My sister and I are, in a lot of ways very similar. The most common phrases when her friends meet me, or mine meet her, are "of course you are sisters", "what a strong family resemblance" and "goodness you look alike". - We don't see it of course - I don't think many people do with their own family. I'm told we sound alike too, and have similar mannerisms. We are both in the caring professions - she in counselling, me in doctoring. We both have strong Christian faith. We both love spending time with family, particularly around a table of food. We both enojy a party but also love reading a book.
Physically she is 5'8", I am slightly smaller at 5'6". We are both blessed with small frames, but she has a long swan like neck and a graceful willowy poise, where I usually feel a bit short, frumpy and curvy in comparison.
But when it comes to food and metabolism we are worlds apart.
I struggle to process and digest grains - I get IBS symptoms, back pain, and the classic postprandial slump when I eat foods high in carbohydrate - particuarly the grain based ones - anything made of flour, oats, and even rice. I suffer from something called "reactive hypoglycaemia" - a condition just caused by having a rather overactive set of enzymes and bacteria in the gut that cause carbohydrates to break down extra quickly. It means that whatever carbohydrate I eat my body processes it so fast it gives me a sugar high, and that then triggers my pancreas to release a burst of insulin - but the burst is expecting the sugars to keep coming and they don't. I have measured this in the past when under an endocrinologist - my blood sugar spiked from 4 (where I was feeling hungry, grumpy and a bit lightheaded) to a whopping 15 only ten minutes after munching on a miniature pork pie - which by all accounts is mainly fat and should have slowed things down - and then back again within about 30 mins. It did similar with a cheese sandwich and bizarrely slight better (only reaching 10) with a banana. Give me a slice of homemade cake with icing on and I can feel the climb to sugar spike within minutes giving me a slight buzzing in my head, nausea and followed quickly by exhaustion as the crash ensues. I had one memorable occasion where I ate chip shop chips at 2pm then at 5pm had a full blown hypo with a blood sugar level reading only 3.2 (any diabetic will know that is not good).
I therefore eat a low carb diet, high in protein and fairly high in good fats, with lots and lots of grean veg. I feel better for it. I sleep better, have more energy, and have less pain. My gut is happier and my mood is more stable.
My sister on the other hand is an absolute carb junkie - and absolutely thrives on them. She will eat cereal, toast and jam for breakfast, have a small piece of cake with a cup of tea at 'elevensies, then a sandwich and fruit for lunch, and either a traditional English meat and 2 veg (one of them being potato) or some kind of pasta or rice dish for dinner. Sometimes she'll have further cake with the kids after school or before bed. - She and her daughter I hasten to say are both excellent bakers.
Despite all this carbohydrate - both sugar and starch - she is slim bordering on skinny, full of energy, sleeps well, eternally vivacious and has great skin.
I tell these stories to highlight a problem with the sort of generalised diet advice we can glean from social media - My sister and I have the same genetic heritage, the same upbringing and childhood food, similar life goals and outlook ... but metabolically we are at opposite ends of the spectrum. It doesn't stop us eating together - she comes here and I just add in some rice or extra potatoes to what I'm cooking, and ensure I have cake in the tin or fresh bread for her to nibble on. She does the opposite sort of things for me - extra veg and slightly increasing the meat quantities at dinner, eggs in the fridge for breakfast and lots of salad ingredients for lunch. Shared eating can be as important as the food so we are keen to make it work - but to me, our story is a constant reminder that everyone's biology is different and that, whilst generalisations can be a good place to start, we need to listen to the individual story and history to figure out what works for the individual.
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