I have a high fasting blood sugar, but hardly eat sugar, should I be concerned?

[chaswat]

Hi all, I wonder if someone could shed some light on a high resting blood sugar lab result I received recently.  To me, I can't understand this result, let me explain why.  

I am a 47 year old Asian American male, healthy, watch what I eat, exercise regularly, etc.  When I turned 40 I made the conscious decision to cut out processed sugars and all sweets from my diet.  It may be hard to believe, but I have not eaten desert (except for 1 occasion) for 7+ years.  So I refuse all sweet things, avoid sugar like the plague, no sweet drinks, sweet sauces, anything with high fructose corn sugar etc.  I have always been pretty healthy and have the same physique I had since I was a teenager, my weight hardly deviating +-4 pounds since then.  Since I cut out the sugar from my diet, at first it was a bit difficult as I remember the first few weeks I ran low of energy, but now I never think about, I wake up completely energized and even hyper.  I am also in great health, I seriously don't remember the last time I had the flu or a cold.  It might have been before I quit sugar it's been so long.  

Ok, since I have been healthy for so many years, I did not think to get a checkup done, so I went for my first checkup in 5 years recently.  I am getting close to 50 so I thought I should do one just in case.  I did the fasting blood test and was surprised to see that my glucose was in the high range at 100mg/dL (High). The reference range is 70-99.  I am wondering, should I be concerned here?  Where does my high blood sugar come from?  My diet seems healthy, I eat lots of veggies, brown rice, oats in the morning, avoid snacks, sugar, try not to eat after 8pm, etc, so I am confused, why is my blood sugar high?  

[jlcarey1]

All carbs that you eat are processed by your body as sugars. Cut your carbs down to 20g/day or less, eat a moderate amount of protein (100g or less/day) and a higher amount of healthy fats such as grass-fed butter, unrefined coconut oil, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil (do not cook with it, add it to your foods before eating), animal fats that come from fattier cuts of meat instead of lean meats. Watch youtube videos by Dr. Jason Fung. He explains very well what happens to carbs in our bodies, and why you may be seeing high blood sugars even though you don't eat any sugars.

The hemoglobin A1C test reveals your average blood sugar over the last three months.  That number is much more helpful than fasting blood sugar because it reflects a longer stretch of time.

[gymdandee]

Reference ranges,
Ranges are set by testing healthy people — those who don't have symptoms of the disease the test is intended to diagnose. The people whose results are used to determine the reference range will vary based on factors that may include age, gender, ethnicity, geography, season and other variables, said Dr. Harvey Kaufman, senior medical director for Quest Diagnostics. Guidelines from medical associations and peer-reviewed research also can provide the basis for establishing ranges, Kaufman said.

Labs use different sample populations, testing procedures and equipment.

[Paxiled]

Agree.  You're fine.  You feel fine.  You look fine.  You don't have any symptoms of blood sugar imbalances.  Know that these tests are not that accurate insofar as how you would score if they tested you often and at different times of the day rather than just once.  If your doc felt there was any problem he would tell you.  I'd just ignore it and see how you do at next year's physical.  Some people do have problems that create blood sugar imbalances because of organ problems, but you'd have symptoms if that were the case.  Now, in Chinese terms of yin and yang, you might be imbalanced because you don't have enough yin -- sugar is very yin.  That could explain the hyper feelings.  So even though you're avoiding added sugar, you still need a proper balance of protein, carbs and fat.  But your numbers are fine.

[LynnRizzoRNBSN]

You may have just consumed a few too many carbs that morning. Nothing to be worried about. The reference range for normal  is 80-120.