Dear Santa, Please Bring Carbs for Christmas
I’ve been doing keto for over a year now — though honestly, the last three months have been more lazy keto. Lazy keto means not meticulously tracking carbs or macros, but instead focusing on keto-friendly foods. For me, that still required cutting out many foods labeled keto-friendly, because my glucose would spike anyway.
I’ve been wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor over the same time period as well. And I found it quite frustrating that even foods or meals that contained very little carbs or in a number of cases no carbs at all would have my glucose react.
But over this time, I found healing, and have written previously about my CALM Inflammation framework and Lightswitch moment. My remission protocol included resetting my circadian rhythm, and working to regulate by nervous system.
One thing that continued to confuse me, was that my baseline glucose numbers would sometimes be in the pre-diabetic range, often around 114, even with eating very low-carb or no obvious carb intake.
What finally clicked for me was understanding stress-induced hyperglycemia. Even without carb intake, the body can raise blood sugar in response to a stressor — whether that stress is food sensitivities, fasting, illness, inflammation, lack of sleep, dehydration, or nervous system dysregulation. The body releases cortisol as a protective response, which directly raises glucose and can disrupt insulin and leptin signaling over time.
Stressors aren’t just emotional. They include things like:
- Fasting that exceeds what my nervous system can currently tolerate
- Poor sleep or circadian disruption
- Dehydration or electrolyte imbalance
- Food sensitivities (even to ‘healthy’ foods)
- Illness, inflammation, or pain flares
- Over-exercise or under-recovery
- Hormonal shifts (especially post-menopause)
- Sensory overload or chronic background stress
- Feeling unsafe, rushed, or under-fueled
During my last fast, I became lightheaded and shaky, and my glucose climbed to 114 — with no food at all. Frustrating! I decided to break the fast early with protein and electrolytes. Almost immediately, my shoulders relaxed and my glucose dropped into the high 80s.
That was my body receiving a signal of safety.
Seeing this immediate response truly lightened my heart. After living with Chronic illness for years, you can become beaten down and can feel dejected at the prospect that “Life will never be the same”.
But this new understanding of pushed me to test a couple different carbs this past weel- and hardly had any glucose response! A year and a half ago, I had a crazy strong response to sweet potato – this past week, I couldn’t see a response at all. So I tried even more unconventional treats. A very small response to apple pie (glucose still under 120), but a larger response to a poppy seed muffin (response over 120).
So, I’m still not completely healed, but this has opened my eyes that even though you’d expect a similar response from 2 carbs side by side – there’s still something else going on. Namely, that I have sensitivities to certain foods that send a stress signal to my body
My plan is to enjoy a couple carbs today, and jump right back on to the healing train – using the Oura Ring beginning in January to gather even more data and track patterns alongside glucose..
But, thank you Santa for allowing me carbs this Christmas!
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