Hello Everyone, I struggled with undiagnosed Hypoglycemia for a good portion of my life, not understanding what was wrong with me. Along with that, my hormones were incredibly out of balance due to poor diet consisting of a lot of Standard American Diet type foods. Since adjusting my regular diet, I no longer have any symptoms of Hypoglycemia, my skin and hair look great, I'm losing fat, my hormones are balancing and I'm happy. Oh, and I don't have to constantly snack or feel ravenous before meal times! I eat about 3-4 meals per day and am incredibly satiated.
This may not be the most popular post because I now have a strong oppinion of nutrition and what I choose to fuel my body with, but I hope it helps. Quinoa has generally been labeled as a "good source of protein" and "gluten-free," but may be misinformed. If you look at quinoa's nutritional facts, the Carb ratio vs. Protein is 39g carbs:8g protein per 1cup quinoa... I don't see how that is a good source of protein, but it does looks like a great sources of carbs. To get 30g of protein in a meal with Quinoa, would mean about 147g of carbs! That is practically an entire daily allotment of Carbs, not to mention you'd eat nothing but 3-3/4 cups of quinoa for that meal and probably explode your stomach from all that quinoa. Not nutritionally dense enough to even bother with ingesting. Nutritional Facts of Quinoa: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/10352/2 I encourage you to also read this article from the Gluten Free Society entitiled, 'Is Quinoa a Safe Gluten Free Food Alternative?' http://www.glutenfreesociety.org/gluten-free-society-blog/is-quinoa-a-safe-gluten-free-food-alternat...
Grains in general are a disfigured form of what they were in the past and again, not nutritionally dense enough to waste your time on. A quote from Dr. William Davis, author of Wheat Belly (http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/) 'First of all, it ain’t wheat. It’s the product of 40 years of genetics research aimed at increasing yield-per-acre. The result is a genetically unique plant that stands 18-24 inches tall, not the 4 1/2-foot tall “amber waves of grain” we all remember. The genetic distance modern wheat has drifted exceeds the difference between chimpanzees and humans—what a genetic difference 1% can make! But that’s more than modern wheat is removed from its ancestors.'
The Franken-Grains of today (Whole Grain or Not) are not as "healthy" as everyone claims they are and have cause a lot of health issues/autoimmune responses in a good portion of our population. While some people can process grains better than others, you may find that cutting them out of your diet will elliminate health problems (including glucose sensitivities).
The other thing I would shed light on is that Milk is proportionally not a good source of protein. When you are looking at food labels, a good rule of thumb to determine if something is a good source of protein is a 10g protein:1sugar ratio (or as close as you can get to that). Skim Milk is 8g protein:12g sugar. Honestly, you can cut most dairy out of your diet, with the exception of perhaps plain greek yogurt or cottage cheese. Nutritional Facts for Skim Milk: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/7578/2
Great Sources of Protein from Dairy:
Nutritional Facts for plain greek yogurt : 22g protein:9g sugar. Slightly high in sugar, but you would only be having this occassionally. http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-oikos-organic-greek-yogurt-i129366
Nutritional Facts for low fat cottage cheese: 15.5g protein: 0.4g sugar: http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-cottage-cheese-lowfat-2-percent-i1015
Milk Substitutes: Almond Milk (unsweetened) at 1g protein:0g sugar. Nutritional Facts: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/custom/278488/2
Coconut Milk (unsweetened) at 5g protein:0g sugar Also a wonderful source of good fat to keep your energy high and rebalance your hormones. Nutritional Facts: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/nut-and-seed-products/3114/2
I know, that is a lot of information and I'm certainly not trying to sound patronizing, but there is a lot of misleading nutrition information out there. All I suggest is be informed of what you ingest, because your body will use whatever you are inputting as the main building blocks of your bodily function. That old phrase of 'You are what you eat,' is absolutely correct. 100 calories of chips is going to be processed in your body as sugar and will do something incredibly different to your internal ecosystem than 100 calories of spinach or broccoli or green beans or grass fed beef or wild caught salmon. Feed your body the wrong things for long enough, systems will dysfunction.
I have been doing a lot of research into medical and nutritional studies to try and get my body working the way it is supposed to and I feel and look much better. So, what are my typical daily goals?: 10,000 steps, 3-4 quarts of water, 2-4 cups of green tea, 10+ servings of non-startchy veggies, ~30g protein with every meal, small serving of healthy fat each meal, up to 2 servings fruit/day (berries or citrus- lower sugar), No processed products, no sweeteners, no grains (including corn), no startch (including potatoes), no veggetable oils. Looks super strict, but this has been a work in progress. I had my vices and my set backs, but have successfully gotten myself to this point after several months of pure determination. Once you start feeling and looking better, you won't want to turn back.
Resources I recommend looking into:
-Dr. James L. D'Adamo- interesting article about Healing Hypoglycemia and Re-sensitizing your body to glucose processing. http://vitalitymagazine.com/article/healing-hypoglycemia/
-Jonathan Bailor- He has two books, tons of podcasts that fill my commute with entertainment and information. You may be interested in his QuickStart Guide that give you the basics. Not only great information on his findings, but wonderful interviews with leading Doctors, Nutritionist, Cooks, Trainers, Health Bloggers and Fertility Experts, all with new evidence based research that backs what they have to say. http://thesmarterscienceofslim.com/
I say all this with the understanding that everyone's body functions differently and you may be able to process some food items better than others. I apologize if this at all comes off as offensive to anyone, it is posted with whole hearted, positive intensions of sharing what I have found and used to improve my own health. If anyone is interested in recipes, what I eat for Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner/Snacks, etc. I am happy to share what I have found to be successful. Be well!
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