Conquering Hypoglycemia
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Recommended Dietary & Lifestyle Changes for Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia, commonly known as “low blood sugar” is a defect in carbohydrate metabolism where the blood glucose falls to lower than normal levels. Glucose is one of the two critical metabolic substrates for the brain and key for the body’s other cells. If you lack sufficient glucose, you lack energy, cannot detoxify metabolic by-products or pollutants you ingest or inhale, your central nervous system destabilizes and you get tremors and your endocrine system (adrenal glands, thyroid and sex hormones) cannot hold your bodily processes stable.
The brain consumes 25% of the body’s glucose. Your brain cells need two times more energy than the other cells in your body. Since they cannot store glucose, they rely on a steady supply in the blood stream. Neurons, the cells that communicate with each other, have a high demand for energy because they’re always in a state of metabolic activity. Even during sleep, neurons are still at work repairing and rebuilding their worn out structural components.
When glucose levels fall, your ability to think clearly is compromised to the extent that some people appear to be emotionally unbalanced and unable to make rational decisions.
Most common hypoglycemic symptoms are:
• • • •
- Shaky, light-headed and irritable if a meal is missed
- Feel energized after you eat
- Crave sweets or coffee to get going or to keep going during the day
- Metabolic acidosis that can be tested by seeing if you can comfortably hold your
breath for 50-60 seconds.
Naturopaths view hypoglycemia as a disease of civilization.
The overburdening of the system that culminates in hypoglycemia stems from the kinds of diets most people eat and the high stresses they endure. Alleviating the problem usually involves attention to diet, supplementation and emotional support or stress reduction.
Hypoglycemia and the Adrenal Connection
The adrenal glands, through the release of cortisol, help to stabilize the body each time when blood sugar levels drops, making this connection a critical part of conquering hy- poglycemia. Therefore, if your blood work shows a tendency towards hypoglycemia, concurrently it is imperative that you work on your adrenal glands.
Recommended Dietary & Lifestyle Changes for Hypoglycemia
A person cannot heal as long as their blood sugar is destabilized, whether the blood sugar issue is hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia (better known as diabetes) or insulin recep- tor resistance (known as metabolic syndrome or Type 2 diabetes.) If blood sugar levels are not stabilized, there will be minimal results when attempting to correct adrenal status. This is especially a concern with patients that have reactive hypoglycemia symptoms such as: irritability before meals, getting “shaky” and lightheaded when meals are missed, and when eating relieves fatigue. When blood sugar levels fall, healthy adrenals restore the levels back to normal. If the stress to the adrenal glands is not removed adrenals will not have the opportunity to rebuild. Therefore, supplements and dietary and lifestyles changes need to be addressed through the day to stabilize blood sugar levels.
One of the first steps to regaining your health is to make the changes necessary in your life, such as diet and lifestyle to face and fix your blood sugar issues. First, examine your life to address any areas of ongoing stress and find ways to eliminate them. The other key will be to eat foods with a “low glycemic load”, foods that stay in your blood stream longer so you have energy and your body has fuel. For more information on “glycemic index” and “glycemic load” check out this website: http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_10 0_foods.htm
Here are the critical steps to regain control of your blood sugar if you have hypoglycemia:
1. Eat breakfast within 1-hour of arising.
2. MUST eat high quality protein for breakfast -
EVERYDAY. You need real protein – a can of tuna, salmon fillet, steak, cheese toast, chicken breast, roasted (not processed turkey), sausage and hard boiled eggs are good.
3. Use good fats with meals to feed your thyroid, liver and stabilize your blood sugar. Olive oil, real butter, coconut oil, a steak and avocados.
4. Eat food every 3 or 4 hours. Nuts, a teaspoon of nut butter, cheese and crackers or hummus.
5. Eat 3 meals/day and at least one snack. Do not go over 12 hours (overnight) between breakfast and din- ner
6. Take your regular regime of vitamins, oils and sup- plements
7. Eat any sweets you are going to eat only after a meal. DO NOT EAT sweets on an empty stomach. If you want a little candy, which is good for the soul some- times, have a snack first. Same for fruit. Fruit is just like candy and needs to be balanced out with prefera- bly a protein snack.Analyze Your Current Diet to find out what foods may be causing the problem. Trou- blesome foods are then eliminated and replaced by those that provide the body with optimal support.
8. Consider a ClearVite shake preferably for breakfast:
ClearVite+ Hemp Protein+Forumla Max organic hi-
test milk or organic yogurt+ frozen fruit.
Pay Attention to When You Eat as it is just as important as what you eat. They hypo- glycemic person generally needs to eat frequent, small meals to provide the body with a steady supply of food that is easily and slowly converted to glucose.
Add Fiber Rich Foods as this will help slow down the absorption of glucose into the intestinal capillaries. Slower absorption allows for a more gradual release of insulin and a faster normalization of blood sugar levels after meals. People with sluggish di- gestion or constipation may benefit from additional dietary fiber.
Supplement the diet as dietary changes alone may or may not be sufficient to overcome hypoglycemia, but reinforcing an improved diet is recommended. First, consider sup- plements that support the regulation blood sugar allowing insulin to do its job more effectively:
• adrenal extracts • Zinc • glucose tolerance factor • Chromium (200mcg daily)
In addition, other supplements that can be helpful for carbohydrate metabolism, less- ening sugar cravings and supply energy naturally without the artificial from caffeine or sugar.
• B – vitamins • Vitamin E • Vitamin B-6 (25 – • L-carnitine • Vitamin B-12 50 mg daily) • L-glutamine
When deprived of glucose, brain cells may die. Research suggests that vitamin B6 pro- tects against neurological damage due to hypoglycemia. Chromium enables the liver to release sugar to the body. Chromium occurs naturally in foods such as whole grains, molasses and brewer’s yeast.
Avoid Simple Sugars at all cost since they cause the pancreas to overproduce insulin. They also lack B vitamins and other essential nutrients found in complex carbohydrates that are needed to metabolize sugar into energy.
Simple sugars come in a variety of forms: sugar, fructose, glucose, corn sweeteners, corn syrup, fruit sugar, table sugar and brown sugar. They can be found in alcoholic bever- ages and are hidden in many canned, packaged and frozen foods as well. And NO high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and aspartame as these are the worst offenders.
In cases of hypoglycemic attack, it may be necessary to immediately take a substance containing simple sugars, such as fruit juice. Couple the sugar with a source of protein – a slice of cheese, for example which slows down the system’s absorption of the glu- cose and avoids rapid changes in levels.
Avoid Caffeine and Nicotine and others which over-stimulates the adrenal glands. When these substances, couple with other stressors and a generally poor diet, the adre- nals can enter into a state of emergency. They become depleted of important vitamins such as B-complex vitamins and vitamin C. Other adrenal stimulants to avoid
• Concentrated sugars • Decaffeinated – is still 60% caffeine • Alcohol • Allergic foods (histamines, which helps combat allergic reactions is also an ad-
renal stimulant) • Partially hydrogenated fats (inhibit steroid hormone synthesis) • Artificial Sweeteners (blocks the conversion of phenylalanine to tyrosine, which
is needed to synthesize catecholamines in the adrenal medulla.) • Over-training • Inadequate sleep
Exercising within Aerobic Heart Range is crucial for patients with either hyper (in- creased) or hypoadrenia (low cortisol) to exercise in the aerobic heart range. Aerobic exercises which include long duration activities such as walking, slow jogging, slow cy- cling, and any other form of exercise that involves endurance. Aerobic exercise utilizes the fatty acid/ fat burning system of the body instead of the sugar burning system in- duced by anaerobic exercises characterized by activities that require fast explosive movements for short periods of time. Aerobic activities will not only decrease cortisol levels, but it will also use fatty acids for energy instead of simple sugars and will not require the stress put on the adrenal glands to normalize blood sugar levels during and after the workout.
Relaxation Techniques can be very helpful in reducing the mental effects of stress on patients with adrenal stress syndrome. The stressful occurrences of daily life can have an adverse impact on the adrenal glands Although all people have different levels of stress and a different reaction to stress, the mental aspect of relaxation cannot be overlooked.
My Top 5 Favorite Homeopathic remedies
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Everyone in the household can use these from grandma to the baby and the pooch. If you have pellets, and it’s the baby, dissolve a pellet in a tablespoon of warm water and drip into baby’s mouth.
Nux Vomica – Take when you can’t believe you ate the whole thing. For any sort of liver issues – bad effect or too much drink or food that doesn’t agree with you. Exhausted and cranky. Upset stomach and nausea. Headache in back of head or over eyes.
Arnica Montana: Bruising and bone or muscle pain. Auto accident when you take a knock. Shock. Falling down and you ache. Soccer injuries, sprained wrist/ ankle. Tennis Elbow. Soreness
Aconitum Napellus – Sudden onset. Take when you feel like you are coming down with something take this immediately. Cold Wind Invasion – when you get in a draft or the wind chills you. Colds, sudden onset fevers, deep croupy cough. Scratch on the eyeball. Fright. “came out of nowhere” remedy.
Hypericum – Nerve Pain. If Arnica doesn’t help, it’s probably nerve pain. Puncture wounds, smashed fingers/toes. Dental pain. Sciatica, sharp pains.
Bach Rescue Remedy: Shock, overwhelm, after any sort of trauma or upset, even mild household upsets. Before tests. Good for the animals in the household too. Post op, bad day frustration. Calming and grounding.
I keep these in a ziploc in my purse. I buy usually the Boiron blue tubes 30X potency that you can find at the Health Food Store in since they are small and compact and all fit in a small Ziploc.
Welcome to the Healing Practice of Susan Mack, ND
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Susan’s practice information…..
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