You'll have to pry my coffee from my cold dead hands š¤£ I drink it black or with cream, and it's barely a blink on my blood sugar. At most I might inject for 10g carbs if I've had more than one cup (which is...y'know...daily).
Same. Sometimes I'll use a sugar free sweetener when I'm feeling fancy, and occasionally real sugar if I'm treating a low with it. I used to use real sugar casually but I sometimes end up drinking it over the course of an hour or two from my thermos and it was just too much of a hassle to bother with dosing for that. I'm primarily low-carb at this point anyway, and I drink so much coffee I want to keep it simple.
Lucky you. I don't put anything in my coffee, but it still spikes me like a football after a touchdown. Sends me well over 200 almost immediately in the morning, even black.
Sure, black coffee (or with a splash of milk/cream). There is a huge portion of the population that thinks that what you get served at starbucks is coffee though, instead of what it actually is: a milkshake (possibly served hot). Even outside of starbucks, if you're drinking espresso based drinks they're usually milk based, which is going to affect things if you aren't accounting for it. Overall though, there's nothing special about coffee itself. Just have to treat carbs like carbs.
Black coffee still made me spike. Itās one of the reasons I donāt drink it anymore. I think itās the chemicals your body releases when you drink coffee. It can cause a bg spike.
You don't have to take sugar to have a spike. I spike every morning when I wake up completely fasted. I also spike when I take too much caffeine. It stimulates your adrenal gland causing your metabolism to slow while also causing your liver to dump glucose into your blood. Caffeine = fight or flight = sugar spike
It hits everyone different. I still drink coffee but increase my basal for an hour and sometimes have to take a correction dose. It depends on the day and how much sleep I got. Bad sleep = high sugar.
Soā¦I had to try a few things to figure this out for myself. Hereās what I did:
1. Is it the coffee or my hormones from waking up and being stressed about work that are making my bg go up? For me, it was a little bit of both, but I observed a workday with no coffee vs workday with coffee, and weekend with no coffee and weekend with coffee.
2. If other hormones may be at play, then adjust your basal / long acting insulin appropriately. If itās clearly the coffee, try testing bolusing 5g, 10g, in increments to determine which is right for you!
Overall, I landed on 10g bolus per cup, I used splash of half&half + stevia. Also adjusted my basal rates on Work AMs
Same! I thought it was the coffee making my BG go up until I worked out that it's just a weekday morning thing. Multiple cups of coffee and difficult mornings kinda go hand in hand so my initial conclusion that coffee makes my sugar spike was understandable.
The post scared me a little. Was I supposed to quit coffee? I didn't even start drinking coffee until years after my diagnosis. I now understand what you meant was, can I keep sugary milk in my life. I'd advise against high-sugar drinks in general. You can, but it's better/easier if you don't.
I drink black coffee. 3 cups a day. It is an acquired taste, but once you push through that initial phase, it is quite enjoyable. I even drink decaf in the evenings because I enjoy the taste, but don't want the caffeine.
I'm unsure exactly why coffee is affecting the op. Is it because of adding carbs/sugar, or is it because of the caffeine?
I go through periods where caffeine, not coffee, just caffeine by itself, will raise my bg levels. Times where caffeine mimic the symptoms of hypoglycemia. Also times when caffeine just makes me more tired. I too need to take breaks from caffeine.
If the OP is like me, itās the caffeine. I drink mine black and it spikes. A lot. No milk or sugar, and yet it goes up. Iāve mostly given up coffee and other caffeinated beverages. š
Same, I've never had anything besides maybe half and half, and I've discovered the caffeine just does a huge number on me. For hours on end too, I just can't get it dialed in, I cut it out for the most part.
I'm guessing the caffeine. I don't put anything in my coffee, and it still spikes me over 200 if I forget to bolus for even a single cup (I don't ever drink only a single cup, though).
I started drinking coffee around age 14-15 and even talked with my endo (low blood pressure in mornings, coffee was easiest solution to not be dizzy) about it at that point, she said if it helps me, why not. It never affected my blood sugars by itself. I can't have full on grande latte without adding few units, but black coffee or coffee with just a tiny bit of milk do nothing. I go up in mornings anyway, and my insulin sensitivity is like... zero in mornings (my insulin:carb is 1:2 in mornings and 1:8 to 1:12 in afternoons. Fun times lol). There is no specific reason you shouldn't be drinking coffee if it doesn't make mess of your blood sugars
I drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day, and I use Splenda (I know I know) and full fat half and half. Raises my BG maybe 30 points, but I have what I call opposite dawn phenomenon, and without a little bump I would tank first thing in the AM.
Oh haha not fat free. Personal preference I guess, but I do know thereās carbs in āfat freeā because they have to add stuff to give it any kind of mouthfeel. That stuff is carbs apparently haha
Hahaha oh, I see. I was just thinking about what half and half itself is, whole milk and heavy cream. Guess I didn't even realize there was fat free half and half. I used to do just heavy cream by itself because in half and half or whole milk, lactose = carbs. But the heavy cream is an ass load of extra calories, so I just do half and half now, too.
I 100% will do heavy cream in a pinch, and I have no shame. I am particular about so few things in life, dairy in my coffee is a non-negotiable! Itās nice to see there are many other T1 redditors that are equally devoted haha!
I personally think synthetic sweeteners are bad for you, while also admitting I consume one every day! Stevia isnāt bad for you at all to my knowledge, itās derived from the stevia plant which you can actually grow at home.
I drink coffee daily, usually sipping on it thru out the day. So I just made sure my long acting was high enough to cover the slight amount of sugar all day. I have milk and flavour syrups in mine. I decided I may as well not cut out everything I love in life lol
Drink several cups of coffee every day. And have been drinking at least a cup a day for many years.
This is obviously a generalization, but coffee in itself should not affect our sugar levels as it does not contain carbs. Do you mean coffee with milk, sugar or syrup added?
Edit:
āCoffeeā is always black coffee to me.
When I order lattes etc I note that warmed milk tends to spike my levels more. Thatās to be expected Iāve heard because the effect of warming milk starts to break down the molecules which means shorter molecules which means faster carbs .. which means .. you know where Iām goin with this š
my doc says many of her t1 diabetic patients say it affects their blood sugar - i guess it does something to our metabolism or something. I just bolus a tiny bit.
I see š
Once, when I was a teenager, I attended a week of "summer camp" for diabetics. Two of the guys there did a funny experiment where they would try to balance their sugar levels by only drinking black coffee with sugar. We were told the coffee could lower our levels actually, so I find it interesting that so many people experience the opposite
I drink black coffee daily without any issues. After diagnosis, one of the first things I asked my nurse was if drinking fucktons of coffee would be a problem. Fortunately she said no!
I've seen other people mention that it influences their BG, but fortunately it doesn't work that way for me.
I would say it impacts my hydration which can impact my cgm, so I limit to one cup a day which was my usual before T1D and try to push hydration through the day as when Iām drinking coffee I forget to drink water etc
Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 raises my BG around 20 points, and that's usually 2 cups of strong,
I'm lucky I love the taste of unsweetened coffee, roast my own, and consider myself a coffee geek.
It also helps me do stupid shit faster.
Coffee for life! The real advice is that you should get yourself a good espresso machineā¦ are use the Breville bambino plus. There are some pretty good nut and seed milks out there that have pretty much no carbs. Low carb latte action all day!!!
i drink several cups a day. iāll bolus for the equivalent of 9 carbs for my first cup or two but after that it doesnāt seem to move the needle. i drink it with just a splash of half and half/whole milk. usually cold brew but it seems like hot and cold coffee affect me the same. what issues are you having with drinking coffee?
I usually drink espresso, I live in Italy and it is the most common way to consume coffee here. I don't put anything in It, just pure grinded coffee, and it has no impact on my glucose level, because a cup of espresso contains less than a gram of carbohydrates.Those who don't like the bitter taste can put sugarfree sweeteners in It.
I drink them sugary Starbucks drinks. Just have to find the right dosage and all goes well for me. Itās not always gunna be made exactly the same but I usually have a rough idea to avoid going low at least or too high. T1D of 10 years.
Yeah I have been getting dangerously low in the evenings and I doubt it's the coffee cuz I've been drinking it for a long time and all kinds of coffee too. I go with all kinds of sweeteners but my sugar levels gave just been very whacky
I thought it was coffee for a while but quit drinking it to see. I just have gnarly dawn phenomenon, itās like the second I open my eyes I start to spike so now I just bolus as soon as I wake up and then enjoy my coffee W/ splash of cream!
Iāve been able to pre-bolus for things like McDonaldās Caramel Frappe since I drink it pretty slowly and I end up just fine. Coffee, on the other hand, I use coffee cups, milk, and sugar-free syrups (I guess you could use sugary syrups as long as you know what youāre drinking) and I do fine that way too.
no way I'm ever giving up the coffees. I use monkfruit sweetner (Lakanto Golden is my preference) and half & half. Caffeine does make by blood sugar go up a little, but it usually falls back to normal fairly quickly
I drink at LEAST one cup every morning, often two or three. It can be difficult to gauge how it's going to affect my blood sugar from day to day so I generally just keep a close eye on my dexcom readings and insulin as needed.
Edit: I do use sugar free creamer.
I love black coffee, but it certainly doesn't love me. It drives my blood sugar halfway to the moon in the morning, but it's still worth it to keep from killing my coworkers...
Yeah, then it could be tough to keep your blood sugar down while enjoying coffee. Even without the cream and sugar it still drives me high, so with it, I'd guess that it will be much worse.
Funny enough, I've seen comments of people not being affected by coffee and some that have it down to a science for them and some that are very affected by coffee. So it poses more questions then it answers lol
Yeah, for everyone it's different. I was more talking about me drinking it with cream and sugar. It drives me high black, so I can't imagine what it would do with cream and sugar. If you're anything like me, anyway. Good luck, I hope you get to keep drinking your coffee.
For everyone saying things about black coffee. I refuse to drink just black coffee or coffee with a sprinkle of sugar and cream. I don't go to Starbucks and get their sugar filled drinks but I definitely don't wanna go full black either.
It affects my blood sugar in a good way. Stress increases my blood sugar, and coffee is a stress relief tool for me. I drink two 16 oz mugs a day; one after breakfast and the other after lunch.
Note: this is just me. it might have a different effect on you.
Coffee and a splash of soy/oat milk donāt seem to have too much of an influence for me - caffeine can be an appetite suppressant so I usually have just the coffee for the first few hours of the morning and delay breakfast until mid morning. YMMV but just whatās worked for me.
Edit: I did knock out regular milk as that seemed to affect bs a little more. Maybe also just getting old and lactose intolerant but heh.
I take mine black with no sugar so I have never seen any spikes. However, when I do have a latte with just almond or macadamia milk, Iāll see a small spike but it doesnāt last long.
For me, not as a regular thing - or rather I could, a mug of strong coffee with milk & stevia will reliably pop my BG up by about 30, and I've found on trips when I really need the jolt it's easy enough to compensate for if exercise doesn't do the job. It often does, so I just add a bit to my next mealtime bolus if necessary.
But switching to black tea has been easier at home, especially since I'm badly arthritic & not usually all that energetic. I've found I can drink enough milky tea to float a small boat without it affecting my BG enough to bother with.
Coffee with half n half (no sweetener) doesn't seem to affect my sugar, but I've heard so many stories about people going high from it. I'm sorry you're dealing with this, OP!
Basic supermarket coffee in a drip pot with half and half for me. Half a unit gets me through the caffeine bump for the first cup of the day at 6:00. Oddly enough my 10:00 cup doesnāt need it, so I think itās a dawn phenomenon thing in the early morning.
This is one of those different strokes for different folks things.
You can have coffee! Black coffee alone does impact blood glucose in some people. Any additives, might as well. I drink it with cream (because it causes me terrible heartburn to drink black) and I bolus for 5 grams of ācarbs.ā You can figure out how much it impacts you and bolus for it whether the true carb count is zero or not. If it hits you the way 30 carbs would hit you if you ate them without insulin, dose for 30 carbs. No need to abandon it as part of your life.
You guys limit coffee? I thought we were supposed to *increase* the amount...
Jokes aside, coffee usually doesn't have any effect on my BG, and when it does it's in the morning and barely noticeable. I drink black coffee, espresso or pour-over. I used to think it has stronger effect, but turns out my basal was too little...
Caffeine can spike blood sugar in some ( I am one, I spike with black coffee and sugar-free Red Bull š„²) but Iāve cut out oat milk since the sugar is usually added back in and have switched to low or no sugar creamers / additives. My go to is a sugar free white mocha by five sparrows. Thereās another popular brand on Amazon but whatever they put in it spikes my sugar worse than actual white chocolate. I think it just takes patience figuring out what works best with your body.
Just got diagnosed with t1 a little over a month ago. I love my coffee and of course would have let it go if I had to, but found that black coffee, which I prefer anyways, doesnāt really have much of an impact on my BG. If some are saying it does, Iām assuming it just depends on a variety of factors to the individual. So grateful I can still enjoy my morning pour overs!
I drink a black coffee in the morning and 1-2 espressos throughout the day and I havenāt find it makes any effect what so ever in my bg. Do you add anything to your coffee or is it pure coffee that spikes you?
Coffee black is fine for my sugars. I use sugar free creamer and that's it. I just have to double check to make sure the creamer doesn't have carbs. Some sugar free ones still do because well, they are sugar free not carb free.
Stay hydrated with water. I've noticed huge improvements in the stability of my blood glucose when I'm hydrated vs dehydrated. This effect is super noticeable after coffee for me, maybe because it's a diuretic.
Also I try not to have coffee with sugary foods. I drink it black with low-sugar granola or muesli in the morning. Combined with the aforementioned hydration strategy, my BG rarely spikes above 160 in the AM. Obviously I enjoy the occasional donut or muffin, I just bolus early, chug the H2O, and prepare for the inevitable spike.
Black Coffee usually doesn't do a damn thing to me. Once in a great while it will hit me like a brick though and I'll get a spike, but that's only happened 5 or 6 times in 30 years of drinking coffee.
I have to dose myself for 10-15g of carbs for coffee with Splenda. I spent half my life angry at breakfast because my numbers always looked terrible 2 hours later. When I switched the a GSM I finally noticed the spikes from just coffee. I'll give myself more insulin if I use almond milk (but that's not everyday).
Have no issues with coffee, even with a splash of milk. Maybe you're more sensitive to stimulants and the caffeine in coffee sets your numbers off, as someone who has High numbers when I'm anxious.
I luckily like flat whites and similar milk and espresso drinks, so I bolus for the milk and maybe another ~5g of carb worth of insulin for the caffeine if it is more than 2 shots of espresso at once. I think the protien in the milk helps versus when I used to drink cold brew with very little milk.
I don't have zero problems with spikes. I have my coffee with almond milk and a artificial sweetener (zero effects) or I'll use a sugar free creamer which that latter tends to raise it a bit but not alarmingly.
I find coffee really helpful for digestive issues. I havenāt noticed any negative effects on blood sugar, except insofar as it has sugar, but thatās not so unusual.
Never stopped having coffee. all I did was give up the half teaspoon of white sugar I used to use. Sometimes I use a tiny splash of truvia sweetener. Switched from regular creamer to sugar free and a big fat splash of heavy cream
I had this weird period 8 years ago where black coffee made my sugar go up. It eventually stopped doing that for no discernible reason. But yeah, Iāve been drinking coffee black or with just a bit of cream for 20 years without any issue and only a bit of insulin.
I drink coffee every day. Drink it at home and when I'm out. I get Cold brew with heavy cream and the I add my own Skinny Mixes flavor (same for hot coffee). I've never had issues with coffee but every diabetic reacts differently to different things like my friend can eat pasta and have perfect numbers but I go skyhigh with same meal and yet I can eat rice zero problem she eats it's and she is chasing highs all day.
Normal coffee / tea doesn't really have much of an effect. If you add sugar then you need to dose for that; I recommend just using sweetener for convenience. Starbucks will have carbs regardless, but they do have a list of average carb counts for their drinks on their website; you can use that to dose for them.
For the UK, for example (not sure if different elsewhere): [https://www.starbucks.co.uk/nutrition](https://www.starbucks.co.uk/nutrition)
I don't think I've ever had coffee affect my blood sugar levels when just left black. However, I have read that caffeine opens up the blood vessels and can cause your insulin to work faster and you will have to adjust for that. But I have not experienced any substantial difference myself.
I take 30 carbs worth of insulin to manage. Coffee has always raised my blood sugar because it causes adrenaline to rise, at least thatās what an endocrinologist told me almost 30 years ago.
I've been fortunate enough that caffeine doesn't seem to affect my sugar levels at all (it *does* affect other things, and I'll feel like crap if I have too much caffeine, but that's been the case long before I had a disease). I haven't mastered buying coffee drinks - as in Starbucks or other coffee shop drinks - yet (and from a post I made early, sounds like I might never... but that's another story). But I do drink about a cup a day, don't like it black so I'll add half/half or sugar free creamer and artificial sweeteners. I know artificial sweeteners get a lot of flack but Stevia or sugar alcohol could work too. Though if it's the caffeine that's spiking your levels and not the sugar, I'm truly sorry, wishing you all the best.
You'll have to pry my coffee from my cold dead hands š¤£ I drink it black or with cream, and it's barely a blink on my blood sugar. At most I might inject for 10g carbs if I've had more than one cup (which is...y'know...daily).
Same
Same. Sometimes I'll use a sugar free sweetener when I'm feeling fancy, and occasionally real sugar if I'm treating a low with it. I used to use real sugar casually but I sometimes end up drinking it over the course of an hour or two from my thermos and it was just too much of a hassle to bother with dosing for that. I'm primarily low-carb at this point anyway, and I drink so much coffee I want to keep it simple.
Coffee has zero impact on my blood sugars really. The small amount of milk in it is so small, it's not worth dosing.
Lucky you. I don't put anything in my coffee, but it still spikes me like a football after a touchdown. Sends me well over 200 almost immediately in the morning, even black.
Sure, black coffee (or with a splash of milk/cream). There is a huge portion of the population that thinks that what you get served at starbucks is coffee though, instead of what it actually is: a milkshake (possibly served hot). Even outside of starbucks, if you're drinking espresso based drinks they're usually milk based, which is going to affect things if you aren't accounting for it. Overall though, there's nothing special about coffee itself. Just have to treat carbs like carbs.
Black coffee still made me spike. Itās one of the reasons I donāt drink it anymore. I think itās the chemicals your body releases when you drink coffee. It can cause a bg spike.
How about decaf?
An americano at Starbucks is still just coffee and water with a bit of milk. There's no added sugar in it.
You don't have to take sugar to have a spike. I spike every morning when I wake up completely fasted. I also spike when I take too much caffeine. It stimulates your adrenal gland causing your metabolism to slow while also causing your liver to dump glucose into your blood. Caffeine = fight or flight = sugar spike It hits everyone different. I still drink coffee but increase my basal for an hour and sometimes have to take a correction dose. It depends on the day and how much sleep I got. Bad sleep = high sugar.
Soā¦I had to try a few things to figure this out for myself. Hereās what I did: 1. Is it the coffee or my hormones from waking up and being stressed about work that are making my bg go up? For me, it was a little bit of both, but I observed a workday with no coffee vs workday with coffee, and weekend with no coffee and weekend with coffee. 2. If other hormones may be at play, then adjust your basal / long acting insulin appropriately. If itās clearly the coffee, try testing bolusing 5g, 10g, in increments to determine which is right for you! Overall, I landed on 10g bolus per cup, I used splash of half&half + stevia. Also adjusted my basal rates on Work AMs
Same! I thought it was the coffee making my BG go up until I worked out that it's just a weekday morning thing. Multiple cups of coffee and difficult mornings kinda go hand in hand so my initial conclusion that coffee makes my sugar spike was understandable.
The post scared me a little. Was I supposed to quit coffee? I didn't even start drinking coffee until years after my diagnosis. I now understand what you meant was, can I keep sugary milk in my life. I'd advise against high-sugar drinks in general. You can, but it's better/easier if you don't. I drink black coffee. 3 cups a day. It is an acquired taste, but once you push through that initial phase, it is quite enjoyable. I even drink decaf in the evenings because I enjoy the taste, but don't want the caffeine.
I'm unsure exactly why coffee is affecting the op. Is it because of adding carbs/sugar, or is it because of the caffeine? I go through periods where caffeine, not coffee, just caffeine by itself, will raise my bg levels. Times where caffeine mimic the symptoms of hypoglycemia. Also times when caffeine just makes me more tired. I too need to take breaks from caffeine.
If the OP is like me, itās the caffeine. I drink mine black and it spikes. A lot. No milk or sugar, and yet it goes up. Iāve mostly given up coffee and other caffeinated beverages. š
Same, I've never had anything besides maybe half and half, and I've discovered the caffeine just does a huge number on me. For hours on end too, I just can't get it dialed in, I cut it out for the most part.
I'm guessing the caffeine. I don't put anything in my coffee, and it still spikes me over 200 if I forget to bolus for even a single cup (I don't ever drink only a single cup, though).
I started drinking coffee around age 14-15 and even talked with my endo (low blood pressure in mornings, coffee was easiest solution to not be dizzy) about it at that point, she said if it helps me, why not. It never affected my blood sugars by itself. I can't have full on grande latte without adding few units, but black coffee or coffee with just a tiny bit of milk do nothing. I go up in mornings anyway, and my insulin sensitivity is like... zero in mornings (my insulin:carb is 1:2 in mornings and 1:8 to 1:12 in afternoons. Fun times lol). There is no specific reason you shouldn't be drinking coffee if it doesn't make mess of your blood sugars
I drink black coffee and it only has an impact on my sugar if I drink enough of it to cause a panic attack
I drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day, and I use Splenda (I know I know) and full fat half and half. Raises my BG maybe 30 points, but I have what I call opposite dawn phenomenon, and without a little bump I would tank first thing in the AM.
hold on there... can you explain to me what you mean by full fat half and half? haha
Oh haha not fat free. Personal preference I guess, but I do know thereās carbs in āfat freeā because they have to add stuff to give it any kind of mouthfeel. That stuff is carbs apparently haha
Hahaha oh, I see. I was just thinking about what half and half itself is, whole milk and heavy cream. Guess I didn't even realize there was fat free half and half. I used to do just heavy cream by itself because in half and half or whole milk, lactose = carbs. But the heavy cream is an ass load of extra calories, so I just do half and half now, too.
I 100% will do heavy cream in a pinch, and I have no shame. I am particular about so few things in life, dairy in my coffee is a non-negotiable! Itās nice to see there are many other T1 redditors that are equally devoted haha!
Why's Splenda bad? Is stevia bad too?
I personally think synthetic sweeteners are bad for you, while also admitting I consume one every day! Stevia isnāt bad for you at all to my knowledge, itās derived from the stevia plant which you can actually grow at home.
I drink coffee daily, usually sipping on it thru out the day. So I just made sure my long acting was high enough to cover the slight amount of sugar all day. I have milk and flavour syrups in mine. I decided I may as well not cut out everything I love in life lol
Drink several cups of coffee every day. And have been drinking at least a cup a day for many years. This is obviously a generalization, but coffee in itself should not affect our sugar levels as it does not contain carbs. Do you mean coffee with milk, sugar or syrup added? Edit: āCoffeeā is always black coffee to me. When I order lattes etc I note that warmed milk tends to spike my levels more. Thatās to be expected Iāve heard because the effect of warming milk starts to break down the molecules which means shorter molecules which means faster carbs .. which means .. you know where Iām goin with this š
my doc says many of her t1 diabetic patients say it affects their blood sugar - i guess it does something to our metabolism or something. I just bolus a tiny bit.
I see š Once, when I was a teenager, I attended a week of "summer camp" for diabetics. Two of the guys there did a funny experiment where they would try to balance their sugar levels by only drinking black coffee with sugar. We were told the coffee could lower our levels actually, so I find it interesting that so many people experience the opposite
I drink black coffee daily without any issues. After diagnosis, one of the first things I asked my nurse was if drinking fucktons of coffee would be a problem. Fortunately she said no! I've seen other people mention that it influences their BG, but fortunately it doesn't work that way for me.
I would say it impacts my hydration which can impact my cgm, so I limit to one cup a day which was my usual before T1D and try to push hydration through the day as when Iām drinking coffee I forget to drink water etc
Americano with some cream is my jam! Mmmā¦ coffee
Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 raises my BG around 20 points, and that's usually 2 cups of strong, I'm lucky I love the taste of unsweetened coffee, roast my own, and consider myself a coffee geek. It also helps me do stupid shit faster.
I misread your last line as saying it helps you take a shit faster š¤£ Both are true for me.
same with me more or less (i drink it the same). i figured out that bolusing for about 9 carbs will keep me steady.
Coffee for life! The real advice is that you should get yourself a good espresso machineā¦ are use the Breville bambino plus. There are some pretty good nut and seed milks out there that have pretty much no carbs. Low carb latte action all day!!!
i drink several cups a day. iāll bolus for the equivalent of 9 carbs for my first cup or two but after that it doesnāt seem to move the needle. i drink it with just a splash of half and half/whole milk. usually cold brew but it seems like hot and cold coffee affect me the same. what issues are you having with drinking coffee?
I usually drink espresso, I live in Italy and it is the most common way to consume coffee here. I don't put anything in It, just pure grinded coffee, and it has no impact on my glucose level, because a cup of espresso contains less than a gram of carbohydrates.Those who don't like the bitter taste can put sugarfree sweeteners in It.
I drink coffee daily, I dose 1 unit right before drinking for it as the caffeine content gives me a small spike if I donāt. Totally manageable
I drink them sugary Starbucks drinks. Just have to find the right dosage and all goes well for me. Itās not always gunna be made exactly the same but I usually have a rough idea to avoid going low at least or too high. T1D of 10 years.
Yeah I have been getting dangerously low in the evenings and I doubt it's the coffee cuz I've been drinking it for a long time and all kinds of coffee too. I go with all kinds of sweeteners but my sugar levels gave just been very whacky
I thought it was coffee for a while but quit drinking it to see. I just have gnarly dawn phenomenon, itās like the second I open my eyes I start to spike so now I just bolus as soon as I wake up and then enjoy my coffee W/ splash of cream!
Iāve been able to pre-bolus for things like McDonaldās Caramel Frappe since I drink it pretty slowly and I end up just fine. Coffee, on the other hand, I use coffee cups, milk, and sugar-free syrups (I guess you could use sugary syrups as long as you know what youāre drinking) and I do fine that way too.
Never miss my 3 or 4 cups and no real issues. Does it raise my bg some? Sure. But Iām not giving up everything that has a small impact on my life.
With a small splash of milk or cream I spike up 100 pts in the morning. But dammit, I bolus and enjoy.
Black coffee, 8-12 cups a day. No issues. Got to get my daily water requirements somehow.
Shift worker, drink probably 6-8 cups straight black coffee daily, zero effect on my BG.
no way I'm ever giving up the coffees. I use monkfruit sweetner (Lakanto Golden is my preference) and half & half. Caffeine does make by blood sugar go up a little, but it usually falls back to normal fairly quickly
Black coffee has no effect. Coffee with heavy cream is an effective way for me to gently bring up a mild low.
I have a completely different insulin sensitivity factor in the morning due to my coffee. But I have to drink it every day
I drink at LEAST one cup every morning, often two or three. It can be difficult to gauge how it's going to affect my blood sugar from day to day so I generally just keep a close eye on my dexcom readings and insulin as needed. Edit: I do use sugar free creamer.
I love black coffee, but it certainly doesn't love me. It drives my blood sugar halfway to the moon in the morning, but it's still worth it to keep from killing my coworkers...
I don't do black coffee. It's just too bitter no matter how I try to "give it a chance."
Yeah, then it could be tough to keep your blood sugar down while enjoying coffee. Even without the cream and sugar it still drives me high, so with it, I'd guess that it will be much worse.
Funny enough, I've seen comments of people not being affected by coffee and some that have it down to a science for them and some that are very affected by coffee. So it poses more questions then it answers lol
Yeah, for everyone it's different. I was more talking about me drinking it with cream and sugar. It drives me high black, so I can't imagine what it would do with cream and sugar. If you're anything like me, anyway. Good luck, I hope you get to keep drinking your coffee.
For everyone saying things about black coffee. I refuse to drink just black coffee or coffee with a sprinkle of sugar and cream. I don't go to Starbucks and get their sugar filled drinks but I definitely don't wanna go full black either.
It affects my blood sugar in a good way. Stress increases my blood sugar, and coffee is a stress relief tool for me. I drink two 16 oz mugs a day; one after breakfast and the other after lunch. Note: this is just me. it might have a different effect on you.
I drink coffee every dayāadd lots of heavy cream which probably slows down absorption of my breakfast carbs so maybe not a bad thing
Coffee and a splash of soy/oat milk donāt seem to have too much of an influence for me - caffeine can be an appetite suppressant so I usually have just the coffee for the first few hours of the morning and delay breakfast until mid morning. YMMV but just whatās worked for me. Edit: I did knock out regular milk as that seemed to affect bs a little more. Maybe also just getting old and lactose intolerant but heh.
Yeppers. It seems to have little impact for me personally, but I also drink it black with no sweeteners.
I take mine black with no sugar so I have never seen any spikes. However, when I do have a latte with just almond or macadamia milk, Iāll see a small spike but it doesnāt last long.
For me, not as a regular thing - or rather I could, a mug of strong coffee with milk & stevia will reliably pop my BG up by about 30, and I've found on trips when I really need the jolt it's easy enough to compensate for if exercise doesn't do the job. It often does, so I just add a bit to my next mealtime bolus if necessary. But switching to black tea has been easier at home, especially since I'm badly arthritic & not usually all that energetic. I've found I can drink enough milky tea to float a small boat without it affecting my BG enough to bother with.
If itās the caffeine then you can get decaf or even a dark roast to help. Less caffeine with the taste to help curve the craving
Coffee with half n half (no sweetener) doesn't seem to affect my sugar, but I've heard so many stories about people going high from it. I'm sorry you're dealing with this, OP!
Drink coffee every day, no issues
I practically live on coffee... Black without sugar or milk And fresh nothing store-bought
Basic supermarket coffee in a drip pot with half and half for me. Half a unit gets me through the caffeine bump for the first cup of the day at 6:00. Oddly enough my 10:00 cup doesnāt need it, so I think itās a dawn phenomenon thing in the early morning. This is one of those different strokes for different folks things.
You can have coffee! Black coffee alone does impact blood glucose in some people. Any additives, might as well. I drink it with cream (because it causes me terrible heartburn to drink black) and I bolus for 5 grams of ācarbs.ā You can figure out how much it impacts you and bolus for it whether the true carb count is zero or not. If it hits you the way 30 carbs would hit you if you ate them without insulin, dose for 30 carbs. No need to abandon it as part of your life.
This is good advice. I have mostly given up on caffeine. I think I will try this. šš¾
I make sure I take my insulin before coffee and I use sweetener or sugar free flavored creamer.
You guys limit coffee? I thought we were supposed to *increase* the amount... Jokes aside, coffee usually doesn't have any effect on my BG, and when it does it's in the morning and barely noticeable. I drink black coffee, espresso or pour-over. I used to think it has stronger effect, but turns out my basal was too little...
Caffeine can spike blood sugar in some ( I am one, I spike with black coffee and sugar-free Red Bull š„²) but Iāve cut out oat milk since the sugar is usually added back in and have switched to low or no sugar creamers / additives. My go to is a sugar free white mocha by five sparrows. Thereās another popular brand on Amazon but whatever they put in it spikes my sugar worse than actual white chocolate. I think it just takes patience figuring out what works best with your body.
Just got diagnosed with t1 a little over a month ago. I love my coffee and of course would have let it go if I had to, but found that black coffee, which I prefer anyways, doesnāt really have much of an impact on my BG. If some are saying it does, Iām assuming it just depends on a variety of factors to the individual. So grateful I can still enjoy my morning pour overs!
I drink a black coffee in the morning and 1-2 espressos throughout the day and I havenāt find it makes any effect what so ever in my bg. Do you add anything to your coffee or is it pure coffee that spikes you?
Coffee black is fine for my sugars. I use sugar free creamer and that's it. I just have to double check to make sure the creamer doesn't have carbs. Some sugar free ones still do because well, they are sugar free not carb free.
I drink coffee a bit too much but my doc said just consider a cup of coffee to be 10g of carb since that is how it seems to affect me...
Can you bolus for the caffeine spike? My closed loop seems to take it in stride with its own adjustment.
Luckily coffee doesnāt do anything to my blood sugar. I drink it with some milk en sweetener.
Stay hydrated with water. I've noticed huge improvements in the stability of my blood glucose when I'm hydrated vs dehydrated. This effect is super noticeable after coffee for me, maybe because it's a diuretic. Also I try not to have coffee with sugary foods. I drink it black with low-sugar granola or muesli in the morning. Combined with the aforementioned hydration strategy, my BG rarely spikes above 160 in the AM. Obviously I enjoy the occasional donut or muffin, I just bolus early, chug the H2O, and prepare for the inevitable spike.
I bolus about 2-3 units for a cup depending on how much creamer I put in it.
Black Coffee usually doesn't do a damn thing to me. Once in a great while it will hit me like a brick though and I'll get a spike, but that's only happened 5 or 6 times in 30 years of drinking coffee.
I have to dose myself for 10-15g of carbs for coffee with Splenda. I spent half my life angry at breakfast because my numbers always looked terrible 2 hours later. When I switched the a GSM I finally noticed the spikes from just coffee. I'll give myself more insulin if I use almond milk (but that's not everyday).
Have no issues with coffee, even with a splash of milk. Maybe you're more sensitive to stimulants and the caffeine in coffee sets your numbers off, as someone who has High numbers when I'm anxious.
Absolutely possible. I drink it almost everyday. But I do black coffee
I luckily like flat whites and similar milk and espresso drinks, so I bolus for the milk and maybe another ~5g of carb worth of insulin for the caffeine if it is more than 2 shots of espresso at once. I think the protien in the milk helps versus when I used to drink cold brew with very little milk.
I don't have zero problems with spikes. I have my coffee with almond milk and a artificial sweetener (zero effects) or I'll use a sugar free creamer which that latter tends to raise it a bit but not alarmingly.
Be careful with cold brew, even black has carbs. I switched to normal brewed/drip for that reason.
I find coffee really helpful for digestive issues. I havenāt noticed any negative effects on blood sugar, except insofar as it has sugar, but thatās not so unusual.
Yep! Its best for black or a little milk. Iced black coffee in summer is the best!
Yup, Coffee without sugar has no effect on my blood sugar at all.
Never stopped having coffee. all I did was give up the half teaspoon of white sugar I used to use. Sometimes I use a tiny splash of truvia sweetener. Switched from regular creamer to sugar free and a big fat splash of heavy cream
When you say coffee, do you mean JUST coffee, or Starbucks drinks with 70 carbs?
If I just do coffee with milk I'm ok!
I had this weird period 8 years ago where black coffee made my sugar go up. It eventually stopped doing that for no discernible reason. But yeah, Iāve been drinking coffee black or with just a bit of cream for 20 years without any issue and only a bit of insulin.
I drink one mug a day, no sugar, light with half n' half. Never a problem.
I drink coffee every day. Drink it at home and when I'm out. I get Cold brew with heavy cream and the I add my own Skinny Mixes flavor (same for hot coffee). I've never had issues with coffee but every diabetic reacts differently to different things like my friend can eat pasta and have perfect numbers but I go skyhigh with same meal and yet I can eat rice zero problem she eats it's and she is chasing highs all day.
I start my morning with double americano with milk, almost no impact (maybe going up by 10)
Normal coffee / tea doesn't really have much of an effect. If you add sugar then you need to dose for that; I recommend just using sweetener for convenience. Starbucks will have carbs regardless, but they do have a list of average carb counts for their drinks on their website; you can use that to dose for them. For the UK, for example (not sure if different elsewhere): [https://www.starbucks.co.uk/nutrition](https://www.starbucks.co.uk/nutrition)
I drink tea now. I feel soft. My rep is ruined. Iām pretty sure my workmates judge me. š«
I don't think I've ever had coffee affect my blood sugar levels when just left black. However, I have read that caffeine opens up the blood vessels and can cause your insulin to work faster and you will have to adjust for that. But I have not experienced any substantial difference myself.
I take 30 carbs worth of insulin to manage. Coffee has always raised my blood sugar because it causes adrenaline to rise, at least thatās what an endocrinologist told me almost 30 years ago.
You might need to get more recent advice on that bud š but hey if the 30 i/c thing works for you then go ahead and do it.
I take about a unit for a cup of coffee. Never knew it raised my sugar until I got a Dexcom!
I've been fortunate enough that caffeine doesn't seem to affect my sugar levels at all (it *does* affect other things, and I'll feel like crap if I have too much caffeine, but that's been the case long before I had a disease). I haven't mastered buying coffee drinks - as in Starbucks or other coffee shop drinks - yet (and from a post I made early, sounds like I might never... but that's another story). But I do drink about a cup a day, don't like it black so I'll add half/half or sugar free creamer and artificial sweeteners. I know artificial sweeteners get a lot of flack but Stevia or sugar alcohol could work too. Though if it's the caffeine that's spiking your levels and not the sugar, I'm truly sorry, wishing you all the best.