Diabetes runs in my dad's family. So far my dad only takes pills for it & tries to watch his diet. Others in his family have to take insulin shots twice a day and test their blood sugar ALOT cuz they don't eat right and get sick. There are times when I get shaky, light-headed, dizzy and feel sick to my stomache. Peanut butter is the first thing I grab for or sometimes a Reese's peanut butter cup candy bar. I work in a nursing home and have had someone else test my blood sugar a few times. Once about 1/2 hr of eating 4 candy bars around Halloween my blood sugar was only 72. I've never been diagnosed as diabetic, but doctors kept an eye on it once while I was pregnant (4 of my babies weighed over 9 pounds) *QUESTION* Should I follow a diabetic diet even though I haven't been diagnosed with the medical problem? (I just joined weight watchers on 1/15/05 also)
Feeling lightheaded and dizzy, or sick can signify two things. Insulin Resistance or Hypoglycemia. Do you eat a lot of starchy foods and white flour?
I used to eat quite a bit of bread, crackers, pasta,chips & that sort of stuff but since last month (since joining weight watchers)I have cut alot of that out of my diet.
Perhaps you could request a HbA1c test from your doctor. The hemoglobin A1c test is a simple lab test that shows the average amount of sugar/glucose that has been in a person's blood over the last 3 months. The hemoglobin A1c test shows if a person's blood sugar is close to normal or too high. It is the best test for a health care provider to tell if a person's blood sugar is under control. A Non-diabetic person's HbA1c should be under 6%. When people with diabetes have a test result that is less than 7%, their treatment plan is probably working and it is likely that their blood sugar is under good control.
