[Rad Warrier]

In a previous post, I had mentioned that some foods caused a spike in my 1-hour post prandial glucose level. To catch such spikes satisfactorily, I might need to prick myself at a minimum of 10 minute intervals. That is a lot of holes to prick on my body. Instead, I thought of catching a spike with considerably less number of glucose readings. I was not successful yesterday in catching the spikes that mock my delusion of not yet being a full blown diabetic. But I did catch an interesting glucose response and found that a favourite dish of mine caused slightly above-normal readings yesterday. Thought this glucose response might be of interest to people here.

Elephant yam ('chena ' in my mother tongue and 'suran ' in Hindi) is a tuber rich in carbohydrates. Dry curry with elephant yam is a favourite of mine (a link to a recipe is given at the end of this post). Unfortunately it is one of the few foods that sometimes (but not always) cause a glucose spike for me. We had elephant yam curry yesterday. For lunch I had about 75 grams of cooked Basmati rice, about 75 g of vegetable stir fry (assorted vegetables cooked with olive oil and condiments), 75 g of elephant yam curry (cooked with olive oil and condiments), half a cup of curry with gravy (cooked with assorted vegetables, yogurt, condiments and a little olive oil) and about half a cup (100 g) of plain yogurt. I don't have a kitchen scale yet (have ordered one), so the measures mentioned are very approximate and may be quite off the mark. I checked my glucose level half hourly till 2 hours past lunch and hourly thereafter till 4 hours past lunch. Here are the readings.


Well, it may be remarked that meter does not give very reliable readings and that a reading of 5 mmol/L could be as high as 6 or as low as 4. Well, I am actually more interested in the relative values than the absolute values. The readings were taken with the same meter, with strips from the same batch with the same code number from the same container and all readings taken within a time span of 4 hours. So the relative values are likely to be consistent enough for our purposes. The next point is how these readings might compare with what one measures in a lab. 3 months ago, after a lab test, the number that my meter showed 5 minutes after the lab test and the lab test results differed only by 0.1 mmol/L.

I am interested in explanations of the slight increase in glucose level after one hour. Could it be the glucose from low glycemic stuff kicking in?

Here is a link to a recipe for elephant yam curry: jugalbandi Mezhukkuparatti / Upperi

Regards,
Rad

[tealas]

Here's my take - you ate a good serving of white rice. That is probably going to raise your blood sugar faster than the yam, and even with the yogurt/ghee to slow absorption.

I'm not experienced enough to say whether this is compromised first-phase or second phase insulin release. Looks more like delayed/compromised second phase... but I'm guessing.

Can you review glycemic index charts and change the ratios of high glycemic index foods to protien/fat in your meals? Might be a little harder to do with an Indian diet. But try eating that same meal with zero white rice or even half as much white rice and see what happens. Also, can you change to brown basmati rice? etc. Watch out for those idlies

Check out these charts about normal blood sugar response to a meal and try to devise a diet that helps you keep that curve. Here are some links:

[delphi]

Originally Posted by tealas

Here's my take - you ate a good serving of white rice. That is probably going to raise your blood sugar faster than the yam, and even with the yogurt/ghee to slow absorption.

I'm not experienced enough to say whether this is compromised first-phase or second phase insulin release. Looks more like delayed/compromised second phase... but I'm guessing.

Can you review glycemic index charts and change the ratios of high glycemic index foods to protien/fat in your meals? Might be a little harder to do with an Indian diet. But try eating that same meal with zero white rice or even half as much white rice and see what happens. Also, can you change to brown basmati rice? etc. Watch out for those idlies

Check out these charts about normal blood sugar response to a meal and try to devise a diet that helps you keep that curve. Here are some links:
What is a Normal Blood Sugar?

Hi ,

The links on normal blood sugar and how to lower Bs are good.

Regarding Indian diet I am confused as to what really to eat ?
I used to take Rice - white,basmati,idlis dosas (being from South India) and ofcourse the non veg dishes and dals and veg dishes.

I wanted lose weight and control sugar - so went on to do low carbs- my sugar contro is better ,and have lost weight.But I am running out of ideas as to 'what to eat' apart from chicken,fish and eggs ? I ahve kept away form Yams and other tubers.

delphi

[Rad Warrier]

Thanks a lot Tealas. I am trying to reduce my rice intake. Also, on many occasions, I take wheat based stuff like chapatti, roti etc., in place of rice although this might not be of much help because both are carbohydrates - perhaps chapatti etc have a lower glycemic index than rice.

Regards,
Rad

[Rad Warrier]

Originally Posted by Rad Warrier

I was not successful yesterday in catching the spikes that mock my delusion of not yet being a full blown diabetic.

And today morning I caught the mocking spike after breakfast. But my delusion continues.

For breakfast, I had:

One kiwi fruit
One and a half tablespoon of Chia soaked overnight in half a cup of water and mixed with half a cup of V8 vegetable juice just before consumption
Three dosas - a dosa is a thin pancake made of dough made by wet grinding rice and urad dal and allowing it to leaven
A cup of tea with milk sweatened with Splenda

I was somewhat sure that I would spike. Dosa is carbohydrate rich. In spite of it being smeared with sesame oil during preparation, I don't think its glycemin index is very low. Nowadays I normally take only two. I took three to see if I would spike (3 years ago, before being diagnosed, I used to take 4 or 5).

My morning fasting readings are generally a little high, in the range of 5.5 to 6.5 mmol/L (99 - 117 mg/dL) mostly hovering around 6 mmol/L (108 mg/dL). On the contrary, the fasting readings before lunch or supper are normally low, around 4.5 mmol/L (81 mg/dL).

Recipe for Dosa: Dosa - Dosa Recipe - Savory Crispy South Indian Pancakes - Dosai - South Indian Rice Pancakes

Regards,
Rad

[lorilei]

tealas,
what a great link! i read the "Normal Blood Sugar" blurb and am looking forward to the vidoe...others may have mentioned this site in the past, but it was my first trip there...thanks again for making some critical points with a1c's above 6!

[Caravaggio]

Originally Posted by tealas

Here are some links:
What is a Normal Blood Sugar?

Thanks a lot for suggesting this very informative link.

I found rice (even brown rice) to be a major culprit in raising my BG. I'm a great fan of Indian, Thai food, spicy Sichuan food - anything spicy - and I grew up eating rice. Giving up rice is difficult but I'd rather give it up than go blind or have my feet amputated. I'm now down to 3 tablespoons of rice a day (usually for lunch).

[Scrabblechick]

Rice is one of my nemesis foods, and I just love it. I have to be VERY careful about the amount I eat. However, bread, in moderation, doesn't bug me too much. And I looooooove Indian food (and Thai, and Vietnamese, etc. LOL). I find a couple of pieces of naan to be as satisfying as rice, without doing nearly as much damage. Or dosa, or papadams... But naan is my favorite.

Anyway, Indian food is not nearly as deadly to my BG as Chinese. It's all that sneak sugar in Chinese foods -- even the stir-fried veggies. I think Indian food tends to rely more on ghee and spices for flavor, while Chinese tends toward soy sauce and sugar. But that's just a layman's opinion.

[Caravaggio]

I visited the Chinese restaurants around my office to ask them how they generally cook their food. I found 3 that don't put sugar (other than in sweet sauces that are meant to be sweet in the first place - think plum sauce for Peking duck), flour or too much cornstarch in their food.

Sugar in stir-fry? That's the first time I've heard of that. I'll check with my regular Chinese places.