Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard (nee Tackett) has dedicated her career to supporting the T1D community ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Manager of Marketing at T1D Exchange.
Sarah and her husband live in NYC with their cat Gracie. In her spare time, she enjoys doing comedy, taking dance classes, visiting art museums, and exploring different neighborhoods in NYC.
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For coffee drinkers, how does drinking coffee impact your blood sugar? Cancel reply
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I am a tea drinker. it does not impact my BG
I add some milk when I drink my coffee so I always need to give myself insulin along with my morning coffee.
I eat and drink exactly the same thing every morning, including coffee with no added carbs. Some mornings my readings are fine and other mornings coffee seems to cause a spike. Part of the fun of dealing with T1.
Depending on the time of day, especially if consumed by itself, it may significantly raise blood sugar or if with breakfast time, not as much
Coffee has no impact, but half and half does elevate it;)
If I drink too much coffee, I believe I get a bit dehydrated and my blood sugar will rise. Drinking some water helps immensely.
Before morning coffee, I usually require about 1 unit of insulin for coffee. Also I am not as active- reading the paper snd catching the news.
Decaf doesn’t do anything to blood sugars as much as caffeinated coffee, but it all depends what you add to the cup and how many carbs you are adding. Buying those Starbuck Lattes or Cappacinos with all of the additives is not for diabetics, but sometimes they have sugar free syrups which would be diabetic friendly. I like the boost of coffee in the morning, but sleep better if I stick to decaf anytime of the day.
I use a sugar free creamer in my daily cup of coffee and automatically count it as 8 grams of carbs to dose for it.
I start my day off with a glass of water which is followed by a nice 2 cupper of espresso coffee. This morning ritual definitely impacts my sugar level in addition to the predawn effect. My basal rate has been setup for the predawn and I have to take at least 2 units of insulin to prevent the spike.
I have no idea. Around the office, they call me the “intravenous” coffee drinker. I can drink it all day, and sometimes even in the evening, and still sleep just fine at night. By the way, it’s black coffee, so carbs aren’t a factor. Anyway, since I never don’t drink coffee, I don’t know how it affects my glucose.
Black coffee has no effect on my blood sugar values. However, I add cream and sweet & low thus I get a modest increase by drinking my Dunkin Donuts Medium coffee with cream and 2 sweet & lows every weekday morning.
I am a bit of the “odd duck out” here. I start the day with fiber drink and multiple pills. Then coffee. Black. Dark. Strong. Probably intravenously would work just fine for me 🔥🔥. I have drunk coffee this way since I was 14. It has helped to fill my stomach and not consume carbs or other caloric things with no impact whatsoever on sleep or sleep patterns. To me, it has been beneficial, having lived into my mid-70’s. I fear covid way more than caffeine ☔☔.
I have 3 cups of coffee a day. Each are 6 oz and each gets 2 teaspoons of coffee mate – can’t stand sugar free – so it comes to 4 carbs each. I drink it with my meals so just add it in with that. If I’m trending down I might have my lunch cup early and not take anything for it. It’s always different as to what happens 🙄
I drink half caffeine mix of coffee ie 1/2 decaf and 1/2 caf. My black coffee can raise my bg 50 to 70 points so give myself 1 to 2 units for coffee, 2 if I use light cream around 1-2 Tbs. or sometimes I add a scoop of protein powder for up to 3 units.
My eyes don’t open without morning coffee. Haven’t found it to have any effect on my glucose levels, even with the 1/2 & 1/2 that’s added.
Raises it a lot. I have to bolus 25 carbs for my morning cup of coffee with Splenda and powdered creamer.
I’m not a coffee drinker but I do drink Diet Pepsi every morning, 16oz, to get going and it DEFINITELY raises my blood sugar! I need to pad my breakfast bolus to deal w the increase.
Not quite sure what is considered significantly but I have to bolus for 15 gm carb
I don’t drink coffee or tea without something to eat, so I chose “other” as my answer.
I’m really bad with my coffee and am one of those people who pretty much do half creamer and half coffee. So I’m okay as long as I do insulin for it (I only have one cup a day)! I have the carbs down pat at this point, so it doesn’t do anything to my sugar, but it was a guessing game a first. My endo is awesome and is okay with it as long as I actually do the insulin for it (which I always do; it’s a habit). 🙂
For the person who uses powdered creamer, have you read the ingredients? Many of them are full of sugar/carbs. Just an FYI