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[pmcd9]

I've noticed a trend lately that some people won't say I'm hungry.  Instead they say "my blood sugar level is low."  I'm not sure I understand the psychology behind this.  It seems like they are trying to recast their hunger as a medical condition that they must treat by eating.

Have any of you noticed this trend?  Now if you'll excuse me I've got to get something to eat, my blood sugar level is low.

[jay-ell]

My BFF said this the other day, but in her case, it was an issue where she realized she forgot to eat lunch and her head was starting to spin. It wasn't in the context of "I'm going to eat now," it was more like, "Excuse my not understanding what you just said, it was kind of complicated and my brain is being deprived of nutrients right now."

Otherwise, I think this is just a way of people saying, "I'm not just hungry, I'm hungrier than you."

[side_show]

Yeah, one of my coworkers says this.  It sort of annoys me.  She and another female coworker are both under the assumption that every woman in the office is on a diet or needs to loose weight.  They're both all about whatever fad is in the media at the moment too, which annoys the hell out of me.  What I say, silently in my head is "Stop reading articles about the weight loss befits of kwee-quay berry out loud.  If I want to hear the latest pop-science garbage, don't worry - it's everywhere already.  I don't need you to read it out loud while I'm trying to work."  It's like hunger or the desire for food for any reason other than sustenance has become shameful.  Fuck food issues.  (PS, I recommend reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan to anyone who will listen.)

[arkabee]

when i feel dizzy and shaky because i haven't eaten all day,
and i eat some peanut butter crackers and stop being shaky,
i assume it's something other than "i'm peckish".

[Arachno-capitalist]

Blood sugar issues are best fixed with orange juice. Works basically instantly.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Yeah, I make that differentiation.  Hungry = stomach growling, thinking "really want food" on a more base level.  Low blood sugar = simultaneously tired and edgy, know I need to eat on more of a mental level rather than actually wanting food at that moment.

[theinevitable]

after 2 years of living with a dude who would fly into a rage about things like people saying "blood sugar is low" instead of "hungry," my response to anything is "i don't care."

maybe to a degree that is bad.

but I just don't care enough to get mad about what other people do. At this point. Unless it is like, throw their cigarette on the ground instead of an ashtray.

(seriously dogg, you are disrespecting both the earth and everyone around you, DBAC.)

[pmcd9]

Oh, I'm not enraged, if that's what you are thinking.  More, I'm slightly bemused by this. 

But I posted this to ask the question, are humans with normally functioning metabolic systems really that sensitive to their blood sugar levels?  I was under the impression that in a normal person (i.e. non diabetic) it would take missing several meals to noticeably effect one's blood sugar level.  That if you skipped lunch and now it's dinnertime you might be tired and edgy from hunger, but your blood sugar levels are probably still fine.

I mean, the purpose of eating food is way more than simply to maintain one's blood sugar level?  I'm asking this seriously.  C'mon all you scientist in here, set me straight on this.

[Doc]

Yeah, hunger and satiety is caused by an interplay of two hormones called leptin and grehlin which are influenced by insulin and glucagon (the two hormones that regulate blood sugar levels) but it's not a simple relationship and lots of other stuff comes into it.
For instance leptin is produced by fatty tissue so the more fat you have the more you're going to produce regardless of what the rest of you is doing and there's tonnes of other factors like how full or empty different parts of your digestive tract are or how relaxed or aroused you are. So yeah, you could have low blood sugar but not exactly feel it as hunger or be hungry with perfectly normal blood sugar (this second one is how diabetes gets invited to your pizza party). Edit: Actually what I mean is abnormal hormone levels, not abnormal sugar levels the hormones keep the sugar pretty tightly regulated.

Personally I never used to get it when people busted out the blood glucose thing but just this last year I've noticed more that when I'm getting pissed off and unable to focus on stuff if chow down on an apple or similar I spring back to normal ridiculously quickly and can keep going for a couple of hours whereas before I would take it as a sign that I should give up for the night and go home. Often this will happen without me perceiving myself as being unusually hungry, just sluggish.

Addendum: Rereading your last post though Paul, someone who doesn't have diabetes probably shouldn't have an abnormal blood sugar level unless they are basically in a starvation state, what they will have is high levels of glucagon because their body is having to mobilise their energy stores to maintain a normal blood sugar level. So yeah, people probably aren't correcting their blood sugar level when they say this. I guess there might be dips in blood glucose levels when the body is switching between utilising glycogen which is easy to break down into glucose and fats or something which are harder though? Not sure.

[jay-ell]

I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with the boy, so while I don't really understand all the biological science behind it, I can tell you how it feels.

A person with normal physiology who skips lunch might feel woozy, irritable, or lightheaded. A diabetic who skips a meal (or is having a blood-sugar crash after overindulging) feels like she is going to die.

Maybe this is because a diabetic having a bad day can have blood sugar levels drop into the 40s pretty quickly, whereas a normal person's "low blood sugar" cause by skipping a meal is likely to be closer to the the 70 - 80 range. All I know is, if I skipped breakfast while I was pregnant, I was back in bed for the rest of the day by noon.

[greenkoolayd]

gestational diabetes

that fucks with my head a lot.

[jay-ell]

that fucks with my head a lot.

....why?

[smick]

I can't follow this thread because it will make my Asperger's flare up.

[greenkoolayd]

....why?

the idea of a medical condition that only happens to a person during pregnancy is hard to wrap my mind around.  i didnt mean to sound so overly dramatic, its just.... weird.

[jaydub]

Hormones.