A spoonful of sugar
Whenever I give a talk and make the statement that a normal blood sugar represents less than one teaspoon of sugar dissolved in the blood, I’m often met with scepticism. It really is true, however.
Let’s go through the calculations so we can see exactly how this plays out.
First, we need some basic measures.
one liter (l)= 10 deciliters (dl)
one gram (gm) = 1000 milligrams (mg)
one teaspoon = 5 grams
According to the American Diabetes Association the line between a healthy fasting blood sugar and a pre-diabetic fasting blood sugar is set at 100 mg/dl (pronounced 100 milligrams per deci-liter). A fasting blood sugar of between 100 mg/dl and 125 mg/dl earns a diagnosis of pre-diabetes, and a fasting blood sugar of over 125 mg/dl is diabetic.
So how much sugar is 99 mg/dl, the highest fasting blood sugar you can have and not be diagnosed as pre-diabetic? Let’s figure it out.
We know that a typical human has about 5 liters of blood, so we need to figure out how much sugar dissolved into this 5 liters of blood will give us a reading of 99 mg/dl.
Since one liter contains 10 deciliters we multiply 99 mg/dl by 10, which gives us 990 mg, the amount of sugar in one liter. Multiply the 990 mg in one liter times 5, the number of liters of blood in the human body, and we have 4950 mg of sugar. If we divide the 4950 by 1000, the number of mg in a gram, we get 4.95 grams of sugar.
Since one teaspoon contains 5 grams, the 4.95 grams of sugar in the blood of a person just short of being pre-diabetic equals a little less than one teaspoon.
If you run all these calculations for a blood sugar of 80 mg/dl, which is a much healthier blood sugar than the 99 mg/dl one that is knocking on the door of pre-diabetes, it turns out to be about 4/5 of a teaspoon.
If you run the calculations for 126 mg/dl, the amount of sugar in the blood of someone just over the line into the diagnosis of diabetes, you find out that it is 6.25 grams, or 1 1/4 teaspoon. So, the difference between having a normal blood sugar and a diabetic blood sugar is about a quarter of a teaspoon of sugar.
What really gets kind of scary is when you look at the amount of carbohydrate in, say, a medium order of McDonald’s fries compared to the sugar in your blood. Remember, it is the job of your digestive tract to breakdown the starch and other complex carbohydrates, which are nothing more than chains of sugar molecules, into their component sugars so that they can be absorbed into the blood. An order of medium fries at McDonald’s contains 47 grams of carbohydrate. 47 grams of carbohydrate converts to about 47 grams of sugar, which is almost 10 teaspoons. So, when you eat these fries you put 10 times more sugar into your blood than that required to maintain a normal blood sugar level. If you figure, as we did above, that one quarter of a teaspoon is all the difference between a normal blood sugar and a diabetic blood sugar, the 10 full teaspoons would be 40 times that amount.
Since your metabolic system has to work very hard indeed to deal with the sugar load from an order of fries, imagine what it has to do when you add a large soft drink, a hamburger bun, and maybe an apple turnover for dessert.
When you see the long lines of cars in the at the drive-through window and the long lines of customers at the counter inside, you can see why the incidence of type II diabetes is skyrocketing?
I don’t want to take up too much of your time but if you could briefly let me know what your thoughts are on the South Beach diet? Thanks very much.
It’s a pretty good low carb diet, but a little high in fructose for my taste and unnecessarily focuses on avoidance of saturated fat.
You can slap me on the wrist for my poor judgement.
I went to the doctor last year complaining of a dull ache in my right side (about an inch below the ribs) and was worried about kidney problems. Asked for a bunch of tests, never received them at the time and was put on BP medication. So, I decided doing my own diagnostic work (urine test strips, a1c tests). I’ve lost about 70 lbs in the last 8 months. Dropped my a1c from 5.5% to 4.8%. I’ve also gotten my average BP to around 125/70 and my resting heart rate to 50.
I read that you can do a ghetto at home tolerance test with an OTC blood meter.
Does the tolerance test have to absolutely be glucose or can I attempt this with sucrose (sugar water)? I’m not even sure where to find pure glucose.
For a glucose tolerance test you need to use glucose. You can get pure glucose at most natural food grocers.
You can pure glucose cheap too at WalMart in the diabetes supplies.
I’ve been following the diet outlined in your book, “The 30-Day Low-Carb Diet Solution” since Aug. 15, 2011. Two days ago I had fasting blood work done during my annual physical exam. The results were: total cholesterol: 250, HDL: 88, LDL: 152 (2.8 ratio), triglycerides: 51, blood glucose: 112. I am really worried about the total cholesterol and blood glucose readings. Last year by total cholesterol was below 175 and my glucose was 89. Can you tell me what might be going on? What are “normal” readings for someone following your low-carb plan? Thank you, Beth.
We should all be vigilant on the sugar content on most of the food we eat if not all. It really pays off to be proactive than to be reactive.
To all simple answer what ever the doctor says is good. when taking pills from doctor people ask question why should i take ? that is common .. since u know the answer diabetics is one you developed eating more and work out less the opposite is answer for this ..eat less and exercise more . we cant count calories, but eat less and once you feel your stomach is full get out from eating , you are going eat life , it is not a one time chance.So iam diabetic i eat and fro every time i eat i walk half hour.
I am having a glucose tolerance test soon and I have been on a relatively low carb diet for about 2 years, I rarely go over 100 carbs a day and about 25 to 30 would be fiber, from nuts, veggies, a little fruit, I rarely eat sugar except on rare occasions like Thanksgiving which was yesterday. My doc gave me a meter to check my blood sugar a few times half hour after I eat and an hour after I eat, the numbers were mostly in the 80′s even a half hour after eating but just once was 104 after a larger meal. So now she wants me to do the glucose tolerance and now that you state that I should be eating carbs, about how many grams should I be eating per day and can it be from natural foods like fruits, veggies and beans? And for how many days should I eat like this, I don’t want to mess up my body too much, I did lose 90 about 2 years ago but have gone up about 10 within the last year and I eat very healthy. I work out a lot so some if it could be muscle.
Hi, I have a question which I cannot seem to find the answer to. I am recently diagnosed with hypoglycemia and having some trouble controlling it. I do test and limit my sugars but noticed if I eliminate all sugar I seem to have a problem as well. My question is how much sugar is the correct amount to be taken in and how often should I actually eat? I appreciate any help as yesterday while driving an episode cam eon and it was quite scary thankfully I know enough now to know what’s happening and was able to pull over until it passed but also had very little sugar yesterday so it’s a bit confusing to me, please help, thanks a bunch!!
hello,
I had a glucose test and it was 126.I went to a doctor and she prescribed metformin 850mg .Her intructions were that I cut it in half and take one half in the morning and the other at night.Two days later I took one in the afternoon and the next morning went for another glucose test and yhis time it was 102.My question is the lower reading due to the metformin I took for a couple of days? Or,is there something else happening with me?
I forgot to mention that both tests were fasting morning tests
I am petrified. My fasting glucose level was 150 and it was never that high. I do have to admit that I have gained weight and the night before, I had a gathering where soda, cheesecake and the like were served. Could this be an anomaly and I should get it tested again in a few days weeks? I really want to do this on my own and don’t want the jump from no issue right into diabetes.
HI,
I was diagnosed with type 2 in September. I am very active working out at least five times at week. I am in a no carb diet and lost 20 pounds. I am taking 500 ml once a day of metaformin. However, if I eat a piece of whole wheat bread in the morning I see my levels go up at to 200. I am confused and do not know what to eat in the morning. I need some sort of carb in the Am in order to go on with the day. Thanks.
@J. C Mendez
Step away from the bread, eat meat and eggs for breakfast. Bread is not included in a no carb diet. Once you adapt to low carb you shouldn’t feel the need to eat carbs for energy. Wheat is especially bad for raising blood sugar and morning is the worst time for a PWD to eat grains or other starches.
http://www.diabetes-book.com/
I’m confused: if 1 teaspoon is maximum we should have in our blood to have normal blood sugar, why am I reading citations of between 0-50 or more grams per day? Also, if a carb is a carb to the body (whether sugar, whole grain, or vegie) then what’s the difference what you eat as long as it meets the maximum carb recommended?? I’ve been following a low-carb diet since the Holidays (was a struggle but I think I gained LOTS less by pushing away from all those sweets and starches), but I’m still confused by what seems like conflicting premises. Thank you.