Adrenal Response After Eating Potatoes

[jenniferlynne76]

So I have a weird one for you all. I try to eat fairly balanced meals of fat, protein and carbs. And the only time I've ever noticed feeling particularly icky after a meal (dizzy, on edge, etc.) is when I've eaten too much sugar/too many refined carbs.

However, the last two times I've eaten potatoes (once in the form of a baked potato and the other in the form of mashed potatoes), about 2+ hours after my meal I have had the worst adrenal response. Does anybody know if there's a particular substance in potatoes that might cause this? I know there's a good deal of potassium in them, but beyond this I'm baffled. What is even stranger is that I've been able to eat french fries with no problem! (Maybe b/c the oil helps slow absorption or something?)

I suppose this could all be in my head, but it seems awfully coincidental, so I thought it was worth reaching out to the rest of you to see if you'd ever experienced anything similar.

Thanks as always for your thoughts,

Jen

[MomtoGiuliana]

White potatoes have a fairly high glycemic index:

http://nutritiondata.self.com/topics/glycemic-index

It seems many of us get intensified symptoms after eating foods with high glycemic index. This happens to me too and when I was quite sick with POTS it could be incapacitating. The reason the French fries don’t cause you these symptoms could be exactly for the reason you state—the fats reduce the glycemic index—glucose moves to your blood more slowly. I found I had to select foods low on the index, particularly in the AM, to feel my best. I also ate small meals, more frequently.

[Chaos]

White potatoes have a high glycemic index. The fact that you are experiencing these symptoms 2 hours after you eat make it sound suspiciously like it's related to reactive hypoglycemia- or at least that's what my endocrinologist has told me. According the Dr. who wrote the South Beach diet book, baking a potato is the absolute "worst" way to cook it because it "renders the starches most easily accessible to your digestive system". Either baked or mashed, you don't have much else to slow down the absorption of the carbs into your system. the french fries, as you surmised, are "better" in that regard because of the oil.

I definitely have had similar experiences with this kind of stuff. I've had symptoms of hypoglycemia when my sugars were actually really "high" (for me anyway) and when they were extremely low. Have learned the only time I can sneak any sweets in is after a heavily protein meal and then, only a little bit or I get very similar reactions to what you described.

[jenniferlynne76]

Thanks, Chaos and Mom for your thoughts on this. I suspected that was likely the case. It just seems so funny to me that it's so much more pronounced with potatoes!

I've always suffered from a mild case of reactive hypoglycemia so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that the dysautonomia has simply brought my issues out that much more.

I suspect it's time to face the music and start thinking about some serious dietary changes, especially now that my meds seems to have stabilized things and I'm actually getting some regular sleep again.