Slice of Chaotic Life

So today I destroyed my own beautiful hypothesis that lack of sugar is what makes me tired. I bought a new blood sugar measuring device. Thanks to some grotesque logic of the market, you can get the starter kit quite cheaply (99 NOK, or close enough to $20), but buying needles and test strips later is expensive. It is entirely possible that it would be cheaper to just buy new starter packs each time, destroying the environment in the process. -_-

Be that as it may, I tested my blood sugar after I came home from work. It showed 6.1 mmol/l, or 110 mg/dl for my American friends (who are more likely to have blood sugar problems anyway). I walked for an hour without eating or drinking anything except a glass of water and a lick of salt. When I stopped (from a beginning headache, which disappeared shortly) my blood sugar was 6.3 mmol/l, or 113.5 mg/dl. In other words, an hour of energetic walking had raised my blood sugar marginally.

At work, I eat yogurt from time to time, approximately a liter (a quarter of a gallon) over the course of the workday. I also drink a little Pepsi from time to time, about two glasses over the course of the workday. I was not big on large meals even before the current condition of my intestines. So it seems reasonable that my body pretty much has removed any excess sugar an hour after I leave work, and just above 6 (or 110) is more or less my natural level, which I will keep unless I drink one of those glucose solutions again or, on the other hand, work to exhaustion. I guess it really is true that the blood sugar is not low until you start going jelly-like in the knees. This is extremely rare for me, although last time I moved it actually happened.

In any case, this blood sugar is harmless. It is above average, but most people are either above or below average, obviously. It is unlikely to have any effect whatsoever on my health. Other things require more attention. And even then, as they say: “It is the one you don’t see that gets you.” Evidently the sugar is not that one.

EDIT: Looking back, I realize I never said it was a lack of sugar. Rather I said that maybe the liver was adding some signal molecules when giving up sugar. Perhaps it is a kind of warning, like a beep-beep when your fuel is getting low. That would certainly be consistent with the observation.