More Sensitive to Sugar? What's going on?

[Morna]

Hi everyone.

I have some blood-sugar issues and have to eat every couple of hours. I have always had a bit of sugar sensativity, meaning if I ate something sweet by itself (meaning not on a full stomach), I'd get a buzz and then crash really quickly (within an hour). But I was fine if I had a couple of cookies right after a nutritious, protein-rich meal.

Now that I've gone vegan (it's only been a few weeks) even if I've just had a huge plate of rice, beans and steamed veggies, if I eat a cookie or drink some sweetened tea, I still get a buzz. This makes me physically uncomfortable, and is a problem because I usually have some mint tea after dinner to help cut down on gas, and I can't drink any tea without sugar (too bitter). As for the other sweet stuff, I need to cut down on that anyway.

Any thoughts?

[herbwormwood]

Hi everyone.

I have some blood-sugar issues and have to eat every couple of hours. I have always had a bit of sugar sensativity, meaning if I ate something sweet by itself (meaning not on a full stomach), I'd get a buzz and then crash really quickly (within an hour). But I was fine if I had a couple of cookies right after a nutritious, protein-rich meal.

Now that I've gone vegan (it's only been a few weeks) even if I've just had a huge plate of rice, beans and steamed veggies, if I eat a cookie or drink some sweetened tea, I still get a buzz. This makes me physically uncomfortable, and is a problem because I usually have some mint tea after dinner to help cut down on gas, and I can't drink any tea without sugar (too bitter). As for the other sweet stuff, I need to cut down on that anyway.

Any thoughts?
Are you actually diabetic at all or do you just get low blood sugar? If you are getting low blood sugar and have never been tested for diabetes it may be a wise move to ask for a test. Do you think that since you went vegan there is a lot less refined sugar in your diet? If so this could be why you are more sensitive to it. Wholegrain rice and pasta has slower release carbohydrate than white so stick to wholegrain.
Vegan diets can be low in fat so make sure you have balanced diet with some healthy fats in it. This could be the main diffeence in your diet since you went vegan? Also, when drinking tea if it is strong it will be more bitter so try making it weaker, or add soya milk. I cannot stand sugar in tea because it tastes far too sickly sweet. Let us know how you get on.

[Morna]

No, I'm not diabetic. I just tend to burn up everything I eat really quick.

[harpy]

Doesn't really answer the question but you will probably find if you gradually reduce the sugar in your tea you will come to prefer it without. Someone gave me mint tea with sugar in it yesterday and I could barely drink it :p

Just speculating but possibly having a high-protein vegan meal you tend to get a bit more carbohydrate with it than you would with a high-protein omnivours meal, since stuff like beans etc contains carbohydrate as well as as protein. So your meals may have a higher glycaemic load now, but as has been suggested you can probably get it back down by making sure you have wholegrain versions of things and including some healthy oils.

[DianeVegan]

Morna, it sounds to me as though your body is better tuned to high sugar loads than most. If everyone reacted to simple and refined sugars the way you do it would put a lot of food companies out of business! You mentioned that you need to cut down on refined sugars so I won't comment on that.

About sweetening your tea: Stevia may be an answer if you don't mind the taste. My husband used to put artificial sweeteners in his coffee and now uses stevia liquid (it even comes in different flavors such as vanilla, if you like that sort of thing). Another option is brown rice syrup - it is a complex carbohydrate sweetener and therefore won't give you a sugar rush.

[Hemlock]

Is brown rice syrup a healthy sugar alternative Diane? We are looking for a sugar susbstitute that isn't over processed muck and just can't decide what to get:confused: We would have got organic honey if I wasn't vegan.

[DianeVegan]

Hemlock,
Rice syrup (brown rice syrup) is originally a Japanese sweetener that was traditionally made by combining sprouted barley and cooked brown rice, then allowing it to ferment. The starches are converted to maltose and other complex sugars which enter the bloodstream more slowly than simple sugars (such as honey, maple syrup, cane sugar, date sugar, agave nectar). Manufacturers differ in the product sweetness, flavor and baking properties (you can't necessarily substitute it for maple syrup in baking, due to differing moisture content).

Barley malt syrup is another fermented sweetener, similar in taste to a dark molasses. Both of these are less sweet than sugar.

If you are looking for recipes using these sweeteners, I only know of a few U.S. based books. Books by author Christina Pirello uses rice syrup and barley malt exclusively and the book "Everyday Vegan" by Jeani-Rose Atchison uses rice syrup, barley malt and stevia (a lot of stevia). When I make the desserts from Pirello's recipes I need to remind my husband that they are healthy since they definitely don't taste like the refined sweets we are used to. It takes some time but you do start to enjoy the lowered sweetness (I don't always use the grain sweetened chocolate, so I cheat a bit with some desserts).

I hope I answered your question.:)

[Hemlock]

Thanks Diane, that's great. I'll give them a go. I do buy a lot of US cook books on Amazon and have a set of measuring 'cups' which we don't use over here.

[archaeopteryx]

I have no advice but would like to mention that after turning vegan I too found myself more sensitive to sugar - so did my wife. Someone with some experience also suggested that I should cut down on sugar when I told them I was turning vegan, suggesting that I would be more sensititve to refined sugars. I only have a little sugar these days at the times when I need it and I tend to steer to towards steady slow release carbs. I don't know why this sugar sensitivity comes about but but I imagine it's something to with a generally faster metabolism and having less sluggish senses when on a vegan diet.

[Gorilla]

i don't have much advice either i'm afraid, but i did find that after i went vegan i lost the desire to eat sweet things, even fruit. i rarely feel in the mood to eat anything but savoury foods, and have to make a conscious effort to eat fruit. :confused: