December 15, 2023

Hypoglycemia

Many compulsive overeaters re trapped in a demanding cycle of binge eating that is precipitated by the physical condition of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.  They may try for years and years, on diet after diet to get their eating "in control" while fighting a losing battle against their hypoglycemic body screaming for something to stop the plunging blood sugar.  This presents a huge barrier to change where other individuals without the disorder make similar changes with relative ease. 

Hypoglycemia is not a disease, it is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism.  In hypoglycemia there are unusually large blood sugar swings and when the blood sugar drops very low it produces the classic symptoms of irritability, mood swings, fatigue, shakiness, sweating, tachycardia (heart palpitations), headaches, a general feeling of unalertness or “spaciness”, sometimes insomnia and, in severe cases, fainting.  

The hypo (low) glycemia (blood sugar) is often precipitated by a high, rapid rise in blood sugar from eating "simple" carbohydrates such as sugar, fruit juice, etc. that results in an overproduction of insulin and an overresponsiveness in pulling the sugar out of the blood and into the cells.  This can result in abnormally low blood sugar approximately 1/2 hour later.  The precipitously low blood sugar also results in the characteristic “cravings” and consequent bingeing behaviors so common in compulsive overeaters.  Many people live their lives trapped in this seemingly unresolvable cycle because they never resolve the hypoglycemia and physical drive to overeat.  It is like knocking their head against the proverbial brick wall if they try to work on emotional issues and food behaviors when the body is screaming for sugar.  We will always have the best results when we begin by resolving physical problems so that we can work on emotional issues and behaviors from a basis of strength which comes with good health and energy.  And while hypoglycemia is not a disease, if left unresolved it can be associated with developing diabetes down the road.  

To make matters worse, the “solution” that Americans have been given for their weight and overeating problem is diets—a plethora of them.  However, weight-loss diets only exacerbate the hypoglycemic overeater’s problems because the calorie deficit chronically reduces blood sugar, setting her up for an even fiercer battle with her own body, often resulting in even stronger cravings and increased bingeing.  In fact, weight-loss diets—especially very low-calorie diets—reduce even normal blood sugars in people without hypoglycemia to below normal levels subjecting even more people to marginal hypoglycemia.  When attempting to overcome compulsive overeating it is always best to resolve (or prevent from happening) hypoglycemia and come from a place of physical health and strength to work on the harder (more painful) emotional and spiritual issues that may be causing the overeating.

There are several actions which an individual can take to minimize or eliminate the symptoms of hypoglycemia:

• Eat 5-6 small snack-type “meals” per day.

• Avoid simple carbohydrates (sugars, refined carbohydrates) and emphasize complex carbohydrates (whole grains, unrefined cereals, rice, pasta, beans, vegees) in the diet.

• Eat whole fruit and eat fruit in combination with other foods.  Fruit is a simple sugar (though better than a candy bar because it is loaded with vitamins and minerals!).  Eating fruit (with skin and fiber) is preferred to drinking juice because the extra fiber helps to modify the rapid rise in blood sugar.  Also, the complex carbohydrate, fiber, protein and fat components of other foods slows the absorption of simple carbohydrates, resulting in a less rapid rise in blood sugar.

• Minimize or avoid caffeine and alcohol.  Both can aggravate the symptoms of hypoglycemia.

• Moderate, consistent exercise is an extremely good defense against symptoms of hypoglycemia if you are eating enough calories and the diet is in balance.  If the diet is too low calorie or not in balance exercise can exacerbate the symptoms of hypoglycemia.

• Never go on a weight-loss program which is less than 1200 calories (preferably not lower than 1500 calories for women, 1700 calories for men).

• A moderate increase in protein (20% calories from protein instead of the normal 10-15% which is physiologically adequate in healthy individuals) and spreading protein out very evenly throughout the day (for example, at least one ounce of protein with each feeding) is particularly helpful to hypoglycemics.  If you experience any symptoms (listed above) you will feel better if you eat some protein.

For help for compulsive overeaters check out the N.E.W. LIFE book:

N.E.W. LIFE (Nutrition, Exercise, Wellness for LIFE):

Biblical support for health and freedom from bondage to food and diets

https://www.newlife4health.com/n-e-w-life-book (print book) 

or                  

https://www.newlife4health.com/n-e-w-life-e-book (e-book)

July 17, 2023

In the 6 months since my previous blog post (see below) the number of Americans who were already suffering from overwhelming numbers of chronic disease has only gotten worse.  The number of Americans with diabetes grew from 34 million to 37 million and the number of Americans with pre-diabetes increased from 88 million to 96 million (most recent statistics from the American Diabetes Association in 2019, there is often a lag time in disease statistics that you see).  And the number of Americans suffering from cardiovascular disease increased from 126 million in 2018 to 128 million in 2020, and the number of Americans with hypertension increased from 116 million to 122 million as reported in the American Heart Association's Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics 2023 Update.

January 19, 2023

The health of America as a nation is not good, and since my original post in 2009 it has only gotten worse.  Americans are suffering an epidemic of lifestyle diseases, largely a result of eating an unhealthy diet in a "land of plenty".  It's been 13 years since I wrote in the original Seed post in 2009 that 24 million Americans had diabetes, another 57 million had "pre-diabetes", and 70 million Americans suffered from cardiovascular disease.  In the 13 years since then those numbers have increased . . . dramatically.  The most recent statistics report that 34 million Americans have diabetes and an estimated 88 million American adults have "pre-diabetes", an increase of 

31 million people for that one lifestyle disease alone!  More than 1 in 6 adolescents aged 12-18 have pre-diabetes too.  The American Heart Association reports that the number of individuals suffering from cardiovascular disease was over 126 million in 2018 (before Covid), an increase of 56 million people for cardiovascular disease.  Given that the U.S. Census Bureau says that the U.S. population only increased by approximately 19 million people in that same time (from 308,745,538 in 2010 to 328,094,843 in 2018), we are clearly going in the wrong direction. Similarly, obesity rates have doubled among adults and more than tripled among children since the 1980s and this trend also continues to go in the wrong direction in the past 13 years.  Presently,      73 percent of adults are overweight or obese (only available statistics from 2018, so who knows what it is now 4 years later).  That number was 67% in 2009, so we have increased from 2/3 to nearly 3/4 of Americans who are overweight or obese.  Nearly 3/4 of Americans!  And this despite massive public health message campaigns, research, and the plethora of diets offered the public as a "solution".  Obviously, the solutions being offered have not worked.

To continue, approximately 15 years ago Type II diabetes, previously known as “adult onset diabetes” due to onset of the disease in adulthood largely as a result of poor lifestyle choices, made a surprise appearance in children which is now common.  Hypoglycemia, a related disorder, plagues the lives of countless millions more adults and is a root physiological contributor for many who struggle with compulsive overeating.  1 in 5 adults in the U.S. die from cardiovascular disease and 47% of US adults have hypertension (116 million people).  About 1/3 of cardiovascular disease deaths occur before age 75. To complicate things further, co-morbidities are no longer unusual.  We are clearly in trouble, and going in the wrong direction.

You might reasonably say, "but we are so health conscious", right?  After all, just look at all the wonderfully boxed healthy products in any grocery store across America.  And everywhere we turn the public health messages educate us.  And diets?  There's a plethora of them--enough to make our collective heads spin.  So where's the disconnect?

As a dietitian working with people to prevent lifestyle diseases since 1987 I have noticed another type of "heart disease", one not accounted for in the statistics cited above, and I think it is growing.  There are two large groups of people who participate in the N.E.W. LIFE program (and I believe represent our culture at large).  About 50% of the people simply do not know what a balanced diet is, no less an optimal one, because there is so much misinformation about nutrition, and because the Standard American Diet is so far from optimal.  Teach them, they have hardly any barriers to change (which totally amazes me), contact them years later and they often have maintained many or all of the changes made. 

However, the other 50ish% of each class comes with an additional component underlying their food behaviors—a very out-of-balance, or outright addictive, emotional component to eating.  Now don’t misunderstand—an emotional component to eating is right and good.  Nutriture and nurture are two God-given roles of food (watch a baby at the breast).  Nurture is not the problem—overnurture is.  And overnurture usually results from undernurture, as with a “good food/bad food” diet mentality and restrictive diets that lead to what I call the “deprivation-rebound overeating” cycle.  The most perfect eating plan on earth is not going to help that 2nd (very large) group of people, because their “problem” is not first and foremost about food, but rather coping with underlying unresolved issues without the aid of food.  In fact, often it will make them feel worse for having “failed” yet another widely-promoted diet or balanced eating plan.  So while the first group of people often say, “I don’t have a relationship with food”, I have never in all my years of teaching ever heard one person complain that I spend about 45% of my time, energy, money, handouts and overheads in the 10-week N.E.W. LIFE program on “relationship with food” issues, because everyone realizes that we would do a huge disservice to a huge amount of people if we do not help individuals who need to deal with this issue.

To make the case even further, many professionals in the field of eating disorders say that one can get better from an eating disorder, but will have to live with the struggle to some degree for the rest of their life.  But I can testify to the fact that I am completely free from a 5-tier, 15 year addiction to food (bingeing 5x/night), diets (perpetual), exercise (3 hours/day), body image and the scale (3x/day).  I can sleep in the same house as Haagen-Dazs ice cream through the night (whereas before I had to keep it out of the house, but would often go out and get it in the middle of the night).  Now I forget to eat in situations that have been far more painful than the ones that had me bingeing for 15 years straight.  I remember when I was facilitating a Christ-centered support/recovery group and I shared a painful situation I was going through, one of the women asked me, “Did you eat?” and I was the most amazed person on earth that I actually forgot to eat!  When God heals He really heals.  Freedom from food/body image obsession is available to everyone.  All agree that the problem involves physical and emotional factors.  However, the spiritual component is just as important as the first two (if not more) and, if left out, the professionals are right--many will only get better, not necessarily free.  True freedom results in being able to grieve the pain of life rather than turning to the “aid” of food to “cope”.  Often that healing requires forgiveness which, without God, is virtually impossible for many people who have experienced so much horrendous offense.

There are a multitude of reasons for our national and individual health problems, so I will cover a multitude of topics in this blog to educate the reader to assist in a healthy lifestyle and relationship with food.  Along the way maybe I'll even have some small part in convincing a healthcare system that prides itself (and has excelled) in acute care (once the problem, which often has been brewing for years, becomes an emergency) that it's way past time to change things and make preventive care at the most basic level (nutrition and activity) the foundation of our healthcare system before it collapses (God forbid) under the enormous financial strain we have put on it.  But even if our healthcare system chooses to be illogical and not make preventive nutrition education/behavior modification a priority (not an afterthought), we still have responsibility as individuals to do so ourselves.  I hope what I share will motivate and encourage the reader to effect any needed change to support good health and wellness for the years ahead.  God knows they might not get easier.