How is blood sugar controlled?
Your brain needs glucose as a fuel, so you need a constant level of blood glucose at all times. As you know, sometimes your blood sugar levels get a bit low. Imagine that you’re on a road trip and your car is running low on gas: a little warning beep sounds and maybe a little light flashes on the dashboard. If you ignore the warnings and keep driving a bit longer, the beep will get louder or longer and the “low fuel” indicator on your dashboard will stay on. At that point, you go, “Oh, I guess I should do something about this or else we’ll run out of gas.“ Well, the same applies to your blood glucose level. If it starts to get too low, your body gives you some kind of warning signal that it’s time to refuel.
What happens when your glucose runs low
When your blood glucose gets too low, it could be because you’re not eating enough. Especially at this time of the year, many of us think about going on diets for the summer, right? Maybe we’re missing meals, eating the wrong foods, or waiting too long between meals before eating something.
So your body has to give you some kind of reminder to eat. Usually, you’ll get hunger pangs, which is usually enough to get you to address the problem, and sometimes, you’ll crave sugary foods. If you ignore the warning signs—if you’re too busy, something else is going on or you just can’t get something to eat—then your blood sugar levels will drop a bit and your body will need to give you a stronger signal. This is where your nervous system comes into play.
Your nervous system during menopause
The problem is that, because of menopause and everything that’s going on, your nervous system is already under a lot of strain, so it tends to get oversensitive. So instead of being sensible and just giving you a little nudge to say, “Hey, eat something,“ it goes overboard and gives you menopause-like symptoms instead, triggering things like hot flashes, anxiety or panic attacks, or maybe palpitations. In my case, if my blood sugar levels get too low, I tend to get into a rotten mood, something commonly referred to as being “hangry.” I tend to get very, very irritable very quickly. That’s my body’s way of telling me to eat. If you’re like most people, when this low-glucose situation continues, it will finally dawn on you: “Uh-oh, time to have something to eat or drink.”
Blood sugar levels rising too high
By this point, your body is so desperate to boost your blood sugar levels that you experience sugar cravings or want to drink a cup of coffee. These two things will shoot your blood sugar levels back up really high very quickly, yielding an immediate “Yeah, that hit the spot!” kind of reaction. You’ll feel a lot calmer, everything will seem fine, but in reality, things are far from fine: your glucose levels will be through the roof and your nervous system will chime in again, saying “Whoa, this is crazy, we need to bring this thing down!”
Fortunately, your body has a mechanism that pulls glucose out of the bloodstream. But because of the constant roller-coaster ride going on, that mechanism yanks your glucose levels down way too far and you end up in exactly the same position you were in a little while ago, with all the symptoms right back where they started. Your body’s going, “I need something else and I need it now!“ And this can lead to a giant yo-yo situation, with your blood sugar levels going up and down the whole time, triggering menopause symptoms quite regularly along the way.
What you can do about it
So what can you do to help yourself in this situation?
1. Avoid sugar and caffeine
If you get any sort of food cravings, try to avoid sugar and caffeine, because they’re big culprits when it comes to pushing blood sugar levels up too fast.
2. Plan your meals
Plan your daily meals to avoid having to deal with emergency situations. Make sure you have proper meals at the right time throughout the day.
3. Eat good healthy fats and protein
Make sure you’re eating enough, including plenty of protein and good fats. I know that many of you start to panic when reminded to eat enough fats, but good healthy fats and protein will keep your blood sugar levels more stable than any sugary snack possibly could.
4. Eat healthy snacks between meals
Remember to have healthy snacks between meals. There are loads of tasty, healthy, sustaining, low-calorie snacks that you can have two or three times a day.
If you get one of these sugary snack attacks, what are your options? Consider things like dried fruits. These little powerhouses of energy are great: they’re packed with vitamins and minerals and they contain lots of fibre, which will help keep your digestive system running smoothly.
Then there’s unsulphured dried apricots. They’re great because they’re really chewy and it takes a long time to break them down.
Try figs. Simply put, figs are great! They’ll keep your bowels nice and regular, and they’re also high in magnesium and calcium, which is a real bonus.
You can also try medjool dates. They’re fantastic because they contain fibre and iron and they’re very sweet. But despite their sweetness, they won’t give your blood sugar a sudden hit. Instead, dates make your glucose levels rise ever so gradually. If you’re got a big sweet tooth, this one’s for you!
Blood sugar dropping during the night
A drop in blood sugar levels can happen during the night, when it’s not so easy to deal with. After all, who wants to get up and rummage in the cupboard for some figs or dates at 2:30 a.m.? What can happen in the middle of the night is that your blood sugar levels get too low, at which point the nervous system gets pulled in and gives you a big jolt. You might find yourself waking up with your heart thumping or maybe having an anxiety attack. You might get a really swift hot flash or night sweat. This is often just a potent reminder that your blood sugars have dipped really low during the night.
The problem here is that, once your nervous system is pulled into all this, you’re in flight-or-fight mode. Your hunger is switched off, so there you are in bed, your heart is thumping and you’re wide awake, you can’t get back to sleep, your body is craving some kind of boost, and, of course, you don’t know what to do.
How to keep this from happening
In this case, it’s sometimes better to prepare for this possibility before you go to bed. I don’t mean preparing a big meal, because we know that eating late at night can stress your digestive system and liver, while keeping you awake to boot. Rather, I’m talking about a little snack an hour to half an hour before you go to bed. And by “little snack” I mean a small handful of dried fruit or some nuts or a little handful of seeds, or you could have some organic plain yogurt with a small portion of fresh berries. Berries are great for releasing fruit sugars into the bloodstream very slowly.
You could also have something like an oat cake with peanut butter or nut butter. Avoid rice cakes or crackers, because they break down very quickly and will give you a quick sugar hit; avoid them in general, but especially at night. Try out these ideas and see how they work for you. Let me know if adjusting your snacks and meals, and maybe having an evening snack, helps you with your symptoms.
One thing to be aware of
One more thing to keep in mind. Hormonal changes in some menopausal women can precipitate diabetes, so if you find that you’re getting really big sugar cravings often accompanied by ongoing thirst, then it’s really important to go see your doctor about it.
Some extra advice...
Sugar cravings can often indicate low magnesium or vitamin C, so taking supplements can help reduce symptoms. If you find you can’t stop eating chocolate or other really high sugar foods, a Chromium tablet might help.
