Sugar detox --> blood sugar crashes, dangerous?

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  • SolotoCEO
    SolotoCEO Posts: 293 Member
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    Definitely see a doctor about your issues. Very low blood sugar can be very dangerous. Cutting added/refined sugar should not lower your glucose level far enough to be dangerous. Cutting all carbs could be (and there really isn't any need for it).
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    OP, are you familiar with the hunger scale? For lots of people, that shaky/nauseated feeling is a symptom of extreme hunger. If you can learn to recognize hunger before you get to that point, and eat something before you get there, you might be able to avoid crashing. Just like others have suggested, it would be a good idea to eat a mixed-macro snack at that point, not just a carbohydrate (so, an apple and peanut butter instead of just an apple, or a few crackers with some cheese instead of just the crackers).

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  • bjfergy
    bjfergy Posts: 1 Member
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    nvmomketo wrote: »
    Yes it is safe.
    I have had reactive hypoglycaemia. When I eat very low carb my symptoms disappear. YMMV

    Same with me. I had exercise-induced hypoglycemia. After doing some research and speaking with several doctors/dieticians, I started low carb high-fat eating (not a diet but a change in lifestyle) or a ketogenic diet. Prior to LCHF, I had plateaued in my weight-loss and was not able to exercise/walk like I had been (3 miles a day) due to dangerously low glucose (my lowest was 45 during a walk), which appeared out of nowhere. After a month or so of LCHF, I lost nearly 10 pounds and am once again able to exercise without hypoglycemic symptoms. My fasting glucose levels are in the mid-80s and steady. I feel great.
  • AKTipsyCat
    AKTipsyCat Posts: 240 Member
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    On day 30 of Whole 30, not gonna lie - I'd cut a *kitten* for a chunk of cheese and a bourbon - both of which, I will do tomorrow. But honestly, I've never felt better. I do have issues with over eating sugar, and snacky salty foods like tortilla chips, so I've confirmed that I can live without them - and I've discovered some delicious, healthy meals in the process. I've also had no heart burn, which was a regular occurrence... and a long time ago I discovered that giving up processed foods and artificial sugar put my asthma on the back burner and the woman who had to use her inhaler nightly hasn't used it in over 9 months.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Eating better can certainly help with health issues. My issue with W30 is that I think if it does it's usually a coincidence, not that the specific "verboten foods" that are unique to W30 vs. just trying to eat better and focusing on whole foods are somehow bad for you. (The specific foods being dairy, grains, and legumes or "absolutely no added sugar" vs. avoiding excess added sugar.) My guess is that many people change their diets dramatically, and that some may have specific issues with lactose or gluten (or something else about some grains), and that just as often it makes it harder to snack on lots of the most available junk food between meals so you end up eating less.

    I strongly think that someone else could come up with some other restrictive diet (random different common foods restricted) that requires lots of cooking and whole foods and that most of the people who find W30 helpful would find it helpful, not because lentils are really a problem food (for the vast majority of people). I also think that if someone eats basically a whole foods based and healthful diet, the likelihood that giving up the things that W30 demands you give up is not going to make a positive difference, at least not unless you have reason to think you might have an issue with dairy or grains, of course -- and even then it's rarely in reality all grains).
  • abarriere
    abarriere Posts: 135 Member
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    totally, i should have used quotes, i was trying to tie it back to the original post, though unsuccessfully!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    abarriere wrote: »
    4. I can overeat sweet potatoes, steak and sauteed veggies as much as I can overeat cookies and ice cream (i know, it's weird).

    Heh, it's not weird at all. I mostly gained weight when I was obsessed with eating super naturally. I won't say I never ate added sugar during that time period (I thought baking was fine if I pretended as much as possible that it was 1910, not 2010), but because baking a pie is time consuming and mainly only fun for me if I'm doing it for others I didn't eat a ton of baked goods -- my main extra calories were from things like too much chicken and the sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts I roasted with the chicken (oh, that lovely fat), added fat like olive oil, cheese (which admittedly would not be okay on W30, but I now can control myself with it), nuts, so on.

    One of the reasons W30 annoys me is that the foods it would require me to cut out (legumes, whole grains, and dairy -- mostly I eat whole grains when I have grains, although I do have some white pasta occasionally) are just not foods I overeat, they aren't really triggers for me (baked goods are, but I'm lazy so that prevents them from being an issue). Yet somehow Melissa Hartwig has managed to sell this idea that W30 is the healthiest diet and that the foods it cuts out inherently make a diet less healthy. Also, people seem to think that if they want to have a diet based on cooking from whole foods (which is actually something that works well for me, although I also managed to get fat doing it), W30 is the way to go, like it's not possible to focus on whole foods without doing silly old W30. (I think if you want an elimination diet, sure, why not, although I don't take it seriously for that either; a real elimination diet wouldn't follow the same approach or focus solely on those foods, and my sister fixed her IBS with an elimination diet that identified triggers that are all 100% fine on W30.)

    I did my own thing, kind of like W30, in that I cut out added sugar, and similar to you I felt better and lost weight, but that wasn't because I felt worse with sugar -- I felt fine once I added it back in -- but because it was part of an overall program to lose weight, add exercise, eat in a more mindful manner, stop emotional eating, etc. Taking control of how I was eating made me feel better, not eating no added sugar vs. a moderate amount. That said, if it helps someone control themselves, I see nothing wrong with cutting it out, but when trying I'd be open to the idea that for many it can be counterproductive and other solutions might work better (not eating it at home, eating only the highest quality sweets, eating only after a healthy dinner and within calories, whatever), and I'd avoid telling myself I CANNOT control myself, as I think that tends to operate as an excuse when you are in a situation where you do eat something and the mind goes into "must eat everything since this is my last chance and I already screwed up" mode. At least, that was something I had to address. ;-)

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