low blood sugar

"Modesto bagpipes" wrote:

I was out having a long stroll yesterday and started to feel shakey and
weak!
Stopped in at the corner store and bought some salted peanuts and some Gator
Aid.

Felt really good right after I drank the gator Aid and ate the nuts. it
allowed me to finished my walk which was another 40 minutes.

Just wondering if I'm not getting enough carbs, about 60 a day?

In general adding carbs acheives a very temporary fix to a long
term problem. So in your case it was the wrong answer. The
long term fix is to allow the body to undergo a long term adjustment
to its lower carb intake. That takes 1-4 weeks after starting.

The directions for Atkins say to exercise, but to take it easy at
the start. The reason is when just starting to low carb the body
tries to run on its stored carbs and it takes a while to adjust to
drawing on fat stores.

Get in better shape and be low carbing longer and a walk should
stay in the aerobic range and not need extra carbs. In the short
run just the peanuts and/or sitting for 10 minutes should give the
body enough recovery resources to finish the walk. In the long
run (over a month in) that will no longer happen if you stop feeding
it sugar like Gatorade but will continue if you do feed it sugar like
Gatorade.

By the way, this same situation happens with highly fit folks who
go from running on the scale of 10K (6 mile) runs to training for
marathons. At 26.2 miles, the marathon's length is chosen
because no one no matter how they train can make the run on
carbs stored in the body. Only people trained to fat burning can
do a marathon without bonking.

Di wrote:
A friend is in EMT training, and used me yesterday to test his blood sugar
monitor. I've been doing low carb for several years, and have been very
happy with results. My blood sugar measured only 70 mg/l average, however.
I was feeling draggy, but not hungry. Any advice from you wise people on
this? I knew I had a tendency towards low readings when I was young and
wild, but haven't thought about it since I tuned 50.



Do you use artificial sweeteners? I had the same problem as you. I
have been diagnosed with hypoglycemia and had problems with my blood
sugar dropping on a low carb diet. I read a study -- I can't cite it
offhand and I don't have the time right now (in midst of remodeling) to
find it. But this is what I understood from it:

There are receptors in your mouth that sense sweet, salt, sour, etc.
Those receptors for sweet are also in your gut. If those in your gut
sense "sweet" then they cause a release of insulin. They don't
understand that the sweet from artificial sweeteners is fake.

I constantly had a glass of artificially sweetened ice tea which I
sipped. After abstaining from artificial sweeteners I no longer find my
blood sugar dropping, dropping, dropping. I don't know if everyone is
as sensitive as I obviously was. Maybe the quantity that I used added
to the problem. I doubt if anyone who drinks a diet coke with a meal
containing a few carbs would have a problem.

Anyway, if you use artificial sweetener, leave it off for a day, and see
if there is a difference in how your blood sugar performs.

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