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Blood Sugar Disorders

What do you recommend for someone who tests their blood sugar with a glucometer, and something like sweet potatoes in a meal raises their blood sugar pretty high? Should they try sprouted beans or something else that has a high fiber content instead?

Laura Schoenfeld: Certain carbs, for whatever reason, affect people differently. I’ve had clients that can eat most carbs except for potatoes,...

Well-researched approach abridging conventional medicine, functional medicine has really helped increase confidence. How accurate of a marker is insulin? How are you using insulin in clinical practice? When you run the advanced metabolic workup with insulin C-peptide, etc., as markers, do you have guidelines on how to determine beta cell destruction?

Chris Kresser: Yeah, I mean insulin, like other markers, is not perfect, but it does, it can be used in...

What are your thoughts about keeping glucose at a stable level of 83 in diabetic patients, which is what’s recommended by Doctor Bernstein of the Diabetes Solution?

Chris Kresser: You know, I haven’t seen a lot of evidence to support that actually. In the Accord study, a-c-c-o-r-d,...

In my obstetrical practice, we have a large Hispanic population with a high incidence of gestational diabetes. Seems to me that the ADA diet these patients are given is higher in refined carbohydrates than what we learned about in the ADAPT program. Any thoughts on dietary recommendations to help avoid the diabetes clinic putting them on insulin? Also, do you have any thoughts on using Metabolic Synergy or GlucoSupreme herbal and pregnancy?

Chris Kresser: Great questions. Yeah, I think the ADA diet, which is basically a high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet, is a nightmare...

In week 32, Chris discussed glucomannan powder for blood sugar control. I tried it mixed in liquid and it is so viscous that I could not drink it. Do you have any suggestions for making it more tolerable?

Kelsey Kinney: All right, very good question. That stuff sucks up a lot of water. So I’m not sure how...

I saw a patient who wanted help with following a ketogenic diet. He has type 2 diabetes. He brought me a copy of his recent blood results, which he requested his GP to do. He has low platelets, low neutrophils and lymphocytes, and high B6 and MCHC. I have two questions. How long does it take to see raised blood ketones, and do you sometimes see ketones remaining normal despite eating minimal carbohydrate and not too much protein? Can you please comment on the raised B6? He doesn’t take any supplements.

Chris Kresser: Yeah, there’s different thresholds for people in terms of how they enter ketosis or what the carbohydrate threshold...

When balancing blood sugar, when is the best time to eat carbs? In the afternoon?

Laura Schoenfeld: Actually, for most of my clients to balance blood sugar, I like them to have carbs spread out...

In the unit on hyperglycemia, patient handout does not include the instructions on increasing the carb serving on the third day’s lunch as was discussed in the lecture. Could you please review why this is needed and when you include it in the blood sugar testing with the glucometer? Also in that same unit while discussing protein-sparing modified fast, you mentioned the patient should be medically monitored. Who would that be? Me or medical doctor? If me, what would I be watching for?

Chris Kresser: We must’ve somehow uploaded an older version of that handout because the newer version does have that instruction....

But what does high glucose in the blood indicate? My husband’s recent blood test had a glucose of 119, everything else all within range.

Dr. Amy Nett: So of … so first of all you would want to know is that a fasting blood...

Question about Metabolic Synergy. Metabolic Synergy was one of the supplements that we talked about in terms of, well, we talked really about the HPA axis and specifically talking a little bit more about blood sugar dysregulation. So when blood sugar is either high or low, you can use Metabolic Synergy and GlucoSupreme.I recently started a patient on Metabolic Synergy to help manage her blood sugar while we’re working on additional dietary tweaks. She has a history of obesity, hypertension, and hyperglycemia but has made a lot of diet and lifestyle changes and lost 70 pounds. Shortly after starting the Metabolic Synergy, she had an isolated episode of dizziness and heart palpitations. She was concerned she reacted to the green tea extract in the formula, although she also mentioned being dehydrated on this particular day. I’m wondering if you use this formula with caution in patients with hypertension that isn’t completely controlled and/or sensitivity to coffee. Would you recommend restarting it at a lower dose or switching to something without green tea extract?

Dr. Amy Nett: So the green tea extract in Metabolic Synergy is actually decaffeinated. So there shouldn’t be any really...

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