Learn when “dangerously low” blood sugar is a sign of autophagy… and when you should be concerned. Is hypoglycemia possible on the keto diet?
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Every week on YouTube I test my glucose and ketones live in front of my audience.
I do this because when you’re reversing medical problems with keto, metrics matter.
It shocks people when I test my blood sugar and get a number like this:
This did not phase me. In fact, I was delighted by a number that low. This is one of the reasons why I fast.
But I got a lot of concerned comments like this:
It’s true that Google will tell you a blood sugar of 49 is considered severely hypoglycemic. The symptoms are:
- sweating
- shaking
- confusion
- nausea
- dizziness
These are symptoms of a body that is starving for fuel. I didn’t experience these because my body knows how to get fuel from fat.
Being fat adapted means your body readily burns ketones from fat. While I was fasting, my body “ate” from my fat storage.
There are 3 reasons I strive to get my blood sugar below 70:
- Achieve autophagy
- I want to lower inflammation, reduce my risk for cancer, and repair broken cells. My best chance of autophagy happens when my blood sugar drops below 70.
- Reverse insulin resistance
- Looking back, I was insulin resistant for years. It’s my goal to reverse this with ketogenic living and a few hours a week of stressing my metabolism.
- Empty glucose stores
- Every day, a little bit of glucose gets stored into my liver. This gets used first under metabolic stress, and when it depletes, your liver goes full speed ahead on spinning fuel from fat cells. When I measure my blood sugar under 70, I know I reached a level of enhanced metabolism and fat burning.
So if your blood sugar is “dangerously low…”
But you feel fine…
Then you are fine.
Decades ago, a fasting blood sugar of 50-60 was considered healthy. Now, because the average blood sugar went up, the ‘healthy’ fasting number is around 70. There is NO reason for that move.
There is compelling evidence that people are less metabolically healthy than they used to be. Unhealthy, ultra processed food is endemic in today’s world.
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