Three tips to prevent low blood sugar

Low blood sugar not only causes unpleasant symptoms, but can even be dangerous. Do you often have fluctuations in your blood sugar level and do you want to prevent low blood sugar? Then read in this article with which three tips you can do this yourself.

Tip 1: eat healthy

It is very important to eat a healthy diet. This is actually important for everyone, but especially for people who regularly have to deal with fluctuations in their blood sugar levels. First of all, having a healthy diet means eating plenty of fruit and vegetables. It is also important that you do not eat too many sweets, prefer to ignore fatty foods and eat varied meals. The Dutch Nutrition Center has drawn up the "Schijf van Vijf" (Disk of Five), which can help you to eat a healthy and varied diet.

Tip 2: divide the carbohydrates over the day

Many people eat too many carbohydrates in a single meal. If you do this too, you will more often have to deal with low blood sugar. A large amount of carbohydrates in your body causes your blood sugar to drop. By dividing the total amount of carbohydrates over the day, you prevent that you get too low blood sugar. That is why we recommend eating six small meals rather than three large ones.

You have a good breakfast in the morning, and then have a small snack two hours after breakfast. After this it is time for lunch, which again consists of a normal (not too big) meal. Two hours after lunch you will have another snack and then have dinner. After dinner, wait two hours and eat another small snack, like an apple.

Tip 3: avoid added sugars

Sugar is added to many products. For example, an apple has natural sugars, but a cake is made sweet by adding sugars. You should avoid these so-called added sugars as much as possible. Products to which sugar has been added can cause significant fluctuations in blood sugar levels. It is also good to avoid the use of refined carbohydrates and sugary drinks, because these products also cause fluctuations in the blood sugar level.

If you are used to eating a lot of added sugars, it can be difficult to suddenly change your lifestyle. In this case, we advise you to replace as many sugary drinks as possible with tea (without sugar) and water. Foods with a lot of added sugars, such as biscuits, can be replaced by vegetables, fruit or wholemeal bread. These are only minor changes in your diet, but these changes are very effective.