Faulty glucose metabolism and afib ar... - Atrial Fibrillati...
Faulty glucose metabolism and afib article. Anyone find being sugar free helps symptoms?
I've had aFib for many years, then, because I was diagnosed type-2 pre-diabetic, two years ago went keto (almost no sugar, very low carbs, zero alcohol etc etc). I can't say whether it's helped with AF or not. I'd say I'm about the same although my arrhythmia hasn't changed much, but it hasn't got any worse.
What I can say is that if I have any sugar at all, my heart will start to pump a bit. It's a stimulus. I get the same if I eat too much but with sugar it doesn't have to be much at all.
Hell yeah, i make sure I keep my glycemic index as low as possible every day. I smash sugar cravings with protein and search out for organic low sugar "treats" when I have to have something. I have lost (80) lbs since diagnosed and never diabetic but that sugar man really messes me up!!
Here is what I found:
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After 9 years of trying different foods and logging EVERYTHING I ate, I found sugar (and to a lesser degree, salt – i.e. dehydration) was triggering my Afib. Doctors don't want to hear this - there is no money in telling patients to eat less sugar. Each person has a different sugar threshold - and it changes as you get older, so you need to count every gram of sugar you eat every day (including natural sugars in fruits, etc.). My tolerance level was 190 grams of sugar per day 8 years ago, 85 grams a year and a half ago, and 60 grams today, so AFIB episodes are more frequent and last longer. If you keep your intake of sugar below your threshold level your AFIB will not happen again (easier said than done of course). It's not the food - it's the sugar (or salt - see below) IN the food that's causing your problems. Try it and you will see - should only take you 1 or 2 months of trial-and-error to find your threshold level. And for the record - ALL sugars are treated the same (honey, refined, agave, natural sugars in fruits, etc.). I successfully triggered AFIB by eating a bunch of plums and peaches one day just to test it out. In addition, I have noticed that moderate exercise (7-mile bike ride or 5-mile hike in the park) often puts my Afib heart back in to normal rhythm a couple hours later. Don’t know why – perhaps you burn off the excess sugars in your blood/muscles or sweat out excess salt??
Also, in addition to sugar, if you are dehydrated - this will trigger AFIB as well. It seems (but I have no proof of this) that a little uptick of salt in your blood is being treated the same as an uptick of sugar - both cause AFIB episodes. (I’m not a doctor – it may be the sugar in your muscles/organs and not in your blood, don’t know). In any case you have to keep hydrated, and not eat too much salt. The root problem is that our bodies are not processing sugar/salt properly and no doctor knows why, but the AFIB seems to be a symptom of this and not the primary problem, but medicine is not advanced enough to know the core reason that causes AFIB at this time. You can have a healthy heart and still have Afib – something inside us is triggering it when we eat too much sugar or get (even a little) dehydrated. Find out the core reason for this and you will be a millionaire and make the cover of Time Magazine! Good luck! - Rick Hyer
Thanks for your post. I agree with your comments and it is good to get some feedback from other people's experiences. Low /no sugar and regular walking I completely agree with.
