A Healthy Diet For Hypoglycemics

Your blood absorbs sugar when you eat and, if you don't use all the sugar as energy right away, your liver and muscles store the leftovers for future use. If you have a condition known as hypoglycemia, your liver doesn't properly release the sugar when your blood sugar levels drop. This leads to symptoms such as confusion, shakiness and dizziness. An effective way to manage this problem is to tweak your diet and make sure sugar enters your blood at a steady pace.

Protein and Complex Carbs

Foods such as whole-wheat breads, oatmeal and brown rice are complex carbohydrates. These foods deliver sugar into your blood over an extended period, which reduces your risk of having sharp spikes and drops in your blood sugar level. Most adults need about six to seven servings of grains a day and at least half should be whole grains. If you have hypoglycemia, you would be better off making most of your servings whole grains. Ideally, pair grains with a protein or fat to slow down your body's digestion, recommends the McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois. For example, have a whole-wheat bread sandwich with meat or cheese and add turkey and vegetables to a salad.

Fiber

Foods including legumes, barley, oatmeal and fruit contain lots of soluble fiber. Soluble fiber helps foods empty from your stomach at a slower pace, helps you digest more slowly and helps your body absorb glucose more slowly. Because of this, you will be less likely to experience hypoglycemia symptoms in between meals if most of your daily fiber intake comes from soluble fiber. Aim for at least 25 g of fiber per day if you're a woman and at least 38 g a day if you're a man.

Limits

Simple carbohydrates, such as table sugar, break down quickly and easily into blood glucose. Simple carbohydrates are also in nutritious foods, such as dairy products and fruits, so you shouldn't avoid them completely. However, you should take steps to avoid consuming large amounts of simple carbohydrates at once. For example, you can eat half of a piece of fruit at a time and pair it with a food high in healthy fat and protein, such as almonds. Steer clear of sugar-laden treats, such as cookies, soda and candy, unless it is prepared with a sugar substitute. Other culprits of hypoglycemia symptoms are alcohol, caffeine and highly fatty foods, such as red meat and whole fat milk.

Meal Frequency

Space out your meals to keep your blood sugar from jumping around too much. Eating a nutritionally balanced snack or small meal, such as half a sandwich and baby carrots, every two to three hours can help, according to the McKinley Health Center. Have a snack or small meal one to three hours before you exercise, as your body will use carbohydrates as fuel for your workout.

Emergency Sugar

Your doctor may recommend you always have some emergency simple sugar on hand in case you suddenly develop hypoglycemia symptoms. Five or six hard candies, 1 tbsp. of honey, three or four glucose tablets or 1/2 cup of fruit juice or soda can boost your blood sugar level and help reduce your symptoms, according to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse. If your symptoms are so severe that you can't take in sugar by mouth, you may need to receive glucose through an IV or an injection.