Hypoglycemia is chronic low blood sugar. Many people don’t realize Hypoglycemia is often a precurser to full fledged type two diabetes, and many more don’t even realize it’s a real problem in today’s society.

Hypoglycemia is charactorized by having lower than normal blood sugar, or glucose, levels on a regular basis. Often there are symptoms which include nausea, headache, shakiness, hunger, cravings - particularly for sugar - irritability, quick temper flare ups, and even faintness and dizziness. Symptoms can occur when you’re sleeping too, and are often marked by bad dreams and night sweats.

Some resources say that hypoglycemia doesn’t occur often in adults except as a side effect of diabetes treatments, but evidence has been mounting over the years which disputes these claims. Many people who suffer from low blood sugar, or severe blood sugar swings, do so because of the foods they choose to eat. And often it’s only a matter of time before full diabetes develops.

When you eat a snack or meal which is high in simple sugars or carbohydrates, your body’s blood sugar levels soar quickly. To cope, your pancreas releases extra insulin to dispatch the blood sugar to your muscles and other cells where it’s needed. This is a simplified explanation, but essentially your body over reacts to the large blood sugar jump, by releasing a lot of insulin. So once the blood sugar levels have dropped, you then have extra insulin circulating through your system, and your body starts screaming for sugar to deal with it.

Thus the cycle begins. The large doses of sugar eaten cause the blood sugar levels to spike quite high. Then the body releases extra insulin which causes the blood sugar levels to drop severely low. And when they’re low, you crave sweets, get irritable or dizzy and so on, thus you “take care of the problem” by eating more quick sugar.

So the best, and most natural way to manage hypoglycemia is to choose better foods. Eat frequently - every three to four hours throughout the day - but eat smartly too. If you know that eating foods which make your blood sugar rise quickly will just lead to a crash in a few hours, then avoiding those foods is the smartest option. Try adding some fiber, veggies and protein to your diet and cutting down on the simple sugars and starches.

Keeping portable snacks on hand are usually a good idea too. If you have severe and sudden drops in blood sugar, go ahead and have some candy or sugar source on hand for emergencies, because you can lose conciousness if your blood sugar drops too low. Better options however, include nuts, trail mix and protein snack bars because these will help keep your blood sugar levels more even throughout the day, instead of risking a steep drop. Protein is one of the best defences against severe blood sugar swings I’ve personally found so far.

If eating frequently is difficult for you, there are some herbal options which can help too. Notably, licorice root. This is the herb of choice for treating hypoglycemia because it helps stimulate and regulate the pancreas. Other herbs which can help normalize blood sugar levels are Garlic and Cayenne.

Some statements in this article may not be approved by the FDA, and should not be taken as professional medical advice.

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