Low Blood Sugar

I got to thinking... you know how before going primal we used to feel shaky and crashy between meals? How we'd need to get something in us or we'd start getting all crabby? We called that "low blood sugar."

But I got to thinking... are those the right words we should be using? I am a strong believer that our words matter. Using the words "low blood sugar" implies that the remedy to such a condition would be to raise your blood sugar. But that's not really the primal goal. In primal-ese, we should be aiming to even out our insulin levels by avoiding empty carbs and sugar. Given that, the "low blood sugar" condition should be referred to as "high blood insulin." That seems to me to be a better name that implies a more useful fix of evening insulin rather than raising or lowering sugar.

I decided to email Mark Sisson to see what he thought. He didn't seem to think the terminology made much of a difference. I'm not sure I agree. I think words have power and that we can influence behavior by naming things the right way. Still, I thought it was cool that he replied to me. Here's the text of our exchange:


Mark,

Quick question: I've been thinking a lot about blood sugar as I've been explaining going primal to my family. More and more family members are getting on board, but I started thinking about the words I was using. We typically refer the "crashy" feeling after a high carb intake as "low blood sugar." But wouldn't it more correct to refer to such a condition as "high blood insulin?" After all, the former would seem to imply that the corrective measure was to increase sugar in the blood stream. But that simply perpetuates the problem. A more correct approach would be to regulate the insulin level. It may seem like semantics, but in my experience the psychology of going primal is critical to being successful with it. Am I on track, or am I misunderstanding blood sugar and insulin?

-- scott


Scott,

I understand what you're getting at, but I think it's really a six-of-one-half-dozen-of-another situation. But as far as semantics, I'd say the layman's term "sugar crash" gets the job done. Someone has to much sugar, their body crashes.


I think I'm going to try using "high insulin" instead of "low sugar" to see how it goes. Mark may in the end be right, if for no other reason than no one will instinctively understand what I mean if I don't use the common terminology. But we'll see!

Weigh-in Wednesday

I had a pretty good week and I'm down two more pounds this week! So I've lost a total of 23 lbs since going primal. Now, for full disclosure, I should note that my weight loss this past week may have been aided by a food poisoning incident. But I had been measuring my weight a bit throughout the week, and I think I'd have lost 1-2 lbs even without the unplanned bodily evacuations.

I'm getting to the point where I may stop reporting on weight loss weekly. Not because I don't expect to keep losing weight; to the contrary, I expect that I've got about 15 lbs of fat still to lose. It's just that I'm becoming less interested in the number on the scale and on what my "weight" is, and more interested in body composition. So the weight loss, which has already begun to slow as I get in better shape, isn't as important to me as other metrics such as measurements, bmi, and the old "mirror test."

Above all, I feel better than I ever have. I know I'm doing right by my body. I feel so good that if this lifestyle didn't come with any weight-loss benefits, I'd probably still do it for every other reason. But, of course, it makes total sense that I would lose excess weight by doing right by my body. I'll have to post some pictures soon. Have a great week everyone!

Weigh-in Wednesday

I skipped last week. Well... the last two weeks.

I didn't really mean to. But I should confess something. I gained a pound two weeks ago. I didn't know what to make of it. So i decided to give it some thought before posting. Then I got distracted. Then it was Friday. And I couldn't motivate myself to post a "Weigh-in Wednesday" on Friday. Or Saturday. Aaaaaand then I just figured I'd wait until the next week.

Then that week, I only lost a pound, so I was right back to where I was before. No change. Then the next week there was no change at all. So I just kept to myself trying to figure it out.

I should reiterate, I wasn't ashamed of gaining the pound or anything. I wasn't going to not post that. I will note that two weekends ago was my birthday. And I ate a LOT. It was all primal, but it was plentiful. I felt great, still had all the energy I needed, and everything was going well. I just had more food in me I guess.

Curious about what was happening that week, I changed my habit and weighed in again the next day. And I was back down to exactly where I was the week before. So for the week I was up a pound. But for the week+1 day I was even. Go figure. Then it was a two week plateau.

And that brings us to this week. This week I've lost 1 lb. That brings the total weight loss since going primal to 21 lbs. I've still got a lot of work to do, but I'm doing really well. I know that the pounds will come off more slowly now that I'm getting closer to an acceptable weight. And that's okay. In fact, at this point, I don't care that much about the numbers on the scale. I now want to trim body fat percentage and add muscle.

Feeling great and looking better!