Hi again
@danben123
Sorry not have got back to you properly earlier. Very busy day, and not much time online.
The most important thing to remember with reactive hypoglycaemia is that your body can coast along quite happily in fasting mode. Personally, I feel better and better if I don't eat. When there is no food being digested, the body maintains stable blood glucose (BG).
But then you eat.
Carbohydrate digests to glucose, and glucose is what causes the problem. Carbohydrate is found in grains, fruit, vegetables and starchy root veg. Sugar, bread, rice, potato, pasta, pastry, etc. all contain much
more carbohydrate than things like green veg, and the less sweet fruit.
So, eating carbs sends glucose into the blood stream. In a 'normal' person, insulin is released and excess glucose is neatly tucked away into the fat cells. In someone with RH (reactive hypoglycaemia) then too much insulin is produced. This means that too much glucose is put away, and blood glucose levels fall. Suddenly you are too hungry, and wanting to eat again! And because your BG is now too low, you feel dreadful.
It is very important to understand that the faster the carbs digest, the quicker the BG rises, the more likely you are to release too much insulin and drop into RH.
The good news, (that other people have mentioned above) is that fat and protein digest slowly and do not release glucose rapidly into the bloodstream, setting off the high/low BG swing.
So the best diet for someone with RH is to keep their BG as stable as possible. This means eating low carb. Avoid bread, rice, potato, porridge, etc. and sweet fruits especially bananas, grapes and mangos. Green veg is fine. Less sweet fruit like berries are usually ok.
But (and this is the brilliant news) you can eat as much meat, fish, eggs, cheese, tofu, quorn, cream, butter, oils and fats as you like, without it having a harmful effect on your BG. It will stable.
So, can you see how your 4 egg brekkie minimised/slowed the high BG impact of your porridge and banana?
So, a good meal would be something like steak with veg or salad, followed by berries and cream.
A bad meal would be a chicken and stuffing roll, a packet of crisps, a banana, and a can of coke.
That whole explanation is very simplified, but do you see why we are all encouraging you to avoid carbs?
Every time you eat carbs, you risk going hypo, like clockwork.
Try it, and see what I mean.
One day, eat bacon and egg with coffee and cream for breakfast.
Try cheese and tomato (no bread), or cold meat, or hummus, maybe some nuts, sausage, olives... at lunch
Then a nice big meal of meat and green veg, or salad (with mayo), followed by berries and cream, or cheese.
Snacks can be nuts, seeds, cheese, 70% cocoa solid choc.
Try and have a snack halfway between your meals, and last thing at night.
If you have RH, then you will feel MUCH better than when eating carbs.