Low carb diet and exercises

[VishnuB]

Hello,

Thank you for accepting me as a member.

I tried a low-carb diet and whilst exercising, I almost passed out. Luckily, I was at home, recognised what was happening, and quickly had some honey and sugar to raise my glucose levels. I struggle with this as i am also a vegetarian, widower, not a good cook, and don't like buying foods as they are all loaded with salt, sugar, excess oil, etc.
Since I know of the benefits of proteins and fats, i have started including eggs, fish, and chicken in my meals, so that I can continue exercising 3 times a week. I have been exercising since my teens, but our family has a history of diabetes.

My question is how can a vegetarian, following a low-carb diet, exercise without feeling dizzy, fatigued, and faint?

Thank you all
Vishnu

 

[Claudia 1961]

Good question. Nuts and avocados help stave off low blood sugar feelings for me but I am sure others have advice to add.

 

[EllieM]

Welcome to the forums @VishnuB
Can I ask what medication you are on for your diabetes as some medications can cause low blood sugar in some circumstances?

 

[catinahat]

Welcome @VishnuB
When you were feeling unwell did you do a finger prick test to see what your blood sugar was?
The reason I ask is because it's very unusual for someone with T2 to suffer from low blood sugar.
Our problem is that our insulin is no longer as effective as it should be (insulin resistance) so our blood sugar levels are usually higher than is desirable.
Dangerously low blood sugar levels are almost always caused by over medication. The metformin you take is not known for causing Hypoglycaemia, so I suspect that something other than low sugar levels caused you to feel unwell.
It could be that what you experienced was something called a False Hypo. Our bodies can get used to high levels then when we change our diet and our levels fall, our bodies notice the change and react with hypo type symptoms even though the level is normal and not dangerously low.
When you get a false hypo, the urge to fix it with sugar can be very strong. If you can resist doing that, the false hypos will go away for good fairly quickly.
Basically it's your body throwing a tantrum because your blood sugar is lower than it's used to. If you give into it and give it the sugar it craves, then the tantrums will continue. If you tough it out and refuse to give into it, your body will get used to the lower levels.

 

[Deleted member 475901]

I had false hypos for the first few weeks on low carb, confirmed by finger prick tests. I've never had a real hypo as I'm not on any meds that could cause those.
If you aren't testing already then get a meter, and check out the 'normal range' for blood glucose.

Normal and Diabetic Blood Sugar Level Ranges

Normal blood sugar ranges and blood sugar ranges for adults and children with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes and blood sugar ranges to determine diabetes.

www.diabetes.co.uk