Causes and countermeasures of high blood sugar after meals, "diabetics" should know

For diabetic patients, high blood sugar after meals is more significant to the occurrence and development of diabetic complications than fasting blood sugar. So what are the causes of this?

Related to diabetes itself

Because of impaired early phase insulin secretion and delayed insulin peak, diabetics often experience a significant increase in postprandial blood sugar. If the patient also has severe insulin resistance, postprandial hyperglycemia will persist for a long time.

Related to ignoring the condition

When monitoring their blood sugar, most diabetic patients tend to only focus on fasting blood sugar and rarely monitor their blood sugar after meals. As long as their fasting blood sugar reaches the standard, they think everything is fine and there is no need to adjust the dosage of medication.

Due to the lack of monitoring of postprandial blood sugar, there are few measures taken to address postprandial high blood sugar, such as controlling diet, exercising, or using drugs to lower postprandial blood sugar.

Related to the patient's diet

Blood sugar levels rise most significantly after breakfast and lunch. This is related to the fact that the anti-insulin hormone secretion is greater in the morning and the liver produces a large amount of glucose. It may also be related to the quality, quantity and cooking method of the patient's breakfast. Some patients like to eat porridge for breakfast. Since porridge takes a long time to heat, starch is easily dissolved in water and can be widely contacted with digestive juices after eating, making it easy to absorb. In addition, porridge is in a semi-fluid state, and the emptying time of the stomach after eating is relatively short. Therefore, eating porridge for breakfast is more likely to increase blood sugar levels after meals than eating dry rice.

In addition, eating too much will also lead to increased blood sugar levels after meals.

How to control postprandial hyperglycemia

You should strictly control the total calories of your diet and mainly eat dry rice. If you are not used to eating dry rice for breakfast, you can choose to replace it with food with the same calories as rice. For example, cooking porridge with some coarse grains will make you feel full easily, and the stomach will take a long time to absorb, which will not easily increase blood sugar after a meal. You should pay attention to controlling the total amount of food you eat in a day, and have a fixed amount for each meal to ensure a balanced total calorie intake for the day.

Insist on proper exercise after meals

Appropriate exercise after a meal can consume calories in the body and help reduce postprandial hyperglycemia. It is generally recommended to start exercising 1 hour after a meal. You can choose aerobic exercise, such as jogging, brisk walking, etc. The intensity of the exercise should not be too high, and the time should be controlled within 30 to 45 minutes. It is recommended not to do intense anaerobic exercise, because it can stimulate sympathetic nerve excitement and increase blood sugar. Follow the general principles of exercise: it varies from person to person, do what you can, proceed step by step, persevere, and focus on aerobic exercise and supplement it with resistance exercise.

Pay attention to monitoring blood sugar after meals

After being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, not only fasting blood sugar and urine sugar need to be checked regularly, but also postprandial blood sugar should be monitored. For patients with type 2 diabetes, blood sugar should be checked every day when the condition is unstable, and at least once a week when the condition is stable, fasting blood sugar and 2 hours after meals should be tested, and at least once a month when the whole day is fasting, 2 hours after three meals, and before going to bed.