Control Your Blood Sugar With…Coffee?

Filed under: Causes | 4 Comments »

My blood sugar tanked yesterday for no good reason at all. I micro-studied my diet for the last few days to try and identify the culprit. I failed and thought it was just a “blip”–one of those blood sugar moments that has no cause. I was wrong: I found my solution, this morning, in my (decaf) coffee cup.

I gave up drinking caffeine about six months ago although I drink 4-5 cups of decaf per day. Along with my health eating regime, which includes lots of fruits and veggies, my blood sugar has stabilized. This week, I’ve felt sick and ill in the afternoons. My fingers were ice cold and I knew it was blood sugar. I blamed stress, or thought I’d forgotten a supplement or two (I take probiotics, an adrenal supplement and caprylate). I hadn’t.

There's something in decaf that controls blood sugar: just don't ask the researchers what it is.

This morning, I went to make my third cup of Seattle’s Best Organic Decaf Coffee. I read the package as I waited for the coffee to brew and realized it was full caffeine and not decaf. Unknown to me, I had been consuming caffeinated coffee all week, since grocery shopping on Monday. I had my answers…caffeine was tanking my blood sugar.

Of course, I wasn’t about to take my own word for it and pronounce to the world that caffeine tanks your blood sugar and decaf is good for you. So I did a little research. I didn’t have to go very far. This article highlights a recent study on diabetes sufferers. The conclusion:

There’s something in decaf coffee that helps to control blood sugar
There’s something in caffeine that stops your body from regulating sugar properly

There you have it. I’m going back to drinking four cups of decaf a day, but this time, I’m going to triple check the package.

The Reactive Hypoglycemia Cookbook Cover

Featured on :

Buy now for 75% off this month only »

Feel like yourself again,
learn to live well with
Reactive Hypoglycemia

4 Comments on “Control Your Blood Sugar With…Coffee?”

1 Jennifer Davis said at 8:08 am on November 17th, 2010:
Hi Stephanie! Thanks once again for posting your findings! You have helped me through such a roller coaster ride. I have prayed for you often and I know that it has been such a tough issue to deal with. There have been times that I didn’t want to get out of bed because I didn’t know what kind of day it would be.Obligations have kept me from doing that, and that has probably been a good thing. I do believe caffeine makes things worse because it triggers adrenal glands just like stress does.I stay away from caffeine as well. Has your probiotics helped? I was thinking about getting some. I had went to a doctor and he actually prescribed me Acarbose which is used for blood sugar spikes. At the time I wasn’t consuming enough carbs for that to even help. I have been eating much more and that triggers PVCs but my brain seems to function better with more fuel.Anyway, I would love to converse with you through email and I will continue to pray that we get some answers and guidance through this. Blessings, Jennifer
2 Steph Kenrose said at 8:27 am on November 21st, 2010:
Jennifer,
I believe that the probiotics have helped, along with an anti-yeast med (caprylate) and digestive enzymes. But before you go out and order all of that, please consider finding a naturpath and working with them. It was a systemic yeast infection that tanked my blood sugar but there were also other contributing factors (caffeine, stress, lack of exercise, wheat/gluten). My doctor was a miracle worker and managed to identify every cause.
You can contact me at: info@reactivehypoglycemia.info.
Best,
Stephanie
3 Darlene Machiskinic said at 12:07 pm on July 6th, 2011:
Hi i am Darlene , my husband William suffers from reactive hypoglycemia and he is trying to find ways to control his blood sugar and he tends to get extremely frustrated.So if they are any ways that you could help us out we would really apprecaite it. Thank you and have a good day
4 Steph Kenrose said at 12:05 pm on July 11th, 2011:
Hi, Darlene,
Take a look around the site — I suffered from RH for years before finally figuring it out. Everything I know I wrote down. Hope you find something to help your husband out.
Stephanie