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It's really remarkable - but i suffered from "reactive hypoglycemia" -
anxiety, tension, irritability, hunger after eating high-glycemic
carbohydrates - for decades - and no doctor ever suggested that it might
be from immune reactions to food.  I asked a couple of allergists, who
ought to know - all I got was the symptom-fix of eating more protein.  I
asked a few family doctors, all I got was a kind of shrug, like it doesn't
matter much.  But it's gone now, it was an effect of eating food that I
had immune reactions to - "hidden food allergies" - without knowing it.

Doctors are incrediblyy ignorant about food-intolerance stuff.  They know
a little about celiac disease, so if you've gotten diagnosed with that you
might have the impression that the medical profession is doing a better
job than it is.

But about the ramifications of celiac disease, *like* these
adrenaline reactions to carbohydrates, and the intolerances that MOST
celiacs have to other foods, doctors are generally *so* ignorant.
Vets are too - my dog had colitis, no vet ever suggested food allergies
but he was cured when I switched him to a hypoallergenic diet.

The  "reactive hypoglycemia", the excessive insulin release after eating carbs,
caused me really severe anxiety. It isn't considered clinically
significant by mainstream medicine - they don't think it does harm to the
body.  But it is plenty significant when it causes emotional torment.

Also, many people follow the advice you find in books in the library on
"hypoglycemia" - to eat fewer carbohydrates, more protein, which almost
always means more fat too.

Many doctors dish out this same advice.  But it's not a good idea for your
health long-term - the best info I've gotten is that you should eat the
protein necessary to maintain body tissues, which is about 0.6 gm protein
per kg of body mass per day, for a lightly active person - this can be
measured so it's not a matter of opinion.  It works out to
about 7-8% of your calories from protein.  People who are athletic - like
me, kind of :) need more gms of protein/day, maybe to 50% more.

Eating more protein than that, substituting protein for carbohydrates
because of bad reactions to carbs, is hard on the kidneys and may cause
osteoporosis - i've heard the body uses bone calcium to neutralize acids
that result when protein is consumed.

Also many carbohydrate-intolerant people eat too much fat.  For years if i
ate a potato, I would slather it with fat to reduce the adrenaline zing
from it.  Potatoes have a high glycemic index and i also have an
intolerance to them.  And, a lot of animal protein has a lot of calories
from fat.  (Please no emails on "good fat", I've heard that).

So it may be that "reactive hypoglycemia" is *usually* from food
intolerance, maybe "hypoglycemics" are usually gluten-sensitive.

And lots of type 2 diabetics have apparently had "reactive hypoglycemia"
for decades before they got diabetic.  you ask in a group for diabetics
and a lot of people will pop up and say "I couldn't eat a piece of fruit
on an empty stomach for decades".  It was like that for me.  Then in the
end the reactions to carbs go away, when the insulin release is not enough
to lower blood sugar, and people get diabetic.  I think there's research
evidence that "reactive hypoglycemia" is a precursor for diabetes.

if this is true, then gluten intolerance and type 2 diabetes are
connected!  There are lots of other causes for t2 diabetes, like being
overweight - but gluten might be a contributing factor.

Laura

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