# What hypo treatment is best when on a diet ?



## Jennywren (Nov 5, 2011)

I usually treat my hypos with wine gums or jelly babies or lucozade , all of which not good when on diet ! Can anyone suggest anything remotely diet friendly , needs to be quick acting as i suffer from hypo unawareness and when friends and family pick pick up on me being low im usually around the 2.1-2.3 mark .


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## Robster65 (Nov 5, 2011)

Hi Jenny.

Forget anything low calorie I'm afraid. When you're that low, you need as close to glucose as you can get and abotu 15g of it. If you try to cut corners, you'll come a cropper. Especially with unawareness.

Are you havign a lot of hypos ?

And if so, have you looked for the reasons ? 

Rob


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## Jennywren (Nov 5, 2011)

Hi Rob , my diabetes has always been described as Brittle Diabetes , to be honest it has improved loads since being on pump but still get a lot of hypos , they did think that my hypos would reduce and that i might get some hypo signs back but 14 months on nothing as yet .


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## HOBIE (Nov 5, 2011)

I agree with rob, when going that low (as i do on occations) you dont need to be thinking of diet to much. I know that you are doing your best to look after yourself.  Good Luck !


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## Robster65 (Nov 5, 2011)

I presume you've tried aiming a bit higher for a while ?

Although, obviously difficult with unpredictable control. It's always hard to advise when our own diabetes is so different to everyone else's. If it were me, I'd just do a load of days exactly the same and tweak things gradually but then I tend to respond fairly predictably.

But the upshot is. No matter how many calories over, never skimp on the hypo treatments. Nothing but a form of quick acting sugar, preferably glucose will do the job.

Rob


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## Pumper_Sue (Nov 5, 2011)

Glucose tabs might be your best option. But your safety is no1 priority rather than worrying about calories.


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## gail1 (Nov 6, 2011)

have to agree with other people when hypo its bugger the calorie content, treating the hypo is far more important especially since you dont have hypo awareness


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## Copepod (Nov 6, 2011)

Always you want as fast acting sugar as possible, with as little of anything else as possible. When on a diet, you want as low calorie hypo food as possible. So, dextrose sweets, jelly babies etc fufil both criteria. It's perhaps easier not to overdo with sweets, by eating a fixed number, than to glug too much Lucozade or other sweet drink. 

Only other consideration is to eat as few sweets as possible, which isn't easy, but minimising number and / or depth of hypos is important. Not easy, I know, but others have covered things like running high for a short while.


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## Northerner (Nov 6, 2011)

I think a lot of people stick to the 15/15 rule and always treat with 15g sugar then wait 15 mins to see if levels have risen. However, as with anything diabetes-wise I tailor this to myself and the situation. So, if I meansured say 3.6 and I was at the tail-end of my last meal novorapid then I would probably only have 1 jelly baby rather than 3, since 15g (3 JBs) would be an overtreatment. However, if I was 3.6 two hours (rarely happens) after injecting then I would have 3 or possibly 4 because I would know that I had 2-3 hours of novorapid left and had seriously overestimated my carbs in my last meal.

It's an individual thing though, obviously, and my hypos ad getting levels back up tend to be very predictable. I've only had about 3 hypos where I had to keep shovelling the JBs in to try and bring them up - when that happens it's very difficult not to overtreat and maybe take in more calories than you need. It is a pain when you are trying to lose weight to have to eat what seems totally at odds with that, but preserving your brain is probably a priority over your waistline


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## hyper-Suze (Nov 6, 2011)

Hi Jenny, 

Not sure if this is any help as everyone has replied with great advice. I am always concerned with the 'dead' calories I am consuming in a hypo and especially as most of mine are at night! I have the hypogel on prescription and if I'm in the 2's will glug a tube of that. I can access and consume it easy at night, and relax and go back to sleep knowing that it has sorted me out and I tend to wake up at a decent level. 

Hope you find a suitable balance - carbs v hypo!!!


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## FM001 (Nov 6, 2011)

gail1 said:


> have to agree with other people when hypo its bugger the calorie content, treating the hypo is far more important especially since you dont have hypo awareness





Have to agree with Gail, treating the hypo is paramount over anything else.


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## Jennywren (Nov 6, 2011)

toby said:


> Have to agree with Gail, treating the hypo is paramount over anything else.



Of course , especially with hypo unawareness , but just wondered if anyone had any lower cal suggestions .


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## Robster65 (Nov 6, 2011)

The generally quoted figure for carbs is 4 calories per gram. So a 15g hypo treatment would be 60 calories. But if you choose something with other ingredients that include fats or protein, you can add extra calories. So the purer the carbs (as glucose) the better from a hypo and energy (weight gain) point of view.

Rob


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## Jennywren (Nov 6, 2011)

Robster65 said:


> The generally quoted figure for carbs is 4 calories per gram. So a 15g hypo treatment would be 60 calories. But if you choose something with other ingredients that include fats or protein, you can add extra calories. So the purer the carbs (as glucose) the better from a hypo and energy (weight gain) point of view.
> 
> Rob



Thanks Rob


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## Copepod (Nov 6, 2011)

Copepod said:


> Always you want as fast acting sugar as possible, with as little of anything else as possible. When on a diet, you want as low calorie hypo food as possible. So, dextrose sweets, jelly babies etc fufil both criteria. It's perhaps easier not to overdo with sweets, by eating a fixed number, than to glug too much Lucozade or other sweet drink.
> 
> Only other consideration is to eat as few sweets as possible, which isn't easy, but minimising number and / or depth of hypos is important. Not easy, I know, but others have covered things like running high for a short while.



Rob's figure is what's what I had tried to say. Protein, like CHO is generally assumed to be 4 calories per g, fat 7 calories per g and alcohol 9 calories per g. That makes liqueur chocolates about the worst possible hypo treatment


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## buckmummy (Nov 6, 2011)

a mouthful of lucozade...


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## Jennywren (Nov 6, 2011)

I once drunk half a bottle of luozade and bllod only went up from 2 to 3


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## Robster65 (Nov 6, 2011)

I've had hypos like that. 

Usually miscalculated carbs and over jabbed. 

Rob


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## heasandford (Nov 6, 2011)

Copepod said:


> Rob's figure is what's what I had tried to say. Protein, like CHO is generally assumed to be 4 calories per g, fat 7 calories per g and alcohol 9 calories per g. That makes liqueur chocolates about the worst possible hypo treatment



Sorry to be pedantic but it's the other way round - 9cals/g for fat, 7cals/g for alcohol -but yes, extra calories for chocolate and alcohol, plus much slower to break down so not a good idea for hypos.


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## imtrying (Nov 7, 2011)

hi, not sure if anyone has mentioned it but maybe a slightly 'healthier' choice is orange juice (rather than sweets)

hope you manage to find something.


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## Copepod (Nov 7, 2011)

heasandford said:


> Sorry to be pedantic but it's the other way round - 9cals/g for fat, 7cals/g for alcohol -but yes, extra calories for chocolate and alcohol, plus much slower to break down so not a good idea for hypos.



Thanks Heasandford - you're not not being pedantic, and your correction of my improperly proof-read post is much appreciated. Sadly, liqueur chocolates aren't good for hypogycaemic dieters, which ever way you look at it


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