The Hidden Risks of Blood Sugar Imbalances

One near-death phone call and a flight across the country changed everything I thought I knew about health, cravings, and the silent dangers of blood sugar mismanagement—what I discovered might just save your life.

Tim Reiss
December 27, 2024
8 min read

It was early afternoon in February of 2022.

I received a call from a close friend.

He sounded emotional and I could tell he was trying to hold back from crying.

“Tim, my Dad is in the hospital.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“They don’t know but it looks like he had a seizure and passed out unconscious on the bathroom floor. He’s in the hospital and not responsive.” 

“I’m going to look at flights and fly out tonight,” I responded.

The conversation ended. 

It sounded like he was on his deathbed and in the next few hours we would get a call that he was gone forever.

I didn’t know what to do but I couldn’t sit there in my house while he was laying in the hospital unresponsive.

I knew that if I stayed home and he died, I’d never forgive myself.

So, I stuffed some clothes in a small backpack and booked the next ticket out.

This guy had been one of my first mentors. There was no one on the planet whom I trusted or respected more than this guy.

As I’m on the plane, I’m looking up at the ceiling praying that he’d make it. I was beside myself and couldn’t process what was going on.

His health had been a concern of mine for the last few years. He wasn’t an old guy but he was overweight and had a series of health issues that he was on medication for.

I arrive in Montana and meet his son.

We go to a friends house and sit on the couch waiting for a call to see if we’re allowed to go see him.

His phone rings.

“He’s regained consciousness. He doesn’t remember what happened and he’s having trouble speaking.” The voice said.

“We’re going to run some additional tests.”

The call ended.

‘Ok - he’s conscious, that’s good’ I thought to myself.

A couple hours later, we received another call.

“He seems to be doing ok. We think it could’ve been a reaction to his diabetes medicine. We’re going to continue to monitor him overnight.”

We later found out that he had taken a decongestant which had negatively reacted with his diabetes medication and caused him to pass out on the floor.

At around 5pm the next day, he gets released from the hospital. He found out that I had flew over to check on him and against the doctor and his wife’s wishes, I get a message that he wanted to meet up for dinner.

I’m at the restaurant and he walks through the door as pale as I had ever seen him. He looked like he hadn’t slept in 7 days and he was sweating like a madman. “Howdy!” He says at a surprisingly enthusiastic volume.

“John, what the hell happened?” I ask him.

I can tell that he’s still off. This guy is as sharp as a tack. But at this point I’m just happy he’s talking and out of the hospital.

“They’re not quite sure. I took this decongestant and minutes later I felt this shooting pain through my sinuses and next thing I remember I’m in the hospital. I ain’t ever taking that shit again,” he laughs.

Dinner was more somber than usual. I’m happy that he’s talking and he seems to be somewhat energetic but I can’t help but remain concerned.

What if the doctors missed something? Is he totally fine or is this a situation where in a few days or weeks we’ll be getting a phone call saying he’s gone?

At the time, I had no knowledge of the risk of diabetes, what the medications were,  the effects certain foods had on diabetes, nor did I understand the dangers that other medications like decongestants could potentially have.

The next morning, I hop on a plane to return home. But, I couldn’t shake the anxious feeling in my gut that this was not over and something even worse was going to happen.

When I get home, I go full bore into research mode.

  • What causes diabetes?
  • What are the symptoms of diabetes?
  • What foods are good for blood sugar management?
  • What types of medication do they often prescribe?
  • Is there any natural remedy that can help with blood sugar management?
  • Is it possible to reverse diabetes?

I learn that blood sugar fluctuations will cause drastic shifts in energy, leading to fatigue, and even feeling too drained to do things that you enjoy doing.

It can also lead to nerve damage and chronic pain and inflammation. Often times in the form of tingling, numbness, or pain in your hands and feet - to the point that walking becomes difficult.

No wonder this guy had trouble losing weight. He often mentioned that he had chronic pain in his feet. I can’t imagine how difficult it must’ve been to exercise or even go for a walk with his wife.

Carbohydrates have a big impact on blood sugar and insulin spikes. 

I must’ve been early into my 30’s when I first started to notice that my body responded differently to carbs than it did when I was younger.

I come from a family of big eaters. If you weren’t putting down 2-3 plates of food, you weren’t trying hard enough. It was almost like a sign of masculinity in our family. I feel like a weak little girl if I only had one plate.

As I got older I realized that nearly every time I ate spaghetti, rice, pancakes, bread, potatoes within 30 minutes I was useless.

  • Complete brain fog and grogginess.
  • Apathetic
  • Slow
  • Irritability and mood swings
  • Insane Cravings for the worst, most unhealthy foods

The reason for these symptoms is that carbohydrates trigger an insulin release in your body. Insulin helps transport glucose from the bloodstream into cells for energy. When you eat a ton of carbs in one meal, you can overwhelm your body’s insulin response, leading to higher levels of blood sugar.

I should make it clear that carbs aren’t bad. Quite the opposite. They’re the body’s primary energy source and help with performance along with muscle growth and repair. Are there healthier carbs that are less likely to cause fatigue and energy crash? Absolutely and we’ll get into those later.

For men, the clinical research shows that a proper amount of carbs help support healthy testosterone levels. Studies show that low carb diets will reduce testosterone levels in men.

I don’t believe in no carbs diets, especially for men. I’ve done the keto diet and I’ve done the carnivore diet. Yes it certainly helped reduce cravings, my energy was stable throughout the day and I lost some weight. But when I was doing those diets, I felt flat when I was working out. I didn’t have the “squeeze” or drive and I knew it wasn’t the right thing for me.

However, I did realize that when I was eating a lot of high carb foods like spaghetti, pancakes, bread etc later that day, I had these huge hunger spikes.

How could this be? I had a huge meal earlier today, why is my stomach growling?

I came across two studies that discussed this.

Activation of Brain Reward Centers by High-Glycemic Foods:

A study conducted by Boston Children's Hospital found that consuming highly processed carbohydrates can cause excess hunger and stimulate brain regions involved in reward and cravings. This suggests that high-glycemic foods may promote overeating by altering brain function.
Science Daily

Separate Neural Pathways for Sugar and Fat Cravings:

Research from the Monell Chemical Senses Center revealed distinct neural circuits for sugar and fat cravings. The study found that combining these pathways can overly trigger the desire to eat, indicating that high-carb diets may enhance cravings through specific brain mechanisms.
Science Daily

These made sense to me because I noticed it in my own daily life. Whenever I’d eat a large amount of carbs, the rest of the day I was craving junk food, or at the very least craving more sugary foods.

But on the days where I’d limit my carb take to small amounts until the evening, I had significantly less cravings and my energy, alertness, and mental clarity was significantly better.

I can’t stand being tired or feeling slow. I want to have the energy to do the things I love doing and take life by the horns.

But I’m also not somebody that wants to live a boring or restrictive life – weighing my food or counting calories, or never being able to eat my favorite foods. For some people, they’re ok with living that lifestyle but for me - that sounds like a prison.

But within the last year, I made some small changes in how I eat that have completely transformed my body, allowing me to lose weight, keep my energy levels high all day, and drastically reduce my cravings.

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Here’s what I do to combat energy crashings and cravings

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Generally in the morning I do not eat breakfast. If I do, I’ll have eggs, on occasion a small amount of steak or elk. 

I love coffee - so I’ll start my morning off with some black coffee or if I’m feeling frisky I’ll add some cream. I don’t add sugar in my coffee. I enjoy it without sugar and for me, I know as soon as that sugar enters my mouth, I’ll be craving more the rest of the day.

For lunch, I generally have chicken, steak, or a fish along with a small amount of rice, roasted potatoes - something like that.

In between all these meals, I’m drinking a lot of water. Roughly a gallon a day, sometimes more. 

Dinner is similar to lunch but that’s where I’m having larger portions of carbs because by that time normally my day is over and it’s time to wind down. 

I should note that none of this feels like restriction to me. I love steak, I love chicken. I eat sushi multiple times per week. I stay away from the sushi rolls because I’m noticing they make me feel slow and full the next day but I will enjoy those from time to time.

Another way that I’ve been using lately to help reduce cravings and helping stabilize my energy levels throughout the day is through a combination of herbs and minerals.

It may sound like a lot but I’ll show you how I’m incorporating all these into my daily routine without a ton of effort.

Vitamin C: Studies show a significant reduction in fasting blood glucose levels. Fasting blood glucose is the level of glucose in your blood when you haven’t eaten for 8-12 hours. It’s a marker to show how well your body manages glucose - a lower level would indicate that your body is healthier and better able to manage your blood sugar. 

Vitamin E:  Improves insulin sensitivity and reduces markers of oxidative stress.

Biotin: Improves glycemic control and reduces insulin requirements

Bitter Melon Extract: Clinical studies show significant reductions in fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels with bitter melon supplementation.

Chromium: Chromium supplementation improves glycemic control, with reductions in fasting blood glucose and HbA1c level

Manganese: Studies show that manganese improved insulin secretion and glucose tolerance in individuals with impaired glucose metabolism.

Magnesium: Improves insulin sensitivity and glycemic control.

Zinc: Leads to significant reductions in fasting blood glucose and HbA1c levels

What I’ve noticed:

  1. Between my diet and supplementation, I’ve noticed that I rarely ever have these huge hunger pains or cravings. I exercise a lot and I told you before that I come from a family of eaters. So you’d figure that out of anyone, I’d be craving a large amount of food all day, every day.
  1. Significantly less midday crashes. For the last however many years, as soon as the clock struck 3pm, my brain shut off. I’d be fatigued and had trouble working or the energy to do anything.  Unless I’m sleep deprived, if I stick to proper hydration, incorporating the herbs and food that I mentioned above, I notice a significant reduction in mid day crashes. Are there still some days where I’m tired? Absolutely. That’s part of life. But when I look at my entire week, I noticed that my energy levels are sustaining throughout the day far more days than they were in the past.
  1. Better concentration, memory recall, focus. This year has been one of the most challenging years in terms of workload and life. But I have noticed a huge improvement in my ability to focus, remember things, and think critically.
  1. Weight Loss. This is the first year in my life that I have started to achieve my ideal body. I’m finally able to look in the mirror and not be disgusted or disappointed with myself. The funny thing is that I’ve been active my entire life. Between 2018-2020, I worked out with a trainer 5 days a week… and I mean HARD.  I’m not eating drastically differently nor am I eating different foods. But when I reflect on what was the small lever that allowed for these huge changes, it was realizing that my cravings were causing me to overeat.

So by figuring out a way to reduce my cravings, I was able to make the biggest physical transformation of my entire life and improve my blood glucose biomarkers and overall health.

I feel faster mentally, less bogged down, more energetic, less tired, and I have the discipline to not overeat.

I still pig out and go off the rails from time to time. But those times are significantly less frequent than before. 

So what options are out there to help combat cravings, stabilize blood sugar levels, reduce mid day crashes, and get on the path to leading a healthier, more energy rich life?

I mentioned some of the herbs that I am currently taking. Originally, I was piece-mealing them together. One day I’d make sure I was getting vitamin c and manganese, and other days make sure to take biotin - essentially that sort of thing.

It was inefficient and frankly a pain in the butt.

Now, I haven’t passed out on the bathroom floor and woken up in the hospital because of blood sugar issues but I’ve certainly dealt with cravings, mid-day fatigue, and many of the symptoms that come along with blood sugar spikes.

…And after what felt like a near death experience of my friend, it became clear to me that the symptoms associated with poor blood sugar management is a real problem for a lot of people in our country.

So, I was able to find and consult with some experts to design my own formulation of herbs and minerals to help combat fatigue, reduce cravings, and stabilize blood sugar. 

The process took longer and was more expensive than I anticipated. But, it was important to me that I did it right and so we didn’t take any shortcuts.

By working with experts in the US, we were able to handpick the highest quality sources of herbs and minerals and have it produced right here in the United States. 

The result is a product called AC-130, which is a daily dose of herbs and minerals to support healthy blood sugar management, reduce cravings and combat mid-day fatigue. 

Now you may have heard of A1c - which is a blood test that monitors your average blood glucose levels.

Here at ReadyDefend.com, we are a Veteran Operated Company and proud of it. In our military we have a heavily armed aircraft called the AC-130 - which provides air support and suppression for some of our operations overseas.

We decided to call this supplement AC-130 because we see this supplement essentially as your own personal heavily armed support vehicle that helps keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy state.

By combining the key ingredients I discussed above, along with others that I’ll tell you about shortly, we’ve come up with a solution that:

  • Provides stable, lasting energy throughout the day
  • Helps improve mental clarity and reduce grogginess
  • Reduce cravings for junk food
  • Improve your body's natural response to carbohydrates so you can use them for fuel and energy
  • Improve your metabolic health and blood sugar levels

I’m very proud to share this with you and the work that was put into this.

If you are someone who deals with cravings, suffers from mid-day crashes, or you’re worried about your blood sugar levels and metabolic health, AC-130 is here to support you to living a healthier, more energetic life.

Are you ready to experience the difference for yourself? To not just hear about the benefits but to feel them, to see them, to live them? Click here to try AC-130 today and join the countless others who have taken this step towards reducing cravings and maintaining stable energy and mental clarity throughout the day.

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