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The Low Carbohydrate Hypoglycemic Diet
The object of the low carbo diet is to reduce your intake of insulin-triggering carbohydrate foods. Without insulin to plunge your blood sugar into a hypoglycemic state your brain will stop signaling wildly to resupply its fuel (sugar). Once this happens, you will see your sugar cravings stop. This diet requires keeping track of how many grams of carbohydrate you eat. Usually seventy-five grams is adequate to control sugar cravings. You may be able to load up to one hundred grams, or if you are extremely carbohydrate sensitive, you may only get by with fifty grams a day of carbohydrates. Your body will decide for you.
Shoppping Tips For Everyone

• Choose foods that are as close to their natural state as possible: fresh vegetables and fruits; fresh meats, fish, chicken, and eggs; raw nuts and seeds; and fresh salad greens.
• Avoid canned, processed, dyed, chemically flavored, frozen, additive-laden foods.
• If you can't find millet bread or brown rice bread at your supermarket, try a food cooperative. Some health-food stores also carry these whole-grain substitutes for wheat bread. Before you buy rye or oat bread, read the label. Wheat is usually the first ingredient listed.
• Don't buy roasted nuts. The process of high-heat roasting causes undesirable changes in the natural oils the nuts contain. In the body, this altered oil can promote formation of free radicals, dangerously unstable molecules capable of damaging healthy tissue and promoting the development of cancer. Choose only raw nuts and seeds.
• Pass up luncheon meats (spam, bacon, ham, bologna). They are loaded with refined sugars and cancer-causing nitrates.
• You can find fruit-sweetened jams at a food co-op or health food store.
• Drink flavored sparkling water (read the label to confirm that it is sugar free).
• Cut your salt intake by using lite salt, which is half potassium (needed for cellular energy) and half sodium.

Meal Preparation Tips

• Peel fruits and vegetables or remove outer layers to avoid pesticide residues.
• Steam your vegetables (if you cook them in water, you will lose much of their vitamin and mineral content). You can get a steamer that fits inside any pot in most house wares departments. Cook vegetables until they are almost tender, not soggy.
• Raw vegetables are your best choice; they also make excellent snacks.
• Use fruit juice on cereal if you don't have soy, rice, or goat's milk. (The ban on cow's milk is only a temporary measure until you have had your allergy test.)
• Keep a lot of assorted nuts, sunflower seeds, apples, oranges, carrot sticks, celery, and other raw vegetables on hand for snacking.

How Much Time Before I Feel Good?
At Health Recovery Center, we see client progress as having three stages:

Stage 1. Withdrawal from refined sugars. "I'm so wiped out and tired all the time," You are getting a look at your REAL energy levels without artificial stimulants. This usually lasts one week to ten days.
Stage 2. Improvement noticeable but NOT CONSISTENT. You will experience periods during the third and fourth weeks when many days are greatly improved but your newfound energy and stability are not consistent.
Stage 3. Improvement is marked; stability and mental clarity are ongoing. "My energy is fabulous. I've turned into a health nut, but it's worth it." It is common to have this happen by or after the fourth week on the diet.

It's Your Choice
One last word about diets and food. It takes a little reprogramming to select what goes in your mouth for its ultimate value rather than the sixty-second taste it has. You can build vitality; energy, mental clarity, top-notch health or you can choose the short-lived sweet tastes of sugars.
The only way to fight your cravings for refined sugars is not to eat ANY at all. Even a little turns on intense thoughts of more, more, more that last all day and you see yourself trading your mental equilibrium and competitive edge for colas, cookies, candy and ice cream.
Now this nonsense is over. Now with every passing day you will be growing more stable and healthy. You are about to discover many other ways to perk up besides caffeine and refined sugars. There are so many remarkable substances that you can put in your mouth to make yourself feel better. So many amazing chemicals from our own "natural pharmacy" that can create and keep the balance you seek. The next section tells you all about them and what they can do for you.