Has anyone had an experience with low blood sugar?

[blessed]

I have gone raw and feel much better but i need to know if anyone has experienced problems with their blood sugar?
Some of the symptoms i am having leads me to believe that blood sugar may be the problem.
Please let me know what you did to normalize yours.
Thank you.

Ann

[rawpriestess]

My family has had diabetes and hypoglycemia, there was research done recently with David Wolfe and Gabriel Cousins with several diabetes patients, ALL that ate the raw food diet were off insulin entirely within 2 weeks, their diabetes was cured.


HOW Great is that?

[juliebove]

These days it's very easy to tell if you are in fact having blood sugar problems. All you need is a meter and strips for it. This is likely covered by your insurance if in fact you have insurance and your Dr. prescribes it.

If you are having blood sugar problems you must first determine the cause to know how to deal with it. The most common causes are reactive hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), diabetes and (high and possibly low blood sugar), pre-diabetes (impaired glucose tolerance). But there are other causes. Taking steroids can raise blood sugar. An undiagnosed or improperly treated thyroid problem can cause problems. Sometimes when the thyroid problem is addressed the blood sugar problems will go away. And there are other causes such as pancreatitis or Cushing's syndrome.

If the problem is reactive hypoglycemia, then you might find eating small, frequent meals with a combination of carbs and protein works best. Eating carbs alone can cause a spike in blood sugar (although perhaps not out of normal range) followed by a crash. This is what causes the sick, shaky feeling. Or part of it anyway. You can also get that feeling from not eating when you should. If you do have RH, be aware that it is thought to be a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

If you have diabetes, you would need to know what type you have. Type 1 (what used to be called juvenile diabetes) is thought to be caused by a virus. People with type 1 no longer produce any insulin so they must inject it.

People with type 2 diabetes often produce plenty of insulin but their body doesn't use it properly. They often have insulin resistance. They are often overweight/overfat due to the excess insulin circulating through their bodies. It's a very complicated thing and there is more to it than just blood sugar problems. Each case is different and each individual's needs have to be met.

Basically in terms of diet for a person with type 2 diabetes, carbs are what raise blood sugar the most. How many carbs that person can eat in a meal and what type will vary from person to person. Some people find they can't eat a certain food at all, like watermelon. But other foods like strawberries work fine for them. You might not think of fruit as carbs but it is. Lettuce and cucumbers also contain carbs but a whole lot less. And just as the person with reactive hypoglycemia must avoid eating a totally carby meal, so must the diabetic. Unless of course they are having an actual hypo and then they need to eat about 15g of fast acting carbs to get their blood sugar back up in range.

Fat delays the absorption of carbs. So a little bit of fat in a meal is fine. Too much fat is bad because this can cause a hypo. The person tests their blood, sees that it is low so they eat more carbs. Then *bam* those carbs they ate during their meal will flood into their system along with the carbs from the hypo treatment and suddenly they have high blood sugar! We diabetics have nicknamed it the pizza effect. Now a raw pizza is not likely to cause this given its ingredients. But a standard cooked pizza is such a combination of carbs and fat that diabetics are best to avoid it.

Many people find that eating a small amount of nuts or seeds between meals helps to keep their blood sugar from going too high or low. Nuts and seeds contain some fat and protein and a small amount of carbs.

Bottom line, if you have a blood sugar meter, you can tell how your blood sugar is doing. If you don't have one and don't have insurance, the cheapest place to get one is Walmart. The Relion brand. Keep in mind that the meter is a one time purchase. And you can often get one of those for free with rebates and such. It's the strips they make money on. So if you'll be paying out of pocket, you'll want one with cheaper strips.

To start with, test when you first get up in the morning. Test before eating and two hours after eating a meal. Test any time you don't feel well. Test before bed if you find you are having lows then. You might also find you need to test before physical activity of any kind or before driving a car.

Be sure to keep some form of fast acting carb with you at all times if you are having problems with hypos. Sugar or glucose containing candies are what is normally used. These are not raw, but in a pinch, you may have to use them. Dried fruit is fine and will work, but if you are passed out, you won't be able to chew it. Fruit juice works well too. But you obviously won't be able to squeeze some fresh juice when you are in the throes of being passed out. Nor can you wait for someone else to squeeze it. So some sort of backup plan is essential should an emergency arise. You also need to tell those around you what to do if you are having a hypo. I once had someone try to force me to eat a piece of cheese thinking this was what I needed. He refused to give me the candy I was begging for, thinking it was harmful to a diabetic.

Most of us aim for <110 fasting, <120 at two hours after eating, and <140 before bed. A hypo is defined as <65 or <70, depending on what source you look at. You don't want to get that low. So you need to pick a number that is right for you. For me, it's <80 if inactive, or <100 if active. My blood sugar can drop very rapidly. I can feel fine one minute and passed out cold the next. You may find that you have to adhere to a strict eating schedule so you are feeding your body at the same times each day. You may find that you need to eat a small snack of carbs and a little protein before bed. Your liver will try to dump glucose during the night and if there is some food in there, this can prevent it.

Okay, so now you have some ideas of what to do if your blood sugar is low. But what if it's too high? Any reading >110 warrants a visit to the Dr. to find out the cause. Now of course if you already know that you have diabetes you won't want to call him/her for every high reading you have! But you will need to know if you have diabetes, prediabetes, or something else.

If it is determined that you have type 2 diabetes, then diet and exercise are two key elements for keeping your blood sugar under control. Exercise can bring down high blood sugar. But you need to be careful if your blood sugar is too high (above 240 or so) because exercise at numbers this high can cause dehydration and possible ketoacidosis. This is notthe same thing as Ketosis that the low carb dieters aim for. And if your numbers *are* running this high for several days in a row, then you need to call your Dr. Stress, illness, lack of sleep, and even hormonal fluctuations can cause high blood sugar in a diabetic. It's not always just what you eat.

Some Drs. will put a type 2 diabetic on meds right away, hoping the meds will help bring the blood sugar down while the patient sorts out the diet. Other Drs. prefer to have the patient try diet and exercise first then add a med only if needed. And some people with type 2 need to use insulin in lieu of or in addition to a med. Diabetes is an ever changing thing and a progressive disease. I've been on meds, off meds, on meds, and then several changes of meds.

[Graciebeliever]

WOW and if THAT doesn't help answer the question or the method to do it, I don't know what will!!
It always blows me away how people here are so generous with their time and info.
Thanks I have tucked that gem post away for reference for myself and others!!

[Sunshine9]

BTW to note-- Cousens does have amazing results with diabetes. The most recent was with the use of Natural Cellular Defense in addition to his usual protocol (LOW GLYCEMIC), and the patients were off insulin in 4 days. You can email me about NCD, I work one Dr. Cousens assistants so I know all about it.

But anyway, I used to get severe blood sugar imbalances. Raw helped a lot, and I find staying away from really sweet fruit (bananas, dates, mangos etc) helps, and eating berries and cucumbers throughout the day keeps me stable. Green juice also.

Exercise and sunshine are important factors too!!

[rawpriestess]

wow, JULIEBOVE, you are a wealth of information, My grandma had diabetes, and my whole family had hypoglycemia,


I had a friend whos' blood sugar was over 300 all the time, never would come down, and I tested mine several times during the day, always right aroudnd 92, I'm hoping that was good. LOL

anyway, mine didn't seem to go up or down but a couple of numbers no matter what I ate, so I guess that is a good thing, my friends, would go up and down maybe 75 numbers during the day, up to 375, after eating, down to 225 before eating, they said he had diabetes, but didn't give us a number of which kind it was.

I haven't talked with him much, but I did hear he lost about 200 pounds, after he started taking insulin, is this common?

Just curious.

this was about 10 years ago, that this all happened, in a galaxy far far away. LOL

[Live Free]

My blood sugar has always been low. Even when I wasnt raw. I would shake and get all angry if I wasnt allowed to eat food.

Now, with the raw even though I do eat sweet foods, having elimated the white sugars from my diet has dramatically improved my blood sugar swings.

I still can get the shakes sometimes, but not nearly as badly as I had them in the past.

[Lay-Lay]

hope you get to feeling better soon.

[sevenbravo]

But Gabriel had those people on a phase I diet, which is very restrictive. You aren't allowed to eat just any raw food. The phase I diet is mostly green veggies with no fruit!


My family has had diabetes and hypoglycemia, there was research done recently with David Wolfe and Gabriel Cousins with several diabetes patients, ALL that ate the raw food diet were off insulin entirely within 2 weeks, their diabetes was cured.


HOW Great is that?

[rawfigure]

I USED to battle low blood sugar and have gone into a low blood sugar crash where I have gone unconcious to the point I had to be put on a glucose drip.

Since going Raw I have had no problems.

I find Raw and Hydration are a great way to level blood sugar.