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Old 11-05-2011, 04:16 PM   #1  
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Default Hypo food and calorie counting.

Morning lovelies,

Quick question. Do you count the food taken when your hypoglycemic to bring you back up within your daily calorie count? I've not been doing so, but it suddenly occurred to me that it had huge amounts in them.
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Old 11-05-2011, 05:16 PM   #2  
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Usually yes. I might not count a single hard candy (5 to 15 calories), which can bring my blood sugar back into a normal enough range that I have time to eat a regular meal, which I also count.

Blood sugar really has nothing, or very little to do with how many calories you burn, so I'm not sure what you mean by

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food taken when your hypoglycemic to bring you back up within your daily calorie count?

I assume you mean food taken to bring your blood sugar back into a safe range.

Your blood sugar can drop from eating too little, but eating only raises your blood sugar, it doesn't negate the calories. They still count, but there's a bigger issue here, and that's the hypoglycemia itself.

If you're experiencing hypoglycemic episodes more than once or twice a month, you probably should talk to your doctor or diabetes educator about it (if you haven't already).

I know it can be more difficult to manage blood sugar control if you're insulin dependent (I'm type II and only on metformin - so I usually only get hypoglycemic episodes if I skip or greatly delay meals, and exercise can make me more susceptible if I'm eating smaller meals), but preventing low blood sugar, is much safer than treating it.

I know I'm probably stating the obvious, and you probably know this and are taking the sensible precautions. However, it's easy to get careless about blood sugar control. I fell into a habit of skipping and delaying meals and snacks as long as I could, and then would find myself in an emergency situation, and I'd panic. I'd also use the hypoglycemic episode as justification to eat something with far more carbs than necessary, when a more sensible meal would have done just as well.

Often the "emergency" was entirely preventable. My husband sat me down one day, and told me he was worried that I was "setting myself up" for these emergencies, in order to justify eating things I usually avoided.

He may have been right, or maybe I just fell into a bad habit. Either way, I had to plan better to avoid the hypoglycemic episodes.

Lack of planning, still is sometimes an issue - but I've learned to recognize the symptoms earlier so that I don't have to eat a very high-carb food to address the problem, I just have to eat something sensible (which I do count).

Most of the time, even with a hypoglycemic episode, I don't have to eat anything "off plan" I just have to eat from my normal food budget (I use an exchange plan. So I can use one of my fruits or starches, for example).

I do try to pair higher carb exchanges with protein and/or fat, because eating that way seems to control blood sugar levels longer. Eating high sugar or high starch foods alone tends to make me more vulnerable to blood sugar control problems.
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Old 11-06-2011, 12:19 AM   #3  
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Hi kaplods, thanks for replying so fast.

Also, sorry for such a nonsensical question. Serves me right for typing away on the iPhone when I'm low.

Just clarifying, I'm a type 1. This means that unfortunantely, low blood glucose levels often happen more frequently, and more severely than type 2. I'm on an insulin pump which gives me huge ammounts of flexibility where food is concerned. The trade off for such an intensive and controlled regime though is that it is very easy to drop.

I don't like hypo food, and would never want to eat them usually. (since I was 12, one of my hypo awareness triggers is nausea. I've managed to associate the glucose tablets and jelly lollies with this feeling, so even thinking about them makes me feel Ill. )

I was concerned that if I wake up with a low bsl, which I then need to treat, should I be counting the glucose tablets or lollies towards my calorie count.
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Old 11-06-2011, 06:15 AM   #4  
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The simple answer is "Yes". Why not?
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Old 11-06-2011, 07:05 AM   #5  
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It was something the diabetes educator told me not to do back when I wasn't trying to lose weight (I've always been on a calorie counting diet, if not necessarily a controlled calorie diet). I was just wondering if it was a game changer when trying to lose weight when on a calorie controlled diet. I wasn't certain of the relationship between the calories from the sugar, and calories overall.

(Mainly because my understanding was that the energy from the lollies or whatever would go straight to the bloodstream, and that the calories from it would be expended in simply raising it to the normal level. Not that they would simply disappear in bringing it to the normal level, but the energy from the sugar would be somehow transformed into the blood sugar. This is sounding more convoluted and nonsensical when I write it out , it made sense in my head. Maybe I should stop now.)
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Old 11-06-2011, 07:14 AM   #6  
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I understand the theory but would not strain my brain over it.

By the way, I love the nickname although I've never seen a dirty bluebird although I have seen a dirty blue flick or so in my life.
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Old 11-06-2011, 02:26 PM   #7  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dirtybluebird View Post
It was something the diabetes educator told me not to do back when I wasn't trying to lose weight (I've always been on a calorie counting diet, if not necessarily a controlled calorie diet). I was just wondering if it was a game changer when trying to lose weight when on a calorie controlled diet. I wasn't certain of the relationship between the calories from the sugar, and calories overall.

(Mainly because my understanding was that the energy from the lollies or whatever would go straight to the bloodstream, and that the calories from it would be expended in simply raising it to the normal level. Not that they would simply disappear in bringing it to the normal level, but the energy from the sugar would be somehow transformed into the blood sugar. This is sounding more convoluted and nonsensical when I write it out , it made sense in my head. Maybe I should stop now.)

I think the rules may be slightly different for you, which is why I think it's a question for your diabetic educator, rather than a public forum - because few people are going to be in your exact situation (and what they are or aren't doing may not be the best choice for you, or even for them).

I would think it would be especially important for you to consult your doctor and diabetic educator before making any changes to your diet, because it can change your insulin needs as well.

I know when my husband was on daily insulin (not a pump), he found it very difficult to manage his diet as strictly as he needed to. If he didn't eat enough, he'd face low-blood sugar, and if he ate too much, he'd face high-blood sugar - and it was a tightrope he couldn't walk well. He found it extremely difficult to lose weight, either way. It's one of the reasons he refuses insulin (he won't listen to anyone on the subject, which is unfortunate. On the plus side, he has been able to lose weight and improve his blod sugars with diet, I'm just afraid that it's not enough).

I also dated a boy in high school who would "play" with his diet and insulin to do what he wanted. He'd deliberately under-dose his insulin to lose weight, and he'd skip meals until he was hypoglycemic to justify eating fast food.


Because there are so many ways people mismanage diabetes, I think this is a question I wouldn't trust to random people. I'm not saying that anyone who replied would be so careless or ignorant of the subject, but because they could be, and you'ld have no way to tell - it makes more sense to ask someone who knows diabetes and your specific situation better, such as your endocrinologist or diabetes educator.
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Old 11-07-2011, 03:39 AM   #8  
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Fair enough!

Either way, it's a difference of about fifty calories, so it's hardly enough to break the bank so to speak. I was just curious.

And thanks Ruth I don't think I've ever seen a dirty bluebird either...
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Old 11-12-2011, 06:54 AM   #9  
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I used to count food for hypos however I thought about it and now I dont im type one and sometimes hypos happen. Just try something healthy for when you have a hypo I drink juice works quickly and isnt too bad as no high fructose corn syrup
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