Lola, I said "yes" to only 1.

Lola, yes probably overlap with other things like adrenals, and that was something I was thinking of also.  Few years back I had adrenal issues and had internal shakiness off and on during the day.

Balletomane,  
I was wondering if the alternative carbs would work better, Quinoa and Buckwheat - assuming they are allowed.

Lin

Lin,

Buckwheat is an avoid, but quinoa is a bennie. I do eat quinoa together with brown rice sometimes, perhaps once a week. I will try to isolate it from the rice to see if it has any water retention effect on me.

I have just read that hundreds of thousands of years ago, the main stress our ancestors experienced was famine/hunger. So the production of excess insulin during a stressful time was to allow the body to eat more and store the fat in the belly in preparation for the next emergency. This fat can be easily transported to the liver due to proximity. But today, sans the famine threat, the body still has a link between stress and excess insulin production. Makes much sense to me.

The other thing I learned last year and have been doing is to soak grains over night before cooking them.  It removes an outer coating that can irritate the digestive track.  Brown Rice is excellent whole grain.  If the quinoa works you could rotate those grains.  Are you allowed potatoes or parsnips?  I've been enjoying parsnips instead of using potatoes, and add them to soup.

Forgot to say I've read same on stress and belly fat.  I think some types are more prone to this than others, I believe warriors are one of them.  Meditation?  Or something like that perhaps also would help.

Lin,

Thanks for your suggestions. I have been soaking my rice and quinoa overnight before cooking them. Works great.

Not sure if it's the warriors who are more prone. I would venture to guess gatherers instead. Meditation would definitely help as it deals with stress.

An update: I have been upping my protein intake in the past two days (about 4 oz each meal) and also adding a bit of starch veggie (sweet potato) as my afternoon snack and both seem to have stabilized my blood sugar level and made me crave sugar less.

Glad you found osmething that works!

I forgot to mention to choose foods that have low Glycemic Index.  If you do SWAMI, it might help to emphasize the "nutrients that enhance the removal of Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGE) molecules," which is what I've done.

I had breakfast before 7am and didn't eat lunch until 1:40pm.  I wasn't hungry, jittery, dizzy, weak.  That wouldn't have been possible for me three years ago.

(FYI, it was two slices of whole wheat spelt toast with almond butter, blueberries, carob powder, and dark chocolate chips.  I forgot the flaxseed.)

Thanks for the advice! I'll try to tweak my SWAMI accordingly. I think I didn't check that because I didn't know what it meant.

Lucky you that you can have spelt toast. I can't have any type of bread except for Ezekiel, but it is unavailable in my country.