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Clearing Up Myths About Blood Sugars After Eating

By Dr. William Davis

Blood sugars rise after a carbohydrate-containing meal. But SO many myths surround this phenomenon of after-meal, or “postprandial,” blood sugars.

Understand how to manage this little facet of health and you can be enormously empowered in losing weight, reversing type 2 diabetes, and gaining control over long-term health.

Among the myths I discuss in this video:

  • Check blood sugars 2 hours after a meal—absolutely the wrong way to do it for our health purposes
  • Blood sugars up to 200 mg/dl after a meal are healthy—Blood sugars this high after eating are a recipe for health disaster.
  • Low-glycemic index foods are better than high-glycemic index foods—No, there’s hardly any difference.
  • Consume carbohydrates with fats, fiber, and protein to prevent rises in blood sugar—Less bad does not necessarily mean good!

About Dr. William Davis

William Davis, MD, FACC is cardiologist and author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Wheat Belly series of books. He is also author of the new Undoctored: Why Health Care Has Failed You and How You Can Become Smarter Than Your Doctor.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sharon

    There is not a video attached to this!

  2. Dorothy

    Thank you for this information. Can you comment on glycemic load? For instance, butternut squash has a glycemic index of 51. Based on a serving size of 80 grams, or about 1/3 cup of boiled, mashed squash, it has a very low glycemic load of 3.

    • Bob Niland

      Dorothy wrote: «Can you comment on glycemic load?»

      In general, the programs ignore GL. GI can be useful. Anything with a GI of zero usually doesn’t need further inspection from a net carb standpoint.

      The rule of thumb for assessing a new food is “net carb”, based on information on the package, or for real foods, from a nutrition reference site:
       Net_Carbohydrate = Total_Carbohydrate - Total_Fiber

      Program target is for the whole meal (or all food consumption in a 6-hour window) to have 15 grams or less net carb.

      The goal of that, in turn, is to cause no appreciable postprandial rise in blood sugar. See The Wheat Belly “No Change Rule” to Reverse Type 2 Diabetes and Accelerate Weight Loss. Unless you have a CGM, you can see that the net carb guideline is easier to implement.

      re: «For instance, butternut squash…»

      As seen on SELFNutritionData, set to 100 grams (for easy math), that vegetable (cooked) is 10g (10%) total carbohydrate (and surprisingly has no fiber). A serving size of ⅓ cup might be about 68g total, 7g net, so typically not an issue, depending on what else was in the meal.
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      • Dorothy

        Very helpful! I will focus on net carbs. Appreciate your insight.