Everyone knows that post-meal blood sugar is measured 2 hours after a meal, right?
Then why isn't it 1 hour or 3 hours after the meal test, or some other time?
Someone took the test and the result shocked me!
"I ate half a roast duck at 5 p.m. and tested my blood sugar at 7 p.m., and it was only 5.9. After eating so much meat, my blood sugar didn't rise at all. I didn't even believe it. I tested my blood sugar again an hour later, and it was 10.5! It was 10.5 after eating so much meat. It’s been 3 hours since I roasted duck, why is my blood sugar higher in 3 hours than in 2 hours?”
To understand this problem, we must first understand how blood sugar rises after eating.
Blood sugar reaches a peak about 1 hour after eating. Then, as the body secretes insulin to lower blood sugar, blood sugar gradually drops. 2 hours after the meal, the blood sugar will fall back to ≤7.8. By 3 hours after the meal, the blood sugar will return to the fasting level.
1 hour after meal: 6.7～9.4
2 hours after meal: ≤7.8
3 hours after meal: ≤6.1
This refers to the blood sugar of normal people. People with diabetes must rely on drugs to help their blood sugar get closer to normal.
The reason for high blood sugar 3 hours after a meal——
Roast duck has a particularly high fat content. Fat slows down gastric emptying. Excessive fat also aggravates insulin resistance. If the person has gastrointestinal absorption problems at the same time, it will eventually lead to a delayed high blood sugar curve, that is, after a meal. 2 hours is normal, but 3 hours after a meal is abnormally high.
There are also cases of high blood sugar 1 hour after a meal -
It is more common to eat foods that are quickly absorbed and metabolized quickly, such as potatoes and rice porridge, which cause blood sugar to rise and fall quickly. The blood sugar may not be very high 2 hours after a meal, but it will be very high 1 hour after a meal.
Looking at it this way, in the future, in addition to measuring 2 hours after a meal, will we also need to measure 1 hour and 3 hours? Then you can’t prick your fingers into a sieve?
no. Measuring blood sugar 2 hours after a meal refers to the blood sugar from the first bite of the meal to 2 hours after the meal. It is generally appropriate to eat for 30 minutes, and then from the first bite of the meal to 2 hours after the meal, it is almost the time when the body's blood sugar reaches its peak. By measuring blood sugar at this time, you can basically understand the blood sugar situation after the meal.
Therefore, daily monitoring of blood sugar 2 hours after a meal is enough.
This article is to remind you not to think that it is OK after measuring your blood sugar for 2 hours and it is not very high.
This kind of high blood sugar 1 hour or 3 hours after a meal, and the sudden rise and fall of blood sugar is like a roller coaster, which is called blood sugar fluctuation in medicine.
Whether you are healthy or diabetic, you should adopt healthy eating habits to achieve a stable post-meal blood sugar curve.
How to achieve stable post-meal blood sugar
1. Reduce the intake of meat and oily foods
2. Increase the intake of whole grains and vegetables
3. Moderate protein food intake
4. The total amount of meals per day remains the same, and eating divided meals can alleviate blood sugar fluctuations.
