Seeking Diet Suggestions for Hypoglycemia/insulin Resistance

There are diabetic counselors who will help you in meal planning. I'm having similar issues. Good luck!

If you cut out all refined flours and sugars, and upgrade to sprouted grain breads and whole grains like brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat groats kasha style, and the like instead of pasta and pastries (check out the cookbook "The New Book of Whole Grains" for some great recipes), and then only have grains, fruits, and sugars in small portions with proteins and fats (bread with lots of organic butter, an apple dipped in almond butter, pineapple coated with organic shredded coconut, brown rice with cashews, etc), this will really help your blood sugar levels because fat & fiber slow down absorption. Fruit juices aren't a good idea. Definately have the healthy fats and consume them raw, like extra virgin olive oil and virgin coconut oil, and flaxseed oil... heating them makes them a bit harder to break down in your body. You need good fats to keep your thyroid (which is a hormone, and hormones are constructed with fats) functioning well, but cooked fats can be a little harder for you to break down so they may linger longer in your body. Agave nectar and stevia are natural sweeteners which have been noted to help blood sugar levels; also, the blood sugar stabilizing herb gymnema may be a great supplement for you.

Hypoglycemia is often a precursor to diabetes, so its great that you are looking for ways to improve your health. Programs like the one in "Total Beauty Transformation" by Kat James or "Perfect Weight America" by Jordan Rubin contain diet plans to improve your overall health and arm you with information about how to protect your blood sugar and eat well so the pounds don't haunt you. I wouldn't recommend a regular hospital nutritionist because they tend to focus on numbers- how many grams of this or that- and not on the quality of each food choice. A "dietician" will tell you that a bowl of whole grain cereal is a good choice, when what's in that bowl looks nothing like the "whole grain" that was growing in a field- its been processed to the hilt and often extruded at super high heat. Green things are great too. I once read that the chlorophyll of plants has many of the same chemical components of blood, and can help regulate blood issues.

Hope this gives you ideas, I was hypoglemic my first pregnancy and that made me take a closer look at my diet.

Hi Danielle,
Many years ago, I was hypoglycemic also. I stayed away from things that had sugar but ate proteins that would break down and continually stay in my system, example peanut butter. Also, I ate something often, every couple of hours. It was something small. You could also take a chicken breast or a hamburger and cut it into pieces. Natural sugars found in vegetables and fruits were ok. This kept me from getting low levels and getting the shakes. Hope this helps. L.

Danielle, i have PCOS too and always have a hard time losing weight. the only thing that takes the weight off for me is regular exercise. it usually takes me at least 3 months to start seeing some benefit so it is hard to stay motivated. for me, once i start exercising i start analyzing everything that goes into my mouth which helps. everyone has their own philosophy about carb counting, calorie counting etc. i guess for you, you really need to worry about both. when i was pregnant, i was on a restricted diet. i have sugar problems in the morning, so i could only have 15g of carbs in the morning (typical is 30g), then 15g of carbs for snack, 30g carbs for lunch, 15g carbs for snack and 30g of carbs for dinner. there was also a nighttime snack of 15g carbs too, but you may want to omit that. you could have as many veggies as you wanted any time. there are books out there that tell you how many carbs are in different products or start reading the boxes of stuff you are eating and see if that helps. good luck.

There is a wonderful book called Ultrametabolism written by an MD that addresses your situation. I forget the name of the doctor who wrote it. Some of his guidelines are to only eat whole foods with whole grains, eat 5 small meals each day instead of 3 or fewer. Eat a good breakfast with protein every day and get enough EFAs (essential fatty acids), Fish oil or Cod liver oil are good sources (get molecularly distilled or pharmaceutical grade capsules-- Spectrum Oils is a good brand. This prevents you from ingesting mercury or pcb's). One of the points he makes in the book is that you have to eat more calories than your resting metabolic rate is each day or your body will hold on to all your fat because it believes it is in "starvation mode." Your resting metabolic rate is the amount of calories your body burns on its own without you doing any activities.

Danielle:

I am in a similar situation. My next step is to visit an RD (registered dietitian)per my MD's suggestion. You might even want to speak with a dietitian who specializes in diabetes because the dietary directions are going to be similar.

I have struggled for years with my own body's resistance to drop weight even with diet and exercise. This being said, I am grateful that I am really healthy regardless of my actual weight. I do exercise fairly regularly and I believe that it is a huge contributing fact to my good health.

Good luck with your project. And make sure you set yourself a realistic time frame. (You never mentioned when you stopped nursing but it can take months for the body to adjust itself.) Personal time is so limited when you have little ones!!! Be easy on yourself :-) And in the mean time, focus on eating lean protein, skim milk dairy products, whole grains, lots of fresh veges and some fruit too!

http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&...

if you do some internet searching you'll find some stuff to stear you in the right direction.. goood luck

Hi Danielle
My name is C. and I'm a holistic health counselor. I recently gave a talk about hidden sugars and so I can appreciate the confusion! I can definitely help you with finding the right foods for you to be eating. You can email me @ ____@____.com and we can talk about your solutions.

Suggestion

Several years ago, I started to look at labels and seeing where the sugar was on the ingredient list. Fourth or even lower on the list was a good indication that the food was a good one to eat. I felt overwhelmed at first, but trust me, it won't take you very long to figure out the bad foods verses the good ones and you will remember what you learn.

I know that corn syrup and fructose spike my sugar. These two ingredients are very common in processed food.

Your first reaction maybe concerning the cost of eating natural food and that it may be too expensive, I really don't think this is the case. Consider your portion size which is recommended on containers, Americans overeat and generally super size food portions. You may become more satisfied faster eating better "good" food and eating less of it.

Smucker's has a natural peanut butter with no sugar added. I have purchased store brands and been happy with them.

Natural food will contain more fiber, something Americans don't eat enough of, this will also help with your sugar levels.

Try eating brown breads. There are breads made with grains, but be sure to look at the labels also. Whole wheat breads sometimes have corn syrup or fructose in them. I have a friend that makes her own wheat bread and uses honey instead of white sugar in it. I have heard it said that the poor used to eat the brown breads and the king ate the white bread. Little did we know that the brown breads are better for us.

I cook rice or wheat pasta for myself. My husband doesn't like it because it is not "white" and it does contain more fiber which makes it chewier. So, I continue to make the regular pasta for him. It means another pan and it takes a little longer for the rice or wheat pasta to cook so I have to plan for that difference also.

Eating new foods may be a new challenge to you. Like I said this all start several years ago, give it a chance.

This may be considered a "gift" for yourself. Avoid any pity party or feeling sorry for yourself when you find that you miss the junk. Getting off the junk could be a weaning process that you will have to work at.

Another thought: I have a friend that asks herself if a cave man used to eat it and if not than she considers the food "junk".

I have PCOS too, what a drag it is. I have been on the zone diet with my husband for the last two years. It is easy and keeps my insulin levels even. This was the ONLY thing that I found helped me lose weight. Check it out online. Zone.com by Dr. Barry Sears.
Take Care,
A.

Hi Danielle,

I strongly suggest trying a glycemic index diet. This diet focuses on foods that do not spike your sugars. I have been followng this type of plan via www.ediets.com. You do need to pay for it but it really is a wonderful tool.

Just google glycemic index or glycemic diet and you can learn a lot. So far I am extremely pleased with it. Good luck to you.

A.

Hi Danielle!

The best thing to do is to check with a nutritionist on what to eat. I went to a local hospital for education on diabetes and they gave some great information.

I know that alot of simple carbs like bread, pasta, rice, etc. can spike your sugar if eaten in large quantities. A serving size of those things are 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup. You can eat those types of foods but don't eat too much of them at one time. It's also best to eat about 5 small meals rather than 3 larger ones to keep your sugar stable. Also limit any drinks like wine, etc. Protein can be eaten (the size of a deck of cards) and vegatables that are not high in starch are virtually unlimited.

Exercise is also key, they recommend about a half and hour and it doesn't have to be rigorous, just walking. Also if you can exercise with weights, that's great too because the more muscle you have, the better it is for your insulin.

Hope that helped a little.

Hi Danielle,

It is wonderful that you are reaching out for support. There is a lot you can do to help you feel better. The question is do you want to do this alone or get some support? The book someone else was writing about is written by Mark Hyman. It would be worthwhile to read it. There are many foods out there that do not spike your blood sugar, you just need to take the time and effort it takes to educate yourself. You may also look for support from someone who specializes in working with women with PCOS. If you need her contact information I would be happy to send it to you. She is a holistic health counselor who works with women all over the world and is a really fun and amazing person. I highly recommend speaking with her to find out how she can be of support to you in this situation. You may also look into what metabolic type you are and go from there.

All the best!

C.

I used to suffer tremendously and am doing a lot better. It is a difficult thing to deal with, with two babies, and work, etc. What happens with hypoglycemia, is that your body overreacts to the presence of sugar in the body, i.e. it produces too much insulin, which then metabolizes all the sugar. So you go through these blood sugar highs and lows. The trick is to find a diet that curtails your body's overproduction of insulin.

There are some basic rules that help a lot.
1. Eat small amounts of food often that don't allow you to get very hungry - hard boiled egg, low fat cheese, tbsp of nuts. Eat every 2-3 hours
2. Minimize caffeine which causes production of insulin.
3. Cut out all sugar completely and refined carbohydrates.
I actually do better with no carbohydrate at all but the official word is eat complex carbohydrates, like brown rice.
3. Try taking this nutritional supplement - I can't recommend it more highly.
Glucobetic - made by www.flourishness.com

Hope this helps a bit.

Go to a nutritionist!