The Do's and Don'ts of Hypoglycemia

by Roberta Ruggiero

This book discusses
* How to understand and recognize hypoglycemia
* The role diet, exercise and vitamin therapy play in the healing
process
* How hypoglycemia is affecting children in epidemic proportions
* The correlation between hypoglycemia and alcoholism
* What experts have to say about hypoglycemia

Genres: Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book both affirming and frustrating. It gives you the sense that there's people like you where you don't know what's wrong and everyone is telling you you are crazy. At the same time it tells you to keep a food diary because there's no rules and you just have trial and error. Frustrating when you feel like that's all you've been doing for your whole life.

[Nicole Westen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think I was this book's intended audience. I was hoping there might be some tips or facts about hypoglycemia that I didn't know, but all of this was pretty much stuff I've known for a very long time. I would say this book is more for a person who just finds out they have hypoglycemia. The first time I started to show signs of hypoglycemia, I was about five years old, so I've lived my entire life with this condition. I didn't get a clinical diagnosis, but my mother is diagnosed with the same thing and she recognized the signs in me. Also, you try making a five/six year old fast and then take a six hour blood test. I do have to disagree with the author about excluding all fruits. Fruit is really good, especially if you want something sweet that isn't a baked good, not to mention so many fruits are good for you. And she recommended staying away from fruit juices, or diluting them, but fruit juice is one of the best ways (along with hard candy) to bring my sugar back up after a sudden crash. Also, I don't have reactive hypoglycemia, which was mostly described in this book and happens when your blood sugar crashes suddenly after you eat. My blood sugar crashes when I go too long without eating, and I usually need something to quickly bring my blood sugar back up and hold me over until I can get some real food in me.
I also think the author over reached a bit with attributing things to hypoglycemia. So many things from depression to juvenile delinquent behavior are blamed on low blood sugar. Now I did check out the depression thing, and there appears to be a correlation between the two, but we have no idea if it's causation or what. Just that these two things tend to occur together, and since we don't understand either one, we can't really know what that means. Also, having any untreated medical condition can lead to depression. I injured my rotator cuff a few months back, and I was depressed about it for a while because I couldn't do the things I liked to do. As for delinquent behavior, the author does quote one study, and she does admit more research needs to be done given that the study was done back in the 80's or so. But I think she's confusing correlation and causation here. The study stated that kids in a juvenile detention center had worse blood sugar levels than a typical kid their age, but it over looks the fact that juvenile delinquents are more likely to come from poorer neighborhoods, which are more likely to be food deserts, meaning that the kid might not have had many healthy food choices. And we all know too much processed and super sweetened foods are bad for you. The author doesn't say anything about these factors being controlled for.
Despite being the 2011 edition, the book does read and a little dated. The author talks about also seeing mental health help, but says don't ask about electroshock therapy unless it's a last resort. Umm, I literally don't know of anyone using electroshock therapy as a real treatment today. I did look this up and electroshock (under a different name and much more 'humane' than in the past), is still used, but in incredibly limited circumstances, usually when a person is catatonic. I was also annoyed by the author stating that inner and outer health/beauty go together and she went on a 'hypoglycemia dos' list that included giving yourself a spa day. I hate all of that stuff. It's annoying, I don't understand it. I'm happy with my appearance as it is. My idea of pampering myself is going to the book store, getting some new books, and settling in with a good cup of tea and my favorite music and reading. There wasn't any kind of 'you do you' thing, it was, if you have hypoglycemia, treat yourself as society believes women treat themselves on a day off.
Again, I do feel like this books wasn't really aimed at someone who had been managing their condition for many, many years. I also think the book can benefit from a complete review by the author, because some of the advice, and a lot of the studies, are dated, even in the 2011 edition, which I read. I found a lot of other studies on the same subjects the author covered that were much more current and I believe useful, considering that a lot of those studies were conducted pre 1993 (as best as I could tell), and up until 1993 it wasn't mandated that women be included in medical studies, and even today women only make up, at most, 1/4 of people in any medical study. So the data could be significant skewed and not as useful for women. The one thing I was hoping to get out of this wasn't mentioned at all, and that was helpful hints or tips about fasting blood work. No matter how many times I tell the technicians that I'm hypoglycemic and need to get this done as quickly as possible, or how early I make my appointment, I still find myself waiting and waiting, and on some cases, vomiting on people because I become so sick from not having anything to eat. It's the reason I avoid blood work unless it is absolutely necessary, and I was hoping there might be some way for me to mitigate these effects, and make fasting blood work easier on myself.

[Alorah Welti · Rating 1 out of 5]

This very thin book was hell to read. I was born with hypoglycemia, my mother and all my three brothers have it. This book has multiple typos, is improperly updated, rambly, repetitive, contradictory, and generally unhelpful. For multiple pages, this woman went on about how to give yourself a manicure and hair removal and facials. What the fuck? If I wanted beauty advice, I'D BUY A BEAUTY BOOK. I'm glad that she created the foundation, but all the quotes from people were suffocating and felt like she was just trying to get more length. She repeatedly says, "go read this book, and that book, and learn all you can, etc, " which is one of my pet peeves. I did not buy this book to find out what books to read. Now, about the diet. This woman says no caffeine, tobacco, and alcohol. I completely agree with that and my mother and I follow that in our lives, even though my mother struggled immensely with caffeine addiction. She also says no wheat flour and no sugar of any kind (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, and sucrose) even though she recommends fruit and cheese in other parts of the book and one of the guest doctors (you know that you don't know what you're talking about when you have to have a multitude of other people write in your book) said that the brain needs constant sugar to function. How does that work for being sugar-free? Now, I have never tried to go off sugar, but living my life in my body on sugar and flour, I don't think I could physically do it. I feel better when I have a lot of sugar, I feel human. When I have low sugar snacks/meals back to back I feel awful and hollow and panicky and angry. I can't have juice or fruit by itself or I spin out of control, but sugar with every meal is what I need to function. I hated this book and I'm glad it's over.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a quick yet comprehensive book about hypoglycemia (low blood sugar.) Recipes and recommended reading are included in this book.

[K Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read, answered lots of questions.