Hypoglycemia on Keto: Understanding Metabolic Adaptation and Holistic Healing

This podcast episode addresses the paradoxical issue of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) on a ketogenic diet, despite its primary goal of stabilizing blood sugar. The speaker explains that while many adapt well, some individuals, particularly those with a history of high-carb and processed food consumption, experience severe hypoglycemia because their bodies are not metabolically flexible enough to switch to fat burning. Their internal machinery, including organs like the adrenals, liver, and pancreas, may be stressed and unable to produce backup fuel (ketones) or adequately regulate blood sugar through hormones like cortisol and glucagon, leading to a metabolic crash.

The core distinction made is between the body's emergency response (cortisol, which breaks down muscle for sugar) and its more subtle, regular regulation (glucagon, which mobilizes glycogen and promotes gluconeogenesis). For those struggling with severe hypoglycemia on keto, the speaker strongly advises against a rapid, drastic shift to very low-carb. Instead, a slower, more gradual transition is recommended, starting with whole, healthy foods, potentially including some starches like potato and rice, to allow the body to adapt and heal over time. High-carb diets are deemed universally destructive due to their association with processed foods and blood sugar rollercoasters.

Practical insights include prioritizing overall organ health and function over immediate weight loss. The speaker introduces a method used in his office called "nutrition response testing" to identify and support specific organs (adrenals, liver, pancreas) that may be underperforming. The healing process is emphasized as a long-term commitment, potentially taking a year or more. The overarching recommendation is to approach any dietary change, especially keto, with the sole purpose of restoring the body to normal function and balance, rather than just for weight loss.

Broader implications highlight the importance of metabolic flexibility, individual variability in dietary responses, and the holistic nature of health. Weight loss, according to the speaker, should be a natural side effect of achieving health, not the primary goal, as unhealthy versions of keto (e.g., with processed fats) can lead to weight loss without true health. The episode underscores that not everyone is suited for immediate ketosis and that a moderate-carb, whole-food approach might be a necessary intermediate step for some to allow their bodies to heal and become fat-adapted.

low blood sugar on Keto even though lowering blood sugar is the purpose of the ketogenic diet in some people it can get a little bit too low called hypoglycemia

some people they're machinery has crashed a little bit more and they don't have that backup system kick in and they end up with hypoglycemia

most people with hypoglycemia the problem originates because they were on a high carb diet and through years of eating high carb and processed foods their blood sugar get into a rollercoaster pattern

cortisol is a stress hormone that raises blood sugar and it does this by mobilizing glycogen it tells the liver to break down some glycogen but it also tells the body to start breaking down muscle mass because protein from muscle can be turned into sugar

cortisol because it's a stress hormone when you're stressed your body doesn't care about health it's just survival at any cost do break down whatever is necessary right now to get the fuel the sugar that I need to survive in this moment

what this person needs to do is to change much much slower and low-carb may not even be or very low carb may not be the first thing that they want to think about

what we use in my office to figure out what's going on is called nutrition response testing it's a system that allows us to get to the root of the problem to ask the body what is slowing down the adrenals what's interfering with the liver what's stressing the pancreas and any other organ

don't ever do Kido don't ever do any of this for any other reason than health the only purpose the only goal is to restore the body to normal function to establish balance the way the body is supposed to work and don't do it to lose weight

weight loss is just a side effect of getting healthy there the opposite is not necessarily true and too many people are trying to lose weight to get healthy and that's not always the case

if you eat unhealthy fats and you eat processed foods or depleted foods or unnatural food you can still be in ketosis but you're not going to get healthy