From: bradbury@sftwks.UUCP (Robert Bradbury)
Newsgroups: sci.med.nutrition
Subject: Re: hypoglycemia
Date: 7 Sep 92 20:30:29 GMT
Organization: Softworks Ltd, Seattle, WA

In article <willdye.715404504@helios> willdye@helios.unl.edu (Will Dye) writes:
>really seems to be the sugar.  I can sometimes subsitute beef jerky or nuts,
>but soda is easier to obtain.  I'm 32 now, a bit overweight, and I've been 
>doing this for over fifteen years.  The more I read about hypoglycemia, 
>though, the more I wonder if I should cut out the Coke.

Probably you should switch to diet coke.  There has been recent accumulating
evidence in non-insulin responsive diabetics that one of the things which
happens in people who are overweight is that the fat cells down-regulate
their insulin receptors and as a result do not absorb as much glucose
from the bloodstream.  (This makes sense, if the fat cells are "full"
one would expect them to adapt by becoming less responsive to the signals
which would cause them to accumulate more fat.)  If this is true being
overweight is going to be bad for hypoglycemics as well because your
fat cells will not absorb sugar and your pancreas will secrete even
more insulin when it notices that the sugar level isn't dropping fast
enough.  The excess insulin secretion will eventually get a reaction
from some cells (probably your liver and muscles) which will end up
driving your glucose down to abnormally low levels resulting in the
hypoglycemic "crash".

>
>I recently decided to set up a proper diet & exercise program.  I'm 
>interested in the Caloric-Restriction method of lifespan extension, but 
>I wonder if a possibly-hypoglycemic soda addict can make the transition 
>to a fruits-and-veggies CR diet.  For that matter, hypoglycemia literature 
>says go for the protein, but CR diets say avoid protein.  Any comments 
>or suggestions would be welcome.

You can make any transition you want to provided you either have the desire
or are willing to fool your body.  Many people cannot switch directly from
whole fat milk to non-fat milk due to the taste difference.  The transition
becomes much easier if you make it gradual, mixing the milks 80:20, 50:50,
20:80 over a few months until your taste buds adapt.  I find after years
of drinking non-fat milk that when someone makes me a coffee drink with
even 1% milk that it tastes terrible.   For a person who is hypoglycemic
you can make a transition when you figure out the food and eating pattern
which keeps your blood glucose level tolerable.  I think the hypoglycemic
literature promotes protein because it doesn't directly cause the blood
sugar change that sugars/carbohydrates cause.  The proteins will be gradually
converted to glucose/fatty acids by your liver which results in much more
gradual changes to blood sugar levels.  You can most likely accomplish the
same thing by proper consumption of complex carbohydrates at regular
intervals.  Try the following: Get some of the "Guiltless Corn Chips" which
are baked so they only have 11% of the calories from fat and some whole wheat
bread.  Corn and wheat combined should give a fairly balanced amino acid intake
(the nutritionists can correct me if this is wrong).  Then simply try munching
on the corn chips and bread as you go through the day.  The continual digestion
of complex carbohydrates should result in a fairly level blood sugar intake.
If this sounds boring to you, then buy yourself a home bread maker and
mix up some combo corn/wheat/oat breads with some spices.  Its easy to
dump the ingredients in and take out the bread the next morning and head
off to work with something both healthful and tasty.

As far as CR goes, you still can get many of the benifits of CR on
a high protein diet.  It just that due to the stress caused by high
protein intake your kidneys are likely to give out first and reduce
the overall life-span extension that CR normally provides.
-- 
Robert Bradbury			uunet!sftwks!bradbury

Death is an imposition on the human race, and no longer acceptable
				Alan Harrington, The Immortalist (1969)
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