eventually settle into its new way of life.


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[CIO]

Hi thanks for replying. I eat zero dairy, zero coffee or carbs except for a bit of dark chocolate as a crutch just for now. I'm not stressed and I eat lots of fat in form of butter. But think now will start eating more fatty meat.... issue is I don't like fat! But will test!

 

[Bob]

3 hours ago, CIO said:

The issue is since I started a month ago my blood glucose has been over 15 every day! Sometimes it hits 24.

If the conversion on this table is correct, 15 mmol/L is equivalent to 270 mg/dl and 24 translates to 432. Yes, those numbers are crazy high.

When do you take these readings? If you take a reading after a meal, or as soon as you wake up, your numbers will be elevated. I would be curious what your number would be if after finishing your dinner, you did not eat again for 3-4 hours before bed, slept a good nights sleep, woke up and did not have anything but water for the first 2 hours, and THEN check it and see what it is. We want to know what it is in a fasted state and not influenced by the "dawn phenomenon" that Geoff mentioned above.

Are you diabetic?
Are you taking insulin?

If you are and have been, are you still taking your insulin or other diabetes medications? 

Some people make the mistake of dropping their meds as soon as they start, and this is no good. The healing takes time.

4 hours ago, CIO said:

eat only meat (rump steak) and a bit of fish and chicken plus a bit of dark choc.... Baker MD podcast mentioned increasing fat and lowering protein but I don't like too much fat and also I can't just eat fat/butter etc!

Learn to like it, lol.

Your fish would be better if it was fatty fish, like salmon. Your chicken would be better if it was dark meat, and make sure you eat the skin. But in reality, fatty red meat and eggs with the yolks should be the staple of your carnivore. The macros of fat and protein are usually already in their proper portions when it comes to ruminant meat. Get some ground 80/20 ground beef or 73/27 and try to avoid draining the fat, or at least too much of the fat, or replace it with butter. Butter everything.

If you are not eating carbs, AND you are not eating enough fat, then generally speaking your body will use the protein to produce it's own glucose. But even still it should not be enough to send your numbers that sky high.

 

[CIO]

Hi no I am not diabetic and healthy and about 30bs overweight but losing it quickly due to this way of eating. I do IF so eat once a day at the most twice and have taken it at different times so in morning, before and after eating etc but still it seems to be constantly high. I do butter everything and eat dark meat plus salmon etc. BUT pure fatty bits of meat make me sick and I just can't eat them. And I do eat ground beef. It's just a tad confusing why. I am cutting out even the small bit of dark choc I have after Xmas to see if makes any different (gawd I love dark choc). I'm not going to stop as carnivore has basically cured my IBS but just want to know if this continues without reason if I should worry. Hey ho. It's only been a month so I will wait and see. Thank you! 

[Bob]

Maybe invest in another blood glucose meter? Those readings are considered dangerously high.

On 12/31/2023 at 11:58 AM, CIO said:

just want to know if this continues without reason if I should worry

Maybe. You want to see something more along the lines of 4.7 to 6.0, so something is up. The description of your diet sounds perfectly fine except for the chocolate which will contain sugar. Just how much chocolate are you eating? Whatever the answer, stop that immediately. 

You may have undiagnosed Type 1 Diabetes, and what you are experiencing could be diabetic-related ketoacidosis. That much glucose in your blood could indicated your body does not have enough insulin to use sugar for energy. So your body instead breaks down fat for energy, which causes your body to release ketones. Too many ketones cause your blood to turn acidic. Ketoacidosis is bad, whereas ketosis is good. They are 2 different things. The high blood sugar could indicate the former. It can be caused by chronic alcoholism, starvation, or an overactive thyroid too.

Your body should not allow you to have that much glucose in your blood. Your pancrease should respond by releasing insuling to either move it into the cells to be used as energy, or converted to fat for later use. 

I don't want to alarm you. There are usually symptoms that you would experience but you say you feel fine. But I would go see your doctor and get some blood work done.

This can't be diet related at all, even if your one meal a day was 2 pounds of chocolate.

[CIO]

Hello. I wish I ate two pounds of choc!

I am def not diabetic as this increase has started with carnivore only. Plus I have zero health issues and had blood work 6 months ago and all good. Strange thing is I feel great. 

After much googling I read that HRT (which includes testosterone) may create insulin resistance so I have come off it to see if makes a difference. 

Will let you know it that is the cause but thanks for all the help. 

[Bob]

12 hours ago, CIO said:

After much googling I read that HRT (which includes testosterone) may create insulin resistance so I have come off it to see if makes a difference. 

Will let you know it that is the cause but thanks for all the help. 

Yes, please do. Everything I was reading was gloom and doom, lol. 

[CIO]

Hi so an update! After exactly 8 days off HRT/test. my blood glucose levels today are 5! I spoke to doctor and she actually agreed was probably test. making me insulin resistant and she has ordered full bloods. I am so relieved and figure will stay off HRT etc. and rely on carnivore to regulate my hormones. Phew! Thanks for all your help. Just updating in case you come across another case like this and can then advise based on my experiences.

Edited January 9, 2024 by CIO

[Bob]

Thanks for the update and I am really glad you found the culprit behind those alarmingly high levels. 

I'll add some tags to this topic so it can be easily found in the future.

[CIO]

Thank you!

[Geezy]

That’s great news.


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