Signs of low blood sugar may include:
- Anxiety, irritability, agitation, nervousness
- Shaky between meals or when you skip a meal
- Poor memory, focus and fatigue
- Intense sweet craving at various times of the day
- Feeling stressed and overwhelmed
- Waking in the night (low blood sugar is one of many causes of insomnia)
When you have stable blood sugar, you will feel grounded, experience less overwhelm and stress, feel less anxious and have no cravings – if your cravings are blood sugar related (cravings can also be due to yeast, low serotonin, low endorphins, low catecholamines and low GABA)
Simple dietary changes to help stabilize your blood sugar
1. Eat enough protein
- Eat at least 20-25g (4oz or palm-sized portions) of good quality protein at each meal
- Grassfed beef, lamb, wild fish, pastured chicken, turkey and eggs, dairy (if it’s not an issue for you), legumes
- This is not negotiable – you must eat breakfast every day! And within an hour of waking
- If you can’t quite give up your coffee make sure to eat breakfast first
- Make sure to include protein at breakfast! (egg, fish, chicken sausage, cheese/yogurt, even dinner for breakfast)
- Substitute packaged cereals with real oatmeal, buckwheat & other grains and add nuts, seeds, coconut, butter, yogurt or kefir or a scoop of whey protein
- Smoothies are good too – use fruit like berries and banana, use water as your base, add 1/3 cup full-fat coconut milk, 20g whey protein powder (other optional additions: green powder or freshly juiced greens, yogurt or kefir, nut butters, freshly ground flax seeds)
2. Eat 3 meals and 2 snacks
- Protein, fat and carbohydrate at each meal and snack.
- Lunch example: protein= Beef, lamb, fish, chicken, turkey, legumes fat=butter, olive oil, avocado; carbohydrate = starchy veggie like sweet potato or brown rice
- Meal ideas: meat and veggies, salad and protein, veggie soup with protein, lentil soup
- Snack ideas: boiled egg; crackers and hummus; fruit and a few nuts; crackers and cheese; raw carrots/zucchini and cream cheese
- Always carry some nuts with you for emergencies! Pumpkin seeds are a great choice.
Thanks to Elizabeth E for her recent comment on Amazon (this is an excerpt):
“I just recently finished reading this book and am grateful for such a great resource! I’ve already begun employing some of the suggestions laid out and they are helping. For example, I am making sure to include more protein in my breakfast and it’s definitely helping my anxiety!”
There are nutrients that help with blood sugar control: the amino acid glutamine, and zinc and chromium. These will be addressed in a later blog post.
All of this and much more is covered in great detail in The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood and End Cravings, now available in major books stores, at Amazon and via www.antianxietyfoodsolution.com
I learned about the protein for breakfast shake long time ago, it really makes a difference in my day.
Trudy,
What a great reminder. I’m still working on the breakfast within one hour of waking plan. 🙂
Write on!~
Lisa Manyon
Lisa – you can do it! I know you can…
Trudy
So many people don’t eat breakfast.
Always amazes me.
I hear you Mitch! and when they start to eat breakfast they can’t believe how much better that feel and how much more they can achieve!
This is great info Trudy! Thank you.
Kiyla Fenell
Breakfast is my favorite meal – I agree with your writings Trudy. Great advice!
Dr. Robert Fenell
Founder & CEO, Chiropractic Hand & Foot Clinics Of America™
So glad to hear it Dr Robert!
Trudy – Your tips are always so practical – I love it! I have noticed since adjusting my diet to cut our the junk food, increase my protein, and eat more fruits and vegetables, that I AM sleeping more soundly and longer, I AM less moody, and I DO have more energy during the day.
Jennifer Bourn, Bourn Creative
Jennifer
This is SO wonderful to hear – isn’t it amazing what our bodies can do when we treat them well with good food!? Good for you!
Trudy
Great information, Trudy. SO true that not eating breakfast is a “non-negotiable.” =)
Melissa
Thanks Melissa – and yes having a good breakfast makes SUCH a difference!
My daughter was a premmy of 7weeks early and has always small in size for her age and height…and she always ran out of energy for the day. We serve up peftover dinner for her for breakfast now and tgis has made a huge difference to her attitude throughout the day. She is not one to eat cereal and do what snt have a sweet tooth at all so I am lucky there…actually luck people lays no part in it…she was never allowed lollies cordial juice or anything similar due towanting her to have healthy choices and now she simply DOES NOT LIkE lollies or anytging too sweet at all. She will be 6 in 6 weeks time. So I believe we got past that sweet tooth stage…thankfully as my partners kids are big g I rls and eat a whole heap of empty calories and it showd in their size of build.
Hi Rebecca
This is great to hear – I love “dinner for breakfast” and wish more moms would follow your lead. I love that she doesn’t have that sweet tooth either as that can cause those blood sugar swings and resulting energy and mood ups and downs!
Thanks for sharing!
Trudy
I find eating breakfast hard as i feel sick in the morning so takes me some time to want to eat. Food can sit and it can make me feel sick as well. I cant eat anything too heavy in the mornings. When i get stressed i can’t eat because i have like a knot in my stomach so it becomes a visious circle. I get low blood sugars. The anxiety attacks come in and i will eat but i can get heart racing and vomit at times and then i cant eat. Help! what do i do?
Tania
Hi Tania
I’m sorry to hear you’re having such a hard time. Eating first thing is important so I suggest you do this pyroluria questionnaire and see if this could be a factor. The early morning nausea is very common with pyroluria
https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/pyroluria-questionnaire-from-the-antianxiety-food-solution/
Trudy
Hello. My name is Sandi, and I’m a kraut pusher……I loved hearing about your experiences! I have subjected my family & friends to countless variations, going through about 2-300 lbs of cabbage a year with a wide variety of additional veggies & spices. My go to breakfast is 2 pastured eggs, 1/2 c kraut , sprinkled with tumeric or curry. All home made. My favorite containers are 1/2 gallon mason jars. 30+ last year. Lacto fermented using raw goat yogurt whey. My tummy is finally happy!
Sandi – I love “I’m a kraut pusher”! thanks for sharing and love that your tummy is finally happy!
In case you intended to comment on Summer’s blog I’m sharing it here https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/anxiety-summit-sauerkraut-for-gut-anxiety/
I have found a direct correlation between anxiety and low blood ood sugar. I have severe amounts of stress in my life making me miserable. I have recently discovered by listening to my body that when I lie awake all night and can’t sleep, that the stress increases my cortisol levels. My body does NOT go into fasting mode when I am awake, so I end up hungry most of the night. But I have learned that one of those kids sugar pills called Pez or one Smarty is enough to bring the low blood sugar up just enough without “spiking” my blood sugar. Mornings are the times when my low blood sugar is the worst. The more cortisol pumped out, the more out of whack my low blood sugar becomes.
Jorie
It’s powerful when we see these correlations! Some things that may help – starting the day with a good breakfast with protein really can make a big difference at night, plus having a small healthy snack at bedtime like half a banana with some nut butter. Getting rid of the life stresses is important too, as is supporting the adrenals
Trudy, you said to Jorie that supporting the adrenals is important. How does one support the adrenals? Can you please explain what you mean by that? Thank you.
Sue
Find the stress (life stresses, gluten, parasite, sugar etc) and remove it, plus nutrient support (a good B complex, 2000-300omg vitamin C, extra pantothenic acid, rhodiola, and adaptogenic herbs like ashwaganda etc), plus eating for blood sugar control
Thank you, Trudy. My doctor feels I need to raise my thyroid amount, but I’ve read that the adrenals need to be healed first. Is that correct? If so, how does one know when their adrenals are healed?
Sue
Working to address both thyroid health and the adrenals is always a good plan. A salivary adrenal test will measure 4 x cortisol and DHEA to give you a nice picture of adrenal health.
Trudy, I wake up every night between 1 and 3 AM and cannot go back to sleep. Am I supposed to get up and have breakfast in the middle of the night then???
Gudren
Having a good breakfast with protein sets us up for the day so start with that + protein each meal and healthy snacks to get blood sugar stable all day. Often a small protein snack like cheese just before bed can help.
If it’s not blood sugar related I look at parasites and high cortisol too
Hi Trudy
I believe I have blood sugar anxiety and very much physical anxiety
I live in barbados so we can’t always get a wide selection of supliments here
O have GABA by source naturals at 750mg the only one available
Also L-Hydroxy Triphan also the only one available as the GABA is high how would I start
I have very little real worries but my body does not look at it that way The least thing will bring on a panic feeling and I constantly feel totaly stressed out
Where to start please help!
Patricia
With low blood sugar anxiety and no access to glutamine I’d focus on eating for blood sugar control i.e. quality animal protein at all meals and esp breakfast. Adrenal support is also important. With physical anxiety I use GABA with my clients and have them open a 750 mg capsule and use 125mg for the trial and go from there. My book “The Antianxiety Food Solution” is an excellent resource and this blog has a wealth of information (simple use the search feature).
Hi Trudy,
I am reading this article, and wondering what you would do if having severe low blood sugar-issues, but, in addition experiencing an array of food allergies and intolerances, as well as histamine intolerance, to the extent of not being able to eat most foods, and especially not the foods giving blood sugar stability?
Kind regards
Ingrid