# Alcohol and 8 week Blood Sugar Diet



## Bill23 (Aug 1, 2018)

In my first post I explained how after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a little over a year, I started to follow the 8 week blood sugar diet. For the last 12 months, nearly all of my meals have come from the 8 week blood sugar diet recipe book and as a result, my weight has fallen from 18 stones to 15 stone four pounds. My blood sugar readings have also shown significant improvement; my three HBA1C readings were 65 (June 2017), 41 (December 2017) and 38 (June 2018). Recently however, whenever I do a finger prick test, my fasting blood sugar level is never below 6.3 (about 12 months ago it was a low 5 and sometimes 4 point something). I did stop working in April 2018 so maybe its that I am not walking as much.  I have also been a heavy drinker; it's a rare occasion when I do not have a full bottle of red wine in the evening. On Sunday, I decided to stop drinking in order to lose some more weight. For the last three days, I have seen my fasting blood sugar (i.e. tested first thing in the morning) climb to 6.8, 7.0 and now 7.2. I have read that alcohol causes a reduction in blood sugar levels but it's frustrating to find that an attempt to improve my lifestyle and health in one area may have negative repercussions in another. Has anyone had a similar experience and could just drinking one glass of red wine a day be a happy compromise?


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## Eddy Edson (Aug 1, 2018)

I dunno, but the difference between 6.8 - 7.2 doesn't seem enough to worry about. I think the accuracy of most meters is supposed to be +/- 10% or something like that.

Get yr frustration about trying to juggle competing things though. I guess it's what getting a handle on D is all about - otherwise it'd be too easy


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## Bill23 (Aug 1, 2018)

Eddy Edson said:


> I dunno, but the difference between 6.8 - 7.2 doesn't seem enough to worry about. I think the accuracy of most meters is supposed to be +/- 10% or something like that.
> 
> Get yr frustration about trying to juggle competing things though. I guess it's what getting a handle on D is all about - otherwise it'd be too easy



Hi. Thanks for your comment, but the readings were between 6 and 6.3 all of last week. I stopped drinking on Sunday night so it's a sudden jump on Monday from 6.3 to 6.8, and then has climbed on Tuesday to 7 and on Wednesday to 7.2. So stopping drinking has resulted in in an escalation from 6/6/3 to 7. About 9 months ago, when I was four months into the 8 week blood sugar diet, my readings were low fives and occasionally four point something so were it not for the HBA1C readings, I would definitely feel like I has started to go backwards.


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## Eddy Edson (Aug 1, 2018)

Bill23 said:


> Hi. Thanks for your comment, but the readings were between 6 and 6.3 all of last week. I stopped drinking on Sunday night so it's a sudden jump on Monday from 6.3 to 6.8, and then has climbed on Tuesday to 7 and on Wednesday to 7.2. So stopping drinking has resulted in in an escalation from 6/6/3 to 7. About 9 months ago, when I was four months into the 8 week blood sugar diet, my readings were low fives and occasionally four point something so were it not for the HBA1C readings, I would definitely feel like I has started to go backwards.



Got it. It seems like a question for yr doctor, but I guess you would expect yr BG to go up if you stopped drinking, all else being equal. Whether it's a good trade-off depends on why you're giving up drinking & what the aim is, health-wise.  It seems to me that you have to look at the whole health picture, and not focus too narrowly on just BG.  

Again, it's a doctor question, but a FBG of around 7 doesn't sound disastrous to me.


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## Brando77 (Aug 1, 2018)

Rock and a hard place. Drink = low bg, don't drink = high bg. Get a good medium, glass or two instead of a bottle? Think it may be the solution, mind, I'm not a Doctor or a wine sommelier so take it with a pinch of salt (figuratively speaking, salts bad) Good luck.


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## Bill23 (Aug 1, 2018)

Brando77 said:


> Rock and a hard place. Drink = low bg, don't drink = high bg. Get a good medium, glass or two instead of a bottle? Think it may be the solution, mind, I'm not a Doctor or a wine sommelier so take it with a pinch of salt (figuratively speaking, salts bad) Good luck.



Thank you.


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## SB2015 (Aug 1, 2018)

Bill23 said:


> In my first post I explained how after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a little over a year, I started to follow the 8 week blood sugar diet. For the last 12 months, nearly all of my meals have come from the 8 week blood sugar diet recipe book and as a result, my weight has fallen from 18 stones to 15 stone four pounds. My blood sugar readings have also shown significant improvement; my three HBA1C readings were 65 (June 2017), 41 (December 2017) and 38 (June 2018). Recently however, whenever I do a finger prick test, my fasting blood sugar level is never below 6.3 (about 12 months ago it was a low 5 and sometimes 4 point something). I did stop working in April 2018 so maybe its that I am not walking as much.  I have also been a heavy drinker; it's a rare occasion when I do not have a full bottle of red wine in the evening. On Sunday, I decided to stop drinking in order to lose some more weight. For the last three days, I have seen my fasting blood sugar (i.e. tested first thing in the morning) climb to 6.8, 7.0 and now 7.2. I have read that alcohol causes a reduction in blood sugar levels but it's frustrating to find that an attempt to improve my lifestyle and health in one area may have negative repercussions in another. Has anyone had a similar experience and could just drinking one glass of red wine a day be a happy compromise?


Hi Bill

Well done for choosing to improve your weight but stopping the alcohol.  Your liver will be a lot happier.

If anyone drinks any alcohol the liver then prioritises processing the alcohol over dripping glucose into your system. (If I have a glass of wine in the evening I need to reduce my insulin overnight a little to account for this)  That will explain why when you stopped alcohol your levels rose a little.  That is not a reason to carry on drinking, it just explains the small rise.

It would be worth talking to your health care team about whether you can make some adjustments to help you with morning fasting glucose levels.


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## rossi_mac (Aug 1, 2018)

I never drink alone, always have my shadow nearby! But seriously...i used to drink too much, and when I was on the old vino my levels were very good! It's a dangerous and not recommended balancing act! I now drink beer and find it harder to get levels whilst drinking better but I'm not consuming so much alcohol so good in someway unless I find the bottles of malt! I'm no D expert I bought a book about it but never read it. But I would say well done on stopping drinking now unfortunately you kinda have to start again as the balance has changed. Once you have it sussed then you can try and have the odd glass and test yourself to see how it affects you, if you drink a lot it will affect you levels the next day so be careful! Play safe (but play)


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## PURPLESALLY (Aug 3, 2018)

Bill23 said:


> In my first post I explained how after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a little over a year, I started to follow the 8 week blood sugar diet. For the last 12 months, nearly all of my meals have come from the 8 week blood sugar diet recipe book and as a result, my weight has fallen from 18 stones to 15 stone four pounds. My blood sugar readings have also shown significant improvement; my three HBA1C readings were 65 (June 2017), 41 (December 2017) and 38 (June 2018). Recently however, whenever I do a finger prick test, my fasting blood sugar level is never below 6.3 (about 12 months ago it was a low 5 and sometimes 4 point something). I did stop working in April 2018 so maybe its that I am not walking as much.  I have also been a heavy drinker; it's a rare occasion when I do not have a full bottle of red wine in the evening. On Sunday, I decided to stop drinking in order to lose some more weight. For the last three days, I have seen my fasting blood sugar (i.e. tested first thing in the morning) climb to 6.8, 7.0 and now 7.2. I have read that alcohol causes a reduction in blood sugar levels but it's frustrating to find that an attempt to improve my lifestyle and health in one area may have negative repercussions in another. Has anyone had a similar experience and could just drinking one glass of red wine a day be a happy compromise?



Congratulations on the weight lose and your decision to reduce alcohol. A bottle of wine everyday is not great for anyone let alone someone with diabetes. I didn't have alcohol for the first 8 months following diagnosis but have started having a small glass of white ( clear alcohol is supposed to be better) a couple of nights a week with food. My morning BGL's love it. Keep going you will get there


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## mikeyB (Aug 3, 2018)

A bottle of wine a day will kill you a sight quicker than diabetes will. Just keep up with the weight loss - it beats getting acute pancreatitis, which has a 25% mortality rate. Or, indeed, cirrhosis and liver failure, which on a scale of 1-10 on horrible ways to die comes in at 11.


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