DIET
FOR HYPOGLYCAEMIA
The diet for controlling hypoglycaemia is designed to stabilise blood glucose levels. Everyone has to find out their individual tolerance level for various foods. One thing is absolute, for everyone: no sugar or alcohol.To begin with:
Eat something containing protein every 2 to 4 hours. You should have three meals, with three snacks in between. The meals should be smaller than usual. The snacks need not be much: a small piece of cheese with a wholemeal cracker; a couple of mouthfuls of sugarfree peanut butter; half a tuna sandwich; some raw nuts and seeds; chicken with salad or cooked vegetables.
As time goes by, you can try leaving it longer between meals - you have to check how you feel. If symptoms return, revert to the original diet.
Eliminate honey and sucrose (that's the sugar you buy in bags.)
Eliminate added sugars. Sugar is added to most of the following products: breakfast cereals, baked beans, sweetcorn, processed meals, frozen meals, microwave meals, cook-in sauces, tinned foods, packet ham, luncheon meat, pate, salami, smoked salmon, mayonnaise, french dressings, salad cream, tomato ketchup, pickles, chutneys, breaded scampi, and even potato and savoury pancakes.
Be obsessive about reading labels. Don't eat anything containing glucose, sucrose, dextrose, sorbos, manitol, hexitol, sorbitol, maltodextrin, corn syrup, cane sugar, brown sugar, muscovado sugar, demerara sugar, or honey.
Eliminate all white refined flour products. This means no white bread, rolls, pasta or rice. Find a source of wholemeal bread (check the ingredients for sugar and make sure it is wholemeal not just "brown" bread.) Eat only brown rice and wholemeal pasta.
Eliminate caffeine. People differ in their tolerance of caffeine. Beginners should cut it right out. When blood glucose levels are stable, it can be introduced experimentally to gauge ones reaction.
At first, eliminate fruits. When blood glucose is stable, introduce one piece of fruit per day, preferably not grapes or bananas, which have the highest fructose concentration.
The same goes for potatoes. Eliminate till stable then reintroduce experimentally. By now, some of you are screaming: "so what the hell can I eat?"
Meat, fish, eggs, cheese, salads, fresh vegetables, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds, Ryvita, rice cakes, Marmite, home-made sauces using tomatoes, herbs, and/or curry spices, yoghurt. Learn to make your own pizzas and cheese scones using wholemeal flour. Make your own salad dressings and mayonnaise - it's really easy! Use Fruisana, (granulated fructose), in a mug of hot milk and cocoa powder, to make your own hot chocolate. For more information click here .