normal blood glucose levels | Diabetes Healthy Solutions

Blood sugar levels after eating

Many foods that you eat contain the sugar vital to your body’s normal function. Sweets, such as candy or cake contain processed sugar. Fruit contains natural sugar. The body converts carbohydrates into sugar. When you ingest sugar from any of these sources, it enters your bloodstream and becomes what is known as blood glucose or blood sugar levels after eating.

You can test your blood glucose level by placing a small amount of blood on a small strip of treated paper that you then insert into a glucose meter. Normal blood sugar levels are between 70 mg/dl to 120 mg/dl (milligrams of blood glucose per deciliter of blood).

Hyperglycemia is when your blood glucose levels are higher than normal. Blood glucose levels below normal can cause a condition called hypoglycemia.

When sugar enters your bloodstream, your pancreas is triggered to produce a hormone called insulin. Insulin bonds with the blood glucose, allowing it to feed your body the energy that it needs. The pancreas constantly monitors your blood glucose levels and produces enough insulin to fuel your body and keep your blood glucose levels in the normal range. This all effects your blood glucose levels after eating.

There are several activities that can cause normal fluctuations outside of the normal range in your blood glucose. The most common are eating a meal, exercise and stress.

When you eat a meal that contains any sugar source, your body is flooded with blood glucose. The pancreas is unable to produce enough insulin to accommodate the sugar, and so your blood glucose levels will rise above a normal level for approximately one to two hours. It is possible that during that first hour, your blood glucose level could be as high as 180 mg/dl.

Your blood glucose levels after eating will vary from what you eat, what time of day it is as well as what types of food you eat. By avoiding foods that are high in sugar and carbohydrates you can take care of your blood glucose levels.

What is the Normal Blood Sugar Level

Diabetes rates are on the rise, and the question of what is the normal blood sugar level is becoming increasingly more important to an ever growing number of people in today’s world. Death and disability rates from a number of diseases, even such dreaded diseases as heart disease, stroke, and cancer, are falling, but diabetes rates are steadily climbing and diabetes is rapidly becoming one of the most wide spread health care problems of our time.

While there is, as yet, no cure for diabetes the key to heading off the worst effects of the disease is by knowing what is the normal blood sugar level much as possible. Diabetes works by interfering with the way the body normally processes sugar into glucose which then reacts with insulin in order to provide energy to the cells.

Prolonged periods of low blood glucose values of high blood glucose values can lead to kidney damage, neuropathy, glaucoma, blindness, heart disease, coma and even death. Diabetes doesn’t do damage to the body as other disease processes do, it interferes with the body’s ability to maintain normal blood glucose values and causes this damage to be widespread. So keeping track of what is the normal blood sugar level is more important than ever.

One of the chief problems with maintaining and knowing what is the normal blood sugar level is that there is such a wide variety of what may be considered “normal.” Blood glucose levels fluctuate throughout the day in even a healthy person, and what is considered normal for one person may well be outside the acceptable range for another. Blood glucose levels can be affected by age, medications taken, overall health, weight, and diet this makes it imperative that if you or someone you know thinks they may have a blood glucose problem that a visit to the doctor is made as only a physician can properly determine what a “normal” blood glucose may be for an individual.

If diabetes runs in your family, or if you suspect that you may have it, don’t wait, go see your doctor so you can get started maintaining the answer to what is the normal blood sugar level.

Low Blood Glucose Levels

For an ever increasing number of people low blood glucose levels are a real concern. The number of people diagnosed with heart disease, hypertension, and many forms of cancer, has been fairly steady or even slightly declining in recent years, but the number of people with diabetes continues to skyrocket. For those with diabetes low blood glucose levels can be just as much of a concern as high blood glucose levels due to the simple fact the for the body to operate at optimum levels the blood glucose generally needs to stay somewhere between 60 and 10 mg/dl. Diabetes is the number one cause of abnormal blood glucose levels due to the way it affects the way the body is able to metabolize the glucose that is taken in as food.

Glucose is a type of sugar that the body gets from carbohydrates, sugars, and fatty foods that are consumed. Glucose is important because it is used by each cell of the body as a source of fuel, and when glucose levels fall the body begins to shut down just as surely as a car shutting down when the fuel tank is empty. For most diabetics there is a fine line between too much and too little glucose, and they must check their glucose several times a day in order to balance their medication dosage and diet to keep glucose within healthy levels. All it takes is one misjudgment in insulin dosage, or one forgotten meal or snack to cause blood glucose levels to plummet to the point that the diabetic will lose consciousness and could even die without prompt treatment.

If you or someone you know is a diabetic the only way to keep from suffering from low blood glucose levels is by staying on top of your glucose checks, keeping your diet right, and following your doctors recommendations. You surely don’t want to be on a long trip when your car runs out of gas, and you don’t want to allow your body to suffer from lack of fuel.

Normal Glucose Readings

Everyone, it seems, is counting some type of medical readings these days, from counting carbs, to cholesterol levels, normal glucose readings, there is always a new number to be tracked and trended and kept as close to normal as possible. Of all the things that are tracked and trended nowadays there is possibly nothing more important to an ever growing number of people than normal glucose readings. The number of people who suffer the ill effects of hypertension and heart disease are actually on the decline, but the number of diabetics continues to increase daily and normal glucose readings are, for the diabetic, the key to a long and trouble free life.

When it comes to determining exactly what normal blood glucose levels are, the normally accepted range of 80-110 mg/dl can be influenced by such factors as body weight, age, and underlying health conditions. The only real way for an individual to find out exactly what their normal glucose readings should be is to consult with their doctor. It should be noted, however, that low glucose readings can be just as detrimental as high glucose readings, extremes in either direction could lead to coma or even death. The only good glucose readings are those within the normal range for the individual.

For those who have suffered from diabetes for years and those newly diagnosed organizations like to American Diabetes Association can be invaluable resources for information and support regarding the disease. Many companies now offer free glucometers to those who need them. Awareness of the risks and treatments of diabetes is being raised in the public eye like never before. Research continues into finding a cure for diabetes. Never before has it been easier or more important for the diabetic to maintain normal glucose readings than it is today.

Normal Blood Glucose Values

Diabetes rates are on the rise, and normal blood glucose values are becoming increasingly more important to an ever growing number of people in today’s world. Death and disability rates from a number of diseases, even such dreaded diseases as heart disease, stroke, and cancer, are falling, but diabetes rates are steadily climbing and diabetes is rapidly becoming one of the most wide spread health care problems of our time. While there is, as yet, no cure for diabetes the key to heading off the worst effects of the disease is maintaining normal blood glucose values as much as possible.