THE HIGH AND LOWS OF INSULIN

Do you notice that your blood sugar plunges when you eat healthy meals like salads, berries, nuts, and low carb foods, especially if you take insulin or Daonil?

If you have started modifying your diet because of your weight loss goals or simply because you want to eat healthier so that you can have more energy or better still modify your genes ( so that you may not pass on Diabetes to your kids), chances are that you may notice that your blood sugar drops very low especially if you use insulin or drugs like Daonil.

Now what happens after this scary experience is that you may find yourself taking  soft drink or juice or cake to get back to normal.

If this terrifying experience of hypoglycemia occurs  you then find yourself eating more simple sugars or more starchy carbs (aka more junk food) to stay alive.

In fact the frequent hypos may give you almost normal HbA1c when you check. Giving you and your doctor a false sense of security

This is an extremely dangerous and unhealthy cycle. I call it YO-YO blood sugar control.

 Therefore, you may find yourself eating more junk than you wish and worsening insulin resistance .

It’s a terrible vicious cycle

So at the end of the day, you are eating no vegetables, healthy fats and good protein cause of spikes and dips in blood sugar, missing out on all the healthy good stuff for you.

The effect of this is anxiety, obsession with food, weight gain and mood swings and even fear of going out, travelling etc.

So what is the solution?

Being diagnosed with Diabetes is a privilege. Yes. It makes you more motivated to live healthy. It makes you know more health stuff and makes you highly conscious of your environment. These are good things which we shall cover in subsequent posts.

While insulin is life saver, you know over-dosage can also kill you. I aint mincing words here sorry. So the simple thing to do is this. If you have decided to eat better and work out etc, you may need lower doses of your medication. You obviously know the above has far reaching advantages that is not restricted to great blood sugar control

Talk your doctor about your finding of low sugars and request for a drug adjustment. Also use your common sense. Learn to notice the effect different meals have on your blood sugar and adjust your doses appropriately.

Next week, I shall share 4 recipes you can make with Cocoa powder, so that you don’t have to drink bitter stuff again. This includes how to make yummy mood lifting chocolates at home.