In the last article I explained the three primary markers we use to track blood sugar: fasting blood glucose (FBG), oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and hemoglobin A1c (A1c). We also looked at what the medical establishment considers as “normal” for these markers. The table below summarizes those values.
| Marker | Normal | Pre-diabetes | Diabetes |
| Fasting blood glucose (mg/dL) | <99 | 100-125 | >126 |
| OGGT / post-meal (mg/dL after 2 hours) | <140 | 140-199 | >200 |
| Hemoglobin A1c (%) | <6 | 6-6.4 | >6.4 |
In this article, we’re going to look at just how “normal” those normal levels are – according to the scientific literature. We’ll also consider which of these three markers is most important in preventing diabesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. But before we do that, I’d like to make an important point: context is everything.
As I mentioned in Part 1 of this article series, there are potential problems with how well these tests are utilized to diagnose diabetes. This is an area that needs further study, but continuous glucose monitoring for the general population may be a better marker.
In my work with patients, I never use any single marker alone to determine whether someone has a blood sugar issue. I run a full blood panel that includes fasting glucose, fasting insulin, A1c, fructosamine, uric acid and triglycerides (along with other lipids), and I also have them do post-meal testing at home over a period of 3 days with a range of foods.
If they have a few post-meal spikes and all other markers or normal, I’m not concerned. If their fasting BG, A1c and fructosamine are all elevated, and they’re having spikes, then I’m concerned and I will investigate further.
On a similar note, I’ve written that A1c is not a reliable marker for individuals because of context: there are many non-blood sugar-related conditions that can make A1c appear high or low. So if someone is normal on all of the other blood sugar markers, but has high A1c, I’m usually not concerned.
With all of that said, let’s take a look at some of the research.
Fasting Blood Sugar
According to continuous glucose monitoring studies of healthy people, a normal fasting blood sugar is 89 mg/dL or less. Many normal people have fasting blood sugar in the mid-to-high 70s.
While most doctors will tell you that anything under 100 mg/dL is normal, it may not be. In this study, people with FBG levels above 95 had more than 3x the risk of developing future diabetes than people with FBG levels below 90. This study showed progressively increasing risk of heart disease in men with FBG levels above 85 mg/dL, as compared to those with FBG levels of 81 mg/dL or lower.
Far more important than a single fasting blood glucose reading is the number of hours a day our blood sugar spends elevated over the level known to cause complications, which is roughly 140 mg/dl (7.7 mmol/L). I’ll discuss this in more detail in the OGGT section.
One caveat here is that very low-carb diets will produce elevated fasting blood glucose levels. Why? Because low-carb diets induce insulin resistance. Restricting carbohydrates produces a natural drop in insulin levels, which in turn activates hormone sensitive lipase. Fat tissue is then broken down, and non-esterified fatty acids (a.k.a. “free fatty acids” or NEFA) are released into the bloodstream. These NEFA are taken up by the muscles, which use them as fuel. And since the muscle’s needs for fuel has been met, it decreases sensitivity to insulin. You can read more about this at Hyperlipid.
So, if you eat a low-carb diet and have borderline high FBG (i.e. 90-105), it may not be cause for concern. Your post-meal blood sugars and A1c levels are more important.
Hemoglobin A1c
In spite of what the American Diabetes Association (ADA) tells us, a truly normal A1c is between 4.6% and 5.3%.
But while A1c is a good way to measure blood sugar in large population studies, it’s not as accurate for individuals. An A1c of 5.1% maps to an average blood sugar of about 100 mg/dL. But some people’s A1c results are always a little higher than their FBG and OGTT numbers would predict, and other people’s are always a little lower.
This is probably due to the fact that several factors can influence red blood cells.
A number of studies show that A1c levels below the diabetic range are associated with cardiovascular disease. This study showed that A1c levels lower than 5% had the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and that a 1% increase (to 6%) significantly increased CVD risk. Another study showed an even tighter correlation between A1c and CVD, indicating a linear increase in CVD as A1c rose above 4.6% – a level that corresponds to a fasting blood glucose of just 86 mg/dL. Finally, this study showed that the risk of heart disease in people without diabetes doubles for every percentage point increase above 4.6%.
Studies also consistently show that A1c levels considered “normal” by the ADA fail to predict future diabetes. This study found that using the ADA criteria of an A1c of 6% as normal missed 70% of individuals with diabetes, 71-84% with dysglycemia, and 82-94% with pre-diabetes. How’s that for accuracy?
What we’ve learned so far, then, is that the fasting blood glucose and A1c levels recommended by the ADA are not reliable cut-offs for predicting or preventing future diabetes and heart disease. This is problematic, to say the least, because the A1c and FBG are the only glucose tests the vast majority of people get from their doctors.
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OGTT / Post-Meal Blood Sugars
If you recall, the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) measures how our blood sugar responds to drinking a challenge solution of 75 grams of glucose. I don’t recommend this test, because A) it’s not realistic (no one ever drinks 75 grams of pure glucose), and B) it can produce horrible side effects for people with poor glucose control.
However, there’s another more realistic and convenient way to achieve a similar measurement, and that is simply using a glucometer to test your blood sugar one and two hours after you eat a meal. This is called post-prandial (post-meal) blood sugar testing. As we go through this section, the numbers I use apply to both OGTT and post-meal testing.
As the table at the beginning of this article indicates, the ADA considers OGTT of between 140 – 199 two hours after the challenge to be pre-diabetic, and levels above 200 to be diabetic.
But once again, continuous glucose monitoring studies suggest that the ADA levels are far too high. Most people’s blood sugar drops below 120 mg/dL two hours after a meal, and many healthy people drop below 100 mg/dL or return to baseline.
A continuous glucose monitoring study showed that sensor glucose concentrations were between 71 – 120 mg/dL for 91% of the day. Sensor values were less than or equal to 60 or 140 mg/dL for only 0.2% and 0.4% of the day, respectively.
On the other hand, some studies suggest that even healthy people with no known blood sugar problems can experience post-meal spikes above 140 mg/dL at one hour. As I said in the beginning of the article, context is everything and all of the markers for blood sugar must be interpreted together.
If post-meal blood sugars do rise above 140 mg/dL and stay there for a significant period of time, the consequences are severe. Prolonged exposure to blood sugars above 140 mg/dL causes irreversible beta cell loss (the beta cells produce insulin) and nerve damage. Diabetic retinopathy is an extremely common (and serious) diabetic complication. Cancer rates increase as post-meal blood sugars rise above 160 mg/dL. This study showed stroke risk increased by 25% for every 18 mg/dL rise in post-meal blood sugars. Finally, 1-hour OGTT readings above 155 mg/dL correlate strongly with increased CVD risk.
What does it all mean?
Let’s take a look again at what the ADA thinks is “normal” blood sugar:
| Marker | Normal | Pre-diabetes | Diabetes |
| Fasting blood glucose (mg/dL) | <99 | 100-125 | >126 |
| OGGT / post-meal (mg/dL after 2 hours) | <140 | 140-199 | >200 |
| Hemoglobin A1c (%) | <6 | 6-6.4 | >6.4 |
But as we’ve seen in this article, these levels depend highly on context and whether all markers are elevated, or just a few of them.
If you’re interested in health and longevity – instead of just slowing the onset of serious disease by a few years – you might consider shooting for these targets. But remember to interpret the numbers together, and also remember that blood sugar is highly variable. If you wake up one morning and have a fasting blood sugar of 95, but your A1c and post-meal numbers are still normal, that’s usually no cause for concern. Likewise, if you see a one-hour post-meal spike of 145 mg/dL, but all of your other numbers are normal, that is also usually no cause for concern.
| Marker | Ideal |
| Fasting blood glucose (mg/dL) | <86* |
| OGGT / post-meal (mg/dL after 2 hours) | <120 |
| Hemoglobin A1c (%) | <5.3 |
*If you’re following a low-carb diet, fasting blood sugars in the 90s and even low 100s may not be a problem, provided your A1c and post-meal blood sugars are within the normal range.
And the good news is that this can be done cheaply, safely and conveniently at home, without a doctor’s order and without subjecting yourself to the brutality of an OGTT.
I’ll describe exactly how to do this in the next article.
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Hi!
I have just got some testresults back after going to my doctor to check out my blood sugar levels. I can’t really make sense of the results by myself so I hope someone can help me understand them better.
The reason why I went to my doctor was because my FBG (tested at home) showed 90 mg/dl. I have never tested myself before so I could have had these numbers forever. The FBG from the doctor showed 93 mg/dl, so quite close. My HbA1c showed 5,2 %. My BP is 105/70 and my Hb is normal. My post meal values are always at 120mg/dl at the highest and goes down to 100 about 2-3 hours after.
The only number that I don’t get is the FBG that according to this article is borderline high. My other numbers are ok so I don’t get why the FBG is high. I am underweight and have always been. I’m 26 years old and my BMI is 17,2. I have always had a hard time putting on weight (so has the rest of my family). I eat around 130g carbs a day. Can my high FBG have something to do with me being underweight? Maybe my liver doesn’t have so much glucose in storage because everything I eat gets used up during the day? So when fasting my body has to break down fat resulting in high FBG?
Thank you for commenting on this!!
/Anna
Anna your doctor can give you an expert opinion but to me your blood glucose & blood pressure figures look fine. If the glucose figures are in plasma or plasma equivalent (nearly always the case these days) the fasting BG is very much in the normal range. If it’s whole blood it’s borderline high but well below the diabetic threshold. My earlier post referred to an article highlighting health risks of LOW blood glucose, so we should not aim for “the lower the better” . However,I would aim for a BMI of at least 18.5 because,similarly, being in the normal range is better than underweight but you would only need a small increase to achieve this.
I am totally over-joyed when my FBS is in the 90’s, it is seldom in the 80’s or lower, but for me, this is “normal” I am thankful that my FBS rarely goes into the 100’s, when it does, it is always under 110, and if I re-check a few times, I am obsessed with it, I usually can get a number in the 90’s.
Hi Chris. Just stumbled upon this and I am very impressed by all the information. I have recently been diagnosed with diabetes (1 month ago) My FBS was 124 and A1c 6.7. I have complex regional pain syndrome that prevents me from getting a good nights sleep, I average 1-2 hours straight sleep then wake to the pain. I have revamped my diet to low carb around 100g/day. I have started exercising, but am very limited to exercise as tolerated due to the CRPS. I have lost 5 pounds since diagnosis. My doctor has me checking my BS only first thing in the am. It has been running from 110-138. I just checked my BS tonight after 2 hours eating and it was 104. Is my lack of sleep causing/contributing to diabetes and what can I do about it? I have had CRPS for 3 going on 4 years now. I was started on Metformin, but immediately had dark green, grainy stools. Now off it with stools returned to normal. I take more than enough meds for the CRPS and do not want any more added. Any suggestions and help would be appreciated.
Chris, kudos on this very informative article. I have just been diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic. With medications, diet and exercise, I am maintaining my BG (Fasting, PP, random) in good control. How long does it take for my A1C to reflect my new average levels? When should I go for my next A1C tests?
Thanks,
Prem
I suggest you google “Low fasting plasma glucose level as a predictor of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality”. It’s a U shaped risk curve with the healthiest in the range 80-109 mg/dl.(4.4-6.1 mmol/l.) -below this range was higher risk as well as above it.
Chris, my A1c is 6.3, FBG is 94. I am thin (age 60, 5′ 10″, 138 lbs). I have lost about 8 lbs in the past 8 months and would like to gain it back. How do I do that without increasing my sugar levels?
Forgot to mention
Total cholesterol:222
LDL: 161
Very interesting read!
My FBG: 96-120
My A1C: 5.3
Post meal: 110-125
I have had spikes high up to 183.
Have a weight loss problem, dry skin. Thirsty a lot.
Doctor says I’m not diabetic.
Have lost weight. Went from 165 to 150 pounds in 2 months
Hi Chris. I know this is an older article and I’m hoping that you still check these comments as I really need your advice. I have been checking my blood sugar lately and it has had a very odd pattern that I hope you can figure out :). Yesterday for example went like this and this is a typical day.
Fbg 99
I do intermittent fasting and workout before my first meal
Pre workout bg (roughly 3 hours later) 85
Post workout/pre 1st meal 118!!
45 min after meal 87
2 hours after meal 93
Approximately 5 hours after 1st meal I have 2nd meal bg 84
45 min after 99
2 hours after 99
3 hours after 95
Pre dinner 95
45 min after 117
2 hours after 110
I recently had a lipid profile done and the results are as follows:
Total cholesterol 175
Hdl 67
LDL 99
Trig 55
I eat mostly paleo but I do have Gouda cheese (for k2) and kefir Everyday. I also eat moderate carbs since I am breastfeeding and all my starchy carbs are at dinner. Typically potatoes sweet potatoes or rice. I have a history or unexplained chest pains and MVP so the study that shows bg above 86 correlating to heart disease scares me. I tried adding a meal this morning to see if it would help with my readings and it made no difference. Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Susie:
I tried to answer you twice now and each time my stupid tablet lost the message and dropped me offline, so I moved to my PC. 😉 Easier in the long run anyway.
Metformin is a real wonder drug! It is a first line drug against diabetes and is a very old tried and true drug. It has been used over 50 years with little to no side effects. The main and really only side effect is that it can cause gastrointestinal problems when you are first adjusting to it. So they start you with 500 mg and gradually raise the amount so your body can adjust. I take 2000mg a day split into 2 doses of 1000mg each. They are learning new and good things about Metformin. Lots of recent and new research going on about it because they have discovered it helps other things besides diabetes. It reduces the risk of cancer by 50%. It has been found to regrow brain cells and it might be used in the fight against Alzheimers, to repair damaged and older brains. Canada has a new study going on right now to see if it will help children who have suffered from brain cancer, and lost a lot of brain, to recover some of the brain. They have used it for years for PCOS.
Here is what the Physician’s Desk Reference says about the dose… “… anything less than 1500mg a day is not clinically significant…” Give this quote to your doctor if he seems unwilling to up your dosage. He can check it with his copy (usually online anymore, but some doctors still have the hardback books)
You know that high blood pressure in diabetics is tied into high blood sugars too so keeping the BG down in normal ranges helps keep the blood pressure down too. They are connected… It also helps with weight loss for most. So I sure would recommend you ask for higher doses as soon as you are adjusted to it. Don’t want a bunch of gas and the runs, but once you can tolerate more, you should ask for more. I love what my metformin has done for my health! I hate prescription drugs as a rule, but not my Metformin! Love the stuff. The maximum recommended dose of Regular (not extended release) Metformin is 2750mg a day. I am considering whether I might not want to up mine to that amount as I am taking the generic stuff and it is not as strong as Glucophage. I had to change to a weaker generic and it caused me to gain 10 pounds over a few months, so I think I will try to get mine upped to the maximum. Generics are NOT the same where metformin is concerned… but Glucophage is so expensive.
The number one diabetes drug in the world (metformin) just so happens to be drug mugger of a few nutrients such as CoQ10 and vitamin B12. Low levels of these nutrients can affect the brain causing memory impairment, confusion and depression. Also, the nerves could start to hurt, and neuropathy may develop because B12 protects the myelin which is a coating that protects nerve fibers. If you require metformin for your blood sugar, just “marry” this medication with the two nutrients so you can avoid or minimize the side effect. As to forms of vitamin B12, the best type is called “methylcobalamin” and is widely available by dozens of makers. The CoQ10 can be found easily as well in both health food stores and pharmacies nationwide.
just an fyi. 😀
^^ from Suzy Cohen^^
I take sublingual B12 and have never heard it causes a coq10 problem. Statins cause a coq10 problem but not metformin. A once a year b12 shot or sublingual B12 drops (around $4 at walmart for 6months supply) solves any possible b12 problem. Again, metformin is a true wonder!
Hi Susie:
Metformin is a real wonder drug and much research is and has been done on it. They have found it reduces cancer by 50% and recently research has shown it rebuilds brains by causing new cellula growth. They have been using it for over 50 years with little to n side effects. The only real side effect is gastro problems when first adjusting to it. So they start newbies with 500mg a day and slowly increase it. I take 2000mg a day split into 2 doses of 1000mg per dose. The Physicians Desk Reference says “…anything less than 1500 mg a day is not clinically significant…” So yes, you should ask for more. I dislike and distrust drugs with the exception of metformin, but I love what it has done for me.
Hi susie!
A couple of thoughts… age is not a disease and if anything you should keep a tighter rein on the blood sugar cause you do not likely heal a well as a kid, at least I don’t and I am 63. I think you are headed right with your new diet. Any A1C over 5 is known and proven to cause complications, minor at around 5 but the higher it goes the worse the complications become. Minor nerve damage at 5.0 but with high numbers you can start to find things like kidney damage, etc. So I disagree with your doctor on that point.
Regarding the cholesterol, I had that problem too. HAD that problem… I will warn you the doctor will try to put you on statins and they are really bad, the brain is made of cholesterol you know and when you use statins to reduce it you get brain fog which is another name for brain damage. You can lose memory etc. too. Really bad stuff. If you will begin getting sun on a daily basis, I think you will find yourLDL and total will drop. That is what I did and it worked. Any drug that lowers my lipids also raises my blood sugar, by the way.
The body makes vitamin D from sunshine AND uses cholesterol as the raw fuel to do it! My lipid went from over 250 to 130 and my LDL dropped to 9 all from daily UVB rays of the sun. I am considering getting a UVB lamp for this winter. Do a web search on sunshine, cholesterol and blood pressure. Both cholesterol and blood pressure drop in the average person in the summer… that is what keyed me in to start reading about it. Do a bit of personal research before taking any statins though… that is just my opinion, I AM NOT A DOCTOR and I don’t even play one on television ;-D but I have personal experience about your problem cause I am a T2 with the same problems. I tried statins, so i know what they do to everyone, not just a few. I tried the diet my doctor gave me fr 2 years and all that happened was i gained 4 pounds and my a1c was just below 7. I went on a very low carb diet, dropped 40 pounds from it while having cream, instead of creamerand butter instead of margarine. I ate better foods for my body and my taste buds. I quit being hungry too. Cravings disappeared. You are going the correct direction in my opinion. My doctor got real excited when he saw my numbers and at one point exclaimed that my labs were that of a 20 year old! Then when I told him I was eating low carb, he said oh no! That will kill you. Mind you he was holding my good labs in his hand when he said that, and I mean full labs covering 2 pages of results! So I take my dctors advice with a grain of salt and do not argue with him but remind myself it is i who will suffer complications from my diabetes, not him. Hope this helps you and please pardon any typos as I am not on a computer and do not have a keyboard writting this…no delete key either so for a typo I have to backup and retype everything. This thing also puts in wrong letters etc. sometimes.
Hi, Mary,
Thanks so much for your thoughtful and detailed response! I really appreciate the time you spent sharing here. You did marvelously well with the typing….much better than I’d most likely do without a keyboard, for sure. I will look into the sunshine info you shared and have recently been getting some walks outside pretty regularly. I’ll also check into the lamp idea you mentioned for the upcoming shorter winter time. I am determined not to start on statins and appreciate your info regarding them, too. Perhaps I’ll consider asking my doctor to up my metformin from 500 mg to 750 mg per day if eating a more paleo diet doesn’t yield the results I’m seeking.
It’s been 10 months since I was diagnosed as Type II. At the time of diagnosis my A1C was 9.5. After 3 months of diet changes, exercise and 500 mg of metformin daily my A1C dropped to 6.4. I am a 71 year old female my doctor was very satisfied. After reading through this thread and learning that the ADA guidelines are not the best to follow I am wondering about my next step. For a week now I have eliminated grain, legumes and dairy but also added a green tea supplement and drinking green tea and making a breakfast “biscuit” with flax meal, coconut flour, egg, baking powder and coconut oil. I have also ordered “Your Personal Paleo Code” and await it’s arrival. My doctor’s reasoning that 6.4 was good for me was my age….if I were in my 30s or 40s she would want it to be lower. She’s also wanting me to start on cholesterol lowering medication but we’ll recheck labs in January. I am not wanting to go in that direction. I also have what the dietician called “the dawn phenomenon” in which my fasting blood sugar is elevated. Any advice or comments would be very much appreciated. I just discovered this web site yesterday and am learning a lot! Thanks.
Hi Jackie. My suggestion is to actually run a full glucose curve. Test before you eat, then every 15 minutes after for 3 hours. The lab is more accurate as home meters are allowed to be as much as 20% off, though most of the time they are no more than 10% off, if that. What are the soap ingreidents you use? Some soaps have unseen sugars in them, such as glycerine (the gly gives it away) check your protecals to be certain there is no problem there. I do use the relion PRIME meter and strips myself and find them to be accurate and very cheap at $9.00 per 50 strips. This allows for as many tests a day as I want cause it is only .18 per strip. Good luck and do that glucose curve.
Thanks Mary
I did do some testing last night. I ate a bunch of potato chips and my numbers stayed between 99 and 105, then shot up to 129 about 2 hours in. This morning my fasting was 109. When the lab does the testing, they say my fasting is 126. I have an Aviva tester, but going to get the Relion like mentioned here and see if it’s any different. That’s what I find so confusing. My numbers are all over the place. I sometimes feel like I’m having symptoms, like fatigue and a headache, but my readings are between 101 and 105. Any thoughts on that?
Hi jackie. I too think you are diabetic. Have you heard of doing a glucose curve? A simple do it yourself home test that is fairly inexpensive. It tells the real story of what you blood sugar is doing. You see, often you have spikes that you do not see if you are only testing two or three hours after eating.
To do a glucose curve, take your blood sugar before eating and write it down. After eating, the clock starts ticking! Take your blood sugar every 15 minutes for the next three hours. This will pin down where your personal high point is located.
I thought my PP was wonderful and could not understand why my fasting and A1C was high, till after I did a glucose curve. I was spiking HIGH at the 45 minute mark but by two hours was back down, so i simply did not see the blood sugars going up in excess of 200. This simple do it yourself test will give you some really good information. Do use a timer though, as you can easily miss a test or two and not get as good of information as possible.
So curious after reading comments here. I’m 52 years old, with a fasting blood sugar reading of 126 and an a1c of 6.1. I’ve tested my blood both before and after meals many times and the highest I have ever seen it is the 126. My triglycerides and cholesterol and both ideal. All my other blood tests are also fine. I do have some ketones in my urine. I do not eat ‘low-carb.’My NP says I am diabetic, but I don’t understand how all my numbers tie together. They don’t match what I’m reading here. I’ve certainly never seen my blood sugar at 140 or higher! Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks
Hi, been having BS issues for a number of years now and no-one seems to have any idea what is going on or worse, doctors don’t listen or care.
I’m 61yr female, bmi 18, active, been LCHF & gluten free for the last 18 months. A1c was 6.3% now down to 5.8% so coming down albeit slowly. FBG 4.1-4.3 mmol/l
The issue is this, I can do an OGTT and not get any rise above 6.3 mmol/l and no reactive hypo – so I think very normal.
Food, however, if I eat more than 30g absolute max carbs at any one time I will go to 10-13 mmol/l, sometimes staying there for a very short time or for a long time, depending on the type of starch or sugar component – fruit short time, rice or grains a long time.
Why can I take a massive 75g glucose with no effect, but ‘normal’ carbs have a bad effect on me. What is the difference in the mechanism for signally that insulin needs to be produced in the two examples. Because it seems that with food no signal for first phase insulin is either made or received, hence the big spikes, but glucose obviously triggers insulin release absolutely normally.
Hi, my fasting (not eating for at least 8 hours during the day) blood sugar is normally around the 83 mg/dl mark. But my blood sugar after waking up in the morning is sometimes over 100 mg/dl. How do I interpret these blood sugar levels? Thx.
Hi Daniel.
This is normal and true of everyone. When you sleep you have “sleep” hormones in your system, such as melatonin, for example. When you wake your body goes through a sort of flushing to rid the body of the night hormones, part of why wepee so much when we first wake. However, when these sleep hormones are flushed from the system,other hormones go with them, such as insulin. This is normal and as soon as the flushing process is over the body puts out new insulin and the Bg falls back into normal ranges, though 100 is technically normal anyway. A diabetic cant make insulin quickly and has no stored insulin to quickly replace it. That is why it is best to wait 3 hours before exercisg after arising for a non-insulin dependent diabetic. It is also why breakfast should be the smallest meal of the day. Even people with normal metabolisims have their highest blood sugar readings with breakfast. Also why the worse meal one could eat is a high carb meal in the am. A light breakfast containing protein is the best breakfast for a good metabolisim. NOT cereal, with sugar water (milk) or a doughnut etc. and OJ, the typical continental breakfast is a terrible idea! Really almost all sugars.
Thank you very much, Mary. That helps a lot.
I have used TrueTrack and I find it always measures me higher than at the lab.
I’ve used 3 different glucometers to test my blood sugar and the results were drastically different. one was 67, another 95, and another one is 115. This is my fasting blood sugar. Not sure which is the correct one. Then I went to the doctor a few days later to get tested and it was only 85, when it was 124 when I tested at home before going there. I like to monitor my blood sugar at home, but is a bit nervous when the results are so different. BTW, the glucometers I use to test my blood sugar are
TRUEtrack, TRUEdraw, and Gluccocard Vital. Just curious if I should take any of these results seriously. Can anyone recommend a more reliable meter?
Freestyle Freedom light has tested 96% accurate at all levels of blood sugar. However it is on the expensive side.