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Outstanding book on controlling high blood sugar, or preventing it if you don't already have it.

By Tim Lundeen  Cub Noozer
Published: 13 April 2008 05:44 pm

- Blood Sugar 101 is an new book by Jenny Ruhl, who writes a first-rate diabetes blog. The book is based on her personal experience with diabetes, the research she's done to control her own blood sugar, and the many people she's corresponded with on the web.

This book is simply outstanding, highly recommended if you have diabetes, prediabetes, or just want to know more about how to keep this from happening to you.

The core message of the book is (1) that blood sugars over 140 are damaging, and that you should keep your blood sugar below this level all the time, and (2) that keeping your blood sugar below 140 is something that everyone can do.

The problem with blood sugars over 140 is that they cause diabetic complications: increased heart attack risk, nerve problems, eyesight loss, kidney problems, blood vessel and circulation problems that can lead to amputations, etc. High blood sugars also accelerate damage to your pancreas, so that you get ongoing higher and higher blood sugars, a vicious circle. Not fun stuff.

The best early warning sign that your blood sugars are spiraling out of control is your peak blood sugar after a meal. If your blood sugar spikes to over 140 after eating, you need to start working on it. The best way to check it is to buy a low-cost over-the-counter blood sugar meter at your local pharmacy, and check your readings at 1, 1.5, and 2 hours after a typical meal.

The problem with fasting blood sugar as an indicator is that this is the last to go. You can have normal fasting blood sugars and high after-meal peaks for a long time, then "overnight" have very high fasting blood sugars when your system loses the ability to recover. Only when you show high fasting blood sugars will your doctor start treating you.

The best solution for high peak blood sugars is to reduce carbohydrates, which lowers the amount of blood sugar that your metabolism has to cope with.

One interesting piece of information is that carpal tunnel syndrome is often an early warning for blood sugar problems. Since I had carpal tunnel and other RSI problems years before I realized my blood sugar was not well-managed, this certainly fits for me.

This book is a great summary of what I've learned for myself, with enough new info and good ways of looking at things to make it extremely worthwhile. Thanks, Jenny!