hypoglycemia - reactive / exercise

tomUK said:

Does anyone here suffer from this? If so then how do you deal with it when riding many miles without taking on simple carbs?

Or how do you deal with intense efforts?

Thanks.

I suffer from my sugar levels dropping quickly...not so much low blood sugar.
I've never found a way to manage without simple carbs snacked during the training or event. Over the years things have gotten better as my diet includes snacking with good stuff throughout the day, but I always eat simple carbs on most any ride. Why are you not wanting to take on simple carbs?

tomUK said:

...Or how do you deal with intense efforts?...

I don't have a big problem with simple carbs and high GI foods during exercise. But here's some discussion and suggestions that avoid them:

hammernutrition.comHNTOpen ↗
sportsmedicine.about.comEnergy Pathways.htmOpen ↗
healthed.uoregon.eduspr 00 4.shtmlOpen ↗

Good luck,
-Dave

tomUK said:

Does anyone here suffer from this? If so then how do you deal with it when riding many miles without taking on simple carbs?

Or how do you deal with intense efforts?

Thanks.

You can't. The trick is to take take on complex carbs the night before to build your glycogen stores and also the morning before to give you a sort of "slow release" reservoir from the gut into the bloodstream. However if you go long enough and hard enough you will need to top up with simple carbs.

Is there a reason you are avoiding taking on simple carbs?

tomUK said:

Does anyone here suffer from this? If so then how do you deal with it when riding many miles without taking on simple carbs?

Or how do you deal with intense efforts?

Thanks.

Eat low GI before a race (a lot of people make the mistake of drinking energy drinks before a race) so you don't get a hypo rebound and high GI during and immediately after.

I'm told that simple carbs make ones blood sugar peak and in response to this insulin is dumped into the blood stream at an exsessive rate [in the hypoglycemic individual] causing onces blood sugar to plumet.

It is my belief that 'normal' folk are able to keep blood sugar levels elevated, but the reactive hyperglycemic has lesser ability to bounce back fron this.

matagi said:

You can't. The trick is to take take on complex carbs the night before to build your glycogen stores and also the morning before to give you a sort of "slow release" reservoir from the gut into the bloodstream. However if you go long enough and hard enough you will need to top up with simple carbs.

Is there a reason you are avoiding taking on simple carbs?

Taking on simple carbs while exercising does not usually trigger reactive hypoglycaemia - in fact regular exercise is one of the things recommended for people with reactive hypoglycaemia. Also, eating small meals regularly.

If you are out riding hard for long periods of time, you should effectively be eating tiny amounts constantly because food absorption is impaired during heavy exercise (due to the diversion of blood flow)

However, if you are one of the unfortunate individuals who suffer from reactive hypoglycaemia when eating simple carbs under any circumstances, I think you would benefit from seeing a dietician - preferably one who deals with athletes and the like - so you can plan out an adequate food plan for when you are out riding hard.

BTW - matagi is a doctor.

Thank you for the reply.

Are people with hypoglycaemia able to pull from liver gylcogen stores as folk without this problem? Also, can us people with reactive hypoglycaemia pull from fat stores as easy as those without it?

How does one manage it while out riding, when you burn more than you take in?

Thanks again.

matagi said:

Taking on simple carbs while exercising does not usually trigger reactive hypoglycaemia - in fact regular exercise is one of the things recommended for people with reactive hypoglycaemia. Also, eating small meals regularly.

If you are out riding hard for long periods of time, you should effectively be eating tiny amounts constantly because food absorption is impaired during heavy exercise (due to the diversion of blood flow)

However, if you are one of the unfortunate individuals who suffer from reactive hypoglycaemia when eating simple carbs under any circumstances, I think you would benefit from seeing a dietician - preferably one who deals with athletes and the like - so you can plan out an adequate food plan for when you are out riding hard.

Reactive hypoglycemia causes a higher than normal stimulation of Beta cells in the pancreas which causes an elevated insulin release in response to high blood glucose which ultimately will decrease blood glucose levels more than normal causing a hypoglycemia.

As matagi says, it is recommended to have smaller portions of CHO as well as lower GI index foods so that the rise in blood glucose levels is not so high therefore decreasing the insulinemic response. Sometimes it works to mix CHO with protein and some fat (like cream cheese for example) because they decrease gastric emptying and therefore will elicit a lower increase in blood glucose levels or at least a lower increase in a given time.

During exercise, simple CHO should not be much of a problem because during exercise the insulinemic response is inhibited by lypolisis (utilization of fat) as well as by adrenergic inhibition of pancreatic beta cells, so insulin does not play an important role during exercise, therefore reactive hypoglycemia should not be much of a problem during exercise.

Cheers

tomUK said:

Thank you for the reply.

Are people with hypoglycaemia able to pull from liver gylcogen stores as folk without this problem? Also, can us people with reactive hypoglycaemia pull from fat stores as easy as those without it?

How does one manage it while out riding, when you burn more than you take in?

Thanks again.

Yes, people with reactive hypoglycaemia can utilise liver glycogen and fat stores in the same way normal people can. The problem lies with an oversecretion of insulin from the pancreas in response to a rise in blood glucose. During exercise, insulin response is blunted as Urkiola2 says, so it is less of an issue - this is one of the reasons why exercise is recommended for people with reactive hypoglycaemia.