Symptoms of Low Blood Sugar
If you are diabetic, symptoms of low blood sugar or hypoglycemia can be extremely dangerous and can even cause death. Be sure to eat regular small meals with some protein in each meal.**
If you eat a carbohydrate snack or meal with little or no protein, you risk the symptoms of low blood sugar. As a diabetic, you probably know that you can actually die from a hypoglycemic condition, so you want to do everything you can to avoid it.
Major symptoms of low blood sugar are:
You suddenly become very hungry
Your skin color becomes more pale than usual
You feel shaky
You feel weak
Your heart rate speeds up
Your mouth feels numb
You suddenly feel very tired or sleepy
You begin to feel dizzy and have to sit down
You start to get a headache
Your thinking becomes confused and you can’t concentrate
You start to sweat for no reason
Your vision becomes blurry
Even if you are not diabetic, low blood sugar can affect you and make you dizzy, weak or unable to think clearly. If you develop healthy eating habits, you will find that you never need to experience this very unpleasant condition.
Healthy Eating Habits to Lower Blood Sugar
The symptoms of low blood sugar have to do with what you eat. When you eat protein and fat, found in meats, poultry, tofu, nuts, cheese and cottage cheese, your blood sugar tends to stay level and you feel fine. On the other hand, if you eat a big bowl of chips, a plain piece of white toast or a candy bar, you are risking the symptoms of low blood sugar **.
What happens with high carbohydrate, high glycemic foods such as these is that you blood sugar level goes up too quickly, then insulin is produced to manage the blood sugar. But often, too much insulin is produced and your blood sugar goes down almost as quickly as it went up. This can also happen with certain diabetic medications, so be sure to follow your doctor’s advice carefully.** Some medications can make your high blood sugar go down too quickly, causing dangerous symptoms of low blood sugar.
The best way to prevent this condition is to keep some raw nuts (almost any kind will do including walnuts, almonds, brazil nuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, macadamia nuts) with you wherever you go.** Raw nuts are much healthier for you than roasted ones but if you can’t stand them then roasted unsalted peanuts are an option. Just snack on these whenever you are hungry and a regular meal is not available to prevent symptoms of low blood sugar. Low glycemic foods and reshi mushrooms help prevent diabetes as well.
If you are diabetic and have not recently eaten and you start to experience any of these symptoms of low blood sugar, be sure to eat a food or beverage with sugar in it (such as a very small piece of candy) and call your doctor. It would not hurt for you also to eat (in addition to the sweet food) something that includes protein like a handful of nuts, a piece of cheese or any other protein food.
If you are diabetic, always keep a sweet food with you such as raisins, prunes, dried apricots or other dried fruit along with your supply of nuts. Fruit can serve the purpose of quickly raising your blood sugar but it also has many vitamins and other nutrients in it to help keep you healthy.
**Before making any changes in your diet, consult your physician or other health professional.