Reactive hypoglycemia is a condition in which blood sugars drop one to three hours after a meal. Symptoms include hunger, weakness, shakiness, light-headedness, confusion and anxiety. Symptoms usually improve once blood sugars return to normal. Diet plays an important role in helping to manage and prevent reactive hypoglycemic events.
Diet Basics
Meal timing and food choices can help you manage your reactive hypoglycemia. Eating small, frequent meals every three hours supplies your body with a steady dose of energy to help keep blood sugars even and consistent. Including complex carbohydrates and lean sources of protein with each meal and snack can also help you manage your blood sugars. You should also limit foods high in simple sugars. Simple sugars, like sugary desserts, digest quickly, causing a rapid rise and then drop in blood sugar.
Breakfast
Complex carbohydrates take your body longer to digest, allowing for a slower release of sugar into your bloodstream. Examples of complex carbohydrates include whole grains, whole-wheat bread, fruits and vegetables. A healthy balanced breakfast meal for reactive hypoglycemia may include 1 cup of whole-grain cereal with 1 cup of low-fat milk and a small banana.
Midmorning Snack
Protein in food delays gastric emptying, which also helps to slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream. A midmorning snack for reactive hypoglycemia may include five whole-grain crackers with peanut butter.
Lunch
Choosing more lean sources of meat, such as poultry and fish, and low-fat dairy foods can also help prevent hypoglycemic episodes, according to the Jackson-Siegelbaum Gastroenterology Group. A healthy lunch meal may include an entree salad with grilled tuna, a whole-wheat roll and a fresh apple.
Midafternoon Snack
A healthy midafternoon snack to prevent reactive hypoglycemia could include fresh cut-up melon with a container of low-fat yogurt.
Dinner
A healthy dinner meal with complex carbohydrates and lean sources of protein to help you manage your blood sugar might include a serving of London broil, roasted red potatoes with the skin, corn on the cob and a side salad with low-fat salad dressing.
Evening Snack
An evening snack should be substantial enough to prevent low blood sugars as you sleep. A healthy choice may include a small sandwich consisting of two slices of whole-wheat bread with low-fat luncheon meat and a glass of low-fat milk. Or, you can also try a bowl of whole-grain ready-to-eat cereal with low-fat milk.
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