[Riddy]

Another vote for more protein! I'm hypoglycemic too, and have learned the hard way what I can and can't eat. I'm the girl that if I eat a bagel for breakfast, I'm on the floor unconscious by 10am.

For breakfast I'd try a protein shake if you're in a hurry, or eggs. If you're in love with cereal, Kashi GoLean has protein. You might be able to keep having oatmeal if you make it with whole oats or Irish oats, and make it with milk. Maybe add a little peanut butter or nuts on top, and skip the fruit. Maybe you can keep the fruit if you switch to berries - more fiber=less sugar spike.

For portable protein-acious snacks -
Nuts! I still need to buy the 100 calorie packs of almonds - I'm still working on portion control.
Cheese sticks can stand up to a few hours out of the fridge.
Protein bars are easy - Atkins has several "daybreak" bars that have 10 grams of protein and 150-200 calories. Luna protein bars are tasty, too.
Hard boiled eggs
Roasted chick peas - drain & rinse a can of chick peas, spritz with olive oil, season however you like, roast on a cookie sheet for 30-40 minutes at 400 degrees. They rattle when they're done.

You might want to check out the South Beach Diet Section for some more ideas.

Good luck - you've done great so far, now it's just a matter of tweaking to where you feel good.

[SoCalCowgirl]

Thank you so much everyone for the advice! I've really taken it all to heart and decided I'm going to go about changing what I eat. I've also started a food journal this morning to help keep track with what exactly I eat. I do eat instant oatmeal by Active Lifeystyle in the morning which I had this morning. I'm swapping out the half a bluebarry muffin for a banana and added blueberries, cranberries, and strawberries into the oatmeal. I get paid tomorrow so I'll do some shopping then and try the foods that you guys suggested. I really hope I can get this all straightened out before I go back to school in a month, I really don't want to experience what I felt yesterday again.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by SoCalCowgirl

. I'm swapping out the half a bluebarry muffin for a banana and added blueberries, cranberries, and strawberries into the oatmeal.

You're still swapping sugar for sugar. In fact, the blueberry muffin probably at least had some fat and protein in it, if it's made with milk, eggs, and butter or oil in the batter. You might actually find this breakfast sustains you even less than the original, because fat and protein reduce the glycemic load/index of a food (that is fat and protein digest more slowly than carbohydrates - even healthy ones).

I'd suggest that you add some protein and fat, such as from nuts, seeds, nutbutter, milk, yogurt, cheese...

Personally, I like exchange plans, because the structure and food-group orientation of the exchange plan reminds me to include a healthy fat, and at least a couple ounces of healthy proteins at each meal.

[seagirl]

You might try getting some protein powder and mixing that in with your oatmeal. It's a good way to increase your protein while you figure out your meal plans and what works. And I agree with Kplods about adding in some dairy and fattier proteins into your breakfast too keep you going.

[speaknicely]

Oatmeal...blueberry muffin...grapes...all carbs. If I ate that for breakfast I would fall asleep with the shakes an hour later.

I'm not diabetic, but because of my genetics I'm definitely pre-disposed to it. When I eat a lot of protein for breakfast, I'm fine for a few hours. I still have to eat six times a day though or I get hypoglycemic. I realize everyone's mileage varies, but please try a protein-packed breakfast. It might be just what your body needs.

[ValRock]

Ok, you're clearly sensitive to sugars.

You'd probably benefit from an Atkins induction type plan, for a few weeks. Slowly reintroduce carbohydrates, keeping a food journal, and note how you feel. Bananas and oatmeal are not going to help.

[SoCalCowgirl]

I thought I'd give you guy's an update, it's only been two days but I cut out the bars from my diet i.e. snack wells, and fiber bars and I'm already feeling MUCH better, and I've noticed my energy level has picked back up. I've also added more meat to my diet and I think that's helped some as well.

@ valrock- I think I agree with you that I've become sensitive to sugars, maybe it was due to the fact that I litterally lived off of sugars for so long, before my diet over a year ago I only drank Coke, Capri Sun and Orange Juice, never any water. And now that I had cut out all that stuff it seems that now any amount of sugary drink or food that I have affects my system, I never really paid attention to sugars while dieting, just calories, but now I will pay much more attention to the amount of sugar I take in. And I will take a look at the Atkins plan as well, even though I'm now maintaining since reaching goal, it seems that I really need to change practically everything that I eat since becoming much more sensitive to the products in the foods.