Chances are that you have heard—or overheard—someone saying that he or she suffers from low blood sugar. Perhaps you have wondered if you have the condition yourself. If you tend to feel low energy, fatigue, weakness, stress or have headaches, you may have a blood sugar handling problem. Another common sign is low energy or tiredness in the late morning or early afternoon and cravings for sugar and starchy or snacky foods.

Blood sugar handling problems are usually helped by some minor changes in your diet. Before we look at the changes, let’s see what the blood sugar does after we eat. Soon after a meal, the level of sugar in the blood starts to go up. That’s because the food we eat is broken down into glucose (a sugar). When we eat a carbohydrate-rich meal the glucose level rises faster than if we eat a meal balanced with fiber, protein and fat—which leads to a more gradual rise in the blood glucose level. When the blood sugar level drops, some of us tend to feel fatigue, low energy, fuzzy thinking and other symptoms we mentioned.

The simple solution is to eat five to six smaller meals—instead of three big ones—each day. Each of these meals needs to have prominent portions of protein, fat and fiber. Eating a diet full of nutrient-rich whole grains, instead of the nutrient-deficient, refined flour in many of our foods, is also very important. Our bodies need nutrients (vitamins and minerals) to process and utilize the sugars to make energy. If you feel you may be deficient or you want to be sure, consider supplementing your diet with chromium, B3, B6, copper, magnesium, zinc, C, B12, folic acid, B1, carnitine, vanadium, E and selenium. You will find many natural products with these nutrients that are specifically designed to address blood sugar balance.

Making these simple changes can help heal the energy crisis in your body. Happy eating.

Yours in Health,
Dr. Rick Schlussel

Dr. Rick Schlussel helps to free up your body so you can take part in all of your life's precious moments. He uses chiropractic, alternative therapies and sports medicine to meet your individual needs and goals as you travel from injury and rehabilitation to prevention and maintenance. Call him at LightSpring Wellness Center at 530 889-0388 or eMail him at drtantrick@inreach.com.