As I age I seem to be getting more and more sensitive to the effects of what I eat, when, and how much. I used to be able to lose weight on low-carb diets but that was when I could still walk miles for exercise. Now trying to go low-carb puts me into extreme grouchiness and exacerbates my depression and anxiety. At the opposite end of the spectrum, binging on sugar at least initially makes me almost drunk, until I eventually “crash” and have to go clean for a least a few days. Frankly I’m sick of the rollercoaster, like an alcoholic who continually cycles between being drunk, hungover or thirsty.
Yup, the older I get, the more sensitive I feel to dietary imbalances. In my youth, I could skip breakfast, have a Coke and a package of Hostess cupcakes for lunch, grab a large order of fries for a snack on my way home, eat a full dinner, have a big bowl of ice cream and maybe some coffee, then go to bed and sleep the sleep of the just. And I never gained a pound. When I got pregnant in my late 20’s, i started to need to eat breakfast, and I paid much more attention to my nutrition in general. I was pregnant or nursing and raising young children throughout my 30’s, so I tried to keep good nutritional habits in the hope of passing them along. We were also on a pretty tight budget, and that meant cooking at home most of the time.
Now that I’m in my 60’s, if I eat something heavy on the sugar and don’t balance it out with some protein, I swear I can feel my blood sugar rise, crest, and then plunge, leaving me feeling tired and a little sick to my stomach. Then I invariable crave only something else high-carb. I don’t eat doughnuts anymore, because I just can’t handle them physically. I’m also more susceptible to alcohol than I used to be, so I’ve almost quit drinking. I’m holding the line at coffee, though. Most days, I’m even able to convince myself that my arrhythmia isn’t at all affected by the amount of caffeine I drink!
I stopped drinking coffee a few years ago. I used to drink two cups for breakfast, then a cup at various times throughout the day. I could drink two cups after dinner and sleep like a baby. I cut back and eventually stopped all together and I am happier. I’ll still occasionally have an espresso, but it’s like doing a line of coke.
I still drink alcohol though.
I find that if I have been eating a low carb diet for a while sugar makes me depressed.
I’m almost never hungry, but my wife definitely gets hangry so I always try to have some food on me to shove in her face if she starts getting testy.
I do. I will feel like crap if I eat too much processed food/simple carbs. Whenever I’m feeling crappy or without energy, the first thing I do is take inventory of what I have eaten over the last couple of days. If it computes, dinner becomes a stir fry or a salad. I work hard to get my fruits and veggies in, but due to recent poverty and high prices, this has been hard work for me. I’m happy to say, I’ve done well with it except for last week, when I was moving out of my condo and didn’t have time or kitchen resources for good, fresh food. Thank heavens for Vietnamese take out.
Also, last summer due to a terrible but beneficial convergence, I finally broke myself of diet sodas. This has been my main source of caffeine since I was able to afford the stuff. But fake sugars had been clearly taking a toll on me. I didn’t want regular pop because I hate HFCS in my soda and I can’t bring myself to like the taste of coffee. So now I drink mostly tea. I like how tea brings me up gently with the caffeine instead of the instant shot that soda gives me. I had to resort to HFCS soda for a couple of days and I immediately became an instant basketcase, running off at the mouth and not concentrating on the task at hand but letting myself get overrun with all the tasks that needed doing. And then came the sugar crash. Just not worth it. Today, I’m back to English Breakfast tea.
Oh heck yes!
Once was a time, I’d drink 2 or 3 pots of full strength coffee a day. Over the past 10 years I’ve cut back to a pot of decaf and I can tell for a couple of days when I’ve drank a cup of regular. Salt and sugars are starting to become problematic also.
I ate two cookies earlier while making lunch. Sugar, in and of itself, does cause some blood level swings, but sugar with flour? Now I’ve got brain fog and fatigue, and it will take some time to get back to normal energy.
Yes, I try to stay away from simple carbs for that reason. Not that I succeed in staying away, but I do try. I’ve been borderline diabetic for a while, and I was able to shake that and have better energy by staying away from breads and simple carbs. Then poverty struck, so I back into the kind of cheap foods that I get from the food shelf. I get so excited over being able to eat a green salad or fresh vegetables, you wouldn’t believe it. After two days of what I think of as eating right, I start feeling better. I think if we all stuck to the dietary restrictions of a diabetic, we’d all be doing better.