> How can fat elevate blood sugar levels? Via gluconeogenesis, but it is, for sure, less effective than protein based gluconeogenesis. > If you don't have ele

> How can fat elevate blood sugar levels? Via gluconeogenesis, but it is, for sure, less effective than protein based gluconeogenesis. > If you don't have elevated blood sugar from eating a bunch of carbs, what effect does insulin have? You have elevated blood sugar from having an excess of calories. Dietary sugar is most rapidly converted to blood sugar, but all excess calories are eventually converted via gluconeogenesis. > Does it cause blood sugar to go even lower? Yes, and in extremes can cause death. > On gluconeogenesis: I thought this was demand driven rather than supply driven. Insulin apparently is an inhibitor for this. So how does this work? Gluconeogenesis first causes the breakdown of protein into available glucose. What the body does with it after that has a lot to do with the body's current energy demands. Insulin is an inhibitor for this, but insulin is also only elevated post-prandial, and most gluconeogenesis happens off schedule from eating (or at the very least after the initial insulin response). The major error people make when trying to understand this stuff is to focus on too short of a time frame, in this case the very small period right after a meal is consumed, rather than something longer, like a 24 hour period. As soon as you zoom out to 24 hours a lot of these ideas stop making sense because your body has a large amount of resources dedicated to effectively regulating energy expenditure.