Exactly

Eating a donut doesn't effect your hormones - except maybe a few Endorphins because donuts make you happy 😁

Fasting Sugars are directly related to overall Metabolic Regulation and it's a lot more slow to respond to changes

From the get go (diagnosis) you can "expect" to take the next year or two (ya, years which goes against our "need" to fix things NOW) to turn it around

I was diagnosed at age 52

That "meant" that I had to BREAK 52 Years of BAD Habits and replace them with healthy ones - you can't do that in a week or two. It took me almost 4 months just to get used to cutting out added sugar - coffee tasted like "crap" without sugar - now it tastes like "sewage" with sugar - but took a while to "imprint" that new taste

But we can do it - not many of us liked the taste of Beer with our first few sips - but since "drinking beer is cool" we choked the stuff down until it tasted first "normal" and then became something we actually wanted to drink

Same thing with our foods - we love the taste of sugar loaded processed crap - just have to "break that habit" and start something else that is "sugar safe" to become our "go to" food or snack - takes time

Same with weight - crash diets don't work because you drop lots of weight fast (by starving yourself) and then wolf down all the calories as soon as we lose a few pounds

To effectively lose weight just have to plug away - 1 or 2 lbs a week is a "healthy" loss - anything more and you should be under the close care of a medical specialist of some type

When you get to target weight - took me about 8 months to lose 60 pounds - that's when your really need the professional advice because you have to "put back" the calories you cut out, but this time they have be both healthy and necessary choices (can't rely on eating everything in sight to get the vitamins/minerals/trace elements and may have include "certain" foods - that's when a dietitian is key or you end up putting the weight right back on

We just have the double whammy - watching calories AND carbs

But if nothing else, starting with the Weight loss will benefit you more than anything else

Your insulin production and insulin resistance will ALWAYS be degraded as long as you are overweight - so should be the focus - simply cutting out added sugar and limiting your white starches while focusing on the weight loss will get you where you need to go

Just have to keep moving forward - don't make excuses why you can't - instead get stubborn

Is a Pizza worth amputating your foot? Is dessert every day worth going on Dialysis?

Just have to stay focused as to WHY we are doing this

There is nothing that I can put in my mouth that is worth a stroke, heart disease, neuropathy, blindness, dementia or cutting off some body parts

At least I don't think so

Don't TRY, which really means "I can think of dozens of reasons why I can't", as Nike used to say "Just Do It" 😁

So what does "eating breakfast" or Breaking the Fast do for us?

When we start to digest when food gets to the Stomach a hormone (GIP) is released and then when the food gets to the small intestine as second hormone GLP-1 is released

So what?

Those hormones tell the Pancreas to "switch" from Basil (speed - about 0.8 units per hour) to Bolus (speed) which quickly dumps somewhere between 12 - 15 units of insulin into our system

If our Insulin Resistance is "non-existent" that is enough insulin to deal with the meal and any (high) residual sugar that was floating around

The only way to turn on the Pancreas "naturally" is to Eat something - generally about 15 grams of Carbs will get it producing maximum amounts and it will keep the Insulin flowing while digesting

Alternately taking a Bolus Insulin injection before the meal will give us "extra", taking a Sulfonylurea (like glimepiride or glyburide) will force the Pancreas to do a Bolus Dump (rather uncontrolled often causing low blood sugar) or you use one of the "agonists or inhibitors" in the DPP-4 or GLP-1 drug class that "mess with" the natural hormones released during digestion.

(Ozempic and the GLP-1 Agonist meds keep that hormone active "longer" so we stay in Bolus mode longer burning more sugar before the Pancreas switches back to Basil mode - DPP-4 is the hormone that turns the pancreas back off - or we would go low and die - so drugs like Januvia simply delay the "off" switch a little)

So, want to prevent High Fasting Numbers?

Take the Drugs OR

Lose the weight
Eat properly on a regular schedule
Get some exercise
Get a good nights sleep
Don't stress

But you can still Sneak that COOKIE before bed - because it is not the problem and anyone that wears a CGM and looks at their overnight charts "knows this" -- any higher sugar present when we go to bed is long gone by between 2 and 4 AM 😁

(Do I talk too much? Just asking)

(this will be a couple of parts)

The first thing you need to understand is, unless you are producing near zero insulin, what you ate yesterday, last night or just before bed has ZERO to do with your morning numbers

Two (effects) can jack your morning numbers

The first is Dawn Phenomena and the second is the Symogyi Effect

Both are 100% due to Hormones released while sleeping, not any FOOD you stuck in your body

The two main hormones that effect your morning number are Epinephrine (Adrenaline released by the adrenal glands) and Cortisol (a Steroid also released by the adrenal glands).

To a lesser degree, Growth Hormone, released by the Pituitary increases Insulin Resistance while present, and is often "one of" the hormones that contribute to Dawn Phenomena (or Dawn Effect)

For the women in the bunch Estrogen and Progesterone also can have an effect, jacking blood sugar

We can't do anything "tonight" to effect how these hormones will be released "tonight" so we can't effect our fasting number "tomorrow" by doing (or not doing) something "Today" - that needs to be understood or you will drive yourself crazy and blame that late night Cookie when you are high the next morning - it is NOT the cookie's fault

Side note here - An Endocrinologist (a "hormone" doctor), to which some get referred when their Diabetes is NOT following the established treatment guidelines will be looking for a "hormone problem not caused by the diabetes" that can be fixed so it doesn't mess with Diabetes

All of the Sugar that gets measured when you do your Fasting Test, again, unless you are making near zero insulin, was 100% released by your LIVER while you were sleeping - again, not that cookie last night

So Dawn Phenomena/Effect first (next post) because that is what Most of Us experience somewhat regularly

I have this too 😫 just now posted about it

Oh my gosh I miss donuts and brownies. Struggling today