Primrose
Raw Newbie
Hello Everyone,
I am trying so very hard to be as raw as I can be. I have been diagnosed by a conventional MD and a Naturopath that I have hypoglycemia. I have been a vegetarian (mostly vegan) for about 12 years and have had ups and downs when it comes to regulating my blood sugar. All the "obvious" stuff is covered: I take enzymes, a high-quality multi that my Naturopath prescribed to me, and probiotics. I exercise. I eat regularly. I avoid alcohol and caffeine for the most part. My body has a terrible time digesting and using food, therefore, I felt that raw would be a good direction for me to go. My body digests fruit on it's own beautifully, except that my blood sugar gets crazy and I get light-headed and shaky. If I add like some nut butter or hemp to the mix, it helps, but does not alleviate the nauseous, light-headedness. I wonder if raw can work for me. I seriously feel light-headed and slightly faint the majority of my waking hours. I eat lots and lots of greens in smoothies and in various dishes. All the conventional info. out there tells me to eat lots of lean protein to help regulate the blood sugar. I don't usually trust conventional info. for obvious reasons, but what I'm doing now is not working either. One last thing-when I eat something higher in carbs, it picks me up and I feel great for a few minutes and then my blood sugar comes crashing down and I feel exhausted (like fruits). Sorry for the long post. I don't know what to do and would love any help. Thanks so much.
Comments
Anyone?? Any suggestions?
I was also diagnosed with hypoglycemia years ago before discovering raw food. But no worries, you can heal yourself! :-)
One of the most important things you can do to overcome your hypoglycemia is to stop eating all hybrid food... bananas, pineapples, carrots, medjool dates, and beets are a few examples. Your liver doesn't recognize hybrid sugars and can't regulate them. They send the glycemic index of the blood shooting sky-high.
So if you are not fully raw already, the first things you want to stop eating are hybrid starchy foods like white or wheat bread, beer, cooked corn of all types, stewed carrots, refined sugar, baked potatoes, white rice, french fries, cookies, potato chips, etc. If you've already totally eliminated these things, next try experimenting with cutting out all hybrid fruit (namely, anything that does not still have seeds can be considered hybrid - seedless grapes, seedless watermelon, etc. Also fruits with non-viable seeds like kiwis.).
If you have any more questions or want more help overcoming your hypoglycemia, feel free to contact me!! anandi@sproutyourself.com
I'm definately no expert on this and have wondered myself how realistic a raw food diet is for hypoglycemics and diabetics! With the smoothies, there seems to be alot of simple sugars that jack your sugar up sky high and don't seem to satisfy hunger for long (most diabetics are advised against alot of fruit, at least at one time). When I worked with an Endocrinologist, he said that a mix of protein and carbs keep the sugar up and stabalize it for longer periods of time (for hypoglycemics, like me). I definately need to research it more, but surely there are carbs and proteins in a well-balanced mix that will keep your blood sugar up and sustain your energy on the raw food diet?