Diabetics!!! What do you Eat when sugars are Low??

have had this happen to me.. try having a hand full of nuts or a small glass of orange juice.. it will bring it right up..you dont need to have candy or anything like that anything you eat will bring it up.

I'm not diabetic, but I dated a guy once whose dad was. Twice I watched my ex's family force feed his dad icing. They just kept a small tub of icing in the fridge and brought it out when needed. Was pretty scary both times I saw. His dad was very confused and wanted nothing to do with eating icing.

Orange juice is great.. I carry Glucose tablets and usually 2 to 3 of them get me up to where i need to be..

banana, honey, apple juice, glucose tablets (grape is my favorite)

have had this happen to me.. try having a hand full of nuts or a small glass of orange juice.. it will bring it right up..you dont need to have candy or anything like that anything you eat will bring it up.

A handful of nuts is not going to bring it up...some studies have shown that they are good for helping to stabilize blood sugars in general, but not to help lows. It is not anything you eat that will bring it up, it is specifically sugar, preferably in an easily digestible form (juice, icing) in the short term and carbs/protein (hence why so many diabetics are recommended to keep peanut butter crackers, etc on hand) to stabilize it beyond the quick fix.

A Hi-C juice box usually does the trick for me! I drink them before workouts if my level isn't high enough for cardio, too!

All you need is 4 oz of grape juice (has huge amount of sugar and gets in the blood stream fast) Any more than this just sends you over the top.

I keep glucose tabs with me at all times - by my bed, in the kitchen, in my car and hubby's truck, in my purse. I KNOW in advance how many I have to take to bring my blood sugar up, which IMO is critical because 1 - It's hard for me to think about what to eat when I'm low. 2 - it's easy to go into binge mode and way over eat which just leads to more crazy swings.

The glucose tabs are great for me because I'm not tempted to snack on them. No way could I keep a tub of cake icing around!

Not diabetic but I do have some insulin resistance (or out of whack insulin production - not sure and I'm not going to spend money on a doctor to find out. I would rather gather my info from diabetics themselves - it's a disease that the patient has to manage - not the doctor) and I've done a lot of research - my father is on dialysis and my older brother has it. I didn't catch the damage in time but it won't go any further.

Got this off of Blood Sugar 101 (website - great one. Also has a book out but everything is on the website):

Keep some Smarties around. 5 Smarties (or 2 Sweettarts) will give you 2g of glucose and that will raise your blood sugar 10mg. They are made out of dextrose which is just glucose. It will go straight to your bloodstream.
IMO, though, I don't understand why you would eat the very thing that caused the crash (glucose). Are you still told to eat a high-carb diet? Unfortunately, when your glucose metabolism/insulin productin is broken all carbs, even whole grains, are going to mess up your blood sugar numbers. I'm learning that. I have to be careful with healthy starches, too (like sweet potatoes).

I've had a number of times when my bs dropped into the low 50s. I eat some protein and fat (fat will make you feel better and your body will convert protein into glucose. It does take longer so you would have to just deal with the nasty feeling. But if you need to bring it up fast then I think the Smarties would work.

I want to say if you wait long enough your body will take care of it, but I'm not sure if that can apply to a diabetic.

Although I am not diabetic I am a nurse and look after many diabetic who have unstable blood sugar. 50 mls of lucozade is sufficient or apple juice, retest after 30 mins and repeat if sugar has not sufficiently risen. Anymore than this can cause a hyperglycaemic reading because the pancreas tends to rebound from a hypo.

Not diabetic but I do have some insulin resistance (or out of whack insulin production - not sure and I'm not going to spend money on a doctor to find out. I would rather gather my info from diabetics themselves - it's a disease that the patient has to manage - not the doctor) and I've done a lot of research - my father is on dialysis and my older brother has it. I didn't catch the damage in time but it won't go any further.

Got this off of Blood Sugar 101 (website - great one. Also has a book out but everything is on the website):

Keep some Smarties around. 5 Smarties (or 2 Sweettarts) will give you 2g of glucose and that will raise your blood sugar 10mg. They are made out of dextrose which is just glucose. It will go straight to your bloodstream.
IMO, though, I don't understand why you would eat the very thing that caused the crash (glucose). Are you still told to eat a high-carb diet? Unfortunately, when your glucose metabolism/insulin productin is broken all carbs, even whole grains, are going to mess up your blood sugar numbers. I'm learning that. I have to be careful with healthy starches, too (like sweet potatoes).

I've had a number of times when my bs dropped into the low 50s. I eat some protein and fat (fat will make you feel better and your body will convert protein into glucose. It does take longer so you would have to just deal with the nasty feeling. But if you need to bring it up fast then I think the Smarties would work.

I want to say if you wait long enough your body will take care of it, but I'm not sure if that can apply to a diabetic.

We diabetics can't diagnose you and can't advise you without knowing exactly what the problem is. It very much is a patient-managed disease.... all patients are different. What works for me may not have the same effect on you, Suzie Cue, or anyone else. Also, if you feel that you're having issues, get it checked out by a doctor. There are many different factors that can send insulin and glucose out of whack. It may not be just a diabetes thing. While yes, it's a patient controlled disease, you can't control anything if you don't know what point you're starting from. I used to be simply reactive hypoglycemic. I changed my diet, started exercising, and started watching what I ate and WHEN I ate more carefully. My A1C should have either stayed the same, or went down. It didn't. It ballooned out and I became a full blown diabetic--my doctor and I were both shocked. The body is weird, and when you think it's doing one thing, it could be doing something completely different. Get it checked out so you at least know where to start in terms of your body.

My late bride was a type1. We always had small hard candies close by. She would have one and the increase took about 10 minutes.

Here is what is on the Diabetes.org site:
Foods with 15 grams carbohydrates:
•4 oz (1/2 cup) of juice or regular soda
•2 tablespoons of raisins
•4 or 5 saltine crackers
•4 teaspoons of sugar
•1 tablespoon of honey or corn syrup

I find 4ozs of apple juice do the trick for me(measured} You are supposed to follow the 15 min rule but sometimes it takes 30 min to come up & every 15 min you can overtreat & end up with a high rebound. I used to eat (or gobble) anything & everything around me until the symptoms subsided Fother diabetics truly understanriend me if you like. Only other diabetics truly understand what we deal with from day to day & we can encourage & support each other.

Diane

I know a lot of people who use smarties. I was on insulin while I was pregnant and I used OJ, glucose tabs, and hard candy.

While nuts are great for keeping me from having high BS in the morning it won't do much in an emergency. Although often, when I go low I like some protein once I take care of the initial reaction.

If you continue to have problems, you might want to really look at how much insulin you are using. If you have become more active and/or are watching your carbs more it can alter the amounts your body needs. I keep hoping that if I lose the few extra pounds that it will magically control my BS. The website Blood Sugar 101 has lots of great info on controlling your BS.

I wish they would put me on insulin. I shoot way up overnight if I even look at a piece of bread or sometimes just because my body feels like it. I had to take a final last night and super low carb makes me kind of drifty so I ate a couple pieces of wheat bread yesterday and now I'm paying for it. Sadly, intense exercise also raises my BS but makes me need carbs and I just started doing 30 Day Shred. diabetes really sucks and what works for me doesn't necessarily work for you and we all have to just keep trying to find our own balance.

Diabetes support groups on MFP:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/search?error_user_id=1362324&error_username=yesthistime&order=0&page=2&phrase=diabetes