Comments on: Sweet Fire, the Nutrition Crash Course

By: E

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 07:16:58 +0000

My Mom and I both have type 2 diabetes and we both had reactive hypoglycemia for years before being diagnosed with diabetes. I used to react very badly to sugar and white flour, white rice and white pastas. I would go very low, and feel shaky, etc within half an hour of eating it, so I learned to avoid it completely. I guess my body was just pumping out too much insulin in response to it. We were both put on insulin fairly quickly after diagnosis.

By: Disgruntled Ladye

Disgruntled Ladye — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 20:53:10 +0000

I’ve also heard that hypoglycemia is a sign of diabetes to come. My mother is Type 2, and was hypoglycemic for many years. Same with her mother. I’ve been advised by my mom’s doctor (when taking her to appointments) to watch my weight and keep my sugar intake low to avoid (or at least stave off) diabetes.

I believe that spaceling’s explanation is spot on.

By: Chrissie in Belgium

Chrissie in Belgium — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:51:07 +0000

Your review here was great, ie clear and concise, on the basics of nutrition! Thanks. Makes me feel good about taking my fish oil and PreVision tablets (which are high in antioxidents).

By: Felix Kasza

Felix Kasza — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 22:59:41 +0000

Hi Amy,

it’s the nit picker again, I am afraid ….

Fiber comes in two flavours, soluble and insoluble. Only the latter kind is indigestible; the former is just slow to break down. But it will affect BGs — less, and over a longer time, of course — and it will count towards calories if one is on a diet. On a related note, “net carbs” (or “effective carbs”) are hogwash, for exactly the same reason.

Free radicals: Lots of hypotheses, plenty of in-vitro experiments with massive doses of whatever comes to hand; but precious few results that actually point to anything applicable to humans and statistically significant.

Chromium: A bunch of studies (including a very helpful review) attest to its effects — in T2 only, alas — but seem to find that much depends on Cr bioavailability. So, take it as Chromium picolinate. Also, the effects of CrPic and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) seem to enhance each other, and no known adverse effects are known to CLA; so why not go whole hog.

Cheers,
Felix.

By: spaceling

spaceling — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:35:22 +0000

I’m not a doctor, but the way I understand the hypoglycemia being a precursor to type 2 diabetes is as follows:
Someone who is pre-type 2 is likely to have a working pancreas, but be insulin resistant. So, if they eat something that raises blood sugar, their pancreas releases insulin, but the body is slow to respond. Their blood sugar remains high, so the pancreas releases more insulin – more insulin than the person actually needs. So when the body finally catches up and responds to the insulin, blood sugar can end up going low.

I can certainly remember, before I was diagnosed with type 2, that eating a sugary snack would sometimes leave me feeling shaky and ravenously hungry an hour or so later. I do wonder what my blood sugar would have looked like if I’d ever thought to test under those circumstances.

By: Kendra

Kendra — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:41:01 +0000

Regarding the hypo as a sign of diabetes to come – I have heard this from a few doctors, both conventional and alternative. I can’t go into great detail myself, but in general they explained that hypoglycemia is an indication that the body is not handling sugar very well and that hypoglycemia can progress into diabetes.

By: Carey

Carey — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 17:48:14 +0000

Will check it out. Thanks for the information.

By: adam

adam — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:57:42 +0000

Did you read “Sugar Busters” ?