Correcting Low Blood Sugar the Paleo Way

So I would like to share some of my strategies for addressing low blood sugar reactions in a Paleo manner.

I am a Type 1 diabetic, but my strategies will probably also work for a Type 2 who is having a low blood sugar reaction. I will say that my personal knowledge comes from managing my Type 1, and people with Type 2 who decide to go on a lower carbohydrate Paleo diet may put their disease into remission and not have to correct for low blood sugars anymore due to their diet and lifestyle changes. That said, here are some of my strategies for dealing with low blood sugar reactions!

One of the recommendations for diabetics experiencing low blood sugar is to drink a beverage that contains both sugar and caffeine. Caffeine enhances the blood sugar raising action of sugar exponentially, and caffeine usually elevates blood sugar in Type 1 diabetics to a greater or lesser extant even when there is no sugar in the beverage at all. One of the good things about this is that you need to add less sugar to a caffeinated beverage to achieve the same level of improvement in blood sugar that you would if you consumed honey or Grade B Maple syrup by itself.

I would not recommend adding any sugar to your morning caffeinated beverage if you are diabetic, which is one of the many reasons I prefer tea to coffee in the morning, especially for diabetics who also have food sensitivities or allergies to dairy and/or cane sugar, like myself. Tea, if brewed correctly, is rarely bitter and is easier to drink without any additives for many people. Certain teas also make wonderful Paleo tea lattes, like my Paleo Tibetan Tea Latte recipe.

One of my favorite tools to raise a low blood sugar are my two iced sweet tea recipes, Paleo Honey Green Tea and Paleo Southern Sweet Tea, that I store in the fridge to use as needed. They keep well in the fridge for far longer than homemade fruit juice or Paleo homemade cookies, and you can adjust the sugar content based on how severe your low blood sugars usually are. I would recommend that as you are beginning a lower carbohydrate Paleo diet, you add more sugar to the tea than my recipes call for, perhaps as much as 1/3 cup of raw honey or organic Grade B maple syrup per pitcher of tea, or even 1/2 cup. I know that when I first implemented the Paleo diet I struggled with frequent low blood sugars because my baseline insulin level was too high for my diet. For a good year after I implemented the diet, I would experience a week or two of frequent low blood sugars every three months as my insulin sensitivity improved and I would need to lower my baseline insulin levels. Having a pitcher of sweet iced tea in the fridge was literally a lifesaver during these adjustment periods. Now my low blood sugars tend to be far more rare and not as severe, so I have adjusted the amount of honey or maple syrup I add to my tea downward, so that I don't experience a high blood sugar immediately after accidentally over correcting for a low blood sugar.

The two main reasons I advocate homemade sweet iced tea instead of homemade sweetened coffee are as follows; most coffee brewing methods need the coffee to be brewed immediately before consumption, which would be a dangerous delay in a diabetic whose blood sugar is dropping rapidly and is quickly losing cognitive function as part of that process. Even homemade cold brew coffee concentrate is only at it's peak of freshness for a week after preparation, and you would still need to heat the coffee, dilute it as desired with hot water, and add sweetener and possibly cream or a non-dairy cream substitute for palatability for many people. That process takes far too much time and too many decision-making skills for someone experiencing a blood sugar emergency. The only preparation needed for a pitcher of iced tea in the fridge is to pour the iced tea into an appropriately sized glass for the severity of your low blood sugar.

I hope the information that I have shared with y'all about how I manage low blood sugar emergencies helps other people. Please let me know if this information helps you or someone you know who wants to go Paleo and is concerned about how to manage such emergencies. What other strategies have worked for you or someone you know on the Paleo diet? I would love to learn additional helpful strategies for myself and others! You can contact me with your stories and ideas at Jennifershealthjourney@gmail.com

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