Hey @A DiabetesTeam Member. For me it's tough. My system does not follow the accepted pattern. I had to find sweet spots as far as eating carbs to control my numbers.

1-2 net carbs is a sweet spot for me. At 3 hours my numbers will drop about 1.0(18) points.

Also when I eat up to 5 carbs, at 3 hours my number is at or lower than before I ate.

8 carbs is a no no for me, because my 2 hour number goes too high.

The duodenum is where the signal is initiated to tell the pancreas how much insulin to send. My pancreas apparently sends a background amount of insulin all the time, but very little additional when eating.

My duodenum is a mass of scar tissue from almost 20 years of duodenal ulcer bleeds.

My system is broken. I have to eat within the restraints of my broken system.

I have to eat almost double the protein than most, since part of the protein can quickly be converted to glucose to meet my glucose needs for energy.

It's not easy maintaining the proper balance for me. I often go into ketosis. But I don't want to stay there either. So I often have to adjust with a small portion of fruit.

Finding and adjusting my balance is not easy. I have to adjust, when I am under the weather. And when I am burning more energy than normal. Pain saps a lot out of me too, another adjustment.

Since my balance is changing constantly, the balance point changes too. I adjust, often more than once a day.

Hey, I am lucky that math is a personal strength. So I can usually stay on top of the ever changing demands.

A lot to think about.

Mentioned Users

A Diabete...

Because not all sugar in our blood comes directly from what we eat

Our body needs sugar all the time - brain, organs, muscles, heart etc so it can't rely simply on what we eat

So our body synthesizes sugar and stores it in our liver. When we are not eating/digesting food, the liver releases sugar to keep everything working

The problem is the Liver is not careful about how much sugar it releases and we (diabetics) can't react when it gets out of hand and our levels go high

The only way to shut off the liver is to eat something. When we eat a hormone released during digestion turns the liver "off" and turns the pancreas "on" supplying insulin to deal with the "sugar we are eating"

If you eat a meal YOU control how much sugar is getting in your system AND get an insulin boost to deal with the blood sugar

If you Don't Eat then you are relying on the Liver and if it isn't behaving itself your blood sugar will continue to rise totally uncontrolled