regulating your insulin levels...hope this makes sense

I'm not sure if this will answer your question, but what you're describing occurs due to insulin spikes. This happens when massive amounts of sugar enter your body at once, to prevent this, you should eat small meals often to keep your blood sugar levels and insulin levels stable to prevent those spikes. Otherwise it's up and down which wreaks havoc on your body. Someone else here might be able to explain it better, but that's my understanding of it.

A diet that consists of low glycemic index foods can help tremendously in preventing insulin spikes. If you have insulin resistance or are just concerned about preventing insulin spikes, you should avoid cane/corn sugar, white rice and white flour like the plague. You can take a blood test to monitor blood sugar and insulin levels. A lot of people find that by maintaining a low GI diet, they eventually get sensitive enough to "feel" when their insulin levels are too high after eating certain foods.

OK......this is so great that you are learning about this. For starters realize that ALL food gets broken down into sugar for the body to use for energy, but depending on the type of food determines how quickly it can get broken down. The quicker it breaks down the faster it and more drastically it raises you blood sugar, the larger the insulin surge required to bring you blood sugar down into normal limits. As dicussed this can result in a too low blood sugar with the accompanying cravings. This is called the "Somogyi Swing" (one of my favorite medical terms it just sounds so fun.....but it's NOT) What you want is a food that will slowly break down raising you blood sugar slowly and will maintain you blood sugar at an appropriate level long term. This will curb hunger and cravings significantly. Protein is your best friend in this regard. Eating foods high in protein help stabilize blood sugar levels and therefore insulin output. So many people are becoming diabetic now because after 50-60 years the pancreas (which produces insulin) is completely worn out and can't produce appropriate amounts of insulin anymore. That's when people have to go on meds or insulin. The food that you want to focus on to maintain a normal blood sugar long term is protein. It takes your body longer to break down protein into sugar, doesn't spike your blood sugar like simple sugars do. Simple sugars are things like chocolate or candy bars.....but even white bread and crackers fall into this catagory, the more complex the carbs the better they are but even things like whole wheat bread or whole grain rice aren't as good as you think. A way that you can evaluate a food to determine how quickly it will break down and how high it will send your blood sugar is to check it's glycemic index. Foods with Glycemic indexes of 0-54 are the ones you should eat the most of. 55-79 should be used in moderation and over 80 only very rarely as a special treat. Check the web for list of foods and their glycemic index. Diabetics have to control and watch their carb intake to control their diabetes, everyone concerned with their health should be paying attention to it also to prevent becomking diabetic. Yous could certainly use a glucometer to measure your blood glucose an hour after eating to see what you blood sugar is doing but things can change very rapidly and you might miss it, and I think you would tire quickly of poking yourself with the lancets to check it. It's easier, and just as affective to change your diet and see how you feel, energy level, cravings etc....there is a test that your MD can do to check your average blood glucose over some period of time but I don't know what it is in human medicine. In veterinary medicine it is a fructosamine level. Try to eat your body wt in protein daily. Limit your carbs to low glycemic index foods that are veggies. Watch fruit as they break down quickly into sugar. I could go on and on but I hope this helps you understand the mechanism of this better so that you can make better food chooses. Good Luck!:flowerforyou:

the bld tester is to show how much sugar is in your bld, i am a type 1 diabetic have had it most of my 40 yrs, and not sure wether you live in the states or not but here in canada we measure our bld by a reading of 7 or under,,,,if its a high number say 12 to 15 then you have too much sugar in your system and your pancreas isnt creating enough insulin to push this sugar thru your system and break it down, so all that excess sugar gets stored in your cells, and since its not being broken down and moved properly thru your body it will turn to fat and be stored as fat. hope that helps

also to avoid sugar insulin spikes you have to be careful with what you eat, stay away from the white stuff ie flour bread rice etc you also have to watch the amount of carbs you eat as well as these can also spike your sugar levels, for me i cant have a large orange at one time because of the natural sugars in it.....

Yes, you can monitor your blood sugar level with a glucometer. They are inexpensive and can be purchased at any drugstore. However, the test strips run about $1 a piece and you need a prescription from your doctor for them. I doubt that your insurance would cover it if you are not diabetic. You will use about 3-5 test strips a day.

Research 'diebetic diet' and it should tell you lower your carbs (not eliminate them all together), balance carbs with protein, eat 3 meals and 2-3 snacks (eating every 2-3 hours), and exercise.

Good luck!

By the way, I had gestational diabetes with my last preganancy and I lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks after starting the 'diabetic diet' and didn't gain any more during my pregnancy. I'm following the same plan now and I've lost 18 pounds.

Here is a good read. Liver Dumps http://ezinearticles.com/?Understanding-Liver-Dump-Or-Dawn-Phenomenon-in-Diabetes&id=2422851

I am type II diabetic and before my workouts I eat carbs to prevent liver dumps. Typically through Whey Protein. It has worked for me but still get some Dawn Phenomenon in the mornings.