Having trouble staying full

Gamliela

aylajane wrote: »

THe conventional advice for hypos is to eat more often and consistently, along with never eating carbs alone.

But I did read about another approach that has worked well for me. I cant vouch for the science or explanation so much, but it might be worth a try. I believe it is only for reactive hypo (after meals).

The concept is that when you start eating, your body releases insulin. It expects you to eat a full meal, so it sends out enough insulin in anticipation to counteract a FULL meal. If you dont eat a full meal (i.e. snacking, grazing), you now have too much insulin floating around and your blood sugar tanks. So eating smaller meals more often is actually counterproductive.

Now it could be only certain people, especially those with a history of large meal eating trying to switch to more frequent smaller meals are more affected, since their body has been "trained" to expect a large amount of food. I dont know - it seems reasonable?

In any case, to experiment, plan 3 larger meals with NO snacks (split your calories fairly evenly between them). Do the usual combining of protein and fat for sure (not just carbs). Low carb may help? Try to stick to that for a few days and see if it gets better. By eating a full large meal, you "use up" the insulin (i know that is not how it works!) and keep your blood sugar stable.

I fully expect to get push back on this Its not my idea, just something I tried and found some success with. You might at least research some other options if the suggestions above to do not help much.

THIS has worked 4 me as well.

lost the quote somehow.

__TMac__

Hubs and I also had this. We call it feeling "blood sugary."

We now eat protein and/or fat at every meal, and have no more problems. Whole-milk yogurt, fruit, and nuts. Or eggs and whole wheat toast.

Oatmeal (even steel cut) and fruit did not work for us.

CorneliusPhoton

Francl27 wrote: »

RDahling wrote: »

Francl27 wrote: »

Oatmeal and fruit = pretty much all carbs.

What you are forgetting is the fibre content. Oatmeal is a good source of fibre, both soluble and insoluble, which means that any carbohydrate break down will be more gradual, allowing the energy to be accessed over a larger period of time. Same goes for blueberries as well as bananas, particularly green ones, which also add resistant starches.

Take a look into high fibre diets and hypoglycemia - it's the not the disaster you envision.

In my experience, it was though, but I guess we're all different (it might depend on the type of oatmeal though... instant vs steel cut).

It's my experience as well. If we are talking about a more gradual breakdown, even though oats are an OK source of fiber, I don't believe that oats are considered a slow carb food like legumes are, or are a low GI food. AFAIK, they are considered a medium GI food. Eaten in isolation, maybe the percentage of fiber in the total amount of carbs is too low for some of us to prevent feeling blood sugar crashes. It's still mostly carbs. And from what I have read, patients with hypoglycemia are told to eat complex carbohydrates paired with protein. Pairing oatmeal with adequate protein makes a huge difference for me.

shaumom

Another thing it might be worth doing is going to the doc and getting a blood test for celiac disease, too.

It's a gut disorder that has been increasing in the population. However, most doctors look for symptoms that over 1/3 of celiacs don't have: gut issues. But huge number of celiacs DO have anxiety and/or depression, and massive amounts of fatigue. Some get headaches and joint or muscle pain, even. And as the disease involves the body attacking the gut so you slowly start absorbing less and less of your food, feeling starving too quickly is a problem, and if you have any blood sugar issues, they are exacerbated by the inability to absorb food like you should, as well.

It's just a blood test (and you HAVE to make sure to eat a lot of whole wheat before the test, at least 2 slices daily, or the test is inaccurate), and if that's positive, you can decide to go further with more testing, or some people just go for the treatment: an allergy-level avoidance of gluten and gluten cross-contamination (but again, it will make the test invalid if you do this before testing). But the diet is pretty intense for a celiac (it's more than just going gluten free), so you don't wanna do it if you don't have to, usually.

Good luck!