Remember that the information presented here is not intended to replace the care of your own doctor. Before making any changes in the management of your own illness, you should consult your physician or other qualified medical professionals.
Question
In the past, my 76 year old mother, who has type 2 diabetes, ate about what she wanted and her medicine kept her morning blood levels about 110-125 mg/dL [6.1-6.9 mmol/L] even when she ate at night.Since the new year she has been eating 1200-1400 calories per day. Her meal plan is very balanced between carbs and proteins and low in refined sugar, with no snacking late at night. However, since she began this diet, her morning blood sugar levels in the have been 200 mg/dL [11.1 mmol/L] After taking her meds, they will go back down to 110 mg/dL [6.1 mmol/L] or so. We thought watching her diet would help her glucose levels (or at least not make them worse).
She seemed to do better when she was eating ice cream at 9:00 pm. Why is this?
Answer
Eventually, patients with type 2 diabetes will require insulin to control levels. One of the defects in type 2 diabetes is excess release of stored glucose by the liver overnight and between meals. By eating something before bedtime, this may actually have minimized production of glucose by the liver. However, that problem exists whether one eats or not, and over time, your mother will require more medication to control her blood glucose levels.
