I do think I need some help in regards to complex carbs and things like that, I saw an endocrinologist last week and told her when I seem to be having these rapid drops in blood sugar, sometimes fruit is the worst like bananas and strawberries and grapes, this was the first time she told me about food pairing so I have been looking into that although it is difficult because I don’t eat nuts. So snacking is a bit difficult, usually chicken or cheese. Are oats okay in the morning? Getting a bit tired of eggs. Haha.
She is hesitant to diagnose me with RH as it would prove detrimental to my career (I am a driver) and as it seems to be controlled at the moment I am just trying to widen my food spectrum bit by bit with trial and error. I still cannot always manage rice so going with alternatives for that.
She even mentioned about false hypos and she thinks that I could be having some sort of cardiac cut out when these happen or when my blood sugar drops too quickly, giving me the feeling of impending doom and stroke like symptoms.
I do not hypo all the time. For instance if I am good with my eating for a week I can manage one high carb meal or the likes but if I’ve had a week where I’ve hypoed a lot then I am up and down for a day. It is a lot less than this time last year when I didn’t realise it was the food that was causing it (I was having several hypos a day and left them untreated as I didn’t know what was happening ) this caused mild Vision loss sadly.
Just trying to get used to the idea of this being my new body and adapting. My friends are very supportive when we go out especially when drinking alcohol they always check on me so that’s great.
Any tips you have picked up along the way?
Suppose this is the result of years of binge eating and large portions.
C’est la vie.
Sam.
hi Sam, it is an lot to understand. Also which foods in food groups are ok.
Oats are not ok for me as is all grains, along with oats, wheat, corn are the worst, for me.
I had porridge for my breakfast the morning I had a hypo in my doctors surgery. So the only food I had that day was porridge. I also had a hypo (twice) on my first and second appointment with my endocrinologist because I had porridge for my breakfast. He advised me to avoid porridge and oats. I thought oats were a so called super food. Not for me! First tip done.
Second tip that I use. Fruit, I found out pretty quickly that too much fruit is not good. So basicly, I have small pieces of fruit through my eating window instead of a snack. Mainly apple, berries, a small banana after my window closes early evening. Frozen fresh fruit that you get in supermarkets are always a cash saver. I always have my frozen fruit with full fat greek yoghurt. It has to plain full fat, this is so beneficial cos of very low carb, natural yoghurt for your gut biotic. I can actually have a small portion of Greek yoghurt despite my lactose intolerance. Weird eh?
I had all the cheap tests like my blood pressure dropping, but unless you have the proper diagnostic tests you will never know and your endo whom I feel is grasping for understanding of what you are going through. Or your endo has not come across hypoglycaemic conditions before and is undecided what to do next. As I've mentioned before, there are many forms or types of Hypoglycaemia. I do not know which one you have, so I'm grasping a little bit with the information you have given me.
Last tip for now, walking fifteen minutes after eating for fifteen minutes helps with the control with the carbs you have eaten. Walking is so beneficial in many ways. Not only for physical health but also mental health.
I do believe you have to be mentally strong to get through the changes in your life with this. It is not easy, accepting that you have a problem with your health, food and there is not the really good advice from doctors that you would get with other conditions.
Driving is a huge problem, it is not recommended that you drive because of the chance you may or likely to go hypo and similar to type one diabetes, unless you prove to the DVLA, that you are totally in control and in normal or just above, you shouldn't drive. I'm surprised your endo hasn't told you to stop driving completely because o of the hypos, once again, your endo just doesn't know what is going on with you.
Nuts! Or, there is some nuts you do need to avoid, such as peanuts, which in biology are not just though! Confused? Like me! But there are plenty of other small meals you can have, eggs are a great source of protein. But it doesn't mean you have to eat them, there is alternatives.
Final, final tip. Dietdoctor.com is a great source of keto recipes and ideas. There is also the forums low carb forum.
The bestest tip I can give you is have a period of say two months, where you experiment with food. Your favourites, your budget, your essentials, your go to family meals. And record your results pre meal and two hours after, with the odd test, with one hour, three hours. And use your food diary to compare them. It is important that you have the same (ish) portion size. Note things down like illness, colds, flu, covid, vomitting, diahorea, women's troubles and so on as stress, anxiety will give you slightly different results. Some people have found that they can't eat without spiking in the morning with certain carbs but get away with it in the evening. Go figure.
Why do you go low sometimes and not in others? No idea. Unless you don't notice the symptoms, or your hypo awareness could be all over the place and don't notice it. I didn't have a clue until my endocrinologist told me.
I thought the symptoms were just part and parcel of the misdiagnosis of diabetes. My GP's blamed my symptoms on the T2, saying that it all tallies with the symptoms. So along with everything else, it just exacerbated my poor health at the time, hypos were so often that it just be and a part of everyday.
I think that is why, when I was adjusting to low carb and I got to the point when I became keto, my brain became so clear, that it was like a light bulb going on. And my energy levels soared up. And the best thing was, no hypos!
Best bestest tip. Don't become obsessed with everything, it will take time. It will be hard and difficult. Your brain won't stop trying to convince you to eat carbs, it will lie, cheat, and persuade you to keep eating, you may want to eat everything in the fridge, cupboards, freezer, pantry. . But you have to resist. It is important to your future health. It can be done.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes.
That is life!