7 Ways to Reduce Blood Sugar Spikes After Meals

This content material initially appeared on diaTribe. Republished with permission.

By April Hopcroft

Many individuals with diabetes – even these utilizing the newest expertise – battle with excessive blood sugar after consuming. We spoke with specialists for tips about reduce these cussed glucose spikes.

We’ve all been there: it’s been an extended, demanding day at work and also you’re excited to sit down down for dinner at your favourite restaurant.

Or perhaps you’re desperate to watch the sport and dig right into a feast of wings, nachos, and sliders with family and friends. Maybe you’ve been touring or in your toes all day and are able to gobble up the primary meals you encounter.

Whatever the state of affairs, it’s seemingly you don’t need to take the time to bolus and wait on your insulin to kick in earlier than you begin consuming. In any case, meals are sometimes a social exercise, and it’s no enjoyable to attend whereas others are chowing down.

However because the meal wears on, you catch a glimpse of your cellphone and are startled to see your blood sugar is effectively into the 200s and rising. Quickly, you begin to acknowledge the telltale indicators of excessive blood sugar: achiness, fatigue, and a common feeling of unease.

There’s little question about it – navigating meals will be difficult when you have got diabetes. Even amongst individuals who use automated insulin supply (AID) methods, analysis means that reaching postprandial glycemic management will be tough.

Why do blood sugar spikes after meals occur?

Sudden will increase in blood glucose after consuming are regular, even in individuals with out diabetes. After consuming carbohydrates, blood sugar ranges rise as our our bodies break carbohydrates down into sugars.

In individuals with out diabetes, this enhance in blood sugar triggers the fast launch of insulin. Inside minutes, insulin begins transporting glucose from the bloodstream into cells, serving to to cut back blood sugar after consuming. Put up-meal blood glucose spikes are normally short-term and infrequently go unnoticed in these with out diabetes.

Nonetheless, in individuals with diabetes, blood sugar spikes will be extra pronounced and last more. Insulin delivered by way of injections or an insulin pump takes longer to begin working in comparison with the insulin produced naturally by the physique, that means blood glucose will proceed to rise whereas the injected insulin kicks in.

Individuals with diabetes produce other hormonal variations that may have an effect on the pace of digestion. These with out useful beta cells additionally can not produce the hormone amylin, which helps sluggish digestion and reduces post-meal glucose. Which means individuals with out sufficient amylin could expertise challenges with excessive glucose ranges after consuming.

When you’ve been scuffling with post-meal hyperglycemia, take inventory of your present circumstances and in case you’ve skilled main life adjustments not too long ago, steered LaurieAnn Scher, licensed diabetes care and training specialist.

Have you ever skilled stressors, comparable to finding out for an enormous examination, switching jobs, or transferring? This will set off the discharge of stress hormones like cortisol, which may promote weight acquire and have an effect on metabolism, together with insulin resistance.

Perhaps your consuming or train patterns have shifted, maybe as a result of adjustments like beginning school, transferring in with a associate, or navigating parenthood. Food plan adjustments can lead individuals to realize extra muscle or fats. With a unique proportion of fats and muscle mass, insulin resistance can fluctuate, impacting your insulin wants, Scher added.

Many different components can have an effect on insulin resistance and blood glucose administration, comparable to utilizing contraception, environmental circumstances, dehydration, and extra.

Why is it vital to cut back blood sugar spikes?

Excessive blood sugar after meals raises your threat of diabetes problems, together with kidney illness, heart problems, and diabetic neuropathy. Put up-meal hyperglycemia also can have an effect on high quality of life, resulting in detrimental results on temper, diabetes misery, and points like mind fog or sluggishness.

To place it merely, excessive blood sugar after consuming “doesn’t really feel nice, and it may be onerous to suppose and see,” stated Scher.

Analysis additionally suggests that higher glycemic management after meals is linked to improved A1C and fasting glucose ranges.

Based on the American Diabetes Affiliation 2024 Requirements of Care, you need to intention for blood sugar to be lower than 180 mg/dL inside 1-2 hours after you begin consuming. In contrast, in most individuals with out diabetes, two-hour postprandial blood sugar ranges are sometimes lower than 120 mg/dL and infrequently exceed 140 mg/dL.

forestall blood sugar spikes after consuming

From medicines to weight loss program and bodily exercise, there are various completely different methods to forestall bothersome blood sugar spikes after meals. As with all elements of diabetes care, it’s vital to acknowledge that what works for one individual could not work for another person.

“It’s all about tailoring to the affected person’s wants, consolation degree, background, what they’ve tried, and what they’re keen and taken with,” stated Rina Hisamatsu, a registered dietitian on the Michigan Collaborative for Sort 2 Diabetes (MCT2D).

1. Experiment with completely different insulins and dose timing

For any diabetes medicine, Scher suggested, “Don’t set it and overlook it.”

That’s, you need to often look at basal and bolus insulin, alongside along with your different medicines. Chances are you’ll want to regulate your insulin routine and tweak bolus doses and timing all through your life.

There are a number of several types of mealtime insulin, every with its personal time to onset of blood glucose decreasing:

The timing of rapid-acting insulin performs an enormous position round mealtime. For some meals, you might want a 30-minute pre-bolus earlier than, whereas others would possibly require a shorter pre-bolus of 10-Quarter-hour earlier than consuming.

Some individuals discover they like an prolonged bolus, which implies the insulin is delivered over an prolonged interval, as an alternative of abruptly.

Digestion fee additionally components into the timing of mealtime insulin, particularly for individuals with circumstances like gastroparesis or exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.

2. Strive a brief quantity of bodily exercise

Being energetic for even just some minutes after consuming can assist decrease blood glucose and forestall blood sugar spikes.

Any motion is healthier than no motion, irrespective of how small. And most significantly, Hisamatsu stated, attempt to discover an exercise that you just take pleasure in so as to make it a sustainable behavior.

Taking a stroll – whether or not inside your condominium, across the block, or on a motorbike path – goes a great distance towards regulating glucose. Past taking a stroll, there are various different choices for brief bursts of train like:

• Climb a set of stairs in your home or office.
• Bounce rope, jog in place, or do leaping jacks – these take up little or no house.
• Do squats at your desk. Since squats train the biggest muscle tissues in your physique (your glutes and quads), they’re very efficient at decreasing glucose. “The quads and glutes are like sponges, they suck up all of the glucose and use it far more readily than smaller muscle tissues,” Scher stated.
• Have a dance occasion – put in your favourite songs and jam out to your coronary heart’s content material.

Analysis exhibits that breaking apart a sedentary way of life each hour can enhance insulin sensitivity (how effectively your physique’s cells reply to insulin) and post-meal glucose.

When you favor to suppose forward, contemplate the several types of train that you are able to do all through the day that enhance insulin sensitivity. Energy coaching earlier than consuming has been proven to enhance post-meal blood glucose in individuals with prediabetes by enhancing insulin sensitivity. Likewise, analysis suggests that exercising earlier than meals can enhance insulin sensitivity and enhance total glycemic management in individuals with sort 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes.

In fact, any type of train can result in drops in glucose ranges and trigger hypoglycemia. When you use insulin, it’s subsequently vital to contemplate your insulin on board and take steps to forestall hypoglycemia throughout train, Scher stated.

3. Eat high-fiber meals

In distinction to different carbohydrates, fiber can’t be digested by the physique, so it has much less of an affect on blood glucose ranges. In consequence, it helps you’re feeling full and glad.

Fiber additionally performs a key position within the intestine microbiome, serving to sweep micro organism from the colon and preserving bowel actions common. You possibly can eat extra fiber by including fruits, greens, legumes, and entire grains to your weight loss program.

“We will contemplate fiber certainly one of our greatest mates,” Hisamatsu stated, as fiber-rich meals are usually low-calorie however have a excessive nutrient density, notably non-starchy greens.

Likewise, Scher stated fiber is sort of a parachute. Whenever you pair fiber-rich meals with carbohydrates, it helps forestall blood sugar spikes and likewise reduces fast drops in blood sugar.

Including an excessive amount of fiber too rapidly could trigger some GI misery, so Hisamatsu steered going “low and sluggish” when rising fiber consumption and ensuring to remain adequately hydrated. Begin by pondering of meals you already take pleasure in and attempt to add some greens or entire grains. For example, add sauteed greens to spaghetti, tuck some beans right into a quesadilla, or swap whole-grain bread for white bread.

4. Offset carbs with fats and protein

Understanding the several types of carbohydrates is essential to managing post-meal blood sugar spikes.

“I’ve all the time stated there’s nothing that an individual with diabetes can’t eat, besides poison and meals with poison,” Scher stated. “You possibly can have cake, sweet, and so forth. You’re human. You simply must learn to handle it.”

Carbohydrates will be divided into two common classes:

• Easy carbs are sugars. These carbs are damaged down rapidly and normally result in huge spikes in blood sugar. Examples embrace soda, baked items, breakfast cereals, and fruit juice.
• Advanced carbs are damaged down extra slowly and result in extra predictable, gradual will increase in blood sugar. Examples embrace beans, fruits, greens, and entire grains.

Hisamatsu steered beginning with “low-hanging fruit” by figuring out elements of your weight loss program the place you are likely to eat extra refined or easy carbohydrates. Perhaps you’re flying out the door to work within the morning, so breakfast has develop into a sugary granola bar. Otherwise you crave fruit juice at lunch and a cookie for dessert.

When you’ve recognized these areas, contemplate methods so as to add extra complicated carbs and fiber-rich meals. Begin with small modifications and check out behavior stacking to make sure sustainable adjustments.

General, Hisamatsu advisable specializing in rising fiber and protein consumption, whereas including fats for taste and fullness.

“After we can deal with a steadiness of various meals teams, it may be useful to enhance one’s postprandial glucose,” she stated.

5. Strive setting a brief basal fee

In the identical method that some individuals select to decrease their basal insulin fee throughout train, you possibly can contemplate briefly rising your basal fee by a sure proportion earlier than or after meals.

Likewise, some insulin pumps permit you to set a decrease pre-meal goal, comparable to 80 or 85 mg/dL fairly than 95 mg/dL earlier than consuming.

Setting a brief basal fee will be useful if you’re consuming meals that has vital refined carbohydrates in it, comparable to pastries, bread, pasta, pancakes, pizza, and even white rice. This technique could also be particularly helpful for these with extra insulin resistance.

You may need to experiment by means of trial and error to determine what works greatest for you. Seek the advice of your healthcare supplier to seek out the best basal fee for mealtimes.

6. Use CGM as a instrument to tell choices

Steady glucose displays (CGM) present helpful info that may aid you handle post-meal blood sugar.

Since everybody responds otherwise to meals, Scher stated CGMs permit you to perceive your physique’s distinctive response. For example, some individuals with diabetes can eat white rice with none blood sugar spikes, whereas many others will expertise excessive blood sugar shortly after consuming rice.

“People with sort 2 diabetes, whether or not or not they’re on insulin remedy, could profit from utilizing a CGM,” Hisamatsu stated. “In tandem with way of life change, CGM generally is a useful information for sufferers to see real-time information and the way meals and way of life affect postprandial glucose which can assist establish areas for enchancment.”

The pattern arrows on a CGM can assist inform mealtime insulin dosing. Use time in vary to establish patterns and make changes as wanted – you would possibly want a unique insulin-to-carb ratio or correction issue relying in your mealtime.

Even when you have sort 2 diabetes and your insurance coverage doesn’t cowl CGM, skilled CGM could also be an possibility for you.

“The trick is discovering a supplier in your space that can aid you do knowledgeable CGM trial,” Scher stated. In most states within the U.S., insurance coverage will cowl one or two trials {of professional} CGM per 12 months.

7. Keep hydrated

Staying hydrated all through the day is essential to many bodily features, from regulating blood stress to physique temperature to blood glucose.

Whenever you’re dehydrated, the quantity of water in your bloodstream decreases, making the glucose in your blood extra concentrated. This will result in barely larger blood sugar ranges or trigger fast spikes.

Certainly, analysis suggests that not ingesting sufficient water results in worse glucose management in sort 2 diabetes. Dehydration can result in a cycle of upper glucose ranges, so it’s particularly vital to hydrate effectively when it’s sizzling exterior.

Whether or not it’s investing in a colourful water bottle or pairing hydration along with your morning espresso, be sure you get your fluids in.

The underside line

Blood sugar spikes after meals are a typical a part of life when you have got diabetes. Whereas having a constant meal construction can assist forestall giant spikes, it isn’t all the time attainable to plan all of your meals.

To handle post-meal blood glucose ranges, it’s a good suggestion to construct a “toolbox” of methods. Everyone seems to be completely different, so you might must undergo some trial and error to determine what works greatest for you.

“We’re not take a look at tubes,” Scher stated. “What works for one individual, could not work for another person.”

It’s additionally vital to know when to achieve out to your healthcare supplier for skilled recommendation.

“We’re right here to help you and to work as a group,” Scher stated. “If one thing doesn’t really feel proper, let’s work as specialists collectively to assist determine it out.”