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Chapter 3: Blood Sugar and A1C

When your doctor says your blood sugar is high, he or she means there is too much glucose staying in your blood instead of moving to your cells to give your body energy. When you eat, your blood sugar goes up because glucose comes from food.

For a person who does not have diabetes, fasting blood glucose numbers can range from 70 to 100. These might be their numbers first thing in the morning before they’ve eaten. The American Diabetes Association says someone has diabetes when his or her fasting blood sugar is 126 or higher, and when random tests show glucose levels of 200 or higher.

Here are examples of what can make your blood sugar rise:

• Stress
• Fruit juice (you get more sugar when you drink fruit juice than when you eat a piece of fruit)
• Dental problems or any kind of infection. This is important because sometimes high blood sugar can be the first clue that you’re ill.

Here are examples of what can make your blood sugar fall:

• Missing or delaying a meal
• Eating a smaller portion than usual
• Taking diabetes medicine or insulin
• Exercise. People with diabetes who start exercising sometimes can take less insulin. You may want to talk to your doctor about this.

When you use a glucometer to take a blood sugar reading, it tells you your blood sugar level at that moment. Keeping a log helps you and your doctor figure out how your habits and your medicines are helping you or hurting you.

The A1C is another test that gives you and your doctor a bigger picture of what your blood sugar is doing over a longer period of time. Your A1C is an average of your blood glucose control over the past two to three months and tells you how good your blood sugar control has been.

A normal A1C for someone without diabetes is between four and six. The American Diabetes Association says that most people with diabetes should aim to have an A1C around seven. The higher your number, the higher your risk for developing complications from diabetes. But it is important to set your personal A1C goal with your doctor or provider because you may have other medical conditions that influence your goal.

In order to stay healthy, you want to think about consistency. You want to keep your blood sugar at a consistent level from day to day to avoid long-term complications. Eating badly one day and having high blood sugar, and then “making up for it” by eating better the next day is not good for the body.