The Best Time to Check Blood Glucose After a Meal Dietitian Q A EatingWell

diabetes affects more than one in 10 Americans yet it can still feel like an unclear disease to manage one of the best ways to help manage your own diabetes is by regularly checking your blood sugar levels but what makes your blood glucose levels change and how often should you check them and should you check them after meal I'm going to answer those questions and more what causes your blood glucose levels to change blood glucose also referred to as blood sugar is the amount of glucose that's circulating in our blood ideally headed to the cells to be used as energy insulin is hormone that allows this glucose into our cells think of it kind of like locking key but people who have diabetes either don't produce it which is the case in type 1 or are resistant to it and don't use it effectively which is the case in type 2. each person regardless of if they have diabetes has their own healthy blood sugar range and hemoglobin A1c reading is three-month retrospective measure of our blood glucose levels things that can cause your blood sugar to go up include illness stress and primarily consuming food all of the food we eat is broken down into glucose because that's the form of our energy our cells can use things that can cause your blood sugar levels to go down include lack of nutrition like skipping meals taking too much insulin or medication and physical activity which uses up the energy that our bodies have available why should you check your blood glucose levels if you have diabetes regularly checking your blood glucose levels is the only way to truly know how different foods and factors affect your body which is crucial if you have diabetes it's also important to help you avoid dangerous situations like being too low for too long this can lead to unpleasant symptoms like nausea dizziness shaking and confusion and if severe can require medical attention and treatment checking your levels once won't do you much good it needs to be consistent so you can identify your range and try and get to healthy level for you how often should you check your blood glucose if you have diabetes your blood sugar can change throughout the day for several different reasons and that's totally okay and normal but checking at different times throughout the day can help you identify your range here are some of the standard blood sugar checkpoints fasting AKA right after you wake up before you've had any food or drink before meals after meals before bed and during the night if you wake up with any symptoms when is the best time to check your blood glucose after meal food takes some time to be digested and broken down into usable energy for our bodies but most foods should be digested and broken down after your meal enough to raise your blood glucose within one to two hours some foods like protein and fat take longer to be digested than carbs and forms of carbs like complex carbs like whole grains legumes vegetables and fruits take longer to be digested than refined carbs so they can keep your blood sugar more stable and complex carbs like whole grains fruits and vegetables are digested more slowly to keep your blood sugar levels more stable as compared to refined carbs like sugar sweetened beverages or highly processed foods which can lead to Sharp spikes and crashes to capture your Peak blood glucose levels it's best to test one to two hours after meal the American Diabetes Association recommends target of below 180 milligrams per deciliter two hours after meal but talk to your doctor about healthy Target for you it can also be helpful to track the foods that you ate and how your blood glucose levels responded especially for carb-focused foods every person is different and everyone's Journey with diabetes is different so no approach is one size fits all but regularly measuring your blood glucose levels especially after meal can help you demystify how to manage your condition and better your health let me know if this video was helpful for you and thanks for watching