I've read your entries with great interest and pleasure. I totally agree with you all.

And Pennink, please don't try to be less happy!

Susan, unofficially I've become a vegetarian after having done the South Beach diet for a while. I couldn't stand meat, eggs and chicken anymore.

I've turned to sojaburgers and drink one mug of milk a day. That's all that's left.

Does that count as half a vegetarian?

I'm probably on the road to partial vegetarianism myself for the same reasons, Skyliz! I can't stand chicken any longer. It takes a fine steak to tempt me to partake. I have pondered the very unnatural relationship I developed with food because of eating very low carb for so long. It has ruined the pleasure of eating many foods I formerly enjoyed.

I've found that meat appeals to me less the older I get. I've heard other women say that too after menopause.

this must be very individual...I love my meats!! and only recently have made an effort to keep my portions smaller.

I go in stages. I'm not at menopause but I do find that some days the thought of meat turns my stomach. Other days I crave it. Yesterday I don't think I had any. Today I'm grilling steaks. I just go by the day as far as whether I eat a lot of meats or eat vegetarian. As long as I keep the starches down, the meat issue is flexible for me.

I was never crazy about eating meat and having to eat a lot more of it on VLC made me less so. I always preferred to have meat in a sandwich, diluted with other stuff. Too much meat can make me physically gag and not be able to swallow it. Needless to say, on VLC, I was a very high fatter eating LC cheesecake more often than meat.

I get very annoyed when some people say that all diabetics must be on VLC. Some of us can't stand the food. It seems to never occur to someone that other people just don't like VLC food. Carbs are evil; they're addictive - is what they say. Not true.

For *me* they ARE addictive. With hypoglycemia, my blood sugar has huge rises and incredible drops. If I eat carbs on a consistent basis, my blood sugar stays very high and I'm in an almost euphoric state. If I get off the carb, say for the next meal or overnight, then my blood sugar plummets, often into the 50's and I feel horrendous, of course. To get myself out of this dangerous low, I have to have carbs. Protein and fat won't do it, as I'm sure you know. The state of euphoria, almost out of control hyper, is not a healthy state. Nor is the dangerous lows I get if I do not maintain that consistent high carb intake. Therefore, carbs ARE bad, or "addictive" *for me*. I maintain a healthy level of blood sugar if and when I keep my carbs at a consistent 60-80 grams per day.

Each person's body responds differently according to their current state of health and any medical condition that person might have. For some, carbs ARE addictive and dangerous.

OK...so where are your 60-80 grams a day coming from?
When you say the word "carb", what does that mean to you?

Many use the word too liberally....it can be seen as all carbs are bad, which they aren't!! Highly processed carbs, as in flour from grain, is a huge issue for me as I'm an abuser of flour. But the carbs from fruit and veggies...have saved my life.

I don't know how you define very high, but I'm seldom euphoric when high. Most insulin dependent diabetics don't eat to correct lows. We either eat glucose tabs or drink something. Otherwise we would over-correct and be chasing a high. Carbs also have an effect on serotonin which may cause that feeling of well-being more so than slightly elevated blood sugar.
Actually, I eat about the same amount of carbs as you do. Some type 1s eat a lot more and do just fine.

There is a difference when someone says carbs are evil for me than when someone says carbs are evil for everyone.

ETA: I'm not unsympathetic to a 50 blood sugar. All type 1s who are aiming for normal BGs will hit 50 instead of 80 at times. We deal with that by consuming enough glucose to bring us up to target. Feeding a low with food is a surefire way to gain weight.

I'll ask my type 1 friends about euphoric highs and see what they say.

True. In fact I don't eat highly processed carbs anymore. I eat soja products (like burgers), vegetables, salads, fruit (2 nectarines), approx. 10 fluid ounces of skimmed milk, 6 glasses of 8 ounces of tap water (not even mineral water anymore) and black coffee (4 cups a day or less). That keeps me sound, safe and alive.

In my salads I use (fresh) herbs, a little salt, fresh lemon juice and a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.

That's it.

And all of that I eat in one meal during one hour a day. Strangely enough I feel very well with that, have plenty of energy and don't want for more. Amazing.

I eat vegetables and some fruits. I do NOT eat any wheat product whatsoever (I'm anaphylaxis allergic to wheat). I also can not eat potatoes or corn products, they negatively affect my RA. I stay away from grains and starchy carbs in other words.

I do not know what you are referring to in the term "use the word liberally" nor do I feel I need to all of a sudden defend my way of eating. I have been eating this way since February 1997. It works for me.

I am not diabetic. I've stated that several times. A hypoglycemic is NOT the same as a diabetic. Ask your friends anything you want but it will not have a bearing on what my symptoms are when I am running high then plummeting.

I was a Type 2 and I know *exactly* what you are talking about with being euphoric then crashing, hard. That happened to me quite a bit in the months preceding a Type 2 diagnosis. By the time I was diagnosed, that was no longer occurring and the opposite was true -- running high meant lethargy and crashing meant truly cratering into nothingness.

ETA: The most sensitive hypoglycemic I know always got hyper just before a crash. She is also the person I've mentioned who passed out from low blood glucose levels after drinking a diet coke -- several times.

I think you guys may have experienced an "insulin rush" from an abundance of insulin, which would also cause the reactive hypoglycemia. High blood sugar just gives me a stomach ache and makes me temporarily insulin resistant.

High blood sugar has never given me a stomach ache, so that's a new one on me! It's only made me lethargic, stupid and nauseated. And I mean stupid -- impaired brain function like you wouldn't believe.

I never complained about the highs when I had hypoglycemia but when I became Type 2, oooooh Momma did they suck. That was why I went to the doctor -- because I knew what it meant that I felt so cruddy. Then I spent the last year and a half high before Atkins. You don't want to know what 18 months of BG over 300 feels like.