I am 28 years old, and I have been diagnosed with hypoglycemia. How do I treat the symptoms? I have read conflicting information on the subject. Some say to cut out all sugars and others say to stop drinking diet soda and start drinking regular. I am at a loss on what to do. I recently started walking two miles a day, in the morning, and have noticed that my symptoms seem to be worse now than before. What should I do?

In an attempt to control this, many people try different things with foods. One thing we know for sure, carbohydrates stimulate the need for insulin more than any other food groups so it might be helpful to talk to a dietitian/diabetes educator about amounts of carbs and how to add some fat, fiber, and protein to each meal to try to avoid that high peak of insulin. There would be no help in stopping diet sodas and beginning real sodas — that would just increase the amount of carbohydrates. As for your experience with exercise, you don’t mention if you are exercising before or after eating. It might be helpful to change around the times, to find one that doesn’t cause you to go low. One suggestion might be at the one-hour point after eating, but that might not be possible with your schedule.

Don’t give up, just keep experimenting. Check your blood sugar often to get feed back as to how these things are working. If you need a listing of diabetes educators in your area you can call 1-800-TEAM UP 4.

KS