Some questions and answers about hypoglycemia

Here is a question some one recently emailed me about hypoglycemia. I’d like to share the question and my answer. The person’s name, of course, is omitted.

Question: “Hello. I have just been diagnosed as hypoglycemic and am looking for a diet that REALLY works. Do you by chance have one in print you can share? Thanks…..”

Here is my answer: “Thank you for your email. I don’t have a specific diet in print I can give you. But I can share with you some guidelines, which should be enough to get you started along the right lines.

The most important thing is to cut out refined sugar as much as possible. Also, eat balanced meals with some protein, fat and carbohydrate in each meal. The biggest cause of hypoglycemia is snacking on high carbohydrate foods like candy bars, cookies, soft drinks etc.

You need to base your diet around the foods you like to eat, so it’s difficult to tell you exactly what to eat.

But as a guideline:

Breakfast: Have some cereal and milk (make sure the cereal has no sugar and it’s better to have whole milk rather than low-fat milk). Plus one or two pieces of toast with butter. Or you can have an egg or two instead of cereal if you like. Plus a cup of tea or coffee. But don’t drink too much strong coffee.

Lunch: Pretty much any protein food like cheese, meat, fish etc plus some carbohydrate (sandwiches etc). Also don’t cut down on butter and oils as these help keep your blood sugar stable for longer. Forget the idea that butter is bad for you. It’s not. People have eaten it for hundreds of years. They still eat lots of it in France and other countries and they’re in great shape. I find butter is useful on bread to keep my blood sugar stable. A low fat sandwich leaves me with hypoglycemia in the afternoon.

Afternoon snack: pretty much anything you enjoy as long as it doesn’t have sugar in it. I have a very boring diet and usually have a piece of toast and butter plus a cup of tea about 4pm.

Dinner: meat, fish, eggs etc. plus some potatoes, pasta, rice or whatever, plus vegetables. A good balanced meal, in other words. For dessert some fruit or perhaps a homemade cookie if it doesn’t have too much sugar in it. But stay away from sweet desserts – ice cream is bad for hypoglycemia, for some reason. A cup of coffee or tea. Be careful with alcohol. The occasional wine or beer with a meal is okay but don’t drink on an empty stomach or you’ll get low blood sugar an hour or so afterwards.

I hope this helps. You will need to experiment and find out what makes you feel good after eating it. Then stick to that!”

More questions and answers coming!