baked beans 40
beets 64
black-eyed peas 33
carrots 92
chic peas 36
parsnips 97
potato chips 51
baked potato 98
sweet potato 48
yams 51
peas 51
Baked Goods
pastry 59
sponge cake 46
white bread 69
w/w bread 72
whole rye bread 42
Sugars
fructose 20
glucose 100
honey 87
maltose 110
sucrose 59
Nuts
peanuts 13
Meats
sausage 28
fish sticks 38
Dairy Products
yogurt 36
whole milk 34
skim milk 32
Remember, the pancreas has another major service to perform for the
body: secreting digestive enzymes to aid in the digestion of
proteins. When the diet contains either too much protein or too much
sugar and/or high-glycemic index starch foods, the overworked
pancreas begins to be less and less efficient at maintaining both of
these functions.
Sometimes a stressed-out pancreas gets overactive and does too good
a job lowering the blood sugar, producing hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia
is generally accompanied by unpleasant symptoms such as fatigue,
dizziness, blurred vision, irritability, confusion, headache, etc.
This condition is typically alleviated by yet another hit of sugar
which builds an addiction not only to sugar, but to food in general.
If the hypoglycemic then keeps on eating sugar to relieve the
symptoms of sugar ingestion, eventually the pancreas becomes
exhausted, producing an insulin deficiency, called diabetes. Medical
doctors treat diabetes with insulin supplements either oral or
intramuscular plus a careful diet with very low and measured amounts
of sugar and starch for the remainder of the persons inevitably
shortened and far less pleasant life. However, sometimes diabetes
can be controlled with diet alone, though medical doctors have not
had nearly as much success with this approach as talented
naturopaths. Sometimes, long fasting can regenerate a pancreas. It
is far better to avoid creating this disease!
The dietary management of hypoglycemia requires that not only
refined but also unrefined sugars and starches with a high glycemic
index be removed from the diet. (The glycemic index measures the
ease with which the starch is converted into glucose in the body,
and estimates the amount of insulin needed to balance it out.) This
means no sugar, no honey, no white flour, no whole grains sweetened
with honey, no sweet fruits such as watermelons, bananas, raisins,
dates or figs. Potatoes are too readily converted into sugar.
Jerusalem artichokes are a good substitute.
People with hypoglycemia can often control their symptoms with
frequent small meals containing vegetable protein every two hours.
When a non-sweet fruit is eaten such as an apple, it should be eaten
with some almonds or other nut or seed that slows the absorption of
fruit sugar. Hypoglycemics can improve their condition with vitamins
and food supplements. See the next chapter.
Allergies to foods and environmental irritants are frequently
triggered by low blood sugar. Mental conditions are also triggered
by low blood sugar levels, frequently contributing to or causing a
cycle of acting out behavior accompanied by destruction of property
and interpersonal violence, as well as psychosis and bouts of
depression. It is not possible to easily deal with the resulting
behavior problems unless the hypoglycemia is controlled.
Unfortunately most institutions such as mental hospitals and jails
serve large amounts of sugar and starch and usually caffeinated
beverages, with a high availability of soda pop, candy, and
cigarettes at concessions. If the diet were drastically improved,
the drugs given to control behavior in mental hospitals would be
much more effective at a lower dose, or unnecessary.
The insulin-cycle overworked pancreas may eventually not be able to
secrete enough enzymes to allow for the efficient digestion of foods
high in protein. As stated earlier, poor protein digestion leads to
a highly toxic condition from putrefied protein in the intestines.
This condition is alleviated by eliminating animal proteins from the
diet and taking digestive aids such as pancreatin pills with meals
to assist in the digestion of vegetable proteins.