@Cindy- Your plan to go on a zero-carb diet or water fast does not sound wise to me, considering your description of your symptoms and history. I think you will just rebound, binge on carbs, and feel even more out of balance than you do already. That’s just my opinion, but your own experience may be telling you the same thing. You report that a low-carb diet harmed your metabolism, and now you want to try that same path again?
In your situation, I think my goal would be to normalize my relationship with carbohydrates. You’re doing well by spacing out your sugar intake to avoid spikes, but you might also think about gradually adding back normal foods, like the basmati rice or potatoes that you’re missing. If you can do this a little bit at a time, maybe 20 grams a day the first week, then 40 grams a day the next week, and so forth, then hopefully you can rebuild your carb tolerance. If you fast or go low-carb, I think you’ll only make the situation worse.
Sugar can be helpful because fructose metabolism by-passes our normal carb metabolism and gives us instant energy, but I don’t think it’s good to totally rely on that kind of energy. In the long run, I think reintroducing starches is probably a good idea–because they will make you feel more stable.
@Dutchie- We’re pretty much all stupid @ssholes. I highly doubt there are any readers or contributors on this site who haven’t tried some pretty dumb sh!t in the past. There’s no shame in making mistakes. We just have to learn from them and try not to do the same thing again. I figure I’m doing okay if I can make the same mistake less than, say, 20-30 times. ;)