My Dad thinks that by drinking milk mixed with honey, that he can get his blood sugar levels up. I told him he was only hurting himself by doing that. Any suggestions?
I don’t know, detazathoth. The American Diabetes Association (ADA) states that milk is better than juice or glucose because the lactose, fat and protein in it help keep blood stable over time. And honey is high(er) in fructose. Fructose is a type of sugar that needs to be processed in the liver. It does not elicit an insulin response, a good thing if your dad suffers from hypoglycemia, and it preferentially refills liver glycogen. the reason that’s important is its liver glycogen that is released by the liver to offset dips/drops in blood sugar.
Your dad has a larger proble, though, detazathoth – i.e., blood sugar management problems. Hypoglycemia (if that’s what he suffers from) is a prelude to diabetes. A lot of the dietary recommendations here on the site would be good for your dad if he’s interested in improving his health and stabilizing/normalizing blood sugar …
- Protein every meal
- Eating snack-sized meals every 3 to 4 hours
- Including good fats (olive oil and flaxseed oil) and excluding bad fats (fried food, hydrogenated oil, partially hydrogenated oil and transfatty acids)
- Eating a serving of fruit in the first 3 meals of the day
- Eating a serving (1/2 to 1 cup) of beans daily
- Eating unlimited amounts of fibrous green veggie carbs
- Avoiding processed carbs, cereals, starchy carbs, potatoes, rice, bread, flour, sugar
It’s probably all stuff he’s heard before, but it does work. A friend of mine is off insulin for the first time in 27 years because she’s following the above recommendations. She also lost 50 pounds over the course of the last year, too. Her blood sugar levels are stable, and her mood and energy are through the roof. Not bad for someone who’s 65, huh? (grin)