Your queries about natural health answered

Dear Jacquie
I think I’m hypoglycaemic as my energy levels plummet and I get confused and weak if I haven’t eaten, my doctor just says eat healthily and cut down on sugar but is there anything else I should be doing?
RP, Portslade

Hypoglycaemia, also called low blood glucose or low blood sugar, occurs when blood glucose drops below normal levels. Hypoglycaemia can happen suddenly. It is usually mild and can be treated quickly and easily by eating or drinking a small amount of glucose-rich food. If left untreated, hypoglycaemia can get worse and cause confusion, clumsiness, or fainting. Severe hypoglycaemia can lead to seizures, coma, or worse.
Assuming your GP has ruled out diabetes, keeping your blood sugar balanced is a matter of choosing the correct foods and eating at the right time.

White foods such as sugar, cakes and biscuits will absorb into the bloodstream very quickly and cause spikes and dips in your blood sugar levels.

Examples of snack foods that, when combined assist with blood sugar balancing, are: oatcakes and hummus; apples and nuts; yoghurt and fruit; berries and seeds; rice cakes and cashew nut butter.
Meals should be a combination of complex carbohydrates and protein, for example: sweet potato and salmon with vegetables; three bean chilli with brown rice or jacket potato. A complex carbohydrate is one that is not refined and therefore retains its fibre and nutrients.

Be careful with sweet fruit juice drinks or anything overly sweet on an empty stomach as this could cause a spike in your blood glucose levels and then a dramatic drop in levels.
Some people can wait five hours between meals with no problems and others need a snack after two hours, this is a personal consideration and one size does not fit all when it comes to nutrition.
Some nutrients help balance out our blood sugar levels and help our bodies extract nutrients from food such as chromium and vitamins B3 and B5.

Excess exercise and skipping meals will impact on your blood sugar levels also so take precautions if you know you won’t be home for dinner or are doing an energetic exercise class.
As always a nutritional therapist will help you put together a plan. See your health professional for advice.

FREE HEALTH TALK
Find out more about sugar at CNM Brighton’s free talk “Sugar: Not so sweet after all?” on Thursday 25 October, 6.30pm–8.30pm at The Guarana Bar. Reserve your place on 01342 410505,
www.naturopathy-uk.com