Do you ever wonder what they put in those dextrose tabs? We did. So John went on a hunt to find a better source of glucose for my insulin reactions.
Dex4 Natural
Dex 4 Natural tablets were the first brand of glucose tablets that John found. They are not GMO free, but they don’t contain as many additives as most glucose tablets. Unfortunately, they do not sell in Canada so we could not get any to try.
Not that I feel comfortable trying them, anyway. The same company make other tabs that are full of things I do not want to consume. Who really knows what exactly goes into them?
Nonetheless, you can purchase them from Amazon.com
Glucolift
Christopher Angell has type 1 diabetes and wanted an all natural glucose tab. Christopher named the product Glucolift. It isn’t organic but I love that they are GMO-free, gluten-free, sodium-free, dye-free and caffeine-free.
They come in three flavours: cherry, wild berry and orange cream. The cherry glucolifts are my favourite flavour, though I heard that orange cream are a favourite amongst type-1s.
The one thing they do not have is a liquid gel for those with gastroparesis.
One tab contains 4 grams of carb (which raises my blood sugar 1.2 mmol/L or 21 mg/dL). This is an USA based company but they do ship around the world. Americans can order directly from Amazon.com. If you live in another country I’d recommend contacting the company directly for special rates.
Hypoglycaemic Organic Carrot Juice Recipe
Recently, my creative husband thought he would concoct an even healthier source of glucose. He was already making fresh organic carrot and beetroot juice in the morning for him and my son. So he started making an extra 1/2 cup for me. He splits it into two 1/4 cup jars. Each jar contains about 3 grams of carb.
Here is the recipe if you’re interested:
Ingredients:
- 1/4 lb. of organic carrots
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1/4 medium organic beetroot
- (optional) celery or parsley (they don’t have any significant affect on blood sugar)
Directions:
- Add all ingredients to blender or food processor.
- Puree.
- Put puree in a nut milk bag and squeeze out the juice.
- Divide juice between two storage containers. Each container will contain about 3g of carb.
- You can use the left-over pulp in recipes from GAPS like biscuits or peanut butter pie.
John freezes the juice if I haven’t drank it within 24 hours. Otherwise it’ll turn into alcohol. Then he takes them out of the freezer if needed. He defrosts them in some hot water which doesn’t take long because it is not that much liquid.
I do find that both the glucose tabs and carrots juice don’t always raise my blood sugar to where I aim for. It sometimes takes two shots (45 minutes apart). We believe that most times this is because insulin is still pushing my blood sugar down. Or the other reason could be that some batches of carrots are more sweeter than other batches.
Happy rise in blood sugar.
