Tag: blood glucose levels

Blood sugar rises for different foods compared

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Adapted from BMJ 28 June 2025

Our individual metabolic response to different foods types may influence our risks of developing diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Californian researchers decided to test 55 members of the general population after they had consumed various carbohydrate foodstuffs to see what the blood sugar response was over time.

Glucose levels typically peaked at about an hour and were highest for rice, potatoes and grapes. They noted that responses varied considerably between individuals however. Eating fibre, protein or fat before the carbohydrate reduced the size of the peak blood sugar compared with eating the carbohydrate on its own. This of course won’t be news to insulin users who need to check their blood sugar regularly.

Fastest peaks in order:

Grapes – 40 minutes after eating

Potatoes – Berries 50 mins

Bread – Rice – Pasta – Beans 60 mins

Highest peaks in order:

140 -160 mg dL glucose – Rice- Grapes-Potatoes-Bread

120-140 Berries – Pasta

100-120 Beans

Longest lasting blood sugar rises over 100 minutes Pasta-Potatoes-Bread-Rice

Shortest lasting blood sugar rises under 100 minutes Berries-Grapes-Beans

What can we make of this?

If you have a low blood sugar, grapes could be a good option if you don’t have juice or glucose tablets. Otherwise keep them for eating after a meal or with cheese.

In terms of diabetes control, both beans and berries are good options because they don’t raise your blood sugars very much and in addition the levels fall quickly too.

Pasta could be a good option if you are undertaking planned prolonged exercise as it raises the blood sugar moderately and lasts the longest in your system.

Rice, potatoes, and bread produce high blood sugar spikes, so if you like eating these, it is preferable to eat them with some sort of fat, and eat them after the protein component of your meal.

#Type1Runs… or Plods

Emma12 Comments

 

my feet in Sketchers

 

The half-marathon training continues… limps on, more like. My body repeatedly tells my brain this was not wise. Sheer stubbornness forces me on.

It heartened me to read of another type 1 saying her training veered between 20-mile runs that went well and three-mile runs that floored her. We juggle not only the effort of running with balancing blood glucose levels.

Too high and running turns into an activity that resembles wading through waist high treacle. Too low, and your calves seize up as your body goes on a glycogen hunt. Either way, both states bring you to a grinding halt.

Magic formula

The magic formula that is running with diabetes is akin to Google’s most complicated search algorithm. Factor in sleep, the previous few days’ average blood glucose levels, where you are in your cycle (if you’re a woman), what you’ve eaten, how much insulin you have on board, how much food you need before running, what foods provide the best fuel sources, how far your blood glucose levels drop and by what time spent running…

If you can work it out, you’re better at this lark than I am.

Exercise affects us not just at the time but for up to 24 hours afterwards. And if you’re exercising for more than an hour at a time, it becomes trickier to work out what you need to do with insulin and food.

Pilates and yoga

Bouts of activity that last half an hour to 45 minutes are relatively easy to manage. If you want to do more exercise than this, you can break your activities up—a walk in the morning and an easy jog in the evening, say. And plenty of Pilates and yoga thrown in for those nice stretch and flexibility benefits.

My vow is post September 30, I’m never doing a run longer than a 10k and my weekly runs won’t add up to more than nine miles, if that. Dear reader, I make myself accountable here.

Meanwhile, September 30 (the half-marathon date) hurtles ever nearer. Yikes!

 

 

Exercise and a Low-Carb Diet

Emma2 Comments

Some people claim that as a type 1 diabetic, you can’t follow a low-carb diet and exercise. Is this the case*?

For most type 2 diabetics, the advice doesn’t apply. If you don’t take insulin or any blood-glucose level lowering medication, you’re not going to suffer from hypos, where blood sugars dip too low. A low blood sugar is usually defined as below 4mmol (or 70mg/dl in the States). There are no problems following a low-carb diet and exercising.

What happens to you as a type 1 diabetic when you exercise?

Lower AND Raise

Exercise or activity can lower your blood sugar levels. It can also raise them too, just to make life extra complicated. Many people find that intense exercise, such as high-intensity interval training, will temporarily increase blood sugar levels. But the same thing can happen with any activity that makes you huff and puff—a perceived exertion level of hard (15-17 out of 20 on the Borg Scale).

What happens to blood glucose levels also depends on how long you exercise for. Shorter periods of exercise and activity (less than 45 minutes) will not have as much effect as an activity that lasts longer than an hour. Timing is also crucial. When I want to go on a long walk (90 minutes), I usually schedule it for the morning or just after lunch. If I do this, I’m less likely to experience low blood sugars. In the morning, my body is fighting the cortisol spike that raises blood sugar levels. If I go for a walk right after lunch, I don’t take any insulin with my low-carb meal. A long walk will have the same effect as insulin. This might not work if I ate a high-carb meal.

I’m more likely to experience low blood sugars if I exercise in the early evening when my insulin sensitivity is greater anyway.

Basal Rate Reductions

If you know you are going to exercise or be more active than usual, you can lower your basal rate to compensate. With a pump, you can also put on a temporary basal rate reduction an hour or so before you start, keep that on during exercise and for an hour or so afterwards. Or you can switch to a different basal programme for the day.

You will also need to keep an eye on blood sugar levels over the next 24 hours. High-intensity interval training, for example, can lead to a temporary increase, but then a drop in blood sugar levels the next day.

One final point is adaptability. When we first try out a new exercise or activity, it often feels really hard. If you keep it up for a few weeks, what felt difficult soon becomes okay as your body become more efficient. So, a 30-minute spin class, for example, that might have given you a dramatic blood sugar level drop the first time you did it, has minimal effects five weeks later.

There are so many variables to type 1 diabetes, blanket statements such as “you can’t exercise and eat low-carb” do not apply to everyone. It’s challenging, yes, but if you know your body, you’ll know what exercise and activity you can do, when you can do it and how much to do if you want to avoid hypos. Like everything else, personal experience and logging what happens to you during exercise will help.

 

*The usual disclaimer applies. My opinions don’t constitute advice for other people. If you want to exercise and follow a low-carb diet, you will need to experiment to find out what works for you. If you go to classes or use a gym, make sure the instructors are aware that you have type 1 diabetes and always carry your testing equipment and fast-acting carbs, such as jelly babies, with you.