Had friends down from Minneapolis staying with us a few days so decided to take them out for some famous SE Kansas fried chicken dinner. Decided it had been a long time since I had any significant carbs so would find out today how it would affect my blood glucose readings. See if I am more insulin sensitive or if my pancreas beta cells can put out more insulin or some combination thereof.

I failed the test. I had a completely normal meal while still avoiding some of the biggest blood glucose spikers. I avoided the pre meal and during meal French bread. I avoided the side of spaghetti and red sauce. So I avoided two out of the four high carb foods served. I did eat the German slaw which may have had a bit of sugar but was not real sweet. I had about half to 2/3 cup of German potato salad which looked to be about half of what the restaurant would normally serve (we were eating family style).

But the big no-no for me was the breading on the chicken and onion rings. I did not really think about it at the time but gave it some thought after I saw my 232 blood glucose reading an hour after eating. I figure the chicken probably had coating on it that would be the equivalent of approximately a slice of white bread per piece. And I ate 4 pieces of chicken. Plus onion rings came with the meal and I ate my 1/4 share of them and figured it was another slice of bread on that coating.

So 5 slices of bread equivalent, 2/3 cup potatoes, and some cole slaw with dressing. Not sure on the serving sizes but just a quick glance at this Sugar Equivalent chart I came up with around 24 teaspoons of sugar equivalent. Yikes!!! Imagine if I would have had a serving of spaghetti and a couple slices of bread with the meal. I would have done that in the old days before I changed diets and when I was on insulin. I would have been taking a bolus of about 30-35 units of insulin before that meal. But I digress.

Like I said, by blood glucose was 232. Got on the exercise machine for about 13 minutes and got interrupted but checked my sugar again and it was down to 182. Got back on the machine for about another 8 minutes and did 20 push ups and 3 HIIT pushups to failure. Checked it again and it was 151. Just checked it again while typing this out and back up to 161 so when finished here I will go do another 10 minutes exercise. All of this is for a diabetic that takes no insulin or diabetic medications for the last 18 months (took a lot before that)

Lessons to be learned (for me - others may respond differently).

1. Don't do cheat meals. They are not good for a diabetic that depends on diet for blood glucose control. Back to my ketogenic low carb.

2. If I do eat a cheat meal or some more carbs than normal, exercise before the meal or immediately after to deplete glycogen stores in the muscles to give a place for the excess glucose to go.

3. It sure tasted good but was not worth it. We eat there once in a while but I avoid the potatoes and onion rings and strip the coating off the chicken. I have gotten along ok doing that in the past.

4. Compliment my wife for being such  a great cook and preparing my healthy ketogenic meals so I can control my diabetes through diet which is SOOOO much more healthy than taking insulin and multiple medications.

5. There is a heck of a lot of sugar in many common foods and it amounts up quick without even thinking about it. I had no clue I had eaten as much wheat flour as I had till I started thinking about it. 24 teaspoons full of sugar equivalent worth or thereabouts.

The experiment was a success. The blood glucose was a failure.

Back to the exercise machine...............

John

Edit: another extra 10 minutes on the elliptical exercise machine and 2.5 hours after the meal blood glucose (sugar) is 103. Much better.