You might see some charts, or read some articles that say ‘blood sugar chart’ or ‘blood sugar levels’ and others that say ‘blood glucose chart’ or ‘blood glucose levels.’
This tends to confuse people, especially if you’re newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.
The thing is, there is no difference between the terms blood sugar vs blood glucose.
Blood sugar and blood glucose both mean exactly the same thing. Therefore, the words ‘sugar’ and ‘glucose’ are often used interchangeably.
So if you’re reading an article about blood glucose levels and another about blood sugar levels, the blood sugar and glucose values are both the same thing.
For instance, normal blood sugar levels are 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L) 2-hours after a meal vs normal glucose levels are 140 mg/dL (7.8 mmol/L) 2-hours after a meal.
Likewise, normal fasting blood sugar is under 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L) vs normal fasting blood glucose is under 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L).
KEY POINT: The words sugar and glucose refer to the same thing.
So from now on in whenever you’re reading stuff about diabetes you can leave that confusion behind knowing they mean the same thing.
You may also be interested in reading:
What are normal blood sugar levels?
Fasting blood sugar tests explained
Thank you for the information.
So if I’m doing HIIT and strength training to lose weight and lower my blood sugar level to help with my t2d should I continue to eat carbs before I workout?
Thanks!!!
I think it’s important to remember everyone needs some carbs (around 50-100g/day seems to be the sweet spot for many), but most people are consuming too many of the wrong type of carbs. So, to answer your question, yes you will want to eat some carbs throughout the day to fuel your workouts but try sticking with blood sugar friendly options like vegetables, fruits, nuts, and dairy. To some degree, you also need to monitor your sugar levels during/after your workout. If you are not able to complete a HIIT workout because your blood sugar is dropping too intensely, then I would recommend consuming an additional 15g of carbs before your workout to see if that prevents any drops during exercise. Here’s some more information about exercise and T2D.