Paleo Diet and Hypoglycemia Overview
A 2009 study, reported in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that consumption of a paleolothic type diet improves glucose tolerance, increases insulin sensitivity and decreases insulin secretion. While many people advocate the diet for reactive hypoglycemia, it’s probably going to make your condition worse, not better. And here’s why.
Paleo Diet and Hypoglycemia: Types of Hypoglycemia
If you’ve read the article What is Hypoglycemia?, you’ll know that there are different types of hypoglycemia. The two most common types (other than diabetic hypoglycemia caused by medications) are:
- Pre-diabetic reactive hypoglycemia, caused by insulin resistance
- Reactive hypoglycemia caused by insulin sensitivity
More reactive hypoglycemia causes.
If you’ve had the hyperglucidic breakfast test, you’ll know whether your cells are insulin resistant or insulin sensitive. However, although the HBT is the “gold standard” for reactive hypoglycemia testing, not many doctors are aware of the test and they’ll likely order a glucose tolerance test — which won’t be able to tell you the cause of your reactive hypoglycemia.
Paleo Diet and Hypoglycemia: A Good idea?
So, let’s suppose you know you are reactive hypoglycemic and you try the paleo diet as a reactive hypoglycemia diet option to see if it helps. An important factor to consider is that the diet increases insulin sensitivity. While this could be helpful if you are pre-diabetic, you won’t lost weight on the diet (something that you probably need to do if you’re pre-diabetic). However, if you have reactive hypoglycemia caused by insulin sensitivity (the vast majority of non-diabetic reactive hypoglycemia cases), then the diet will increase your sensitivity even more and will make you feel even worse.
On the upside, a diet that’s based on lean protein, fruits, vegetables and nuts is certainly healthy start. But the addition of legumes, grains, eggs and dairy to your diet (eliminating sugars and processed carbs) is a better choice if you are reactive hypoglycemic (pre-diabetic or other).