Sunday, July 06, 2008

Don't Waste a Low BG

I'm just wondering who else out there, when you have low blood sugar, will spend an extra 5 minutes to find that yummy treat you've been stashing somewhere but can't find because you are low in the first place? It makes me just want to cry if I have to eat a vanilla GU when I'm low, especially when I just know I have one last bag of Luna Moons somewhere. (And it's even worse if I just finished a 5-hour bike ride fueled by GU! Ack!)

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel your pain.

What is a GU?

Anne Findlay said...

A GU is either 20 or 25g of pure sugar, used during exercise. The consistency is of corn syrup but the flavor is better. However, the only flavor barely worth eating when not exercising is chocolate--but not after eating one or more per hour for 5 hours!!

..M.. said...

Oh yehhhh. I'm not wasting a low on anything bland & boring, I'm definitely going in for the good stuff!

Unknown said...

No way I'm eating a GU for a low.. it's ice cream or peanut butter cup time. :)

Wingman said...

I secretly may go low on ocassion just to have something really tasty!

Bernard said...

I don't bother to do this because when I'm low I really get the same enjoyment out of what I'm eating.

But if I am low and there's something good to eat I will go for that. Though it's really not the same.

Karen said...

Oh yeah, I absolutely do that!!! In some weird way, it's almost like you get a reward for being low. I guess that's part of the reason why a low feels like a success to me and a high feels like a failure. Anything that earns you a guilt-free yummy treat can't be that bad. ;)

Lyrehca said...

I've had years in the past when I treated reactions with peanut butter, peanut butter cups, or other (high fat and) high sugar items. It usually resulted in me rebounding, or having the fat futz things up so I didn't recover from the reaction as quickly.

These days, I use straight sugar, as in LifeSavers or juice or something like that. I admit to never using GlucoseTabs, though--they're expensive and taste bad. In a pinch, I've taken sugar packets from a Starbucks or a cafeteria and chugged one or two when necessary.

Bad Decision Maker said...

yes! especially frustrating when you can't find that special tasty sugary snack, which happens sometimes b/c being low makes me more fumbly, slower to think, and faster to get frustrated.

Anonymous said...

must be why my six-year old gets excited when she tests low. . ."I NEED sugar, mom." ;)

Anne Findlay said...

if I only have Smarties around for low BG (my mainstay for years) I tend to have less low BG! (I don't like Smarties too much.) But if there is a bag of gummy bears lurking about, I have to be careful! :o

Scott K. Johnson said...

I am totally guilty of this... :-)

Unknown said...

I will wait around and search all over for the bag of twerpz, no matter how low I am. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Have you ever tried Hammer Gel? I really like it because it doesn't have a big quick-sugar hit but it's able to keep the fire going when needed. I'm a T1 mountain biker in Marin, no affiliation with Hammer.

Morgan

Anne Findlay said...

Hi Morgan,
Yes I have tried Hammer gel. I switched to GU's for no reason in particular other than that they work faster (as you have also found) and I usually am in a mode where I want it to work fast. But I do like the Hammer gels and am glad you reminded me. Feel free to email me at sfrunnergirl at gmail... It's always great to connect with other Bay Areans! :)

-Anne