Food Questions

Decaf should not be a problem. As you mention, the caffeine is the problem, not the actual drink itself. It raises blood sugar and thus leads to a drop. All milk products have sugar, but remember that this is "lactose," not actual table sugar or something. Dairy is generally avoided at first because, if it's not organic and raw, it is hard for the body to digest and contains too many impurities. I seem to be okay with it in very small amounts, but haven't had it in awhile. If you have no problem with it, then it should be okay. Best way to test is to track symptoms for two weeks, marking reactions to the cheese within a four day period (sometimes a reaction won't occur for three days). If everything else is consistent other than the cheese, then it's the likely problem. The main thing to always remember is keep your carbohydrate intake low initially, between 60-100g, no more no less. Once you find the level that produces little, infrequent or no symptoms, you stay there until you find yourself better and then begin to experiment. If you're worried about the coffee, try to drink only half a cup and see what happens over four days. Then, try more and see again. Always be careful.

First of all, i'd like to thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and for giving me some good advice. :d

i have avoided milk and yogurt because they have "lactose" in them, as you mentioned, and I believe that lactose is a simple sugar. Shouln't I avoid all simple sugars? Or lactose is anyway different form regular sugar?　i'm sorry, but i'm not clear about what you said about lactose. I hope you can help me understand better.

I have another question. My husband has been very excited about the health benefits of raw vegiable juice, and thinks that it must be benefitial to hypoglycemicas like myself. But when I had a huge glass(16oz) of vegitable juice made mostly with greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, raddishes, and some grapefruit (mostly all organic), I felt a little dizzy. It might have been some other food I had eaten earlier, but I am suspecting that freshly made raw vegitable juices might be concentrated carbohydrates, which then is not good for me.

I would greatly appreciate it if anyboy could share any information on the effects on vegitable juice on hypoglycemia? It's just been two months since I was diagnosed with hypo, so i've got many diet-related questions to ask since I 'm striving to recover as quickly as possible. Thank you for your attention and help.

Lactose is a simple sugar, but it shouldn't cause you a problem. I avoid milk products because I don't believe you should eat anything but that which is made from raw milk. Milk that is pasteurized has some of the enzymes altered, making it harder to digest. In addition, nonorganic milk products can contain tons of bad things you just don't want to be eating. If you want, you might want to look into finding a local farmer who sells raw milk. If you're worried about calcium, there is unsweetened soymilk you can try. I seem to have no problems with it, and i'm sure you wouldn't either. The carbohydrate total is much less than a glass of milk, and this is the main problem with normal milk, it has a ton. This is the main issue for treating hypoglycemia. You need to find a carbohydrate level that is most comfortable for you (producing infrequent or reduced symptoms, or, if you're lucky, none at all). Once you find this, you stick with it following a careful diet for at least 4-6 months, and then start to experiment with starchy foods and such. Certain vegetables should be avoided because their carbohydrate content is higher and tends to spike blood sugar faster. I've noticed that all "root" type vegetables seem to do this, like carrots and such. I'm not sure about raddishes. The reason it may have caused you a problem is possibly too many carbohydrates at once. All hypoglycemics should, at first, eat between 60-100g of carbohydrates a day, no more no less. This is the level you need to keep it at. There's a chance you may need more, but highly unlikely you would need less. Less than 60 always goes back to terrible symptoms within about a week or so. Look at the vegetables and count the carbohydrates you've eaten in total when drinking that juice. If you want any more advice let me know, i've been doing this for only a few months but have been helping people who listen. I could help you avoid all the mistakes I made before I figured it out.

What you've been doing here is really great and truly respectable. I very much appreciate that you've answered all my questions so promptly and and given me all the helpful advice. Thanks again!

I could actually use more advice from you. I usually carry some nuts for snacks when I go out, but I want more lighter(calories-wise) alternatives for on the go snacks. What would you suggest?

Here are a couple questions i'd like to ask about suppliments. I've been taking life extention mix caps for about 2 weeks now, which have 500mcg of chromium. Am I taking too much chromium? I'm not feeling better or worse. Also, I recently read about glucose tolerance factor(gtf), which is supposed to be good for hypoglycemia, do you happen to know anything about it? Because i'm thinking about switching to gtf.

Thank you always for all your help!

Thanks! My wife always asks why I do want to do this, not like she doesn't think it's a good idea. I just found it so awful to have no medical help or personal support when I was doing really bad (no support in the sense of no one who knew what I should do). Thus, I feel I should post on here to give advice. I've made so many mistakes. In fact, it took two years to diagnose this and they misdiagnosed my condition at first. Had I known what to look out for and what to do two years ago, I would have been better off. I've had to make up for two years of mistakes. About nuts. Nuts are one of the best things a hypoglycemic can eat. They have fat content that makes them slower to digest, protein and carbohydrates, as well as plenty of different amino acids and such. The thing about them though is that if you can afford it, only eat raw nuts that are organic. If not organic, at least raw. Cooking makes them harder to digest and you don't get as much out of them. I understand someone who is very healthy criticizing organic diets because of the price, but really, it's good for anyone. The key with hypoglycemia in this regard is that you also need to try to keep the amount of toxins coming in your body minimal. By doing this, you can only speed up your recovery time. You really shouldn't be worrying too much about calories. Counting carbohydrates is the main thing here, as I said. Just to give you an idea, I eat about 80g of protein a day, 80g of carbohydrates and around 110g of fat, yet I am very athletic and look quite thin. Calories don't really matter as much as the carbohyrates because it's the carbohydrates that raise the blood sugar, not the calories. You could have 800 calories in a cube of cheese or whatever and the same number of calories in a cup of cut-up apples, but the apples will do you in because of their carbohydrate content and sugar. The calories really don't matter. However, if you're concerned with the calories you could try low calorie vegetables with little carbs. Celery, tomatoes perhaps, i'm not sure, you have to check the content. The main thing with nuts is they take a long time to digest, thus they're great for hypoglycemia because it creates a steady sugar flow instead of a quick one. I've never heard of "life extensions," so I can't say anything about it. I've heard people having luck with chromium, but some notice no change, like you. Gtf, let me think, i'm pretty sure that's in what I take. I eat brewer's yeast first thing when I get up and then when I go to bed. It's supposed to help with blood sugar and I believe it contains gtf. I did seem to notice a difference when I tried it, but be careful because you should take some calcium with it and should only eat it on an empty stomach because it can cause bloating at first and possibly quick, short burst sugar crashes. It seems to work though. Sometimes it's hard to tell if there's a difference amongst changing everything else. I may stop it at some point to see if it does anything different. It also contains chromium. Is there a specific supplement you were referring to with the gtf thing?