Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

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Thank you paleohacks for this site and thank you Grace for your response post on this subject Aug 5, 2010. That post made me realize what my problem was.

Briefly before I ask my questions. 18 months ago, I was 44 and reaching obese. I could not lose weight and started Crossfitting and went Primal all to find out I was a severe Celiac.After 3 months Primal I shocked the doctor because I reversed my Lipid panel but had high fasting glucose,127.When reviewing my last GTT I had a 142 at 1 hr and a 73 at 2 hours showing I have an issue there. I went strict Paleo January 1, 2011 and finally gave up dairy, condiments and for the challenge gave up alcohol.My morning numbers have not changed, they fluctuate between 110 and 140. My crossfitting is intense now and my recoveries are slow. I do wake in the wee hours sweating but often cold. I am otherwise always under 100 and in ketosis most of the time. I am NOT hungary and don't eat like I did before. I only eat twice a day now and I don't eat as much and am able to go longer periods of time without food.

I have many concerns.....

is this ok? My last A1c was 5.7. I am thinking as long as my morning number is never over 140 I should be ok? isn't it really about the averages? and/or could this go away on its own?
I read that this could be due to hormones or lack of VitD or high6/low 3 issues. a. Is there some hormone testing that would be appropriate? b. should i start taking a D supp right away c. how do you know if you are ingesting the right balance of 6/3 without logging the food?
Could introducing more fasting help?

I really just need a little more help figuring what to do next.Thank you in advance for your responses.

Baglady/Betsey

flag	asked Feb 17 2011 at 2:14 Baglady 121●3

Egk · Answer 1 · 2011-02-17 23:28:32Z UTC

Go over to the bernstein diabetes forum. His eating plan is paleo compatible. Look for info on dawn phenonenon. Also consider possibility of additional food intolerances, trace gluten contamination and or an intolerance to sallicylates. J

Eva · Answer 2 · 2011-02-17 04:32:38Z UTC

Do you know for sure you are not going too low on your blood sugar at night? The waking up sweating thing has me concerned. You could be dropping too low at night causing your liver to dump glucose back into the blood stream which helps your blood sugar go back up. It's a natural survival response, but also can result in too high or higher than normal blood sugars at times. If I were you, I'd do a system of glucose testing called a curve in which you test all day every few hours and even at night. Or at least, the next few times you wake up sweating, go and test right away. Going too low is more dangerous than going too high. Going too high kills you very slowly but going to low can kill you quickly. If you already know you have reactive hypoglycemia than you need to be testing at night until you get this figured out for sure. COuld be you need a protein snack late at night to keep blood sugar up. My advice would be test test test your blood sugar until you now its movements like the back of your hand. And consult with a diabetes expert, not just a general practitioner. Reactive hypoglycemia is tricky and most general practitioners are not equipped to properly treat it.

Also, forget about the paleo recommendation of no snacking. For reactive hypoglycemia, you may have to do it to keep your blood sugar in the safe range. Again, you will have to experiment and test to figure out the right combo of eating that is safest for you and I strongly suggest this be done with the help of a diabetic expert. Paleo is a great first step, and I suspect over the long run, it will help you heal, but this takes time. YOu aren't going to be all better in just a few weeks. It takes months or longer for blood sugar issues to improve and you will need to control any hypoglycemia as well.

You are asking about if your sugars are too high but you need to be sure they aren't too low first. THis is the priority. Only then can you be looking at keeping them less high as well. 140 is pretty good for a diabetic, but I suspect you can gradually do better over the long run and with the right carefully worked out eating regime that will have to be uniquely tailored to you.

Reactive Hypoglycemic

2 Answers