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Originally Posted by Gravdigr
I'll admit that I don't quite get why beer is so bad. There's only 6.5 grams of carbohydrates in a Bud Light. And no sugar (well, not that kind of sugar, y'know what I mean).
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The problem with alcohol for diabetics isn't just the carbs. While on the one hand it's busy increasing your blood sugar, it can also cause your blood sugar to plummet--because while your liver is processing out the alcohol, it stops doing other regular tasks, including releasing stored glucose. So what it really does is make blood sugar levels extremely unpredictable, and if you say to yourself, "this beer equals 6.5g carbs, therefore I'll take this much insulin" you could put yourself into a diabetic coma if your blood sugar actually went down with the beer instead of up.
Also, alcohol increases the risk of nerve damage in diabetes, and interferes with oral diabetes meds like metformin. It's just a super dangerous combination, especially for someone who is still trying to get their BGL stable.