In today's video, we are gonna be talking about
what is considered to be normal blood sugar
and what that means for our health.
Blood sugar also known as blood glucose
is the amount of sugar
circulating our blood at any given time.
The body always tries to maintain homeostasis
and keep blood sugar at a certain level.
If blood sugar is too high
this can cause negative side effects
both short and long-term.
And the same goes for if blood sugar is too low.
At the extremes of each spectrum
It could also result in death
and that is why the body has the capability
to both lower and raise blood sugar as needed.
However, poor metabolic health can impair our ability
to regulate blood sugar.
And this can result in blood sugar levels remaining elevated
for long periods of time.
When this happens, we are at a greater risk
of heart disease, nerve damage, kidney damage,
eye damage, and more.
Knowing if your blood sugar is at a healthy level
is important for overall health and disease prevention.
There's also a strong correlation between your energy levels
and your mood and your blood sugar levels.
So in today's video, we're going to talk about
what normal blood sugar levels are
and why some people have slightly elevated blood sugar
on a keto diet.
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Hey guys, welcome back to my channel.
If you're new here, my name's Kait.
I'm a health coach and I post videos
on a high-fat nutrient dense way of eating.
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We're gonna start out today talking
about what blood sugar is and its role in the body.
Then we will get into what normal blood sugar levels are.
And we'll finish off talking about why some people
find that they have high fasting blood sugar on a keto diet.
Blood sugar 101.
As we already mentioned, blood sugar is the level
of sugar in the blood at a given time.
Blood sugar is important
because it provides our bodies with energy.
Well, most tissues in the body are able to run
either completely or primarily on ketones or fat.
There are some tissues that require a level of glucose,
such as the brain and red blood cells.
But where does blood sugar come from?
One way we increase blood sugar is by eating foods
rich in carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates are broken down by the body
into sugar or more officially known as glucose
and they enter the bloodstream.
And this is when your blood sugar rises.
The excess sugar in your blood
can either be used for energy immediately
or stored for later.
Your body stores some of this glucose
in your muscle tissues and your liver
and the rest will be stored as fat.
When you haven't eaten for a while
and your body requires some glucose.
Some of this stored energy will be released back
into the bloodstream and your blood sugar levels will rise.
The body can also make glucose
without you having to eat anything
from non carbohydrate precursors.
This process is known as gluconeogenesis
and it will kick in any time there's a need
for glucose and none immediately available.
And this is totally normal process.
If we didn't have the ability to do this, we would die.
So your body creating glucose is nothing to be afraid of.
When your blood sugar rises for any of these reasons
your body has mechanisms in place
to bring it back down to baseline.
So let's get into what that baseline is.
Normal blood sugar.
Now, in terms of how you can measure your blood sugar
you can always go into your doctor
and do a blood test and measure it that way.
But honestly, at home blood glucose meters are inexpensive,
they're super easy to use,
and they are definitely worth the money.
You can buy them at any pharmacy pretty much
or online from companies like Keto-Mojo.
And I will link to Keto-Mojo
in the description box down below,
if you want to check them out.
But now let's get into what you should be looking for
when you're measuring your blood sugar.
Normal fasting blood sugar.
So before you've eaten anything
it's considered to be between 3.9 to 5.6 mmol/L
or 70 to 100 mg/dL.
If your fasting blood sugar is higher than this
that may mean you have pre-diabetes.
Although there are some exceptions to this
which I will talk about later in the video.
Levels of 5.6 to 6.9 mmol/L
or 100 to one 25 mg/dL.
And you will be considered to have pre-diabetes
and anything above seven mmol/L
or 126 mg/dL
and you will be considered diabetic.
One to two hours after a meal,
blood sugar under 7.8 mg/dL is considered to be normal.
But I think we need a little bit more context here
because for the average person
who eats a lot of carbohydrates,
bread, pasta, cereal, et cetera
this may be what they should aim to stay under.
But for someone who is eating a low carb diet
there's often next to no rise in blood sugar after a meal
because very little carbohydrates are being consumed.
It should also be noted
that measuring your blood sugar once,
one to two hours after a meal doesn't tell the full story.
Your blood sugar could have spiked
significantly higher before you measured
and be coming back down, or it could be raising slowly
and still continue to raise after you measure it.
It's not worth stressing over these metrics constantly
but every once in a while
it can be good to check your blood sugar
at 30 minute intervals for a few hours after eating.
To get a better sense of how the meal affected you
and how your body was able to respond.
Blood sugar on keto.
And now I want to talk about some changes we see
when we eat a low carb ketogenic diet.
As I previously mentioned,
when we eat low amounts of carbohydrates
blood sugar after meals does not spike significantly.
People who eat a low carb diet
often find their blood sugar is very stable
throughout the day.
And along with this, their energy levels
and mood are also very stable.
For those who are diabetic, pre-diabetic
or insulin resistant, they find that
when they switch to a low carb diet,
their fasting blood sugar comes back
within a healthy range very quickly.
And this has been confirmed with numerous clinical trials.
One peer review study tested the effectiveness
of low carb diets on type 2 diabetes.
And they concluded the low carb ketogenic diet
improved glycemic control in patients with type 2 diabetes
such that diabetes medications were discontinued
or reduced in most participants.
Another peer reviewed study concluded
while the current treatment for type 2 diabetes
emphasizes drug treatment and a higher carbohydrate diet,
the ketogenic diet is an effective alternative
that relies less on medication.
However, for some people who have been eating
a ketogenic diet for a long period of time
their fasting blood sugar can become elevated slightly
either in the upper end
of what is considered to be normal
or in the lower end
of what is considered to be pre-diabetes.
And obviously this causes concern for people
but there is a reason behind it
and that's what we're gonna talk about now.
What is happening here is known as adoptive glucose sparing.
This is when someone has eaten a low carb diet
for an extended period of time
and they have become fat adapted.
Most of the cells in the body
have adapted to run on fatty acids and ketones
and therefore they have a much lower need for glucose.
Now, as we spoke about earlier, there are some tissues
in the body that require glucose such as the brain.
So tissues that do not require glucose
such as our muscles refuse or spare it.
And that way it can be used
by the tissues that do require it.
So what ends up happening
is while when we eat a high carb diet
there's lots of glucose available
and this glucose is mainly taken in by our muscles.
But now our muscles do not need it,
leading to slightly elevated circulating blood sugar levels.
When someone who is fat adapted
wears a continuous glucose monitor,
what we ended up seeing is blood sugar levels highest
in the morning and lowering slowly throughout the day
with no real increases after meals.
The reason it is highest in the morning
is due to something called the dawn phenomenon
which diabetics will be familiar with.
The dawn phenomenon is when hormones
such as human growth hormone and cortisol
are released in the morning
and cause the liver to release glucose into the bloodstream.
This is basically your body trying to wake you up.
And it happens just before you usually
wake up in the morning.
And again, this isn't a bad thing.
It's just your body trying to do its job.
So if blood sugar levels can be slightly elevated
on a low carb ketogenic diet,
how can you know if you're pre-diabetic or not?
I'm going to tell you how in just one second
but first I'm going to take a quick moment
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Pre-diabetes on keto.
Now, the thing about pre-diabetes
is that it is the same thing as insulin resistance
and this often goes overlooked.
I won't get too into insulin resistance today.
I do have several other videos on the topic
which you guys can check out afterwards
but basically, measuring insulin
in conjunction with glucose is a better way
to determine how your body is handling blood sugar.
And if you are at risk of type 2 diabetes or not.
The best way to measure this
is through a Homa-IR test from your doctor.
This puts your fasting glucose and insulin into a formula
and gives you a number.
Less than one is optimal
signaling you are not pre-diabetic or insulin resistant.
Over 1.9 is pre-diabetic
and over 2.9 is diabetic.
But unfortunately, a lot of doctors
do not recognize the importance of testing insulin
and we'll only run tests on glucose instead.
So if your doctor is not willing to test your insulin
or do a Homa-IR test, I do have another video
with some at-home methods that you can try.
Anyways guys, that's all I have for you today.
Let me know in the comments section down below
what your fasting blood sugar is
and if you saw any changes
when you switched to a low carb ketogenic diet.
I am really curious to hear your results
and also remember to check out Squarespace
for all of your website needs.
I will put the link to their website
in the description box down below.
If you guys did enjoy this video
you might also like my video
on how to test for insulin resistance at home,
you can find that here.
If you want to catch up on my most recent upload,
you can click here and if not
check out my keto diet
and part of our diet coaching programs, you click here.
Thanks again guys.
I'll see you next time.
Bye.