Hi everyone,

I'm new here and have recently begun Schwarzbein. I read the first book and am now reading the second. My question is, I have reactive hypoglycemia, but instead of my blood sugar spiking and going up after eating, it drops like a rock. This was confirmed by a GTT. The more refined the sugar, the harder it falls. No sugar highs here . . . although I'm addicted to it all the same. My internest informed me there was nothing she could do, and to just stay away from sugar.

I imagine that my insulin is chronically high which means insulin resistance is just down the road, if not here right now.

Am I interpreting this correctly?

Kristine, I've moved your post to the "Diabetes / Blood Sugar" subforum of the General Health forum - I think you'll get more responses here. I'm sorry that I'm unable to offer any constructive help.

Nat

Hi Kristine!

Funny you should ask about this. I have a friend who also has reactive hypoglycemia and we just had a discussion about this a few days ago, although he wasn't too happy with my suggestions; he really likes his rice, potatoes and Beam & Cokes.
The best thing is what you're already doing...stay away from sugar in any form (this would also include, honey, molasses, fructose (or any of the ose sugars). You should also not go more than 3 or 4 hours at most without eating and when you do, make sure it's a balanced meal with small amounts of carbs and at least equal amounts (if not more) of proteins and fats and never eat carbs alone (by themselves). Carbs eaten should be of the low-GI type. Eating smaller, more frequent meals often helps clear up symptoms considerably.

There's a lot of conflicting information on hypoglycemia; some sources I've read suggest that you should never take your carb intake below 60 grams a day and never over 100, some say that's rubbish. I think you will have to experiment to find out what a good level for you will be where you feel good and have fewer (or no) hypoglycemic episodes.

I don't know if you drink, but even moderate consumption of alcohol is discouraged with reactive hypoglycemia because of the effect that is has on the liver with glycogen production and insulin function/production. Nearly every source I have read has said to eliminate alcohol completely (which is why my friend wasn't too happy with my suggestions).

HTH!

'If I had known then what I know now...'

I was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia about 12 years ago, but my doctor just explained it as a phenomenom, not a 'warning' of things to come. I now have full-blown diabetes (when I was diagnosed my FBS was 309!) Nip it in the bud NOW! Eat meat and non-starchy veggies. Prepare to eat this way for the rest of your life--to save your life. I always knew I had a problem with starches all of my life, but I eventually gave in to peer pressure to eat more 'healthy' so I went on a high complex carb, adequate protein, adequate fat type of diet for blood type A. I was on that for 14 months. I knew I didn't feel well, and a routine physical revealed I had become diabetic. Let low-carbing become your way of eating for the rest of your life. This is how you eat now. Period. Let no one dissuade you. I'm certain if I'd just continued to eat the way I was eating before I decided to eat "healthy" I'd've never become diabetic. BTW, diabetes does NOT run in my family. Please, learn from my mistake....

In addition to getting on low carb, I also had to get off caffeine. Caffeine in the morning was sucking my BG reading down to 50 - 55 mg/dl within 2 hours of consumption. I played around with using the Glycemic Index to select the carbs I did eat. Based on the GI list I was using:

My list said green apples were moderately GI: Apples wiped me out while other moderately GI foods didn't as long as my carb count was controlled and I balanced my carbs with proteins and fats.

My list said potatoes and whole grain bread were high GI: I didn't notice a problem with these as long as my carb count was low and my meal was balanced.

My list said white rice was high GI: To me, white rice had a worse effect than anything else on the list ranked with rice. I'd say white rice has Super High GI.

I've had less than 10 episodes of noticeable hypoglycemia since I've gone low carb and ditched the caffeine last spring. I exercise a lot (cardio, cardio with anaerobic intervals, and heavy weight training) so I've been on 80 to 120 grams CHO for several months and I've felt fine. This weekend, I tried raising my carbohydrate intake to 140 grams and found that to be a bad idea. Talk about carb cravings; I felt like I was going to starve. I ended up sleeping all weekend, had the shakes twice, and today I have a carbohydrate hangover.

The GI I use lists white rice right up there with white bread, peeled potatoes and sugar.

Hi kjturner,

Great qoute!!! I ride as well-dressage. what about you? It's nice to meet another horse person on here!!!

My first love is dressage (with driving being second). I've been studying it since I was 22 (I'm 47 now). My horse is only trained to 3/4th level right now and I probably won't get him any higher as he's recently developed epilepsy. He was one of the horses selected for the equestrian event for the 1996 Paralympics (he was chosen for Canada in category 3). We didn't win any medals, but we didn't disgrace ourselves either. I was SO proud of him!