Comments on: And Another Day of a Reactive Hypoglycemia Diet

By: Ashley

Ashley — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:22:07 +0000

This is very interesting. I struggled with my symptoms weekly as well and for other reasons decided to go vegetarian a couple of months ago and haven’t had ONE single crash/attack since. It’s really amazing. I was never the most diligent person when it comes to researching/treating my issue, so I wasn’t aware that it might help and couldn’t explain why it did; I am just so grateful to not have to worry about it. I used to think that protein helped when I was crashing. I would literally crave meat and treat a crash with some protein…so much so that I was really worried about how my body would react when I cut it out. I am still shocked.

By: Lorna

Lorna — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 13:07:08 +0000

I too am vegan and hypoglycemic and am really struggling to get my health on track. I’m not having as many “reactive” symptoms anymore, but my everyday symptoms have not gotten any better (I’m exploring the possibility that there is really more going on than just hypoglycemia).
I’ve read several books and been to see a dietician and was surprised by your claims that being vegan actually helps you control your symptoms. I’ve been led to believe that it is my vegan diet that has contributed to the problem- in other words, because a vegan diet is naturally high in carbs, it causes more crashes in blood sugar, even if those carbs are complex. Don’t get me wrong, I was hypoglycemic long before being vegan, but being vegan makes it much more challenging to control. I’m going to keep trying though.
The thing that everyone touts as a “cure” for hypoglycemic symptoms is protein, but more specifically the ratio of protein to carbs. It is true that a vegan diet contains more than adequate protein, however, if you look at the nutritional breakdown of those protein foods, most are higher in carbs than protein. The dietician said you want to be looking for as close to 1:1 as possible. Beans have at least a 2:1 (carb to protein) ratio. Nuts are usually pretty close to equal. Veggies and grains are mostly carbs, while tofu is mostly protein. From this, you can see that if you are eating a meal that contains beans, rice and vegetables, even though you may have plenty of protein there, it’s still way too high on the carbs. In order to try to balance things out, sprinkling seeds/nuts on the meal or nibbling a few after a meal can help. I have no intention of becoming a different person and giving up being vegan because of this condition, but I have personally found that it seems to be what is suggested over and over. I will continue my challenging battle and hopefully find a healthy vegan balance that works.

On another note, I personally found your article about why a vegan diet works for reactive hypoglycemia and found it to be most irrelevant. Diabetes and hypoglycemia can be related, but are 2 different disorders that occur from very different causes in the body. Both are related to insulin, but very different mechanical processes at the cellular level. The article talked about preventing diabetes and other health concerns- info most vegans already know. It didn’t mention at all why or how being vegan would actually help you control hypoglycemia (that is not diabetes related).

By: Steph Kenrose

Steph Kenrose — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 13:45:27 +0000

Daniel,
I’m currently researching an article (keep an eye out for it this week) that will answer your question in full. But the short answer is, it isn’t about cutting meat out but rather replacing meat with vegetable-based proteins (like lentils and beans).
Stephanie

Update: I just posted the article. You can see it here: why a vegan diet works for reactive hypoglycemia.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:59:55 +0000

Steph, what’s the physiological biochemical reason for the positive effect of a vegetarian diet on hypoglycemia? Vegetarianism is about the exclusion of meat hence protein while hypoglycemia is about carbohydrates. I can’t see the link. Thanks