[CGM #12] The Betrayal of Homemade Curry: Glucose High Until Noon

TL;DR

Had a typical homemade curry loaded with potatoes, carrots, and meat for breakfast.
Having looked at data for over 10 days, I expected curry to raise my blood sugar, but the impact was larger than anticipated.
The spiked glucose barely dropped to 94 only by noon. Curry is indeed a powerful carbohydrate bomb.

CGM Day 11. Having passed the 10-day mark, I now have a rough idea of which foods will raise or lower my blood sugar. Remembering how I was defeated by rice noodles and fried rice, I hesitate when choosing breakfast menus, but today, I went with curry.

Breakfast: Normal Homemade Curry

The menu was a very ordinary homemade curry packed with potatoes, carrots, and meat. Due to the nature of curry rice, you end up eating quite a bit of rice as well.

Honestly, I expected it before I even started eating. White rice, starch-heavy potatoes, and carrots. It’s absolutely not a combination that will leave blood sugar alone. Thinking, “It’s day 10, so it will probably go up, but I still need to be careful,” I picked up my spoon anyway. You can’t help it when it’s delicious.

The Betrayal of Curry

I checked my blood sugar after the meal.

Post-meal glucose graph of Curry A glucose graph that barely stabilized to 94 by noon.

As expected, the glucose graph charted an upward curve. Curry rice is ultimately a fantastic(?) combo of ‘rice (carbs) + potato (carbs) + curry powder (carbs and starch)’.

The memory of successfully defending my blood sugar by eating half a bowl of rice with pork belly and veggies flashed through my mind. As always, the culprit behind a glucose spike is carbohydrates.

The most surprising part was the speed at which it dropped. The aftermath of the breakfast curry lasted quite a while. The graph lingered at a high point for a long time and barely settled down to 94 by noon. I didn’t know the lingering effect of a bowl of curry would last until lunchtime.

Familiar Tastes Are the Most Dangerous

Even when you eat something thinking “This will make it go up,” seeing the soaring graph with your own eyes hits differently. But the good thing about wearing a CGM is that I can now predict my body’s reactions.

I confirmed with my own two eyes that curry raises blood sugar significantly and that the elevation lasts a long time. Next time I eat curry, I’ll have to cut the rice portion in half or eat plenty of vegetables beforehand.

[!TIP] Mixing sauces heavy in starch, like curry or jajang (black bean sauce), with rice drastically speeds up absorption. Furthermore, root vegetables like potatoes have high carbohydrate content, requiring caution if you need to manage your blood sugar.