Ketone and Glucose Testing

I began the food testing process with two controls; two situations where no blood sugar deviations should occur. This is, of course, to make sure that both man and machine are operating as expected. So first, I did fasting measurements of both blood sugar and ketone. As you can see, there was no rise in blood sugar during the two hours. There were some fluctuations in ketones, but on average, the ketone levels stayed fairly stable throughout the two hours.

The second control demonstrates what happens with eating just protein and fat. The two eggs and two slices of bacon were consumed in the morning soon after awakening. As a rule of performing these tests, I did not consume any beverages with this meal. This was a tough thing to do as the eggs were a bit difficult to swallow without something to drink. But as you can see from the blood sugar measurements, there was no hint of a rise in blood sugar levels. Although there was a small dip in ketone levels, this promptly returned back to starting levels. A possible explanation for why this dip might have happened could be related to the fact that protein does trigger the release of insulin. You can read about this phenomenon in An insulin index of foods: the insulin demand generated by portions of common foods. Higher insulin levels can cause fluctuations in ketone levels; at first causing lowering of ketone levels, followed by rising ketone levels. We’ll have to keep this phenomenon in mind when we test other protein rich foods. The total protein content of this meal was 17.2 gm of protein (5 bacon + 3.6 egg).