Why your fasting blood sugar might still be high on low carb

September 9 2017 by in Blood sugar, Diabetes, Low Carb High Fat

It’s not too uncommon to have slightly high fasting blood sugar on low carb and keto diets. Is this a problem?

It depends on your insulin levels, as outlined by Dr. Ted Naiman below. If you’re insulin sensitive, and have slightly higher fasting blood glucose, it’s likely just fine.

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Insulin

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Is obesity mainly caused by the fat storing hormone insulin? Dr. Ted Naiman answers this question.
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Controlling the insulin in your body can help you control both your weight and important aspects of your health. Dr. Naiman explains how.
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How insulin toxicity causes obesity and type 2 diabetes – and how to reverse it. Dr Jason Fung at the LCHF Convention 2015.
What causes insulin resistance?
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No less than 70% of people die from chronic disease, connected to insulin resistance. Dr. Naiman explains what causes it.
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Why do we get fat – and what can we do about it? Gary Taubes at Low Carb USA 2016.
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Do you really need to worry about protein on a ketogenic diet? Dr. Ben Bikman shares a new way of thinking about this.
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How do you measure your insulin-response pattern?

Advanced low-carb topics

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Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt sits down with Dr. Evelyne Bourdua-Roy to talk about how she, as a doctor, is using low-carb as a treatment for her patients.
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Dr. Ted Naiman is one of the individuals who believes more protein is better and recommends a higher intake. He explains why in this interview.
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Can a ketogenic diet be used in cancer treatment? Dr. Angela Poff at the Low Carb USA 2016.
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What is the current science in support of a low-carb and keto diet?
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How can low-carb ketogenic diets help athletes perform better, improve endurance, and prevent bonking?
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Is it possible to exercise on a strict low-carb diet? Professor Jeff Volek is an expert on the topic.
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Why do we get fat – and what can we do about it? Iconic science-writer Gary Taubes answers these questions.

Diabetes

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Dr. Fung's diabetes course part 1: How do you reverse your type 2 diabetes?
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Dr. Fung's diabetes course part 2: What exactly is the essential problem of type 2 diabetes?
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Why are the recommendations to people with diabetes to eat a high-carb diet a bad idea? And what is the alternative?
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Do doctors treat type 2 diabetes completely wrong today – in a way that actually makes the disease worse?
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Dr. Eenfeldt's get-started course part 3: How to improve type 2 diabetes dramatically using a simple lifestyle change.
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How exactly do you as a doctor help patients reverse their type 2 diabetes?
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Dr. Unwin about getting his patients off medications and making a true difference in their lives using low carb.
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Dr. Jake Kushner explains why we would be better off treating type 1 diabetic patients with a low-carb diet.
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How Antonio Martinez finally managed to reverse his type 2 diabetes.
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How much simpler is it to control type 1 diabetes on low carb compared to on a high-carb diet? Andrew Koutnik has had great success managing his condition with a low-carb, high-fat diet.

Dr. Naiman

Too much protein is better than too little
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Is increasing protein intake on low carb a good or bad idea idea in terms of weight and health – and why? Dr. Naiman explains.
Why more protein is better
15:17
Dr. Ted Naiman is one of the individuals who believes more protein is better and recommends a higher intake. He explains why in this interview.
Is obesity caused by too much insulin?
25:27
Is obesity mainly caused by the fat storing hormone insulin? Dr. Ted Naiman answers this question.
Hyperinsulinemia - What insulin does in your body
45:29
Controlling the insulin in your body can help you control both your weight and important aspects of your health. Dr. Naiman explains how.
What causes insulin resistance?
29:01
No less than 70% of people die from chronic disease, connected to insulin resistance. Dr. Naiman explains what causes it.
Becoming a low-carb doctor
19:30
How do you find a low-carb doctor? And how do we make it more simple for doctors to understand low carb?

Earlier with Dr. Naiman

All earlier posts about Dr. Naiman

12 comments

1
rpf
September 9 2017
Interesting but hard to know for oneself since there's no easy way to get your daily fasting insulin that I know of, is there?
2
Tanya
September 9 2017
I just got a glucose monitor and was a bit worried when I saw my fasting blood sugar-6.9 mmol, almost diabetic. So no need for concern? Will it normalise?
3
Cathis
September 9 2017
How can i messure the insulinlevel my self?

Reply: #5
4
Eddie
September 10 2017
Who created this infograph?

Are the conclusions (high FBG "not a problem" if insulin profile appropriate) supported by studies?

What is best course of action for a LCing (keto at time), exercising, daily IFing, man who is concerned about "pre-diabetic" FBG and A1c?
5
Reply to comment #3 by Cathis
Peter Biörck Team Diet Doctor
September 10 2017
Hi Cathis!

There are no easy way (like for sugar and ketones) yet to do home testing for insulin levels.

How can i messure the insulinlevel my self?
6
Jennifer bowerman
September 10 2017
Am I wrong here? Most doctors don't measure insulin levels. They determine diabetes status based on blood glucose levels and then prescribe insulin or its equivalent to balance off and bring the glucose down. So high insulin is treated with high insulin. Isn't this a message Dr. Fung makes many times in his lectures?
7
It
September 10 2017
Low carb is why i became hpothyroid. Good luck.
8
Peter
June 26
I've been reading a lot about this. It could just be an insulin resistant liver that takes time to get rid of it's insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance can exist at different levels in different organs.

When the liver is insulin resistant, it thinks insulin levels are lower than they actually are. This can increase glucose production in the liver. Over time because of the insulin resistance, the glucose production set point changes, going higher.

You won't notice this unless you're fasting.

Then you go on the keto diet, causing your insulin levels to be lower than what it used to be and adding intermittent fasting causing longer periods of low insulin. Now your liver thinks it has to produce more glucose. It's glucose production set point is too high.

I think the only way to change insulin resistance in the liver is through eating a lot of vegetables and exercize.

It takes 3 to 6 or more months to rid your liver from insulin resistance, depending on how bad it is. The rest of your body can have mild insulin resistance while your liver has high resistance. And without lots of vegetables it may not go away at all. (I know that a lot of people on keto don't do the healthy amounts of vegetables required, and just stuff them selves with meat, fat, eggs and dairy products.)

Just my take on it. I had glucose levels of over 105 every day after 15 hours of fasting. They would be around 85, 4 hours after eating. Now, after 9 months on keto, and below 20% protein, my fasting glucose is below 95.

High protein intake can accelerate gluconeogenesis I think. Keeping protein below 20% will also help reduce high fasting glucose levels.
9
Cindi Long
July 24
I'm badly type 2 diabetic, have been on an insulin pump needing 500 units per day when eating SAD, more like 200 units per day when eating better. I've done IF and LCHF a couple times when I was younger and I reversed it. I'm older now, and I tried plant based no oil last year in which I ate ONLY plants, and now trying to IF and eat LCHF is taking forever to work. My concern is that I've had only 20 g carbs daily for the last week and a half, eating only within 6 hours each day, and my blood sugar is still 250 to 300. I feel like that's too high and that I need to cautiously use insulin. Does anybody know of anybody else whose sugar stayed that high for this long? In the past I only needed 3 days to get normal blood sugar with no meds at all.

Reply: #10
10
Reply to comment #9 by Cindi Long
Michelle
August 1
Cindi I’m experiencing this as well. I am eating 20g of carbs per day, taking metformin, basaglar, and Saxenda (for almost 2 weeks now) and my sugar was still 391 this morning and I hadn’t eaten for 8 hours.
11
Barbara
September 28
I’m experiencing the same issue. I’ve been intaking >35 grams of carbs for the last 5 days and my fasting blood sugar is 168. I’ve been feeling to get out and walk or some type of exercise to burn off the excess sugars.
12
Barbara
September 28
Oops. I used the wrong sign. I meant (less than) <35 gram of carbs per day.