A Home Run Breakfast With Diabetes

1. Cut carbs. I often eat scrambled eggs or nuts for breakfast, which bring five big advantages: no need to take insulin earlier (#3 below), no burden to carb count, smaller doses of insulin, lower glucose spikes, and more predictability. Eggs are not a concern for raising cholesterol (according to the US government’s latest dietary guidelines), are a great way to sneak in vegetables via a veggie scramble, and take just four minutes to make (I timed it). Nuts require no prep at all, are portable, and available pretty much everywhere (even at gas stations and airports). I generally take one unit of insulin right when I start eating eggs or nuts, which helps cover the rise in glucose from protein and fat. If I’m low or following exercise, I may take no insulin at all.

Here are some typical egg and nut breakfasts I’ve eaten recently, tracked using Meal Memory and Dexcom G5. I’ve been buying these amazing low-carb tortillas lately (10 g of carbs, of which 7 g are fiber), which don’t raise my glucose and make it an egg breakfast wrap! 

2. Eat non-traditional foods for breakfast: almond flour, nuts and seeds, lentils, dinner leftovers, etc. Almond flour has been the most unexpected win, since it has reintroduced pancakes and bagels into my life. But who says breakfast has to be traditional? Sometimes I’ll eat lentils or dinner leftovers for breakfast. In Europe last month, I ate cold cuts at hotel breakfasts. I’ve also been experimenting with Chia pudding, which doesn’t seem to change glucose at all (though I’m still looking for a tasty recipe). Here are two examples (almond flour pancakes on left, chia pudding on right):

3. Insulin head start: dose 20+ minutes before eating carbs, and wait longer if blood glucose is above target or when eating something really sugary. I usually opt for cutting carbs (#1), since I’m impatient, find this head start hard to remember, and often need more than 20 minutes (e.g., when starting at a morning glucose of 180 mg/dl, I might need a 40-minute insulin head start). Here’s what I’ve generally observed for myself, though these estimates vary by type of food and person:

4. More breakfast insulin: I use a more aggressive morning correction factor and more early morning basal. These strategies help counteract the insulin resistance I usually experience around breakfast, particularly when I don’t get enough sleep (see below). Many patients I know also use a more aggressive insulin-to-carb ratio in the morning (e.g., 1:8 instead of 1:10). The best way I’ve found to optimize these settings for myself is described in #6: getting real time glucose data to inform my decisions.

[Note: This is highly individual – always work with a healthcare professional before changing your insulin doses.]



1. Cut caffeine? Caffeine can raise blood sugar, meaning less morning coffee or tea (or using decaf) could prevent glucose spikes. I didn’t give this a head-to-head test to confirm, and think it’s probably a smaller factor relative to other drivers (see above). I drink a huge French press of loose leaf green tea every morning, which seems to raise my glucose anywhere from 0 mg/dl to 30 mg/dl. Tea does have less caffeine than coffee, meaning java drinkers might see a blood sugar benefit from switching.

2. Reduce morning stress? Stress can raise blood glucose, but I’ve found it challenging to pair cause and effect here – do I have lower post-breakfast blood sugars with lower stress, and higher AM blood sugars with more stress? Possibly. Exercise definitely reduces my stress, but it also reduces glucose on its own. Meditation also reduces my stress levels, though I’ve never seen an immediate glucose benefit from doing it. Striving for less stress is a good thing regardless of how it impacts blood sugar, of course! More on stress here.

https://diatribe.org/why-diabetes-and-life-so-stressful Let me know by email or on Twitter; I’ll add new tactics here!

Credited: [Author: Adam Brown], [Source: diaTribe Learn MAKING SENSE OF DIABETES], [Site: https://diatribe.org/]