3. Hypoglycemia: How to Work Around it

In recent years, scientists have developed the concept called the "gycemic index." Glucose has an index of 100, representing the amount by which food raises blood sugar.


For example, white bread can raise blood sugar almost as much as plain white sugar.

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You may think that eating sugary foods is enough, but that's actually wrong.


Did your mother ever tell you not to eat lots of sugar for breakfast because you're going to be tired later in the day? That's because she's right.


Candy and such have a high rating on the glycomic index. The higher a number is on the glycomic index, the faster that sugar high will drop. Lower numbers have less glucose in them, however the glucose would take longer to burn off therefore you retain it longer.


According to http://www.glycemicedge.com/glycemic-index-chart/, white bread has the index number of 70 while whole grain bread is only 40. In the long run, whole grain bread is "better" for you.


The only thing a teen with hypoglycemia needs more of then the average teen is carbohydrates. Hypoglycemia does not affect the needed intake of protein or fats.


Protein is an important part of our bodies

The way to determine how to calculate the amount of protein that you need in your diet is your age, body size, and sex.

So a 150 lb person needs 55 grams of protein a day to stay healthy, a 200 lb person 74 grams and a 250 lb person 92 grams and so on.

If you cut off protein intake your body will start to break down your muscle mass to make up for the lack of protein.

You can read more about how protein in our body works at http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/nutrition/a/protein.htm


How much fat should you take in if you have hypoglycemia?

Like protein it depends on you body shape, age and gender. It also depends on if you want to lose weight or not.

A 2000 calorie diet the AHA states that a normal person should take in 20 grams of saturated fat or less and 65 grams of healthy fat a day. But you should always ask your doctor about how much you should take in, this varies as many people are build differently. you should also take into account how active you are in your daily life.



The intake of carbs for an average teen should be 6 to 8 servings or cups per day. But everyone is different like cars if you are more active you need more fuel so talk to you doctor about the ratio on how fit, your activity level, and how long you are active or intervals. a lack of carbs would make use sluggish and slow. its unhealthy not to eat carbs if you do not eat any carbs you would die.

Carbs can also act as a guideline to how much of something you need. for example a teen's protein should account for 20-30% of their total calorie intake.

However, a teen with hypoglycemia would need a little more carbohydrates then the average teen, which is expanded on in our three day meal plan.


www.hypoglycemia-diet.com/hypoglycemiadiet.html