IF and hypoglycemia
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Anonymous
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I am hypoglycemic. I control my blood sugar through a regular diet, no meds or anything.
I've tried IF a few times. Every time I have tried it, I have ended up with blood sugar crashing a few hours after eating my fast-breaking meal. Are any of you hypoglycemic and successfully managing IF? What did you do? |
Anonymous
| Has the meal that you break your fast been very high in carbs? I don’t eat sugar but when I eat a lot (eg, a candy bar) I have what you describe - feel almost high then crash a couple of hours later. |
Anonymous
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Usually, no. I need to keep my blood sugar stable anyhow, so I try to avoid carbs. I try to eat a diabetic diet, in essence, even if I am not diabetic, because a stable diabetic diet helps me avoid crashes.
I feel like IF should help with my hypoglycemia, not hurt, but I think I must be doing something wrong. |
Anonymous
| It just may not work for you. |
Anonymous
| Are you very overweight? Type 2 diabetes? |
Anonymous
| Do you have a medical diagnosis, or are you self-diagnosed? (Hypoglycemia isn't a diagnosis, but a symptom -- and it's often mistaken. You need an actual lab value.) |
Anonymous
| I'm hypoglycemic and cannot fast. Being low carb has helped to even out the blood sugar highs and lows. I still need to eat throughout the day to feel good though. No idea of the science behind it but intuitively it makes sense to me. |
Anonymous
Not very overweight. I'd like to lose about 25 lbs which is why I am considering IF (because I have not been able to get the weight to budge, thanks perimenopause). I don't have diabetes. If anything my blood sugar levels hover too low. My A1C has consistently been low normal. |
Anonymous
I got the diagnosis from my doctor because I was having crashing episodes. I did recorded finger pricks and gave the data back to my doctor. |
Anonymous
NP. Reactive hypoglycemia can be a precursor to or accompany T2 diabetes. It can also be idiopathic in thin people. It's best managed by smaller, more frequent meals. Not necessarily low carb -- in my case, a low carb, low calorie meal moves the crash from 3 hours after eating to 4 or 5 hours, but I still crash if I don't have a snack/meal. |
Anonymous
I wouldn't do it then. My dad has severe hypoglycemia and regardless of what Bergs and Fungs of IF say, it is dangerous, like insanely dangerous. I also suffer from it, but not as bad, and I am able to do IF but never, ever if I feel like crashing. Then my teen DD fainted after exercise(she was not fasting) just went grey like concrete... and it is scary as heck. One protein bar bite and her color started coming back. This is not worth it, at all for you. She saw a cardio for it, and as grandpa has it, he is also diabetic, and not overweight at all, Dr said that she should be very careful and always have ton of water, some salt and a little bit of sugar with her. Might need to see different specialist. Hypoglycemia he said is pretty rare. Please be careful, I almost lost my Dad to it several times. |
Anonymous
| I am also hypoglycemic and need to have a snack with carbs and protein before bed and it helps to prevent an am crash. I don’t think I could do IF, but I am in a different situation and not trying to lose weight. |
Anonymous
| NP. Is this why I get a migraine doing IF? Hypoglycemia? Waiting to eat at 11 am triggers migraines. |
Anonymous
There are likely other issues that trigger migraines, maybe you need to drink something with electrolytes? I agree that hypoglycemia could be an issue here. But I have also read that hypoglycemia is actually quite rare and many people assume they have it that do not. I would suggest checking with a doctor if you think you have it and are interested in IF. |
Anonymous
Not necessarily. I don't get a headache but get dizzy, sweat, and just feel fuzzy. When it's gotten really low, I can't think straight or even make sense of what is happening. |