The Insulin-Resistance Diet : How to Turn Off Your Body's Fat-Making Machine
FAQ About Dieting for Hypoglycemia
Contents
How does
the diet for Hypoglycemia work?
What is the difference
between a strict and liberal diet for hypoglycemia?
I heard low carb diets are bad for you because you burn muscle tissue instead of fat. True?
How about the Zone diet?
When I try the HG diet, I get shaky. Eating something with sugar relieves the
symptoms. Am I taking my blood sugar too low with the diet?
Does a Low-carb diet help fibro and guai, too?
On a 'strict' low-carb diet,
is cholesterol a problem with all the cream, meat, eggs, and other supposedly
high-cholesterol foods?
If I've been on the hypoglycemia diet for awhile and don't notice any changes, what do I do?
I noticed maltodextrin is an ingredient in Crystal Light. Is that sugar?
Are there any
carbs that will NOT invoke an insulin response?
How do Polyol calories compare with
sugar?
Can I take sublingual Serotonin for Hypoglycemia?
I Have Recurrent Yeast Infections If I Cheat On My Low-Carb Diet. Can you help?
Also see these links:
FAQ: Hypoglycemia (HG)
Insulin Resistance
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The Insulin-Resistance Diet : How to Turn Off Your Body's Fat-Making Machine |
Blood Sugar Control
Reactive Hypoglycemia (RHG) Insulin Resistance: FMS & CMP
Perpetuating Factor
(by Devin J Starlynal)
Low-GI
LowCarbCooking-Products-Recipes-Forums
Bonny's Low-carb Helpful Links, Tips & Recipes
Members' Book Reviews
Low Carb, Low Fat Cook Books
Which Diet Is Best For
You? About
Coconut
Low-carb Diets Low
Carb Cook Books
Eradication of H. Pylori shown to improve hypoglycemia
Both obesity and type II diabetes may be associated with an increased incidence
of H. pylori-colonization
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How does the diet for hypoglycemia work?
The diet is called the Hypoglycemia Diet or Low-carb diet but it is not a low blood sugar diet.
It is a diet which stabilizes blood sugar and takes away both the highs and lows.
Eating sugars and complex carbohydrates causes
repeated releases of insulin. The diet, perfectly followed, removes most sugars and
complex carbohydrates from our diet, and as a result, eliminates the insulin releases. The
blood sugar doesn't bounce up and down, and the endocrine glands have time to recover.
However, it doesn't happen the first day. Most people feel an energy dip in the first few
days of the HG diet, as they change their energy sources. However, most begin to feel an
energy surge by the end of the first week or two. If your hypoglycemia is severe, you'll
find you'll recover more slowly.
Without addressing hypoglycemia by cutting down carbs and sugars appropriately
it could progress to
Insulin Resistance.
When you cheat with a forbidden food, you write a check on the energy account. If you have enough to cover the indiscretion, all is well, but the account is lower and may not tolerate the next cheat. Cheating is tolerated only when there is surplus energy to cover.
The safe way to approach the diet is to adhere to it perfectly for the first two months to eliminate symptoms. At that point, judicious cheating will certainly write a check against the energy bank but, by going back to a perfect diet for a few days after each cheat, you can slowly find how strict you have to be to stay asymptomatic.
It helps to note the very first symptom you experience when you have cheated too much. Then, the next time you cheat and note that symptom, go back to your "perfect" diet immediately for "damage control" instead of waiting for the full slate of symptoms to hit.
With guaifenesin, fibro will clear, and much of the pain will ease even without control of the hypoglycemia. However, you will still notice other symptoms that seem like fibro because the symptoms of the two illnesses overlap so much.
What's the difference between a strict and liberal diet for Hypoglycemia
(HG)?
For controlling HG, either a strict or liberal diet will do.
Liberal diets are based based on the glycemic index of foods and will not allow your sugar to jump up and fall
down. The liberal diets will keep your weight stable (maintain status quo) and a stricter diet is for weight loss. It will control your low blood sugar (and high
blood sugar) and you will also lose weight. Generally speaking, most people need
to stay under about
30 grams of carbs to lose weight. Some even lower. Quite a lot of
people follow a Low
GI diet for
Insulin Resistance and others a
No
Amylose diet.
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Dr Shoemaker's book contains original recipes, case studies and lots of new material. It imparts the facts about the genetic basis of weight loss, maintenance, cholesterol, exercise, fiber, gout and other topics. Read it if you want to lose weight and keep it off- while reducing your odds of many illnesses. |
I heard low carb diets are bad, because you burn muscle tissue instead of
fat. True?
No. On a low carb diet your body uses fat for fuel. It does not burn muscle
tissue. This is why you lose inches faster than weight.
How
about the ZONE diet?
The Zone diet will help those of us
who are carbohydrate intolerant, especially the milder cases, but it will not eliminate hypoglycemia if
you are truly hypoglycemic. If you are doing well on a low carb diet, and you move
over to the Zone and start having HG symptoms again, you will know it is
too liberal for you.
When
I try the HG diet, I get shaky. Eating something with sugar relieves the symptoms. Am I
taking my blood sugar too low with the diet?
No. If you are on a reputable low-carb, low
GI or
Richie Shoemaker's No Amylose diet, the LAST thing you want to do is eat a sugar
(fructose, lactose, glucose, honey, etc.) to "bring up your blood sugar."
Bringing it up causes it to fall back down again. The purpose of the diet is to stabilize
the blood sugar, to keep it from going up, because with hypoglycemia what goes up not only
must come down, but comes down too far and too fast. If you feel shaky, eat protein. This
will not bring up your blood sugar as quickly as sugars, but it will also not allow it to
fall as the sugars do. Eating sugars to feel better on the diet just negates the diet.
Please recall that you should feel worse (sometimes much, much worse) when you start a low carb diet. This will start to ease up at various times and should be almost gone for everyone after two weeks, reaching correction only at a month to six weeks. Your energy IS much lower when you begin a low carb diet, because your body is learning to use a different energy source.
Does
a Low-carb diet help fibro and guai, too?
Insulin helps move phosphates into
cells. Guaifenesin helps move phosphates out of cells, which, according
the the theory behind the Guai protocol is what we want to do. On a
low-carb diet you are not releasing large amounts of insulin, the whole point of the diet, and so in that sense
it helps fibro and guai.
On a 'strict' low-carb diet, is cholesterol a
problem with all the cream, meat, eggs, and other supposedly high-cholesterol foods?
The diet should not raise your
cholesterol. After about three weeks on the diet, your triglycerides should drop
dramatically, which will raise the HDL (unless your triglycerides are low anyway). When
your triglycerides drop, your cholesterol will come down by 20 percent. If you are losing
weight you should not do blood tests for cholesterol until you have lost all the weight
you want, because losing weight temporarily raises cholesterol. Once you are at the weight
you want, then do your blood tests and make the necessary dietary adjustments.
If you want to measure the changes remember to get tested before starting a
low-carb diet.
If I've been on the hypoglycemia diet for
awhile and don't notice any changes, what do I do?
First, check your food list. Many
people who think they are on a perfect diet for controlling HG, are not. Second, think about your stress
level. Stress of any kind, including the stress of reverse cycling on the
guai protocol, will place greater
strain on the chemical processes that can induce hypoglycemia. Third, think about how long
you've been on the diet perfectly. It is suggested that you adhere to a strict hypoglycemic diet without
any "cheating" for at least two months. Only then can you begin judicious cheating. The
good news is, when guai has cleared more of the fibro, you'll be able to cheat a little
more.
Also check that your condition hasn't progressed (regressed?) to Insulin Resistance (Diabetes Type 2, Adult onset Diabetes) and that you are not taking any medications which interfere with weight loss.
If I don't keep my carbs between 20-30 grams, the
brain fog and irritability come back with a vengeance. If I don't want to lose weight, how
do I increase my carbs without the symptoms returning?
Keep to the level of carbs that clear your symptoms. Probably about two months
will be needed then begin
to be more liberal with your carbs, adding items such as sugar-free, low GI bread,
perhaps a little rice, and more vegetables. Or even test with
Low GI diet for
Insulin Resistance
or the
Low Amylose diet. Most people will be able to handle more carbs in time.
I decided to go on a low-carb diet to see if it would help with nasty GI
symptoms I've been having, e.g., bloating, urgency, IBS. It seems more expensive
buying meat products than say, whole grains. I also fare better avoiding dairy.
Any suggestions?
Meat is more expensive than grains and that is a
big complaint on low-carb. Many who eat low-carb think it is about meat, eggs
and dairy with a few leaves of iceberg lettuce tossed on the side for garnish.
Not !!! Those people will often find their nutritional intake to be very
lopsided, and will be embarrassed to read the correct versions and intents of
authors of low-carb diets, including Atkins. This is also the bad habit that
leads many healing professionals to totally recoil from low-carb because of this
risky lifestyle, and enables newer dieters to commit the same errors.
On a grim note, research deep enough and you will find major complaints and
associated health risks with just about every food except some very expensive
pristine-grown and protected versions of organic or imported fruits and
vegetables. Even then, look deeper and the concerns will be there. Are they
true? I don't know.
I have made the best judgments I can for myself, and here are some that may help
your situation:
Lower carb diets are very likely better and more healthy in both the long and
short term than high carb diets, for numerous reasons. Some people, including
me, eat small portions of mindfully selected grains for various health goals -
but I keep the carb count per portion and day down and use these grains as
treats or fillers to augment newer versions of comfort foods and things I really
miss. My biggie is uncooked oatmeal, and occasionally bran flakes or shredded
wheat. Eating grains will usually add water weight overnight, which will worry
weight loss dieters on low-carb until they realize the water will go away a day
or two after not eating grains. Many studies indicate the close connections of
sinus / allergy / congestion with the eating of both grains and dairy. Many
nutritionists and healers strongly advocate removing all grains-dairy-sugars
from your diet anyway, so that is something to think about and maybe study if
you seem to have unwanted reactions to them.
Grains-dairy-sugars are also great annoyances when living with IBS and digestive
issues, and together they can shut me down very quickly. I can usually eat from
one category, and in some instances small portions of two, but if I make
something including all three or eat individual things that end up together in
my stomach and are digested as all three... I am quite often crippled in pain
and IBS.
I am very reactive to bananas too, which are high in sugars, and onions and
peppers. Be aware.
Lacto-fermented dairy products such as kefir and cultured yogurt (not the junky
mainstream stuff at normal grocers) can often be eaten by those with "dairy
issues" and bad reactions to lactose, since this process removes the offending
ingredients. Kefir often helps my IBS and digestive ailments, so you might try
sipping on a bottle and keeping one in your fridge to experiment with. If you
shop in whole foods stores, you can buy flavored or plain versions easily.
I started a liberal Hypoglycemic diet years ago and ate a stricter version, with
very few fruits or grains - my IBS vanished in several days and only returns
when I goof off and "deserve it". Others on a low-carb diet for hypoglycemia
say it takes a while to clear the symptoms, and some also have gluten
intolerance issues to contend with so you might consider removing gluten
completely for several weeks to see what help that may also provide.
I do not do a dairyless version of a low-carb diet, but maybe I should down the
road. A good start would be to thumb through some raw diet recipe books,
because those who eat raw foods are said to be vegetarians and do not eat dairy
or "anything that once had eyes" because of that affinity. Raw diets as I refer
to them do not include raw meat or flesh of any kind, so do not be confused!
Raw dieters greatly benefit from the living foods because enzymes remain alive
and intact instead of killed off by typical cooking / heating processes. Yes,
that is correct... No cooking / boiling / broiling / frying / baking so this may
appeal to some!
The enzymes help digestion and better nutritional assimilation and many other
functions too. I used to think raw dieters live on loads of salads and fruit,
which many of them do - but there is more to life for them than I ever
imagined. (Eating too much fruit is very dangerous and raw foodists will warn
you of this, by the way.) Many raw food recipes are not low-carb but they
always include "good carbs", which are carbs considered to be the best bang for
the healthy eating buck and carb count. There is frequent heavy use of dates,
bananas,
maple syrup, honey, and nuts... so those of you who react strongly to these
foods should make sure that other recipes are included in any raw foods books
you acquire. I suspect some of these foods can usually be swapped out, and
agave syrup is probably an incredibly smart healthy swap for those of us on
low-carb
who cringe at the thought of honey or maple syrup. Dates are used for
"stickiness" and sweetness, so a mixture of agave syrup and a bland fruit or
vegetable may be acceptable subs.
Just today I bought a big book of 350+ raw foods recipes, all donated "by 50 of
the world's top raw food chefs and authors" - and I was very impressed with the
names because I recognized some of my favorite authors of this diet style! Yes,
oh yes, there are recipes for "no cook / bake" cakes, pies and crusts, cookies,
puddings, candies, and other yummies too... Just so you know up front! Only
$17.95, you can get good discounts if you shop at borders books with the emailed
coupons and your (free) discount card. Many will require a food
processor or blender and some will require a food dehydrator and sheets, so be
mindful before you jump right in. Almonds are popular in these recipes and some
recipes can not be just whipped together because their processes are not typical
to standard american home cooks. I think the learning curve is no biggie and
the effort to get going is a wise investment in overall health. I just acquired
a food processor at a good price from a shopping channel, so I am ready to taste
test :)
The complete book of raw food edited by Lori Baird & Julie Rodwell
isbn # 781578261949, $17.95
I do not eat totally raw, but I am benefiting from increased amounts. I am a
high protein body type, so I am very hesitant to remove all flesh and dairy.
Yeah, I know, vegetables have protein and several nutritionists were very
righteous with me about this concept. My stomach and metabolism are not quite
that ready to jump, so I am creeping up on the plants and decreasing the
frequency and quantity of animal products. I limit most dairy to
lacto-fermented versions including cheese, butter and cottage cheese from whole
foods style markets - and I eat very lean skinless chicken breasts, turkey, tuna
and white fish. I wish I could afford free range flesh but I cannot yet, so I
invest my "clean foods" budget in other important categories for now.
Bonny
I noticed maltodextrin is an ingredient in
Crystal Light. Is that sugar?
Crystal Light is fine on both
strict (weight loss) and more liberal (Insulin Resistance, Hypoglycemia, etc.) diets.
Maltodextrin is not on
a foods to avoid strictly list.
Are there any carbs that will NOT
invoke an insulin response?
Richie Shoemaker claims that only carbs that contain
amylose
will cause weight gain so that is something to consider. Corn doesn't
contain amylose for instance.
Generally, Polyols do not impact on blood sugar and thus are fine on all low carbohydrate diets for weight loss, including liberal diets to address hypoglycemia (diabetics should always discuss any product with their health care professional): erythritol, hydrogenated starch hydrolysates (including maltitol syrups), isomalt, lactitol, maltitol, mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol are also ok. For further information see page on this site for Insulin Resistance.
Do NOT have sugar, glucose, dextrose, corn syrup, honey, maltose, starch, etc., because these WILL invoke the insulin response. Without insulin being released you cannot;
a) gain weight because it is the storage hormone
b) have your blood sugar drop rapidly which invokes the cascade of hormones which cause hypoglycemia.
Our bodies release insulin when sugar rises, less if the sugar rises slowly. Fructose and lactose are sugars with a low glycemic index, which is why on a liberal diet (just for HG not weight loss) these are ok. There are exceptions where some people report that the insulin response is triggered on the above low GI sugars.
You need to know both the glycemic index and the carb count.
How do Polyol calories compare with
sugar?
Sugar provides approximately 4.0 calories per gram. The FDA allows the use of
the following caloric values:
3.0 calories per gram hydrogenated starch hydrolysates
2.6 calories per gram
sorbitol
2.4 calories per gram
xylitol
2.1 calories per gram
maltitol
2.0 calories per gram
isomalt
2.0 calories per gram
lactitol
1.6 calories per gram
mannitol
0.2 calories per gram
erythritol "
For
further information
Can I take sublingual serotonin for
hypoglycemia?
Yes, but it is no substitute for a
perfect diet.
I have recurrent yeast infections,
particularly if I cheat on my low carb diet. Can you help?
Be sure to eat
yoghurt, probiotics/acidophilus daily. Excerpts from,
The Yoghurt
Exception: "One natural way to
combat this problem is to use an ancient remedy that is natural and well tolerated
by anyone. This remedy is to restore healthy bacteria to your body in the form
of cultured milk products such as kefir, yogurt, and buttermilk." and:
"....to make yogurt, buttermilk and kefir, the milk is inoculated with the
lactic acid bacteria. These bacteria use up almost all the milk sugar called
"lactose" and convert it into lactic acid. It is this lactic acid which curds
the milk and gives the taste to the product. Since these bacteria have "eaten"
most of the milk sugar by the time you buy it (or make it yourself.) at the time
you eat it, how can there be much carbohydrate left? It is the lactic acid which
is counted as carbohydrate. Therefore, you can eat up to a half cup of plain
yogurt, buttermilk, or kefir and only count 2 grams of carbohydrates (Dr.
Goldberg has measured this in his own laboratory.) One cup will contain about 4
grams of carbohydrates. Daily consumption colonizes the intestine with these
bacteria to handle small amounts of lactose in yogurt (or even sugar-free ice
cream later.)."
Here's a recipe for Boric Acid capsules. Buy size 0 gelatin capsules and fill with white boric acid powder (found in any pharmacy in the generic aisle or ask your pharmacist to make up the caps for you). Insert one vaginally once a day for a week and then twice a week for three more weeks if you have an infection. If you have recurrent problems, you might want to use the capsules when you are ovulating, using antibiotics or showing any sign of recurrence.
I've had one
gallstone since starting a low carb diet and got a lecture from my doc who says the food is too rich for my gall bladder. How
do I modify the diet so I don't get another gall stone? I have been feeling so much
better while I was on it.
Simply use a liberal diet,
low GI or a diet containing no amylose and
simultaneously cut down on fats wherever you can. In other words: no sugar or heavy
starches.
I have a lot of food intolerances, even with
the common foods, milk, soy, corn, and eggs. The strict HG diet has helped, but I'm
worried I'll develop intolerances again.
Many people have been told
they had food intolerances, chemical sensitivities and allergies and have
cleared in whole or in part after correcting hypoglycemia and/or fibromyalgia.
Where can I find more info?
See pages under the heading:
Hypoglycemia, Syndrome X, Insulin
Resistance, Type 2 Diabetes in the
link panel to the right and write to the GG mailing list with questions.
Not a member yet? Click here to join the Guai-Support Group.
