Hypoglycemia Forum - Hypoglycemia Rules And Diet

Note to other mods, PLEASE DON'T MOVE THIS. Many members on this part of the forum keep asking about this and can't find it because the original thread was moved. LEAVE THIS HERE. For users, here is my diet and all the info you need to get started:

Yes, I know, Stan you keep saying it, where is it? Well, here it is, revised and made easier to read. This is the preferable way to live as a hypoglycemic to get your body back on track.

Regardless of severity, avoid ALL of the following:

Anything with white sugar, white flour, refined flour, corn syrup, dextrose, mollasses, high fructose corn syrup, basically everything that sounds too good to be true. If it does, it is. So yes, you can no longer eat cake, pie, pizza, candy and the like. However, it should be noted that these things can often be made in a hypoglycemic friendly form using whole grain products, natural sweeteners and good food. So, for example, an apple pie could be made using whole grain, natural crust, stevia or xylitol as the sweetener, organic apples, and cinnamon if tolerated (see below in next part). These things could possibly be eaten, but ONLY if you find a way to make them without all the terrible additives and sugars that have ruined us to begin with. However, you should always avoid bananas, corn (all products containing as well) and root vegetables. If you want to try them, BE VERY CAREFUL.

If your case is currently SEVERE, the following should be eaten in moderation or avoided at first, otherwise just be aware that they can cause problems for various reasons:

Beans (all types), Black Pepper, Cabbage, Cashews, Cayenne Pepper, Cinnamon, Curry, Dried Fruits, Garlic, Hot Peppers (the hotter, the less you should eat if you're doing bad), Juice (all kinds, best to cut it with water if you want to try it, equal amounts), Peanuts and Turmeric. I'm sure there are more things out there, but these are the things I've experimented with and had problems with AT FIRST or figured out need to be eaten moderately. If you uncertain, check sugar versus carbohydrate level (if both are high, it means the sugar is high and thus the rise of glucose in the blood) and look on the internet to see if a specific food or spice is known for lowering blood sugar.

Everything else can be eaten, paying attention to food allergies of course. I prefer to eat organic only if possible, but certain foods it doesn't matter with because they don't get too much on them. Oranges, for example, are not much of a problem because the pesticides cannot get into the part you eat. Meat, however is notorious for containing tons of hormones and antibiotics if you buy it nonorganic. Fish is usually not a problem at all, but be careful of farm raised, it can contain some serious garbage. Luckily, everything is indicated now, so if it doesn't say fresh caught or anything about not using antibiotics/hormones, it's best to stay away. This bit is not absolutely essential, but I recommend it. And now, without further ado, here's how you put it all together.

It depends on your GTT, if you've had one, but I recommend eating no less than once every two hours. If you get low, snacks are best such as walnuts and hard boiled eggs or cheese. DO NOT eat more carbohydrate except for fruit, preferably apples. Don't overdo that though and you may not want to try it if you're starting out severe. Once you decide on how often you want to eat, measure everything out. Typically, you should be eating no less than 60g and no more than 150g of carbohydrate per day at first and getting the majority of it from vegetables and fruit. You can raise the carbohydrates as time goes on, but never drop below 60, EVER or you'll get a nice surprise. If you seem to be okay on unrefined grain products, such as brown rice, then that's fine, but try to make sure your vegetable content is nonetheless high.

Another good option even for people who have problems is ONE slice of Ezekiel bread in the morning, it's pretty common now and easy to find at general supermarkets even, and the same company makes sprouted grain pita wraps, pasta and more (which I eat often and have no problems with). Protein should be about 1g per every TWO pounds of body weight, no more. If you're more active, such as weight lifting, more protein is permissable, but don't overdo it. Before running, for example, it's best to eat a lot of protein and THEN carbohydrates after your run (an orange works best). Fat content should be below your protein intake, but a little higher than normal. Once you get on this diet, your body will use protein and fat for its main energy, saving the carbohydrates for the brain and the sugars from fruit for muscles and back up energy. So you won't gain, you will lose weight. Sometimes it's pretty drastic, but always evens out eventually

Thus, feel free to add organic butter, cheese and other things to your diet as you feel the need, but again, don't overdo the fat just like the protein. The best thing seems to be to eat a decent amount of carbohydrates in the morning. My old routine consisted of avocados (one is enough) as well as two fried eggs, a whole apple and sheep yogurt. The avocado contains a special sugar that suppresses insulin production, so it's a good idea to eat them at first. My current breakfast now consists of the following (to show you what you'll eventually be able to do):

2 tablespoons of brewer's yeast (downed with water)
2 fried eggs
1 slice of whole, sprouted grain bread
1 smoothie (it's AWESOME) made from:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 cup water
1/40 teaspoon stevia
3 mineral drops
1 whole apple cored and cut into fourths
1 or 1 1/2 cups of frozen fruit (berry mix, pineapple, peaches maybe)
2 ice cubes
4 large spoonings of yogurt
my vitamins

Grains are fine, as long as not refined and you feel like you can take it. I do not recommend milk, only yogurt or cheese, and preferably, in the case of yogurt, goat or sheep only. Your fruit intake should be decent in the morning, at least 1/2 or a full apple, about the size of a little less than a softball. After this, every meal should consist of your protein intake for the rest of the day divided evenly, as well as your carbohydrates. If you've figured 80g of carbs per day, for example, and eat 5 meals, try at least 30g in the morning and then 10g for the next three and 20g for the last one. Eventually, you should be able to cut down to a normal three to four meals a day. Here is an example of what I eat for lunch:

1 chunk of cheese
1 pound chicken
1/4 pound used for a pita wrap
the rest prepared how I want (for example, boil the water for a little bit,
put the chicken in it for a short while, take out, cut into pieces, fry up in
rice vinegar, paprika, pepper salt, covered in cheese afterwards)
1 sprouted grain pita wrap with some of the chicken, tomato, lettuce, very
hot sauce and a dallop of sour cream
1 large slice of watermelon
1/2 of an apple
1 liter water with my fish oil pills

Nighttime is important because you should be eating a little more carbohydrate than earlier, but not as much as breakfast and with a little more protein. If you wake up, always eat protein, never carbohydrates or fruit. For fruit you can try whatever you like, just be aware of carbohydrate content. DO NOT worry about the fructose in fruit, it actually does not activate insulin as carbohydrates do, so eating a bit more if you feel down during the day can help, but I recommend this being from apples at first, though it's up to you.

Supplements:

I recommend taking a good calcium/magnesium/zinc mix if you can find it, especially if you're eating more protein and lower carbohydrates. Fish oil is also good, preferably from small, wild caught fish. Brewer's yeast is something with benefit as well, and I myself take a tablespoon before breakfast and before my final meal. In addition, a good multi vitamin is something to take in the morning, but totally avoid stuff like centrum, because they suck. You need to get a good one from a health food store and be careful that there aren't any ingredients you need to avoid in them. How do you know one is good? Put it in a small glass of water with a penny. Let the penny sit in the water for about an hour, then add the vitamin. If it doesn't break down in 10 minutes, throw them out, it means it just passes through you. The final supplement I recommend is vitamin c, again in a good form that you're only going to find at a health food store. High doses of vitamin c are good for the body as well as having an insulin lowering effect to keep you more stable. 1g a day is plenty, more than that really isn't necessary and is just expelled from the body. It's not entirely necessary, and I actually stopped doing it after awhile.

What should you expect? In lucky cases, you'll feel better immediately, but this is rare. Usually, you can expect to feel awesome for about 1-2 weeks and then like total, absolute, waste-of-life garbage or just start out feeling like you're going to die. I CANNOT stress this enough. YOU WILL FEEL LIKE YOU WANT TO DIE AND ABSOLUTELY HATE LIFE. Read that again and again. You may have years of bad eating to make up for and unforunately one week is not even the surface of what needs to happen. Expect to start feeling better, or at least a small difference, in no longer than four weeks (it's rare, but it can take longer), and then slowly get better. Healing time to where you feel around 90-100% most of the time seems to take at least 6 months and up to a year in some cases. Again, YOU WILL HATE IT, YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY HATE IT. But to keep things going smoothly, keep yourself in focus and always remember that you should never worry about a symptom, new or not, unless it lasts longer than a steady, and I mean steady two weeks. Expect a lot of adjustment in your body, including your thinking, to be taking place. It won't be fun, trust me, I had a terribly severe case and it took forever to feel awesome again. But now, I'm doing great with occasional slips that take around 5 days to go away. If you have any questions about the above, post away!