I tend to chew gum when that candy basket feeling hits me. :)

You might want to look at the plan I'm doing, it seems fairly close to what you are eating.

The thing that you could add (whether you try Dukan or not) is oat bran - not oat meal. A small amount has some carbs but not that many and it's low in calories and high in fiber and REALLY fills you up, withouth the after-carb crash. I have 2 tbs each morning - you can either make a pancake out of it with an egg and some fat free yogurt, or you can make a porridge with hot water, sweetener and cinnamon or other spices. I have several people I know who aren't doing the Dukan Diet but who picked up eating these from me and are very happy about it.

You know, it strikes me as ironic. You are saying that you don't eat plain oatmeal because your blood sugar drops out the bottom (and I know this does happen to some people, even those without PCOS or insulin resistance, etc.). And you don't eat carrots often because they throw your blood sugar off.

So, what is it that eating candy bars does to you?

See what I mean? What would be worse, eating 15 baby carrots, or a couple of Kit-Kats? :eek: 15 baby carrots have 18 grams of carbs and 4 grams of fiber. A SINGLE 1.5-oz. Kit Kat bar has 28 grams of carbs and only 1 gram of fiber.

It seems to me that given a choice, the carrots would be the better way to go!

ETA: I see a lot of folks box themselves into a corner like this. So many reasons that they can't eat so many foods--and then they go off the rails because they can't hack it and eat even worse foods. Plans have to have flexibility if they are going to last long-term.

Jay

There has been a ton of good advice already but since you've mentioned PCOS and no insurance, you might check out the PCOS forums here on 3FCs. There's a lot of really good information there including info on vitamins and supplements that help some with symptoms and blood sugar issues.

My body functions a lot like Kaploids. I'm learning that I will always have to be careful and yes, if I eat some foods that are "bad" for my system, I crash and burn. In fact, I'm restarting after a very long, hard crash.

The important thing is you know it's a problem, you know some of the triggers and can get on the way to fixing or at least minimizing it.

Congrats and good luck on your continued success.

I used to get the sugar crash and shakes if I didn't eat at least every four hours. When I got diagnosed with Hashimotos, an autoimmune hypothyroid disease and started treatment, that went away. So I'm in full agreement that a hormone disorder such as PCOS, or in my case Hashi's, can cause that to happen.

Originally Posted by April Snow:
You might want to look at the plan I'm doing, it seems fairly close to what you are eating.

The thing that you could add (whether you try Dukan or not) is oat bran - not oat meal. A small amount has some carbs but not that many and it's low in calories and high in fiber and REALLY fills you up, withouth the after-carb crash. I have 2 tbs each morning - you can either make a pancake out of it with an egg and some fat free yogurt, or you can make a porridge with hot water, sweetener and cinnamon or other spices. I have several people I know who aren't doing the Dukan Diet but who picked up eating these from me and are very happy about it.

I will look it up, thank you!

Originally Posted by JayEll:
You know, it strikes me as ironic. You are saying that you don't eat plain oatmeal because your blood sugar drops out the bottom (and I know this does happen to some people, even those without PCOS or insulin resistance, etc.). And you don't eat carrots often because they throw your blood sugar off.

Right

Originally Posted by JayEll:
So, what is it that eating candy bars does to you?

Truth? Keeps me full for about 3-4+ hours, surprisingly, with no crash. That's not why I have eaten them, but it's the reaction I have to them. Part of my addiction to cheeseburgers was self-medication for my insulin resistance. They were the only thing that kept me from cold sweats and dizziness. Probably a "hair of the dog" type cycle.

Originally Posted by JayEll:
See what I mean? What would be worse, eating 15 baby carrots, or a couple of Kit-Kats? :eek: 15 baby carrots have 18 grams of carbs and 4 grams of fiber. A SINGLE 1.5-oz. Kit Kat bar has 28 grams of carbs and only 1 gram of fiber.

It seems to me that given a choice, the carrots would be the better way to go!

But I'm not looking for a "well it could be worse!" type food to snack on, I want to eat the best I can. I'm wasn't asking for an excuse to eat candy bars, just confessing I had and wanting to move on. Carrots make me feel like junk, so I will take the peanut butter and celery suggestion, yanno?

Originally Posted by JayEll:
ETA: I see a lot of folks box themselves into a corner like this. So many reasons that they can't eat so many foods--and then they go off the rails because they can't hack it and eat even worse foods. Plans have to have flexibility if they are going to last long-term.

Jay

Eh, I don't feel I've boxed myself into a corner with my diet. I let my boredom and stress/depression take over and I made a very bad string of choices with things that were right in my line of vision. The problem was, I stopped thinking of consequences. I let go of control and took my eyes off my goal.

Originally Posted by XLMuffnTop:
There has been a ton of good advice already but since you've mentioned PCOS and no insurance, you might check out the PCOS forums here on 3FCs. There's a lot of really good information there including info on vitamins and supplements that help some with symptoms and blood sugar issues.

My body functions a lot like Kaploids. I'm learning that I will always have to be careful and yes, if I eat some foods that are "bad" for my system, I crash and burn. In fact, I'm restarting after a very long, hard crash.

The important thing is you know it's a problem, you know some of the triggers and can get on the way to fixing or at least minimizing it.

Congrats and good luck on your continued success.

Thank you, I appreciate it. Good luck to you as well :)

Originally Posted by EagleRiverDee:
I used to get the sugar crash and shakes if I didn't eat at least every four hours. When I got diagnosed with Hashimotos, an autoimmune hypothyroid disease and started treatment, that went away. So I'm in full agreement that a hormone disorder such as PCOS, or in my case Hashi's, can cause that to happen.

:( ugh, glad it's better
I noticed a lot of improvements in my blood sugar issues with the weight loss, I haven't had anywhere near the issues I used to have. It was horrible, I was just too big.

I was never hungry when I was pushing 300lbs, just always...sick. Low blood sugar, high. Now, I actually feel hunger.

I think I need to learn to respond to hunger, and not fear blood sugar issues because they aren't prevalent. Bringing more healthy food to work and keeping my eyes on my goal instead of emotionally eating is going to be my saving grace :p

Thanks for the help, everyone, I appreciate the support.

Originally Posted by :
I think I need to learn to respond to hunger, and not fear blood sugar issues because they aren't prevalent. Bringing more healthy food to work and keeping my eyes on my goal instead of emotionally eating is going to be my saving grace

I think that's a great approach!

I was going to say, if the candy bar keeps you satisfied and doesn't throw your blood sugar off (in whatever way you have been judging that), then it might be more evidence that you're not eating enough complex carbs as part of your food plan. So, I encourage you to take the approach you stated above. :yes:

Jay

Right side of my face trembles some time. I went to a chiropractor and it has increased. I had MRI and CTscan. There is no problem. Has anybody experience it any time? And do you know any cure?

Maybe you should all (at the office) agree to choose a healthier snack/reward for the kids? I'm sure they don't need all that candy either. Stickers might be a better option?? Just a thought.

Puneri...I drink whole milk for trembling. 3 cups every day. It works for me.

I know the temptation, trust me. Except I'm not working right now (I'm a teacher) but I have it at home! Candy and snacks everywhere!

I do what some other posters have said and just drink water when I'm tempted, but that doesn't always get rid of the craving for some CHOCOLATE. This is why I love, love love Fiber One bars. They taste pretty awesome and they have nowhere near the calories of actual chocolate bars. I usually eat them if I have a long wait in between meals or something of that nature (as they're really awesome at filling me up) but sometimes I just get that chocolate craving.

Originally Posted by Panacea86:
:( ugh, glad it's better
I noticed a lot of improvements in my blood sugar issues with the weight loss, I haven't had anywhere near the issues I used to have. It was horrible, I was just too big.

I was never hungry when I was pushing 300lbs, just always...sick. Low blood sugar, high. Now, I actually feel hunger.

I think I need to learn to respond to hunger, and not fear blood sugar issues because they aren't prevalent. Bringing more healthy food to work and keeping my eyes on my goal instead of emotionally eating is going to be my saving grace :p

Thanks for the help, everyone, I appreciate the support.

Hunger and blood sugar issues aren't really two different issues, they're interconnected ones.

When you said that eating carrots make you "feel like junk" but also said that a candy bar keeps you "full for about 3-4+ hours, surprisingly, with no crash, " and also that you were self-medicating your IR with cheeseburgers and candybars, to keep away symptoms like cold sweats and dizziness, I recognized that cycle from my own past. You don't yet understand the best way to keep IR in check. You're following a cycle that seems to work, only because you haven't yet found what works better.

Carrots won't make you ill, if you're eating enough (or if you pair the carrots with some protein or fat). What's happening is that there's sugar in the carrots, but not enough sugar or calories to "fix" the low-blood sugar and ravenous hunger you're experiencing by the time you're eating them.

The candy bars have more calories, fat and sugar (and maybe even a little protein, if they include nuts or peanut butter) it's a "better" fix than just a few carrots, but there are way better fixes.

I used to do this all the time. My idea of clean eating was to starve myself, eating so few calories that my blood sugar would drop quickly. I'd experience all sorts of horrible symptoms - severe headaches, irritibility to the point of irrational anger, even rage, cold sweats, light headedness, severe blinding headaches, nauseau, dizziness, vertigo, even in a few cases actually fainting because of the low-blood sugar and hunger.

Eating sugar instantly made me feel better, but unless I also ate some fat or d protein, I would crash later. In your case, candy is preventing an obvious crash only because of the calories and fat that are coming with the sugar. If you chose a small piece of hard candy instead of chocolate, it's likely you'd feel better for a few minutes, but then would crash and feel even worse than after eating carrots.

You have to find ways to keep your energy and blood sugar up, so that you don't need to self-medicate to prevent or treat the low-blood sugar, extreme hunger from crash dieting.

By waiting too long to eat, you're needing to treat low-blood sugar when it occurs (and the candybar or cheeseburger feels like an instant cure), but you need to prevent the blood sugar drop so that you don't need to treat it.

I know you want to eat the best you can, but avoiding carrots to eat candy is like passing up a nightly glass or two of wine in favor of heroine.

Carrots aren't a better choice than candy IF you wait until you starving and your blood sugar has plummeted to the point that you're experiencing all the ugly symptoms. However, unless you have a carrot allergy, I would suspect that carrots will not make you feel ill if you're eating enough calories, carbs, fat, and protein to prevent the blood sugar crashes that you have been experiencing from carrots (probably because you're waiting too long to eat - waiting until you're weak and wobbly and feel like you "need" a huge carb/fat fix like chocolate or burgers).

It's very likely that you're not eating enough, and that the hunger and blood-sugar drops are making you so fiercely hunger that a little bit of sugar (and nothing else) from the carrots feels worse than candy - but if you react to hunger before it gets unmanageable, you won't find that to be true.


I know you don't have medical insurance, but you really need to see a doctor, and ideally a diabetes and insulin resistance diet educator or dietitian. I'd recommend that you contact your local health department, planned parenthood, charity clinic, walk-in clinics, department on aging and disability resources, WIC (even if you're not eligible for some of these services, the people who work at these places be aware of resources), local hospital social services, or start calling doctors to see if they will do payment plans or cash discounts (many will give a huge discount for paying in cash, so you could save for the appointment).

Metformin did wonders in stabilizing my blood sugar. My doctor said that it might help me lose weight, and it may have a little bit. The biggest difference was in preventing the blood sugar nose-dives that made me feel like I had to self-medicate with fatty, high-carb foods. You still have to be careful of food choices, but it helps prevent the drastic highs and lows.


It's a very cheap drug (it's on Sam's Club's, Walmart's, Target's and many other pharmacy's discount list - usually only $4 per month). If you live near a Sam's Club, you don't need to be a Sam's Club member to use the pharmacy. If you live near a Walmart, Target, K-Mart, Shopco... stop in and ask for a copy of their discount list (sometimes called the $4 list because most of the drugs on it are $4, even though there are also $6 and $9 drugs on the lists too). Take the discount list (or lists) in to your doctor appointment (consider a walk-in clinic if you have to).



Hang in there, the key with blood sugar issues is preventing them - and you prevent them by responding to your hunger with the best choices before it becomes rabid hunger (and best doesn't necessarily mean lowest in calories or carbs and it doesn't necessarily what makes you feel better quickest if you have waited to long and are experiencing rabid hunger). I find small, frequent micro-meals helpful (ideally with protein and a little fat with each). Some people find low-carb, high fat meals helpful. Other people find a Zone or South Beach style diet helpful.

Good luck. I know this may seem overwhelming at first, but take it one step at a time, and I really recommend looking for ways to get that doctor's appointment (and don't assume you can't before checking it out. There may be assistance programs in your area that you're not aware of. Sometimes they can be tricky to find, which is why I gave you several suggestions for finding them - because sometimes even the people who should know about the programs don't know about all of them, so finding them can be a matter of persistence).