I was diagnosed with hypoglycemia a few years ago and was given the standard "healthy diet" advice from my doctor, which I think made my symptoms worse. My body became conditioned to have food every 2-3 hours and if something happened that I couldn't eat when I needed to, it got UGLY!

I went low-carb paleo cold turkey, which was really hard for about a week, but in the long run I think it was easier than trying to ease into it. "Moderation" doesn't work well for me because it's too easy for me to slip back into old habits. The headaches, shakiness and fatigue were rough, but it was worth the fight.

I've been eating this way for about a month, so I don't have long-term advice, but I can tell you that I feel SO much better. I eat twice a day and my life doesn't revolve around food. The hungry bitch hasn't surfaced for about 3 weeks, and my family is much better for it!

I suffered from hypoglycemia for 20 years. I went paleo Nov 2010 after years of eating 5+ small meals/day and panicking if I didn't have a damn granola bar with me. I had the shakes, dizziness, and sometimes I would be close to blackouts.

NOW: I eat 1-2x's/day and the symptoms are gone. I'm not obsessed about eating and like Mindi, the hungry and irritable bitch doesn't rear her ugly head. There are times I get a bit irritable if I'm not eating enough but it is nothing like it was in the past.

For me, I eat a lot of protein (eggs, meat, fish), sweet potatoes (I noticed I need at least 50 carbs/day), and veggies. I can do no more than 1/2 cup of berries/day or my insulin spikes and I get ravenous quickly. Obviously I don't eat gluten and no sugar. I also took oats out of my diet and pre-paleo, I had at least 2 cups of oats/day as a way to keep satiated. I replaced the oats with eggs, usually hardboiled and I eat the yolk.

There are some other posts about it here.

I'm going to echo what others here have already said - 99% of my blood sugar issues are gone with two changes ... 1) lowish carb (50g on a reg day and 100g on a lifting day) ... 2) 16 hour fast (dinner to noon) followed by heartily eating protein, fat and a few veggies for the other 8 hours

As a recovered hypoglycemic, I can attest to Paleo improving my symptoms, but I do not recommend a radical change overnight.

I would work on slowly decreasing your carbs and giving your body time to adjust. Continue eating frequently. Start with 100 g of carbs spread throughout the day for a few weeks. Then, go to 50 g of carbs per day for a couple more weeks. Then go to 25 g per day for a while. Increase your fat and protein to balance out your daily nutrition. You should start feeling like you can go longer and longer without eating. Your body will learn to use stored fat for energy instead of depending on the next sugar fix.

I agree with testing your blood sugar levels, but worry about what doctors may encourage (ex. eat more whole grains). You might also want to have your adrenals checked (via saliva testing for cortisol). When the adrenals are weak, the body tends to crave sugar and caffeine to compensate...a very destructive cycle.

Hi all, I may be a little late to this post but wanted to see if anyone could help me. I've been pretty strict paleo (95 percent of the time) for a year and a half. I also just eat sweet potatos when I'm going to bike for over 2 hours or long runs. Also, I eat very little fruit (berries or green apples), especially the past few months. However, I can not seem to get my blood sugar up in the mornings. I am very lethargic during morning workouts and feel like I need more food, even though I'm not hungry at all. I wake up queesy too every day for years now. Also, I should note I eat plenty. I'm 5,4 118 lbs and eat about 2000-2300 calories a day, sometime more on long workout days. My breakfast consists of half a bag of spinach, 1 tbls flax oil, 1 tbls flax seed, lemon juice, and chicken sausage from trader joes. Pretty soon after I feel like my blood sugar is really starting to drop more so I'll eat 1/2 -1 lb roasted brussel sprouts or okra with 1-2 tbls olive oil. What else can I do besides eat more or add some carbs, which I really dont want to do? Oh and last bit and sorry for the long post, but on days when I would give in to brown rice bread or sweet potatos, it didn't help a lot so I'm at a loss. Thank you so much for reading and any possible advice!

Wow so glad to have found this post! I share many of these hyperinsulenemic symptoms. I also have PCOS and have recently gone 80% paleo to try and remedy that! I no longer eat simple carbs, but still eat some dairy, Greek yogurt and Parmesan, (cheating with yams did not work well!)

I started Paleo about a month ago, and the first week was amazing! A true cleansing experience after the first two days of hell. The second week was uneventful and the third week was completely low energy and I had a headache for 48hrs. I'm now in week four and am still very drowsy and low energy in the morning. I used to be a morning runner and now I simply cannot muster the strength. I find myself turning into a night owl as I am finally feeling up for the days work around noon!

Anytime I cheat, even if its a bit of flour used to thicken a soup, I feel terrible the next day, headaches, moodiness, sadness. I am pretty sure my body now sees sugar and refined carbohydrates as poison and goes on a mini detox if I happen to ingest them! I went to Paleo cold turkey and maybe that was my mistake. I am hearing that for people with compromised metabolic function, the true benefits of Paleo can take up to 6 months. I have also read that exercise is key to starting up your engines! So I continue the quest for energy and a healthy balanced life.

Thank you!

AM

A lot of good answers here, but I wanted to also suggest a B vitamin deficiency. B's are important co-factors in energy metabolism and often overlooked. Do you ever eat liver?

I have had problems with hypoglycemia in the past as well and can now completely eliminate those desperate shaky hungry episodes by eating low glycemic foods only and absolutely no dairy. Even though some dairy is low glycemic, it triggers the release of large amounts of insulin, leading to deep sugar lows later. Nothing gets me more hypoglycemic than a glass of milk or yogurt, even more than white bread. I eat fruit in moderation and vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, and like squashes for carbs--butternut and spaghetti squash are satisfying and don't lead to sugar lows for me.

This is true that Diabetics get hypoglycemia when they inject themselves with too much insulin than is required for glucose processing. There are some very common Symptoms of hypoglycemia are anxiety, sweating, palpitations, nausea, and weakness. There natural treatment are there for hypoglycemia but diet and sugar food is the best solution to prevent hypoglycemia. How To Prevent Diabetes

very good information.

Does anyone get dizzy/brain fog after eating too much protein in one setting?

I thought I was reactive hypo until I switched to 16/8 feeding. I kept needing to eat every three hours. It turns out I was having a clock/Pavlov response. Every day 6, 9, & 11:30 I would get hunger pangs. It's taken a month an a half to dodge those timed responses.