Hypoglycemia

[Joanna]

Hi. My adult daughter, her children and I have been going strict carnivore. We noticed my daughter getting very weak and shaky at times, in spite of getting plenty of calories from high quality meat and fat. She is not diabetic but I checked her blood sugar during these times and it was quite low - this morning it was 56. When she eats it goes back up, but she seems to need to eat many times a day. Has anyone heard of people curing hypoglycemia on carnivore diet? Any thoughts?

[Geezy]

I’m not sure about the hypoglycemia but it’s not uncommon for people early on to experience something like this because the body has been used to getting all of its energy from glucose from carbs. Now that it can no longer use carbs it has to switch over to utilizing ketones from fat for energy. It can take a little while for the body to convert over and in the meantime your body is running on empty. 
If it’s really bad or a concern you could introduce a few carbs back in to her diet in the form of whole above ground vegetables and see if that helps and then slowly ween her off of those so it’s not such a drastic change to her system. 

[Orweller]

How long are they on carnivore?

Did they jump in from one diet to another?

Do they take electrolytes? Salt to taste?

How about fat intake? protein intake?

Answer to those two questions should reveal some possibilities. 

Going from carbs to fat is an extraordinary step and it may take a while for the body to adapt. She may have been pre-diabetic without knowing. If you cut out carbs and your blood sugar tanks, it may indicate some insulin issues. 

I'd suggest a step back and add 10% carbs in, until the problems go away. Then get into the meat of things, so to speak. Smaller meals is also not a bad idea for now, meaning less insulin release per meal. She may have reactive hypoglycemia, but that would be speculation on my part. I'd also suggest tracking food on an app to track macros, so you can learn how your body responds to protein/fat ratios, forget calories though. Lastly, if she's having an episode, have her drink a glass of whole milk. 

[Joanna]

2 hours ago, Orweller said:

How long are they on carnivore?

Did they jump in from one diet to another?

Do they take electrolytes? Salt to taste?

How about fat intake? protein intake?

Answer to those two questions should reveal some possibilities. 

Going from carbs to fat is an extraordinary step and it may take a while for the body to adapt. She may have been pre-diabetic without knowing. If you cut out carbs and your blood sugar tanks, it may indicate some insulin issues. 

I'd suggest a step back and add 10% carbs in, until the problems go away. Then get into the meat of things, so to speak. Smaller meals is also not a bad idea for now, meaning less insulin release per meal. She may have reactive hypoglycemia, but that would be speculation on my part. I'd also suggest tracking food on an app to track macros, so you can learn how your body responds to protein/fat ratios, forget calories though. Lastly, if she's having an episode, have her drink a glass of whole milk. 

Thank you both for your responses. It’s been less than a week on carnivore. She’s getting about 120 grams of protein a day and more fat than protein (as of a couple days ago). Her last blood test showed nowhere near pre diabetic but for about 2 or 3 months before this she was on a diet for her thyroid (which is kind of a sub clinical low) and this diet included a lot of orange juice and other sugars. Also white rice and potato. “Plenty of glucose for thyroid and brain” UGH!!! She said it was more sugar than she’s eaten in years!

[Joanna]

9 hours ago, Geezy said:

I’m not sure about the hypoglycemia but it’s not uncommon for people early on to experience something like this because the body has been used to getting all of its energy from glucose from carbs. Now that it can no longer use carbs it has to switch over to utilizing ketones from fat for energy. It can take a little while for the body to convert over and in the meantime your body is running on empty. 
If it’s really bad or a concern you could introduce a few carbs back in to her diet in the form of whole above ground vegetables and see if that helps and then slowly ween her off of those so it’s not such a drastic change to her system. 

Thank you. This makes sense.

[Orweller]

3 minutes ago, Joanna said:

Thank you both for your responses. It’s been less than a week on carnivore. She’s getting about 120 grams of protein a day and more fat than protein (as of a couple days ago). Her last blood test showed nowhere near pre diabetic but for about 2 or 3 months before this she was on a diet for her thyroid (which is kind of a sub clinical low) and this diet included a lot of orange juice and other sugars. Also white rice and potato. “Plenty of glucose for thyroid and brain” UGH!!! She said it was more sugar than she’s eaten in years!

Iodine for thyroid and fat for brain. That's what he should've said. So she's been mega-dosing sugar before all this, having increased insulin production, so her response to low carb/keto is a little bit more understandable. 

[Joanna]

1 hour ago, Orweller said:

Iodine for thyroid and fat for brain. That's what he should've said. So she's been mega-dosing sugar before all this, having increased insulin production, so her response to low carb/keto is a little bit more understandable. 

It’s making sense now!