Blood sugar spikes, reactive hypoglycemia, and how to avoid them: an interview with Penny Figtree MD 

Thanks for posting this video (and your other ones). I have been eating porridge for breakfast for the last 15 years. 13 years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes. I have been using a cgm now for 3 months. I stopped the porridge yesterday. Today was the first day with no insulin and no spikes.

Oh my gosh! Finally I got to know I am not alone or crazy or exaggerating about how I feel. I had been experiencing exactly what the doctor is talking about and I have been explaining to doctors with the horrible feeling, the anxiousness frustrating etc. you name it! Have been hospitalized couple of times with symptoms that I thought only God will understands me. Because you talk to doctors and people and they tell you you are anxious for nothing. And the sad thing you want to hear is to find a way to manage your stress level. Like you are causing your own problem. I have been experiencing this almost a year now with admissions yet no solution or find the cause of my symptoms. At times my sugar levels will be 60s feeling like passing out. But I am not diabetic so no one is taking me serious. Hypoglycemia is indeed deadly than the hyperglycemia.

This was SO informative! She experiences what I’ve been dealing with for most of my life. A huge spike in blood sugar and then a big drop when I eat certain things - mostly grains, even whole intact grains. When I was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia some years ago I was told that it was a rare condition. I’ve discovered since then that a lot of people have it but most people don’t recognize it fir what it is. I tried an experiment based on info I got from your previous videos in that I ate a healthy serving of protein prior to eating oatmeal. It worked! My blood sugar only rose 30 points rather than 100! But I think that the best thing for me to do is to just stop eating those things that causes the high/low roller coaster. Those spikes really can’t be good.

Finally received this diagnosis after years of symptoms. The hypoglycemic effect really knocks me out, and usually comes on very suddenly. I become so hazy and very cold, and fall asleep drooling for about an hour. Not cool when driving.... I've been on a very low carb diet for a couple of years now and it has helped tremendously. but I must say that it does occasionally still happen even with a protein rich meal. It seems like after an extra hard workout or maybe if my sleep is off, idk. Also, I learned that any amount of alcohol has the same effect. Cutting it out entirely has been beneficial in every way :)

Well said ! I had the experience too. I work night shift, I used to have a cup of coffee with a piece of bread or a piece of baked sweet potatoes at 1 am, I felt hungry and shaking by 5 am . Now I have been on low carb diet for more than one year, my fatty liver reversed,my joints pain is gone, my cholesterol panel is in optimum range, most of all I feel energetic and happy!

Thanks for another great video. After watching your videos, finally felt like I was listening to someone very reasonable. It feels like when it comes to diet, masses are always chasing different extreme diets, like Keto or complex carbs or whatever. In my view the best diet is called moderation, eat in moderation with a mix of different healthy foods, you have nothing to worry about. After watching your videos I was very much inspired to buy the CGM, so over the black Friday sale (over $200 for 2.... very expensive without prescription) got the Libre 3 for both me and wife. Both me and my wife's A1C hovers borderline pre-diabetic around 5.7 or so. We did not change a thing on our diet, we just wanted to see what our bodies does after every meal we eat. The results were truly eye opener for us. We rotate breakfast among different things we consider 'healthy', the one that barely budged the needle on sugar was eating two poached eggs, followed by an apple. I have been eating that most mornings for many years now. Even homemade fruit smoothie with just water and ice as a base was not that great, but what that means is, smoothies are usually bad, but not fruits eaten by themselves. Eating white rice with animal protein increased the sugar the least (around 140), but rice with vegetables and lentil soup caused spike as high as 160. I experimented with the idea you presented in a different video about freezing the carb after cooking. So started cooking rice good for few days and left them in the refrigerator. Interestingly, there was no change for us in the CGM reading between freshly cooked vs refrigerated. I guess different people react differently to same food. As a part of our experiment, we did confirm that even a gentle walk after every meal greatly reduces the chance of a huge sugar spike. The sweat spot seems to be walking 30 minutes after a meal. Last but not least, being a moderate scotch drinker, I was very excited to find out what CGM will show after I start drinking. Surprisingly, no matter how much carb I ate along with my scotch, my blood sugar dropped to 85 and it stayed there for 2 to 3 hours. Finally after 4 hours or so, the blood sugar started to spike as if I had just eaten an hour ago. Same behavior with beer even though beer has a lot of carb. Did a quick google, and read that after sensing alcohol, liver deprioritizes sugar processing and starts processing alcohol, so sugar level drops because processing sugar takes backstage for a bit. Is that a correct assessment? Again pretty amazing to see it firsthand!!!

Thank you for this! I've been having the same problem for years. I've been having horrible anxiety attacks and sometimes depression out of no where and recently found out it was my reactive hypoglycemia that caused it. I've found that I also get the same reaction to sugar free foods.

I have been suffering from severe migraine for many years and only recently it got dramatically better after I started to be more aware of my blood glucose changes and a radical change in my diet accordingly. Thank you so much for this high quality information, it helps me a lot to understand more and to follow my path to get rid of the debilitating migraine attacks!!

When I was in college, my blood sugar dropped so low that my roommates had to manually feed me. I don’t recall why but it was certainly related to food. Now, 40 years later, when I eat a bowl of vermicelli, my blood sugar shoots through the roof if I eat a large bowl, vs. small. Thanks for this video.

Thanks to Dr. Mario and Dr. Penny for your sharing and trying hard to educate people ❤

What a delightful presentation and, having just completed the first 14 days of my first ever CGM - simply out of interest as I am not diabetic - I can confirm that my situation and, especially in so far as oats is concerned, precisely reflects the experience of the good doctor. Thank you for such an informative discussion!!

Thank you, thank you! I learned from this channel about diabetes more than all other channels on RU-vid together! All these particular data and information you couldn’t find on other channels are simply amazing! I come across this channel by accident and remain addicted to it! Everybody talked about these issues in general terms without real substance as you do! 👏👍

Excellent information as always. Thanks to you both.

I found your talk to be excellent. As someone who wears a continuous glucose monitor, I've always been puzzled by why some days I can eat a small amount of carbohydrates without any issues, while other times even a small amount can cause a high spike in my blood sugar. Your presentation was very informative and helped me understand that the balance of hormones in my body plays a significant role in how different foods affect my blood sugar levels. Thank you for shedding light on this topic. I am a 78-year-old male thanks again

This is highly educational and extremely helpful. Thanks to you both.

I was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycaemia in December 2022 and was under the assumption that once the blood sugar goes low they are not coming back to normal range until i eat something. This was not completely true, my blood sugar did come back to normal range after the episode even without eating. With the help of CGM I discovered this and now I am aware how high carb and refined sugar behave on me. My anxiousness to eat every few hours is now reduced and this is because of CGM. I always want to try the CGM but this video pushed me further to buy one. Thanks for the video and the interview.

the way i clicked IMMEDIATELY at the title because that experience of TOO much insulin and resulting hypoglycemia has almost caused me a car accident once and is the reason i eat no/low carb now and feeling much much better since my body is starting to become what i think is fat adapted.... i can't believe i'm learning about this randomly on youtube and all my life i've been dealing with it wrong, by eating MORE sugar when i felt i had low blood sugar. thank you.

I recently got a pre-diabetes diagnosis and have been wearing a CGM for 9 days at this point. It’s absolutely fascinating. I had the same glucose spike experience with a seemingly-healthy, very low sugar and high fiber cereal, with 2% fat milk. It was surprising. Fantastic video and channel in general!

What a wonderful talk, with loads of practical information ! thanks a lot to you both🙏

Thank you . Lots of helpful information and look forward to your upcoming videos , cheers

Very interesting points that the two of you brought out today! Thanks.

So grateful for this info! Thank you!

Excellent video. Thank you for bringing awareness to this!

I did enjoy this conversation. Thank you.

Excellent video, and its really good to see real world cgm results, especially with the timings of the blood sugar spikes

Very clearly explained. Thank you!

Thank you both for the excellent video. I certainly recognised myself jn Penny s experiences. The CGM was an eye opener and explained so much about why i can feel so tired and low. Those low sugar episodes are horrid and i find now i can tell my sugar is high by the jittery dast heart beat feeling. Porridge was a shock when i saw the blood sugar spike as i love porridge! After lots of experiments, i found a spoonful of chopped nuts in a grain and seed porridge brought the spike down to normal and is delicious. Thank you so much for these great videos.

I found that coffee vs tea also impacted the reactive hypoglycemia... but our hypoglycemia was around 3 hours after a meal.. I also noted that my lunch and dinner appetites were stronger if I skipped protein at breakfast. I really appreciated her comments about the chocolate cake... and also the comments about the children and overeating and the impact on their stress hormones....

This occurred to me 25 - 30 years ago. I ended up in A+E twice. I worked out some of the problem but never had an explanation . Thanks very much. 30 years later I have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, so perhaps I got closer to the problem than I realised !

thanks for these videos. I am recommending this channel to all of my friends and family.

Thank you for sharing these mazing information

❤ Thank you ! VERY VERY informative . Among thé best I vé ever Heard. Greetings from France 🍀

Hey! Really appreciate all your videos. Would be great to hear you talk about differences between monophasic and biphasic glucose curves after meals. Thanks!

Very informative video, thank you

Loved it and learned a lot.

Thank you for sharing! ❤

Chaîne très intéressante, bien informée. Merci beaucoup pour votre travail.

Gastric bypass patient. Severe reactive hypoglycemia. Driving episodes etc. CGM saves my life!!

Great video!! it helps to realize I am not crazy. This is how my doctor treated me when I went to the Dr with my glucose monitor, asking if I was feeling bad after a "healthy" breakfast (bread with jam) I was spiking and falling down (from 210 to 50) . And he told me it is normal to spike and you are healthy because your body recovers by itself. What an advice coming from a Dr.!!! I ignored it and started to do my own research, and after doing low carb and eating more consciously about what I eat, the order and the combination, I feel much better. THANKS!!

🎉Thank you for that wonderful information was very incitive

Hallelujah!!!!! Finally I have someone who share the same graph as I am! Thank Dr Mario for such a brilliant example! This is what I have been saying all along! doctors SHOULD bring real life person instead of relying on studies!

I believe I have suffered from reactive hypoglycemia since childhood sometimes resulting in fainting. When I was a young, normal weight ICU nurse my annual screening labs resulted in a “critical low” glucose report! I always had 4-5 meals daily. For the last year I have been eating clean keto to low carb. I continue to require two very low carb breakfast meals to help avoid symptoms. I plan on getting a cgm

Very informative. Next, I'll be searching for your missive on muscle mass and insulin resistance - since I'm elderly, my muscles aren't what they used to be, and it seems to be a full-time job to keep up with it. Bless you, you're one of a kind. Something terribly amiss with medical education in this country. My docs are always clueless about nutrition. And they aren't too fond of me knowing something they don't - I have to stuff a sock in my mouth so I won't speak too much at the doctor's office.

That's was very informative, thanks so much Since blood sugar spikes occur after meals, prior to buy a CGM, I thought to do it the cheapest way, by using a simple glucometer with which I took for few days FG and BGs after one hour and two hours post each of the main 3 meals. Enough to get an idea of glucose behavior, actually shocked by the 190 reading one hour after dinner on which I had crab hamburger, green salad (oil & vinegar), 75gr of homemade bread and 1 free alcohol beer (330ml), instead of 130 (heavy breakfast with cereals, oats, milk, fruits, nuts), 150 (100gr pasta lunch, glass of wine, strawberries and 15gr of dark chocolate). FG averaging around 90, no hypo glucose effects, I realized, watching the table kindly provided by you, that beer has a very high glycemic index, but never thought it could be so devastating?

I started to read about these things only two months ago so I know very little. There are several questions that maybe already have an answer, and some of the commenting people would help me find them: 1. What about fructose - can we measure its level in blood? does it concern? 2. Perhaps the important thing is SPEED of sugar level change rather than the amplitude? 3. For how long have we collected measurements with CGM device on larger public scale? 4. Are muscles able to take glucose from blood without use of insuline? Thank you for your conversation! ❤

My personal experience confirms Dr. Figtree's hypothesis. My husband was a type 2 diabetic and I suffered from reactive hypoglycemia. We started a low carb diet, which cured his diabetes, but the diet also cured my reactive hypoglycemia. It's interesting that adding fat can prevent the massive spike and subsequent drop. I miss oatmeal, so maybe I'll try it as a side dish to a high fat meal on occasion and see what happens.

Doc Mario Thank you for the info. Hope to hear more videos in this matter about insulin Spikes and how to prevent w/o wearing CGM monitor. God bless including Doc Penny Figtree.

Thanks. Looking forward to the alcohol and fatty liver show. I have since given up alcohol and will lose some weight to keep the liver healthy. Great show.

I've seen some tech bros that started wearing CGMs when they don't need one, because they think the key to longevity is to have as little spiking as possible. It seemed dumb to me, but my mom had some extras so I tried it. And I'm SO GLAD I did! My a1c has been hovering right under the pre diabetic cut off for years and with both of my parents having type 2, I figured I'd just get it eventually and there wasn't much to do except try my best to eat healthy and exercise. Despite doing my best though, I'm still carrying 40 or 50 extra lbs. But within just a few days of wearing the CGM I figured out the pattern that was keeping my bg up, and I was able to change things up and now I'm excited for my next doctor visit. My sugar cravings and urge to overeat disappeared. I'm losing weight. I lost 6 or 7 lbs in one month WITHOUT TRYING. I see a lot of people jumping to ozempic, but I think they should try a CGM first. There might be something that's easily fixable. In my case, it was my gastroparesis. When food sits in my stomach, my bg stays elevated. Not crazy high. But if it's at 120 all nigtt long, every night, it causes a problem. So I started intermittent fasting. I've done it before, but looking back, I was still having tea with honey during my supposed fasting times and I wasn't doing it every day. I was having "cheat days". But this time I was strict. My numbers started improving right away. About 10 days into it, I noticed I wasn't craving sugar anymore. Less than a month in, my urge to overeat disappeared. And the thing is, everyone with gastroparesis is told to eat small meals throughout the day. But in MY case, it was screwing me over. I deal with nausea, bloating, etc but I don't puke. So shortening my eating window hasn't caused a problem. If I was the type of gastroparesis patient that struggled to gain or maintain weight, it might be an issue, but I'm clearly getting enough calories. Other than that, I learned I can't eat naked carbs. I knew you were supposed to pair carbs with fat, fiber, and protein to prevent unnecessary spiking, but it wasn't really REAL to me until I had the numbers right in front of me all the time. So now I eat at least a good bit of protein with each meal and snack. I struggle more with fat and fiber because of the gastroparesis but protein seems sufficient to prevent spiking. My bf actually does have type 2. You wouldn't know it by looking at him. He's very muscular and fit. He refuses to do fingersticks and just finds out every doctor visit if he's on the right track. His last visit 2 days ago he did not get good news, so he let me put a CGM on him finally. I'm excited to see what he finds out. I don't think I need my CGM long term. Now that I'm doing better, this will probably be my last one. It comes off today. If anything changes, or I start struggling again, I'll put one back on. But as a "healthy" non diabetic person, this was an invaluable and illuminating experience. I'm really hoping I can head off the diabetes. Maybe I'm not destined to get it just because my parents have it. I have information that they didn't have. They both wear a CGM now, but imagine if they'd been able to wear one BEFORE they became diabetic. Honestly, I think everyone should try it for a month. I'm sending a few to my friend in the UK that can't afford them out of pocket. His wife is struggling with gastroparesis and reactive hypoglycemia. I hope she finds out as much as I did so she can start feeling better.

I get the spike and downfall below 70 as well with sprouted oats and steel cut oats in a short time. I appreciate you bringing light to this.

Very informative video.

I had scary hypoglycemic drop-offs right after high-carb meals or snacks. I pretty quickly found that eliminating sugar and juices helped. Finally I learned that low-carb was even better. Really appreciate the observations here.

Also thank you Mario for your non black and white thinking like hers. When she said fiber is rubbish I’m glad you said not necessarily as it depends on the person, we are all different. For her it does not help. For you it helps a bit. For me it almost completely blunts massive increase

I have four years had issues with reactive hypoglycemia and have managed it on my own with a low-carb diet. One thing that makes it concerning is that depending on what activity you are doing when you have that low blood sugar,such as driving or doing something where cognitive accuracy matters greatly, the impact can be very important. I get something like brain fog and feel weak an unable to concentrate when this happens. Not good.

THANKS

It is amazing to me that cgms aren’t extremely common!?

Great video, thank you, has been very helpful. I am on a low carb diet, and it keeps me under 95pounds, with a BMI of 18.1. I am using healthy fats, nuts and seeds more. I use a CGM also, been helpful

Great video. Mild exercise also can moderate blood sugars spikes pretty quickly.

I am reactive hypoglycemic also. I have the same reaction to oats as Doctor Figtree. As I have aged, my A1C has moved into the pre-diabetic range. I purchased a CGM about 2 weeks ago so that I could get a closer look at my blood sugar. The CGM data revealed to me that my blood sugar levels were all over the place. My lows were around 55mg/dl and my highs were at 180mg/dl. As I started watching my carb intake, I was able to remove the highs and the lows from my blood sugar range. Now I am between 88 and 135. Within a week I notice a drop in my weight, and I was feeling better overall. For me, the CGM is a window into how food effects my blood sugar so I can make the corrections now before it is too late. Thanks for the video; conformation for me!

I have what I believe to be Familial Reactive Hypoglycemia. I felt very healthy on Keto, but a vegan relative encouraged me to stop my Keto regime ... and a year or so layer I suffered 3 heart attacks. This informative video is very helpful for me. Thank you!

Another great video, thank you! Interesting to learn if there any connection with microbiome and I saw an advertisement from Pendulum probiotics where they promise that it can help you with blood sugar issues (I also have blood sugar spikes, A1C good, fasting glucose good, BMI 18, 35 yo, normal physical activity etc. But have had numerous courses of antibiotics)

😢😢😢 4 years of been told u have anxiety and depression when i was actually experiencing real hypo that destroyed my life in all ways. Just now someone lisned and did a mixed meal test. Can wait to hear findings and how i can go back to life

It's also worth noting that ones blood sugar response to particular foods can also be determined by the gut microbiome and also intolerances/impaired intestinal permeability

Hello Mario, I just recently found your channel and have watched a couple of your videos. Thank you for your videos and expertise. I had an annual physical this past March and was diagnosed with Prediabetes. My hbA1C was 5.7 and my fasting was 99mg. Previous to this discovery, I had been working on losing weight, by reducing my caloric intake, to reduce my blood pressure and dependence on BP meds. My physical , in March, was at the time that I had dropped from 213 lbs down to 180 lbs for a total weight loss of 33 lbs. I was taken off of my BP med at that time. I purchased a glucose monitor and started checking my glucose levels 4X /day. Once for fasting and then after 3 meals/day. Before I lost weight, I thought I was eating healthy meals. For breakfast I would eat Minute Oatmeal/daily loaded with fresh fruit. One cup of blueberries, 2 slices of Cantaloupe, a handful of Walnuts, 2 slices of Pineapple, 3 to 4 Strawberries and 1 banana! I must've have been consuming 140 + grams of carbs! Also, all that fruit turned into sugar quickly. I constantly ate bananas and other fresh fruit at each meal. I'd wager to say that that's what triggered my hbA1C to rise and or triggered insulin resistance. I'm 76 years old. My father and an older brother were diagnosed with Diabetes/Prediabetes respectively. My father didn't develop Diabetes until he was in his late 80s. Currently, I'm not eating any sweets, bananas(less fruit) nor any white breads, also I only eat about 6 berries like raspberries, black berries or blue berries and a half of 1 strawberry. My fasting glucose now ranges from 86mg - 92mg. One hour after eating, my glucose registers usually less than 140 and sometimes 145 but most of the time it's in the 120s. After 2 hours my glucose registers around 102 except when I'm at 145mg it sometimes doesn't drop much or drops down to 125mg. Is the most accurate reading 2 hours after you eat or 1 hour? Also, I have continued to lose weight and have stabled out at 172 lbs. I'm trying to gain some weight back to 180 lbs but am have a difficult time gaining while not consuming too many carbs. I've added almond butter, cheeses, butter on toast. Typically breakfast is 2 eggs with 2 Ezekiel pieces of bread, a handful of Walnuts and sometimes a small container of Chobani zero sugar Yogurt. I alternate breakfast with steel cut Oats, with Walnuts, some almond butter , Yogurt or 1 egg. No matter how much fat I add I'm still not gaining. Should I go see an Endocrinologist to rule out Pancreatic Cancer? How can I gain back some weight? Sorry for the lengthy comment. My wife and I also walk almost daily so I end up burning up some of my caloric intake walking. Thank you , in advance, for your response. Gary

Awesome information, thank you for this video. Totally in sync with Jessie Inchauspe's "Glucose Revolution" which I think is a very well written book. I highly recommend it, if you liked this video.

Thanks!

This is very interesting. I've been into bodybuilding all my life and so these patterns of insulin responses are key to understanding how to trigger yourself to maximize gains. Not only in specific times (ex. Post workout) but in general also during diets. I really enjoy this kind of content and if wish there was more research and detail on the actual intake patterns of food The salmon and chocolate cake example is a really interesting example and exploring all other potential combinations would really prove valuable. This could help us as a population diminish the effects of certain foods that are just too comfortable to avoid all together. The combination and that matched with the total calorie intake over a period of time would really make a big difference.

Thank you guys! I just had this scenario. I did IF for 5 years but suddenly i got this shaking dizzy after i ate or break my fasting.

Fascinating. I have had reactive hypoglycemia for decades. I Found long ago moderating naked carbs is effective. I am now pre-diabetic and get spikes depending upon my food intake, high GI or large meals. But my concern more than the spikes is the increase in my running glucose average of 110 to 120. I literally run most of the day at the level. I eat low carb, low GI, lift weights, walk after eating but I can’t get the average down. My body will moderate down from a spike quite quickly just like this healthy doctor. But how can we moderate down the running average. I’m not certain spikes are all that surprising. It seems to me at a cellular level my body no longer uptakes the carbs. I appreciate your content!!

I am healthy. And I eat only slow carbs (lentils, mung beans) and I do running. Usually, I don't need any nutrition for a half marathon (21K) and I can run evenly fast all the distance. Two days ago I decided to take energy gels (liquid sugar) every 5K while running a full marathon (42K). I started losing performance from 16K at a slower pace than in a half marathon. Eventually, I was totally crushed, struggling till the finish line. Blurry vision, plugged years, vomiting, cramps. I want to have a CGM to measure my glucose to see when to take carbs. And gels will not be an option.

Thanks for sharing. What particularly piqued my interest was the section on protein smoothies. My wife had been using one loaded with sugars - it is now in the trash.

Wow, great to see videos like this! I got so bad i would find myself back in bed, fully clothed. If i ever forced myself to stay awake i would feel like i was having a complete breakdown. I also had what my doctor described as rapid gastric expulsion, which is what led to the diagnosis of low blood sugar episodes.

I would really like to see an interview with Dr. Guess

Again your videos spark much interest and some frustration on my part. I exhibit both blood sugar spikes and reactive hypoglycemia. After years of being told there was not a diabetic drug that fit my situation (CPSS) I came across the subject of Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, i.e, Acarbose. I tried it for a few months but the GI problems were too much. Acarbose raises both primary and secondary BA's. I already have too many of these. Acarbose also changes the composition of the microbiome and in my case causes dysbiosis. It did however lower my BS spikes by about 20% and alleviated my reactive hypoglycemia to a certain degree. Acarbose works in the enterocytes where it inhibits the enzyme which converts disaccharides to Monosaccharides (glucose). I then started to look for a natural element that would do the same. I wear a CGM and I noticed that my sugars didn't spike and I didn't have postprandial somnolence on "Taco Tuesdays". I looked into this and there it was. Capsaicin is a natural Alpha-glucosidase inhibitor (among other things of value to the hyperglycemia issue). It ranges between 20-80% (depending on plant variety )as efficient as acarbose but so far it doesn't have the BA and dysbiosis issues. One thing to note is that AGI's by their nature only work on glucose derived from the gut (diet) and not glucose the liver uses from storage and Gluconeogenesis which in my case is a sizable amount because of my BA/FXR situation. www.orientjchem.org/pdf/vol34no5/OJC_Vol34_No5_p_2211-2228.pdf www.jocpr.com/articles/comparative-study-of-jalapeno-extract-with-acarbose-on-alpha-glucosidase-inhibition-8911.html www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/11/10/649 I have more studies on AGI's and BA's if you are interested Thanks for all you do! Steve

Thanks for the video. When I eat carb rich foods like 2 slice of bread my sugar goes up from 100 to 200 in 30 minutes and come down to 100 in an hour. But the story is different if I exercise after this meal. If I exercise my sugar goes down to high 50s and recover after 5 minutes and go back to 100 s which is my baseline. Luckily I was not symptomatic . CGM helped me to identify this problem. If I exercise on empty stomach then my sugar doesn’t drop and stay very steady. Very interesting findings about myself. I am going to to cut down my carbs and add more fat and protein to reduce the spike and resulting excess insulin production.

This video is the last in our short series on blood sugar spikes. Make sure to check out the previous videos on this topic. Links to all related videos can be found in the comment section below the video.

Think you! Thin is so interesting! People always reccomend me to eat oatmeal but i drops so fast from it in the morning so I avoid it. However i don get this problem in the evening, like ut works when i have a good base of food from out the day.

Thanks

Thank you. Very interesting. Oh no I had a smoothie this afternoon 😮

I figured out the same thing many years ago in my 20s back when no one was talking about low carb diets. I realized if I ate cereal, or toast I would feel like crap. But I was a stubborn vegan at the time. Eventually I replaced it with eggs and avocados and felt so much better. No need for testing or devices, Your body will tell you exactly what you need.Of course if you can’t afford the new gadgets it’s good to have them just to prove it to yourself. Or if you’re on the fence and wondering.

Thank you #DrDanjuma for being such a caring doctor during my time of need. You really helped me during a hard time with my infections,your personality made me feel at ease on our first discussion🌷🌷🌷

Meat and Dairy cause insulin spikes which worsen Reactive hypoglycemia. High protein does this as well as Carbohydrates creating spiked Glucose. It's been debilitating for Me. Hospitalized a few times in the last month. Also ALWAYS do a confirmatory Finger Stick as CGM are Highly inaccurate. I've had differences of 40 points.

I am so glad finally this is brought to people 's attention. I experienced extreme hunger, nausea and tiredness every single time abour half an hour after I had my "healthy" oatmeal porridge with cinamon and fruits, and I didn't know why. I no longer experience anything like this anymore since I transited to a low carbs Ketovore diet. To me, carbs aren't my friends.

I have the same thing and believe I have always had it. But, at one point being 358 pounds, I had RouxNY gastric bypass 20 years ago, it probably exaggerated the postprandial reactive process. The CGM recently helped me identify the problem.

My CGM has changed my life as well. After gaining 30lbs during covid, I searched for a plan that would help me lose weight and after wearing a CGM, I see that I have hypoglycemia….which explains why I so quickly gained weight during covid (i abandoned my low carb lifestyle). I eliminated all high carb foods and I now have lost almost 35lbs since last October (2022). I now feel so empowered to avoid foods that spike my blood sugar and I’m so much more happy.

I’m healthy, I teach group fitness, but I suffer from this as well. I suddenly developed Hashimotos. Some of the protocols helped me with my symptoms as I switched to AIP/ paleo diet. When I started adding in Gluten free items, I started to feel Horrible. I wore a cgm and found that my blood sugar would go up a little, then crash. I managed to regulate during the day, but night then was hard, especially on very active days 😢

I get glucose spike and severe hunger after having oatmeal. My blood glucose used to drop so low I got the shakes and dizzy spells. I have found a lot of medical practitioners who advise me to drink a glass of orange juice or eat a slice of bread to bring my blood glucose up to a normal level. I consider such advice as wrong. Yesterday I got up with a fasting glucose of 3.5 mmol/l, had a cup of coffee, took the dogs for a 60 minute walk after which I visited 4 stores for grocery shopping, all of it I classify as very mild exercise after which my glucose tested at 4.3 mmol/l. My observation is that in the event of very low blood glucose a short brief exercise will allow my body to react to the possibility of hard work and automatically correct my glucose level. In the past I have even peddled my exercise bike very hard for two minutes with the same result so definitely no orange juice or bread for me.

Great video, Mario...It is wonderful there are people like you to open the eyes of people with metabolic problems. I wish I'd known those things 20 years ago, but at that time, the only advice I got was to change my diet!!! And I was eating serials with milk and aspartame in the morning and thought I was doing things right. On top of it the endocrinologist I used to visit told me one day: take your Amaryl and no need to visit me before a year...those were the days...I wonder how Penny didn't know what carbs are for the sugar spike. But my endocrinologist didn't know it either...Anyway-blessings and thanks for the wonderful video 🙏

One major thing i will add to this is, it could be the mix of high fibre or high protein with sugar that will cause high spikes then hypo, it happens to me because these digest more slowly and the insulin over responds. I have liquid sugar it doesnt go near as high and goes back to base line. I think the slower digestion is causing the spikes and low blood sugar after.

I used to have those symptoms when I eat carbs. So, I fixed it by not eating them. These days, I feel great! If I do eat carbs, I eat green veggies once in a while. Mainly I eat meat these days and no longer have those spikes and drops. Cheers.

This was so interesting…. I had to learn all the same things myself… with no help… unable to get an insulin resistance test from my doctor Trying to manage Diabeties myself… found out about porridge years ago .., stopped eating it … protein only breakfast

I have the same diagnosis as Dr. Figtree. I took the 6 hrs glucose tolerance test and at the 3rd hour my BS spiked up to 200 and dropped to 32. It was horrible. Took me years to be able to regulate my BS. I cannot eat too much in one sitting. So I nibble all day. Salads do help me a lot. And yes, constantly hungry in the 3-4 hours.

Hi, I'm somewhere between type one and type two diabetic and using low rates of insulin, but spiking seriously with overnight soaked muesli, then going into hypoglycemea too Following advice about mixing with fruit and eggs, and resistant carbs, I've realised maybe that frozen and defrosted overnight muesli is a different beast too, when mixed with fruit. anyway, that;s my two bobs worth, thanks for your channel, cheers.

At last - the truth about oats! They are praised everywhere as a healthy, low glycemic index food but there are not that few people that experience dramatic sugar spikes and equally dramatic sugar dips after consuming oats. So good not to feel alone with this issue any more.

You mention that blood sugar spikes and reactive hypoglycemia in non-diabetics is an "under the radar" and potentially very common phenomenon. May I suggest another phenomenon that might be under the radar: raised early morning blood sugar levels. I'm non diabetic, and non pre-diabetic and recently purchased a glucose monitor. I did this because of the conflicting recommendations about "healthy" foods (for example oatmeal is often recommended as a healthy breakfast), and another youtube channel suggested the only way to know for sure about what foods spike your glucose is to actually measure it. Anyway, I've started measuring my waking blood glucose and find that it is sometimes unexpectedly high: commonly around 6.0 mmol/L (108 mg/dL), but sometimes as high as 7.0 mmol/L (126 mg/dL). I know that diabetics can experience an early morning glucose high, but perhaps this phenomenon is more common than realised in non-diabetics?

I ate green smoothies for breakfast most of my life. All good. I stopped eating this way about 5 years ago... now, if I have a smoothie, I need a nap within an hour. Also, I will get a hypoglycemia reaction if I fast for 36 hrs. I'm in my 50s now, but when in my early 30s, I had a surgery where they said I couldn't eat from the night before. I got a hypoglycemia reaction by 10 am, and they had to give intervenes to make it to surgery time. My reaction is watering mouth, pukey feeling, and slight dizziness.

I don’t have issues w/eating oatmeal (I’m T-1) as long as I follow it w/exercise, but yes I do have spikes of 210 mg/dL if not, but normally my meal bolus brings BG down to normal range with in an hr!😊

Although not as convenient, you can also use a standard blood glucose monitor (ie the kind that requires you to prick your finger to get a drop of blood), to see if you suffer blood sugar spikes. If you test (say) 30 minutes after you eat, you can see if your glucose spikes. The advantage of a standard glucose monitor is that it is cheaper than a CGM.

At age 34 I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and was told I was hypoglycemic at times I remember the shakiness if I ate bare carbs but was offered no coaching/advice. Now at age 72 found out I am pre-diabetic and I am wearing a cgm. If I eat any carbs like yams, beans etc I spike way up and then get reactive hypoglycemia -so it continues. I am slim, have always exercised and eaten healthy foods. Now the only things I can eat without big spikes are protein (mostly salmon) and veges. Wish I had had the cgm and knowledge I now have all those years ago and likely would have a lower HB A1C now.

Great insights. ❤ Can we also infer that having naked carb after or with a complex meal (which includes good amounts of fats and proteins and complex carbs) will reduce the intensity of the spike when compared to having it alone?