What Is Normal Blood Sugar?

Blood sugar levels vary even in non-diabetic persons, but to a much lesser degree than persons with diabetes. Fasting levels for non-diabetics can run between 70 mg/dl (3.9 mmol/l) and 92 mg/dl (5.0 mmol/l); these are the tests made upon awakening from a night's sleep having eaten nothing for eight or so hours. Postprandial levels in non-diabetic persons likely never go over 120 mg/dl (6.6 mmol/l) one or two hours after a meal, regardless of what they eat. So since non-diabetics incur no ill effects with these blood sugar levels, we propose that diabetics can and should also strive to achieve as near to non-diabetic levels as possible. And it IS possible. For diabetics, having lost the body's ability to respond with pinpoint accuracy to the vagaries in blood sugar levels, there is concern with both too high levels, as well as too low levels, and the mission of our website is to teach people how to regularly avoid both conditions and maintain good low & stable blood sugar levels. It is good to aim for as little fluctuation as possible.

The first line of defense in preventing high blood sugar is to remove as much carbohydrate from our meals as possible, and  replace those carbs with natural saturated & unsaturated fats . This not only facilitates lower more stable blood sugar, it can - for patients on insulin or other diabetes meds - reduce the dosage necessary with those meds, the better to reduce the risks of having low blood sugar. It also feeds into Dr. Richard Bernstein's  laws of small numbers.

Anyone using insulin or insulin-secreting drugs such as sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones, et.al., should be aware that any of these can cause hypoglycemia and frequent regular testing is paramount. Mild hypos/lows are considered anything under 65 mg/dl (3.9 mmol/l), and while these are not life-threatening, they can be uncomfortable and cause one to feel weak, shaky, dizzy, nervous & irritable, as well as extremely hungry. If it's possible to tough it out, that is the best course of action, but if not, there is what we call the  15-15 rule for treating lows.