Hi all,

Long story but my doc has advised that I up my carbs a bit due to getting insane sugar cravings with my reactive hypoglycemia. Basically I am not eating enough carbs, she reckons, to give my body a signal that it has it's carbs and can stop craving.

I had been eating 20-60g of carb a day and the carbiest things I ever had were cauliflower, eggplant/aubergine, a few berries etc. No grains, root vegetables or anything like that.

She's not saying to go back to white bread or anything, but she suggested I do have a slice of rye/wholegrain bread or half a sweet potato or a bit of quinoa with my meals. Hmmm I find this scary after eating so low carb for so long. And I'm NOT going to eat the 50g per meal she suggested - waaaay too much for me! But the sugar cravings at the moment are insane so I have to try something at least.

Any tips? She suggested if i'm not keen on adding back grains, I go for root veg first. What do you think? Has anyone done anything like this? Is there a diet that focuses on the sort of thing I need that I could look up for more info?

Thanks,
K x

I'm not an expert or anything, but do you take any probiotics at all? I've read that candida overgrowth in our guts often causes uncontrollable cravings. Having said that, I have whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter almost every morning and I do think it helps me not crave carbs/sugar too much. I also eat a square of 85% dark chocolate if I want sweets. Not sure if you can have that with your medical condition, but if you can maybe try that and see if you are okay craving-wise. I'm kind of in the mindset that if you are craving foods that badly, something about your diet is wrong, regardless if you are losing weight or not. Good luck!

Hi MissLori,

Thanks for your reply. I'm only 31 and take care of myself these days - I don't know what I'd get candida overgrowth from?? What causes it? I do have live yoghurt from time to time but I tend to overeat on it I also overeat on peanut butter I hate dark chocolate but I reckon I could prolly still overeat on it once I started if it has any sugar at all - haha, I am a hopeless case! TBH, I don't want to eat treats at all - I want to NOT want them.

I agree that if you have major cravings something is amiss.

I tried wholewheat bread yesterday but my belly blew up like a balloon, so I'm not doing that again! Today I have had a bit of rye cracker, some carbier veg and some oatbran - no cravings so far but I feel so funny going up to 100g carbs! And I look fat

Sigh - I'm sure there must be more experiences similar to mine out there??

K x

I follow Jan Kwasniewski for 50-ish net grams of carbs per day, from roots and fruits and veg. He even says starch is best and fiber can be kept at a minimum. Can you say potato? yum. It is marvelous and I never ever have reactive hypoglycemia which I used to have and hate with a passion.

Lutz's Life Without Bread is another plan where you can have 60-72 net grams of carb per day, even grains, but you limit carbs per meal.

How much protein and fat are you eating? I can get reactive hypo from too high of protein and too low of fat. I do well on 65g of protein per day and over 100g of fat (I am 5'2").

i get reactive hypo if I have over 35g of protein per meal.

Hi Seejay - thanks that's really helpful. I'll look some of those things up. I have no idea of general protein or fat intake but it has generally been high fat up until recently.

Some of these plans sound like the Insulin Resistance Diet priciples, which is what I'm considering doing. 15g carb per meal/snack, balanced with at least 7g protein to stop insulin spikes.

Yes IR Diet sounds nice too but I never tried it. It came out when I was trying other things.

Good luck!!

has anyone tried the go diet? i have been on weight watchers for 2 months and with great difficulty have lost 10 pounds. it h asslowed down to maybe 1 pound a week now andi am ready to try lowcarb. evidently go diet is 60 per day.

Never heard of the 'go diet' - any more info?