Re: Problems with blood sugar level on the trail!

kulp@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> I'm one of those people who seems to burn right through calories. I
> notice that when I'm backpacking, everybody else will stop once every
> two hours or so, pop a handful of their trail mix, and be happy.
>
> I, on the other hand, within 30 minutes of hiking will start to shake
> and get very weak. I can feel my blood sugar plummeting, so I'll stop
> and have to eat a TON of trail mix, which lasts me maybe another 30
> minutes. I try to stick to starchy foods, because things like raisins
> and M&Ms seem too sugary for me; like I know it's not going to last me
> very long.
>
> Well, it seems that the glycemic index is what I have to pay attention
> to here, and that foods I THOUGHT would burn slowly are actually very
> fast sugars (like pretzels).
>
> My question is, does anyone else have this problem, and if so, have you
> discovered the ideal mix of slooooooowwwww carbs to whip up a good
> trail mix that won't give a sugar crash?

Have you had yourself tested for diabetes?

If you are diabetic, you need to be under a doctor's care.
It is not something you can get right by guessing or by
getting advice over a news group. In many cases, diabetes
can be well controlled through diet and exercise.

You might also get checked for heart condition, blood pressure,
allergies, and just generally your over all health.

There's really no such thing as slow carbs. There's only
more or less fast carbs. If you want food that will digest
slowly, and raise your blood sugar slowly but keep it up
longer, you need fats and proteins. Nuts, meat, cheese
(of the hard and old varieties), and such like.

Somebody else mentioned peanut butter. Some brands of PB
will have quite a bit of sugar in them, many will be just
about nothing but peanuts. Be aware that some forms of
preserved meat (beef jerky for example) often have a lot
of sugar in their preparation.

If you do start to feel weak and shaky, sit down. Stay there
for a while, at least 10 minutes. Even lie flat if possible.
If you feel better after 10 minutes, then make the judgement
about what next, continue hiking or bail. When you are
resting, do what calms you, what makes you feel serene.
If that means chatting with your hiking partners, or just
sitting quietly, then do it. Try to keep your arms and legs
in a natural comfortable position so your circulation is ok.
Take off the pack. Arrange yourself so you can breathe easy.

You need a good night's sleep the night before a hike.
Maybe you are not getting enough sleep. Everybody needs
a different amount.

You need a good breakfast before a hike. Should include
fats, starch, protein, fibre, and just a tiny amount of
sugar to get things going. Believe it or not, the typical
Denny's breakfast is a good start to a long hike.
Having half a slice of bread and a cup of coffee may get
you to the office. But to hike you need lots of calories,
lots of bulk. A breakfast of eggs, sausage, several slices
of buttery toast, some hashbrowns, a big glass of milk, and
a small slice of apple pie. It will take you three or four
hours to finish digesting it, during which time you will
find you are quite a bit warmer than normal. But you will
feel fine, though possibly just a bit sleepy.

Of course, if you are headed to the office for a basically
sedentary day, that Denny's breakfast will migrate to your
hips and stomach.

Your blood sugar does not come up instantly on eating.
It will take from 15 minutes up depending on what you eat.

Your sense of hunger may well be delayed or masked while
you are hiking. Ditto your sense of thirst. Eat on a schedule
until you get the hang of it. Drink enough water so that
you need to urinate about once every hour or two, and so
that your urine is pale yellow. Too much water will just
go right through you, taking various minerals with it.
If your urine is dark yellow, or you don't urinate for
several hours, you are not drinking enough water.

Balance of many things can make you feel weak and shaky.
Water, salt and other minerals, even just being too hot.
Too little is bad. So is too much. You mention pretzels,
and they are typically very salty. Sports drinks often
have a lot of sugar in them, but some don't.

Avoid stimulants. Coffee and other sources of caffeine
should be reduced. They do weird things to you when you
exercise. Smoking is, of course, a potential big problem.
Chocolate and many other foods have other stimulants in
them besides caffeine. If a food makes you feel "up" then
you should not eat a lot of it while hiking. Though it
may be just fine to put a little taste of it in there to
get your motor running. So the apple pie at breakfast.

Monitor yourself. Adjust your pace if you are going too fast.
Make sure you are not overheated from sun or exertion. It
may help to put a damp cloth on your neck or forehead. If I
have enough water, I will often feel a lot better by giving
my hands and forearms a little wash, and washing the sweat
off my face. If I've got plenty of water, or I find a nice
stream of water, I will wash my legs and feet.

Be sure you wear weather appropriate clothing. Sun protection
or cold protection, etc. Walking in heat with the sun on
your head for half an hour can put you in a real bad spot
if it's a really hot day. Especially if your hair is not
very thick.

Work up your length of hike. If a distance of, say, 5km gets
you down, then you should try 3 km for a while, until you
get your endurance up. Think of long distance runners.
They don't use a lot of sugar during a run because they
have trained their bodies to burn a much larger fraction
of fat for their energy. They've done this through training.
Train to a constant energy/hour output that you can keep up
for several hours. Your body will get the idea.
Socks

.

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