Читать книгу Low Blood Sugar: The Nutritional Plan to Overcome Hypoglycaemia, with 60 Recipes - Martin Budd N.D. D.O. - Страница 19

Faulty nutrition is the single most important cause of low blood sugar. The modern Western diet, with its high sugar content, refined starches, artificial additives and low nutritional value, provides an appropriate formula for causing blood sugar imbalances. If we also consider the modern habits of snack meals, frequent coffees and the excessive use of drugs, alcohol, cola drinks and tobacco, it is no surprise that the incidence of high and low blood sugar conditions is increasing at an alarming rate.

As poor diet is a key factor in the development and maintenance of low blood sugar, it is obviously an important clue in the diagnosis of the problem. I find in practice that most low blood sugar sufferers have characteristic dietary habits that provide important leads to the cause of their symptoms. It must be remembered that, for these patients, meals are not simply a question of choice, for the pattern of meals and type of food is strongly influenced by the underlying low blood sugar. Sugary foods and drinks and caffeine-rich or alcohol-rich drinks all provide temporary relief to the symptoms of low blood sugar. Not surprisingly, the diet reflects this and is usually high in these items and in particular there may be cravings for sweet foods far in excess of normal consumption. One of the most significant clues is a person’s sugar intake – two to three teaspoonfuls in either tea of coffee is not unusual. Smoking can also be a clue, as many tobacco addicts experience low blood sugar symptoms.

Because our blood sugar is linked to the appetite, a frequent symptom is hunger. This is not a general feeling of hunger, but more often a craving for a certain type of food. However, the low blood sugar patient, because of the symptoms produced by his condition, often cannot face food. This usually occurs at breakfast time as the blood sugar drops overnight. The thought of breakfast can make a person with low blood sugar feel physically sick. Usually a coffee or cigarette starts the day, and the inevitable ‘high’ provided by the caffeine produces a mid-morning ‘low’ as the blood sugar drops again. So the day consists of small frequent ‘shots’ of sugar or caffeine to maintain the energy level and the concentration at a tolerable level.

When the blood sugar has sunk to a low level, usually around 3–5am, the low blood sugar sufferer often wakes with stomach cramp, indigestion or just hunger – for this reason they are often night nibblers.

The two diets listed below are those of two patients seen in my practice. Every characteristic of the typical eating habits associated with low blood sugar can be seen here.

Example 1

Breakfast: Cereal with sugar and milk, 4–5 cups of tea with 1 teaspoonful of sugar in each cup

11 am: Tea with a biscuit or cake

Lunch: Sandwich with tea and biscuit

4pm: Cake with tea

Dinner: Meat and vegetables with sweet dessert, cup of tea

Supper: Crackers, cheese, biscuits and tea

Tea: 12–14 cups daily

Coffee: rarely

Cigarettes: 20–30 a day

Sweets and chocolate: 100–175g (4–6oz) a day

Alcohol: 20–25 units weekly

Example 2

Breakfast: 2 coffees with 2 1/2 teaspoonfuls of sugar in each

11am: Coffee with biscuits

Lunch: Toast with egg or cheese, 2 coffees

4.30pm: Cake with coffee

Dinner: Meat and vegetables followed by coffee

Supper: Cake with coffee

Tea: nil

Coffee: 8–10 cups daily

Cigarettes: 10–12 a day

Sweets and chocolate: 50g (2oz) a day

Alcohol: 15–18 units weekly