Tiredness, Fatigue, Weakness, Dizziness? Could It Be A Blood Sugar Imbalance?
Low blood blood sugar, or hypoglycaemia, is the opposite of the better known diabetes where the sugar in the blood remains too high.
I would say that low blood sugar is fast becoming one of the most common problems I am seeing as an osteopath and naturopath.
The symptoms are so wide ranging, from feeling vaguely unwell, to shaking, dizziness, weakness, anxiety and general fatigue and tiredness.
The clue as to whether the symptoms are blood sugar related are that they may be related to meals.
If you have these symptoms it might be that you notice they present themselves if you have gone too long without food.
Many people realize this is the case and so will snack to keep their blood sugar up.
However, I think this can be the start of a downward spiral as the snacks are usually sugar based like chocolate bars or a stimulant like coffee which gives you the feel good "up".
Yes, the snack will get the sugar levels raised in the blood, actually too high, making you feel better but the body has to compensate and bring the sugar down again into reasonable levels.
If a dip happens again then you will feel like eating sugar once more and so your blood sugar levels yo yo up and down.
The two most common causes I see for this yo-yo-ing of blood sugar are eating the wrong foods at meal times and as snacks and also from stress causing adrenal fatigue.
Let's briefly look at the latter first.
The adrenal glands produce the hormones for the fight or flight response, basically they produce them when we are under stress.
If we are under long term or lots of stress then the adrenals can tire or fatigue and not produce enough of these hormones, producing the main symptom of tiredness.
The adrenals can also be responsible for hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) as these same hormones keep our blood sugar from going too low, so if the adrenals are fatigued they can't work hard enough to keep the blood sugar up.
Basically this is the opposite of insulin, which you have probably heard of as it is associated with diabetes.
More fundamental than this is the consumption of wrong foods, and those that make our blood sugar rise quickly and then fall quickly are the culprits.
The worst for this will be sugars in snack foods like chocolate, cakes, sweets etc.
If we are looking at main meals then the foods that are most problematic are the high carbohydrate foods such as bread and pasta.
I should also point out that some vegetables can cause these blood sugar fluctuations and they are the tubers or underground, starchy vegetables, like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrot, turnip etc.
Fruits are also high sugar foods.
If you think you do have blood sugar problems you will really need to be careful of all of these foods and judge just how much you can have of them before getting symptoms of low blood sugar between meals.
In the treatment of this condition it is vital to get the ratio's of carbohydrate, fat and protein correct at each meal, this differs for each person and I use what I consider to be the most accurate and advanced way of finding this out which is through the use of a Metabolic Typing questionnaire.
I also use a protocol of supplements, ionic minerals and spagyric herbs with great success.
Below is the testimonial of a patient who was suffering with the symptoms described above and did the Metabolic Typing questionairre and used my adrenal fatigue protocol: "Hi Christian.
How are you? I've been meaning to email you and let you know how I've been getting on.
I've felt absolutely amazing since being on the metabolic typing eating program.
I can't believe how much energy I have.
I just feel like a different person.
I've been eating a cooked breakfast every morning and I've still managed to lose 3lbs in the last 3 weeks, how strange is that! I don't feel bloated or sluggish and my energy levels have really improved.
There have been a couple of times that I've broken the rules and had alcohol or pizza or something like that but even then I've got straight back to the program afterwards and have felt completely fine.
So, so far things are going really well!" This is a brief insight into a very common problem.
Fortunately, with diet changes and support to the adrenals I have had fantastic results with patients who have really been suffering.
I would like you to takeaway the basics from this article, the foods you should avoid that cause the yo yo-ing of blood sugar and also to identify in yourself whether stress could be playing a significant role in the poor regulation of your blood sugar.
I would say that low blood sugar is fast becoming one of the most common problems I am seeing as an osteopath and naturopath.
The symptoms are so wide ranging, from feeling vaguely unwell, to shaking, dizziness, weakness, anxiety and general fatigue and tiredness.
The clue as to whether the symptoms are blood sugar related are that they may be related to meals.
If you have these symptoms it might be that you notice they present themselves if you have gone too long without food.
Many people realize this is the case and so will snack to keep their blood sugar up.
However, I think this can be the start of a downward spiral as the snacks are usually sugar based like chocolate bars or a stimulant like coffee which gives you the feel good "up".
Yes, the snack will get the sugar levels raised in the blood, actually too high, making you feel better but the body has to compensate and bring the sugar down again into reasonable levels.
If a dip happens again then you will feel like eating sugar once more and so your blood sugar levels yo yo up and down.
The two most common causes I see for this yo-yo-ing of blood sugar are eating the wrong foods at meal times and as snacks and also from stress causing adrenal fatigue.
Let's briefly look at the latter first.
The adrenal glands produce the hormones for the fight or flight response, basically they produce them when we are under stress.
If we are under long term or lots of stress then the adrenals can tire or fatigue and not produce enough of these hormones, producing the main symptom of tiredness.
The adrenals can also be responsible for hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) as these same hormones keep our blood sugar from going too low, so if the adrenals are fatigued they can't work hard enough to keep the blood sugar up.
Basically this is the opposite of insulin, which you have probably heard of as it is associated with diabetes.
More fundamental than this is the consumption of wrong foods, and those that make our blood sugar rise quickly and then fall quickly are the culprits.
The worst for this will be sugars in snack foods like chocolate, cakes, sweets etc.
If we are looking at main meals then the foods that are most problematic are the high carbohydrate foods such as bread and pasta.
I should also point out that some vegetables can cause these blood sugar fluctuations and they are the tubers or underground, starchy vegetables, like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrot, turnip etc.
Fruits are also high sugar foods.
If you think you do have blood sugar problems you will really need to be careful of all of these foods and judge just how much you can have of them before getting symptoms of low blood sugar between meals.
In the treatment of this condition it is vital to get the ratio's of carbohydrate, fat and protein correct at each meal, this differs for each person and I use what I consider to be the most accurate and advanced way of finding this out which is through the use of a Metabolic Typing questionnaire.
I also use a protocol of supplements, ionic minerals and spagyric herbs with great success.
Below is the testimonial of a patient who was suffering with the symptoms described above and did the Metabolic Typing questionairre and used my adrenal fatigue protocol: "Hi Christian.
How are you? I've been meaning to email you and let you know how I've been getting on.
I've felt absolutely amazing since being on the metabolic typing eating program.
I can't believe how much energy I have.
I just feel like a different person.
I've been eating a cooked breakfast every morning and I've still managed to lose 3lbs in the last 3 weeks, how strange is that! I don't feel bloated or sluggish and my energy levels have really improved.
There have been a couple of times that I've broken the rules and had alcohol or pizza or something like that but even then I've got straight back to the program afterwards and have felt completely fine.
So, so far things are going really well!" This is a brief insight into a very common problem.
Fortunately, with diet changes and support to the adrenals I have had fantastic results with patients who have really been suffering.
I would like you to takeaway the basics from this article, the foods you should avoid that cause the yo yo-ing of blood sugar and also to identify in yourself whether stress could be playing a significant role in the poor regulation of your blood sugar.
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