What's reactive hypoglycemia?

I explain what reactive hypoglycemia is and why you need to understand it. There’s a condition called postprandial hypoglycemia which is different; it’s the low blood sugar that happens anywhere from immediately to four hours after a meal, especially a high carb one.

Your body tries to keep your blood sugar tightly controlled; not too high, not too low. Insulin is the hormone that tries to reduce your blood sugar. There are other hormones releasing sugar back into your blood to ensure your blood glucose doesn’t go too low.

Too low and you could experience these symptoms: tiredness, brain fog, dizziness, craving sweets, or even a coma if it goes badly low. With hypoglycemia, the insulin overreacts and pushes the blood sugar down with too much force and/or not enough adrenal support so your cortisol is low.

If you have a liver problem and your body doesn’t have enough of the hormone called IGF to counter the insulin. Or there’s another hormone produced by the pancreas called glucagon which also counters insulin.

Sometimes the medical profession doesn’t acknowledge that hypoglycemia exists. There are levels of hypoglycemia. You can’t just test fasting glucose, you have to test blood sugar at one-hour intervals for four hours after a meal. I don’t even think the test is valid because you drink a glucose mixture. Ideally your blood sugar is below 70. But even if it’s 75 or 80 and you have hypoglycemia symptoms, you could have severe insulin resistance. Because insulin controls the input of glucose into your cells, your cells could be starving for glucose yet your blood sugar tests at a normal level.

I agree that the best diet for hypoglycemia emphasizes healthy fats and protein. But it’s really as simple as cutting out carbs. I guarantee if you stop eating carbs and adapt to fat burning your blood sugar will come out nicely and you won’t have hypoglycemic symptoms anymore. Our bodies aren’t designed to run off of high carbohydrate diets. Some experts advise frequent small meals to heal longstanding hypoglycemia. I disagree. Every time you eat you stimulate insulin. If you eat less frequently you’ll keep insulin low. Without high insulin your blood sugar will be level.