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The digital clock on my bedside table said 2:11 this morning when I woke up.\u00a0 I had, in the midst of dreaming, tried to put off getting out of bed to correct a slow onset hypoglycemic episode<\/a> \u2013 but deep down I knew there was no avoiding it.\u00a0\u00a0 There hadn\u2019t been any good cause for my blood sugar to drop.\u00a0\u00a0 I had eaten a low-calorie salad for dinner with a piece of whole wheat bread and went to bed at 10 pm (early for me!) with a blood sugar of 110.\u00a0 I had not joined friends for a glass of white wine, or snacked.\u00a0 My conclusion?\u00a0 My basal insulin (basal insulin covers an individual\u2019s\u00a0 requirement for insulin 24-7 without food) from 12 midnight onward was too high.\u00a0 I reached for my glucometer <\/a>and checked in the dark.\u00a0 The blue light illuminated the screen and I counted down 5-4-3-2-1.<\/p>\n My blood sugar reading was 44 mg\/dl.\u00a0 I threw off the covers (careful not to disturb my husband), clambered through the dark hall and as I flicked on the kitchen light,\u00a0 noticed my vision was more than a little spotty.\u00a0 I had run out of glucose tablets and Lucozade Sport<\/a> \u2013 a glucose drink that I depend on for low blood sugars.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 At that moment \u2013 I had a delicious opportunity to eat something I normally wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 I opened the refrigerator door, and the cereal cabinet.<\/p>\n My choice? A large glass of non-fat milk and one of my daughter\u2019s Health Valley Toaster Pastries<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s not easy making choices when you about to lose consciousness so I believed I was doing pretty well under the circumstances!<\/p>\n I started to eat quickly and then gulped down the cold milk \u2013 immediately feeling more stable with each mouthful.\u00a0 Standing in the muted light of the kitchen I thought of many things: the beauty of a sleeping household, how our family dog who, poised between me and the counter, waiting patiently for fallen crumbs \u2013 was an unapologetic moocher, how my high carbohydrate snack might make for a terribly high blood sugar in the morning, and finally, if eating so furiously could have a poor effect on digestion.<\/p>\n In fact, I began to wonder how eating and drinking too fast might be harming me.\u00a0\u00a0 Did I really have an excuse for gulping all of that food down in 5 minutes flat? Eating and drinking for hypoglycemia<\/a> is usually classified as an emergency, but I questioned whether after all these years of eating, not for enjoyment but for practical matters, I had forgotten how to eat slowly.\u00a0 I also wondered if gulping down my food was helping me achieve the effect what I wanted.<\/p>\n I jotted down some notes on the kitchen counter, re-checked my blood sugar (82) took 3.8 units of insulin to counteract a high blood sugar (hyperglycemia)<\/a> in response to the low blood sugar and the carbohydrates, and went back to bed at 3 am.<\/p>\n In the morning I began to do some research and the first article I found told me that eating too fast:<\/p>\n –Counter-acts losing weight and is a risk factor for insulin resistance and obesity<\/a> (study from the BMJ)<\/a><\/em>: When the brain isn\u2019t sent adequate messages about the fullness of the stomach, we eat more.\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s been reported that many of us eat too quickly or with the TV on, and that this is causing us to overeat.\u00a0 While this doesn\u2019t apply to my hypoglycemic<\/a> episodes \u2013 it does remind me I should slow down.<\/p>\n -Decreases the enjoyment of eating. <\/em> I wonder how many people with diabetes no longer enjoy eating.\u00a0 I know that eating to compensate for too much insulin is no fun.\u00a0 Again, aside from hypoglycemia<\/a>, do I really take notice of what I am eating at every meal?<\/p>\n -Results in poor digestion<\/em>:\u00a0 Also called dyspepsia and common for people with diabetes.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Gastroparesis (a condition when the stomach takes too long to empty) is fairly common in people with diabetes because high blood sugars can damage the nerve which controls movement of food from the stomach to the digestive tract.\u00a0 This complication of diabetes is also called autonomic neuropathy<\/a> and is often correctable.\u00a0 (Persons with high A1c\u2019s<\/a> are at a greater risk for this).\u00a0 For more information, see the NIDDK website<\/a> or ask your doctor.<\/p>\n -Causes stress:<\/em> With so many of us multitasking at work and at home with family matters, do we make time for eating or do we skip meals?\u00a0 Furthermore, it probably makes sense to relax when we do eat.\u00a0 Try not to skip breakfast lunch or dinner.\u00a0 You\u2019ll over-compensate for the missed meal in the end.<\/p>\n -Dehumanizes us:<\/em> At first, this point seemed melodramatic until I thought about it more carefully.\u00a0 In the end, I agree that eating without thinking does become mechanical.<\/p>\n While this list wasn\u2019t completely what I was after \u2013 it did make me realize that even when our body signals us to get sugar into our bloodstream quickly \u2013 there are certainly some things all of us could be doing better when we need to correct hypoglycemia<\/a> (and some of these points apply to eating for nutrition in general):<\/p>\n\n
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