Self Help

Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, is an often overlooked but important metabolic culprit in poor brain function. It can cause a wide range of mental symptoms, including mental fogginess, lack of concentration, short-term memory loss, mental fatigue, depression, mood swings, physical and mental exhaustion, and the inability to learn or comprehend new information.

Hypoglycemia is epidemic because of the sugary diets we eat today. Your brain needs glucose to form the energy that fuels its processes. It gets glucose from the food you eat - mainly carbohydrates, which the digestion process breaks down into sugar. Researchers have found that too little sugar in the form of glucose hampers memory and learning. But before you reach for that candy bar, you should know that too much sugar does the same thing.

Hypoglycemia is one of the most undiagnosed conditions in America. Many people who suffer from it are totally unaware that they have this problem, and even their doctors confuse their symptoms with those of other conditions. Eating too much sugar and other simple carbohydrates is not a good idea for your overall health, but it is especially bad for memory. Sugar overload can cause hypoglycemia or “insulin resistance,” in which your cells do not recognize insulin and thus sugar cannot enter them. According to the Merck Manual of Medical Information, prolonged hypoglycemia can permanently damage your brain cells.

Because the brain runs on energy derived mostly from carbohydrates, it is important to have the right kind of fuel available to promote optimum brain functioning. A healthy program will help you replace simple carbohydrates with healthy complex carbohydrates, such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, which can bring about remarkable improvement in your thinking and overall health.

One of my friends, Mandy, was a patient that went to her doctor with a host of health problems, but what bothered her most was that she had been fainting frequently, and, although she had been mentally sharp all her life, was now “losing it.” She had been to many specialists and none of them could explain these symptoms. She found out she was addicted to sugar and often would have a piece of cake or a candy bar for breakfast. Her blood sugar would then roller coaster all day. When she switched her breakfast to oatmeal with a small amount of tofu or other protein food, not only did her cognition improve, but, much to the surprise of her physician, her fainting problem completely vanished.