In diabetes, the body is unable to correctly regulate blood sugar. For this reason, if you have diabetes, you'll need to limit the amount of sugary and carbohydrate-rich foods you eat and you may need medication to manage your blood sugar levels. These factors are only part of a healthy blood sugar control routine, though. Eating enough food at regular intervals is also critical for diabetes management.
Lack of Food and Hypoglycemia
Glucose, a type of sugar, is your body's main source of energy. Your body obtains glucose as it digests food. The hormone insulin keeps blood sugar levels from rising too high, but in diabetes the body fails to produce or respond to insulin properly. If you have diabetes and use medications, such as insulin injections, to control your blood sugar, skipping a meal or not eating enough at each meal can leave you with too much insulin and not enough glucose. This condition is known as hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. Although hypoglycemia resolves quickly with treatment, without treatment it can have serious consequences.
Symptoms of Hypoglycemia
If you develop hypoglycemia, you may feel hungry and tired, have a headache and experience trembling, sweating, dizziness and heart palpitations. Trouble speaking and lack of coordination are also among the symptoms. Low blood sugar can affect your mood and thought processes, causing feelings of anxiety, confusion, irritability and depression. Severe hypoglycemia can lead to seizures, coma and eventually death.
Long-Term Risks
Frequent episodes of hypoglycemia over weeks or months may lead to hypoglycemia unawareness, explains Albany Medical Center. If you develop hypoglycemia unawareness, you may not notice subtle initial symptoms of hypoglycemia and therefore delay treatment. Delaying treatment puts you at a greater risk for severe hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia unawareness is most common in people who have had Type 1 diabetes for many years and in people with Type 2 diabetes whose bodies produce little or no insulin.
Preventing Hypoglycemia
A dietitian can help you develop a meal plan that provides enough energy to keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day. Following this meal plan without skipping meals or snacks can help you avoid hypoglycemia. It's also important to test your blood sugar regularly or whenever you experience initial symptoms of hypoglycemia. If your blood sugar is below 70 mg/dL, you can avoid a hypoglycemic episode by consuming something rich in glucose, such as three or four glucose tablets or 1/2 cup fruit juice, advises the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse. You'll then need to wait 15 minutes and re-check your blood sugar to make sure it's above 70 mg/dL. If your next meal is more than an hour away, you should also have a nutritionally balanced snack to stabilize your blood sugar until mealtime.
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