in today's video we are going to be talking about hypoglycemia what it is the symptoms
you might experience and what you can do about it hypoglycemia is when your blood sugar drops
lower than it should and there are two types of hypoglycemia reactive and non-reactive reactive
is when your blood sugar drops within a few hours after eating a meal and non-reactive isn't always
related to food hypoglycemia is commonly seen in diabetics when they overdose their insulin but
it can also be seen in non-diabetics as well now when you search for hypoglycemia online you find
a wide range of potential causes and treatments the most common treatment you will find is to
make sure you eat a meal or snack including carbohydrates every couple of hours and while
this can provide a temporary fix for the problem it is not addressing the root cause and therefore
this strategy is doing nothing to help you prevent it from happening again and isn't that ultimately
what we want to do prevent the drop in blood sugar from happening again so in today's video
we're going to talk about six symptoms and how to know if you are suffering from reactive or
non-reactive hypoglycemia and then we'll talk about some steps you can take to prevent it
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is kait i'm a health coach and i post
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hypoglycemia means low blood sugar usually the level of glucose in the blood considered to be too
low is anything below 3.9 millimolars per liter or 70 milligrams per deciliter but here's the thing
these numbers can be different for everyone someone can have what is considered to be
low blood sugar and not experience any of the symptoms of hypoglycemia
and on the flip side someone can have what is considered to be normal blood sugar
and be experiencing all of these symptoms and this is what makes things so tricky a reactive
hypoglycemia diagnosis can also be missed very easily partly because the numbers can vary but
also because the correct tests are not often being done someone might be experiencing symptoms go to
their doctor and have their fasting blood sugar look normal but because reactive hypoglycemia
happens after eating this test isn't able to identify the problem so we're going to start off
today talking about the symptoms of hypoglycemia and how to know if you're experiencing it
then we'll get into the difference between reactive and non-reactive hypoglycemia and
we will finish off talking about the steps you can take to improve it so let's get into the symptoms
number one extreme hunger extreme hunger either right after a meal or a few hours later
is a sign of hypoglycemia even if you check your blood sugar when you are experiencing this
and it comes out within the normal range this can still be a sign what could be happening if that is
the case is that your cells are malfunctioning and not able to take the glucose out of your blood and
use it for energy so your cells are essentially starving despite there being enough energy in
your blood for them and we'll talk more about why this might be happening a bit later in the video
number two dizziness if you are hypoglycemic you might experience dizziness and lightheadedness
in extreme cases it can also cause you to faint number three you can't concentrate another common
symptom of hypoglycemia is losing the ability to concentrate your thoughts might wander
and you might find it really difficult to focus on your work or the task at hand number
four headaches headaches are another common side effect of hypoglycemia your brain is particularly
sensitive to a drop in blood sugar which can cause your head to pound number five shaking shaking
and tremors can be another symptom you experience when blood sugar is low this can cause the central
nervous system to malfunction which is what causes you to tremor and finally blurred vision
again this comes down to low blood sugar impacting the brain if you are experiencing these symptoms
even if your blood sugar isn't reading low you might be hypoglycemic as i said before someone's
numbers might be normal but that doesn't rule out hypoglycemia but now let's talk about what causes
hypoglycemia in the first place there are a few different reasons why hypoglycemia might occur
as i mentioned at the start of this video there are two main types reactive and non-reactive
hypoglycemia and let's start by talking about non-reactive non-reactive hypoglycemia
also known as fasting hypoglycemia means that you are experiencing low blood sugar as a
result of something besides diet there are certain medications that can cause it either intentionally
or as a side effect insulin of course metformin and certain antibiotics can all cause blood
sugar to drop lower than it should excess alcohol consumption can also cause a drop in blood sugar
this causes the liver to no longer be able to release glucose back into the bloodstream
leading to the hypoglycemia and if you have kidney heart or liver issues this can also cause it
in the case of non-reactive hypoglycemia the cause in the solution are pretty straightforward address
what is causing the drop in your blood sugar such as a type of medication and you have your solution
now with reactive hypoglycemia it can be a bit more confusing you might eat a meal high in carbs
which you think would raise your blood sugar and it does but still experience hypoglycemia symptoms
shortly after eating so what's going on here reactive hypoglycemia is one of the early symptoms
of insulin resistance pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes all of these things go hand in hand
as someone becomes more insulin resistant their ability to produce the right amount
of insulin to regulate blood sugar decreases now i have a whole bunch of other videos on insulin
resistance on my channel and i will link my playlist above if you want to know more
but here's how it ties in with reactive hypoglycemia whenever we eat carbohydrates
they are broken down by the body into glucose or sugar and enter our bloodstream insulin is the
hormone responsible for taking the excess sugar from our blood and bringing it to our cells to use
for energy when we are insulin resistant our cells have become overwhelmed by high levels of insulin
and are no longer responding to it correctly and accepting the glucose and this is why you can
experience symptoms of hypoglycemia even though your blood sugar is normal there is adequate sugar
in your bloodstream but your cells aren't able to accept it so for someone with hypoglycemia here's
what happens when they eat their blood sugar rises and insulin rises but it rises too much so because
there is too much insulin too much sugar is taken out of the bloodstream and you are left with low
blood sugar and the symptoms we discussed earlier and then as we spoke about earlier the most common
treatment for hypoglycemia is to eat more carbs at which point you have fallen into a vicious cycle
where you are always trying to consume just enough carbs to bring your blood sugar back
up dealing with hypoglycemia in this way is a nightmare if you are ever in a situation
where you don't have access to carbs or even food in general you're basically screwed the
good news is is that by addressing the root cause your body's increasing resistance to insulin you
can reverse reactive hypoglycemia but how do we do this reversing hypoglycemia so the goal here is to
get your body more sensitive to insulin again if you can do this your cells will respond better to
insulin and your body will produce the correct amount to deal with the foods you are eating
as i said before i have several other videos on my channel where i talk about insulin resistance
and give you a more in-depth look so you can check those out if you want to know more but here are
a few tips to get you started number one reduce carbohydrates and increase fat and protein carbs
are the food that cause your blood sugar and your insulin to rise the most by limiting foods rich
in them your body does not have to produce as much insulin which reduces the risk of your blood sugar
dropping too low and by keeping insulin low this also increases your body's sensitivity to insulin
improving insulin resistance foods rich in fat and protein have next to no impact on blood sugar and
next to no impact on insulin so focus your diet around foods such as meat fish eggs and fats such
as butter and olive oil and then you can also add in some non-starchy vegetables and low sugar fruit
number two eat your carbohydrates last if you are going to have carbohydrates with your meal make
sure to eat them last by eating your protein fat and non-starchy vegetables first you can lower the
blood sugar and insulin response to the meal which has the same benefits as lowering carbs in general
number three practice intermittent fasting fasting is the number one way to get your cells sensitive
to insulin once again even if you can go for 12 hours from your last meal in the evening
until your first meal the next day this will be beneficial if you can work your way up to fasting
for 16 hours a day even better diet really is the key to preventing hypoglycemia yes if you are
experiencing low blood sugar eating carbs can be a short-term fix but it is ultimately only adding
to the problem get ahead of it by using these strategies and the strategies i talk about in my
other videos and you can avoid it from happening altogether now before we wrap up i'm going to
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to squarespace for sponsoring this video anyways guys that's all i have for you today let me know
in the comment section down below if you suffer from hypoglycemia and what you do to deal with
it if you did enjoy this video make sure to give it a thumbs up and you might also like my video on
the best foods to eat for insulin resistance which you can check out here if you want to
catch up on my most recent upload you can find it here and if you want to check out my keto diet and
carnivorous coaching programs you can find them here thanks again guys i'll see you next time bye