Sudden drop in blood sugar

Carrum

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Meat and eggs make my blood sugar plummet when I'm at work doing very physical tasks. I don't have any problem with these foods if I'm not working.
On a work day my breakfast is either green tea with maple syrup and a lot of honey or I'll have an orange juice. Both with some collagen powder. I'll drink orange juice with collagen powder all day at work and my energy will be good all day.
Every now and again I'll also have some ham or a chicken drumstick or one or two eggs after my green tea and honey. A couple of hours later I'll suddenly start feeling very weak and shaky so I drink some orange juice which sorts me out.
I don't have this problem when I eat meat or eggs in the evening or if I have meat and eggs for breakfast on my days off though.
 
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Rinse & rePeat:
“Good morning Dr. Peat, I hope the day finds you well! When do you think is the best time to consume eggs? Because of the sleepy tryptophan in the egg whites and their “powerful protein”. that you say needs a lot of sugar to balance, I would think they would be most beneficial at night . On the other hand you don’t recommend proteins at night, for better sleep, so maybe they are a better daytime food?”

RAY PEAT:
“Having only one egg per meal, with plenty of juice, there is seldom a problem. Blood sugar is more stable in the middle of the day.“
 
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Meat and eggs make my blood sugar plummet when I'm at work doing very physical tasks. I don't have any problem with these foods if I'm not working.
On a work day my breakfast is either green tea with maple syrup and a lot of honey or I'll have an orange juice. Both with some collagen powder. I'll drink orange juice with collagen powder all day at work and my energy will be good all day.
Every now and again I'll also have some ham or a chicken drumstick or one or two eggs after my green tea and honey. A couple of hours later I'll suddenly start feeling very weak and shaky so I drink some orange juice which sorts me out.
I don't have this problem when I eat meat or eggs in the evening or if I have meat and eggs for breakfast on my days off though.
An egg early in the day makes me so sleepy.
 
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Carrum

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Meat and eggs have not made me feel sleepy while at work. I just get this horrible feeling of low blood sugar.
I might get sleepy after a breakfast of meat and eggs on a day off but that really doesn't concern me. I really want to know why I feel so rough after those foods when I'm working.
 
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Meat and eggs have not made me feel sleepy while at work. I just get this horrible feeling of low blood sugar.
I might get sleepy after a breakfast of meat and eggs on a day off but that really doesn't concern me. I really want to know why I feel so rough after those foods when I'm working.
RP says eggs are a powerful protein and need A LOT of sugar to balance just one egg, all by itself.
 
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You said you drink orange juice with collagen powder all day at work and your energy is good all day when you do this. Adding more protein to that means you are burning protein for energy. Maybe on the days you have meat or eggs you don’t need as much collagen? Maybe just enough to balance the meat and then add more juice or other forms of carbs for energy?
 
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Carrum

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You said you drink orange juice with collagen powder all day at work and your energy is good all day when you do this. Adding more protein to that means you are burning protein for energy. Maybe on the days you have meat or eggs you don’t need as much collagen? Maybe just enough to balance the meat and then add more juice or other forms of carbs for energy?
But the low blood sugar problem is happening before I have any orange juice.
I have honey and maple syrup in my tea followed by a little meat or egg and then an hour so later my blood sugar plummets. If I don't have the meat or eggs my blood sugar does not plummet. It goes down more slowly and isn't a problem.
 
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Carrum

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RP says eggs are a powerful protein and need A LOT of sugar to balance just one egg, all by itself.
I usually have two tablespoons of maple syrup with more than two of honey in a mug of tea. It seems like a lot of sugar to me. I couldn't face more than that in the morning.
 

bistecca

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If protein is eaten without carbohydrate, it will stimulate insulin secretion, lowering blood sugar and activating the stress response, leading to the secretion of adrenalin, cortisol, growth hormone, prolactin, and other hormones. The adrenalin will mobilize glycogen from the liver, and (along with other hormones) will mobilize fatty acids, mainly from fat cells. Cortisol will activate the conversion of protein to amino acids, and then to fat and sugar, for use as energy. (If the diet doesn't contain enough protein to maintain the essential organs, especially the heart, lungs, and brain, they are supplied with protein from the skeletal muscles. Because of the amino acid composition of the muscle proteins, their destruction stimulates the formation of additional cortisol, to accelerate the movement of amino acids from the less important tissues to the essential ones.)
 
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Carrum

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Interesting but I'm not eating protein without carbohydrates though. According to Cronometer I'm having about 296 calories from carbs just before I have an egg.
It's only recently that I started adding collagen to the tea but I had the same low blood sugar problem when I wasn't adding collagen.
 

bistecca

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Interesting but I'm not eating protein without carbohydrates though. According to Cronometer I'm having about 296 calories from carbs just before I have an egg.
It's only recently that I started adding collagen to the tea but I had the same low blood sugar problem when I wasn't adding collagen.

Point is that you're consuming an above-average amount of protein in those instances where you add a drumstick/egg/whatever.. You should be consuming a correspondingly larger amount of carbohydrate or quality fat to account for it.
 
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I usually have two tablespoons of maple syrup with more than two of honey in a mug of tea. It seems like a lot of sugar to me. I couldn't face more than that in the morning.
I wonder how that compares to 2 cups of very sweet orange juice, which is what RP says it takes to balance one egg?
 
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Carrum

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Point is that you're consuming an above-average amount of protein in those instances where you add a drumstick/egg/whatever.. You should be consuming a correspondingly larger amount of carbohydrate or quality fat to account for it.
So how much carbohydrate should I be having just to balance an egg? Nearly 300 calories of carbs seems like it should be more than enough to balance out a 77 calorie egg.
 
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Carrum

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I wonder how that compares to 2 cups of very sweet orange juice, which is what RP says it takes to balance one egg?
Two cups of orange juice is about 225 calories which is less than the honey and maple syrup I have.
It's winter time here now (Victoria, Australia). The last thing I want to drink in the early morning is orange juice as it makes me so cold.
 
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Two cups of orange juice is about 225 calories which is less than the honey and maple syrup I have.
It's winter time here now (Victoria, Australia). The last thing I want to drink in the early morning is orange juice as it makes me so cold.
I think if you only had the one egg with your honey and maple syrup you would be fine, but you are having other protein with the egg too, and are you only having one egg?

I don’t blame you about orange juice on a cold morning. It is hard for me to find the right mood for fruit unless it is on a hot day and it is away from protein.
 

supercoolguy

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Two times now after Hiking, I ate a mostly protein/fat meal. The fatigue knocked me Out for 45min. Even when I tried to make up, for lack of carbs. It was too late.

But when I consumed plenty of OJ or a coke, or ginger ale while i cooked. Everything was fine. I ate, relaxed like normal and went about my business.
Amazing!
 
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Carrum

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Add solid carbs (and some coconut oil).
I had my usual tea with maple syrup and honey followed by a very small portion of white rice (Something I've not had in a very long time) earlier this week. My blood sugar plummeted shortly after getting to work.

Coconut oil really doesn't agree with me. It sends me rushing to the toilet and unsettles my digestion for several days after.
 

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