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!

Primal Smoothies!

Hello. As you may have noticed already, eating eggs for breakfast everyday can get old. Make a primal smoothie instead! Here's how I make it:

1/2 a banana

Handful of frozen berries

1/2 cup or so of organic whole milk (from local farm)

Spoonful of almond butter

1 Serving of Vanilla protein powder

(Dash of honey if you want to sweeten it)

Blend! Serve! Drink!

Here's a pic of a recent smoothie... I added a dollop of homemade, organic whipped cream.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Also, I've lost 5 pounds, which may not sound like a lot, but adding that to the 4 pounds I had already lost since moving to Nashville, I weigh less now than I have in about 6 years. A couple more pounds and I will be at me wedding weight! :)

Weigh-in Wednesday

Another two pounds down for me, making a total of 19 since going primal. It's funny, but since my first week when I lost about 5 pounds, I've consistently hit exactly what Mark Sisson said to expect: 1-2 pounds per week. And it's been quite easy. That's just with the food changes really. I still haven't really embarked on primal fitness puruits.

As I posted earlier this week, my coconut fish was a hit and should get a regular spot in our meal rotation. I've got a good beef dish planned soon, and I should also be steaming my first artichoke in the next few days as well.

Fitness is the next big pursuit now that much of the weight is off. I'll post on that soon too.

Coconut Crusted Fish

Beeki and I just dug into some great coconut crusted fish! (Mahi Mahi to be exact.) And it was delicious! Earlier I had tried coconut crusted chicken. It didn't go as well. The secret, I've learned, is to cook it at a lower temperature. With the chicken, the crust got all cooked and then started to burn before the meat was even half-way cooked! So this time I lowered the temperature and it went very well. It was awesomely tasty. And it was a cinch to make. I stole the basic idea from here. I used coconut oil to cook these and then put it on a bed of spinach with mango and walnuts. I finished it with a light drizzle of olive oil and everything tasted great! Primal Power!

Eating Out

Beeki and I are working hard at eating in as much as possible and learning to cook better. But sometimes it's nice to go out. And sometimes we just have to. A week ago we were in a hurry going about our evening and didn't have time to make it home. So we stopped at Outback and check out the awesome primal meal I was able to have with just one little substitution:



All I had to do was swap out the potato for some broccoli. It was great! And it was totally primal. Yum.

Weigh-in Wednesday

So Wednesday is the day of the week that I weigh-in. I used to weigh every morning, but measuring incremental change like that is a recipe for neurosis. Also, since Beeki and I enjoy watching The Biggest Loser on Tuesday nights, it seems to sync well. Thus, every Wednesday morning I get up and head to the scale. (Then I imagine Allie from TBL saying, "Your weight is...," followed by a beeping sound and random numbers flashing on the display.)

So last week I dropped another pound and a half. That makes a total of 17 lbs. down since going primal five and a half weeks ago. Woo hoo! And it's been really easy and comfortable. I haven't been hungry, I haven't had energy swings, I've learned to cook well, I've eaten a variety of foods, and I haven't been stressed about the process in the least.

I can't say enough about how good I feel since dropping grains and refined sugars. Going primal is the best diet-related decision I've ever made. I can sustain this happily and healthily for a lifetime. And that's what I've been looking for. I haven't been interested in quick-fixes or short-term solutions. I've been looking for a better way to live. And here it is!

Have a good week!

Omelette

Boy am I stuffed! I didn't really eat all that much today, but what I did eat counted big time. I slept in today, so I only ended up with two meals. My first meal was an awesome omelette with ham. And for dinner I made my primal pizza with mashed cauliflower. After dinner I treated myself to a small glass of chocolate milk and a few spoonfuls of some vanilla ice cream. I don't usually indulge in the chocolate milk or the ice cream, but then, that's what makes it a treat, isn't it?

Anyway, here's my omelette recipe. I'll post my pizza one later.

- two eggs
- whole milk
- spinach
- onion
- garlic
- salsa
- monterrey jack cheese

I don't think I need to post any cooking instructions. It's an omelette. It's pretty simple. But what it delivers is some great protein, some good veggies, and a lot of satisfaction. Also, almost no carbs. Woo hoo! For even more protein, I had some leftover ham with it. It kept me feeling full for hours. Well, perhaps satisfied is a better description that full. I'm full tonight after the pizza, chocolate milk, and ice cream! But I was nice and sated earlier with plenty of energy.

Hope you're all having a great weekend! I'll be posting at least every Wednesday since that's my weigh-in day. I'll sprinkle in some other posts too with recipes, exercise details, and links when I can. Look for the pizza recipe to come soon. It's killer.

Our Primal Family

Hello! I'm Scott. This blog will be a chronicle of the members of our family who are going primal in food and lifestyle. Now, it's not a nuclear family that's going primal... not yet anyway... So far it's me, my wife Beki, her father John, her brother Mark, and my mother Carol. We're hoping that our success will inspire the other members of our family, but we're not forcing anyone to do anything!

We're all obviously inspired by Mark Sisson, his blog Mark's Daily Apple, and his book The Primal Blueprint. We're branching out and reading other blogs following a similar lifestyle and soaking up all of the information that we can right now. And so far so good! Everyone is reporting great energy levels, weight loss, health, and strength.

What we'll do with this blog is that everyone involved in the family here will post as they're inspired to do so with success stories, challenges, recipes, links, anecdotes, and anything else relative to our primal adventure. I hope that it will prove interesting to hear how things are both similar and different among us of both genders and ranging in age from 28 to 60+.

I hope that anyone reading this will be informed and inspired because we're all planning for massive success!