Dr. Keith Berkowitz On The Forgotten Blood Sugar Disorder: Hypoglycemia (Episode 144)
5 06 2008If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Hello and welcome back to the hottest low-carb podcast around– it’s “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore!
In Episode 144, Jimmy speaks directly with a former associate of the late Dr. Robert Atkins named Dr. Keith Berkowitz. He has recently become very interested in the theoretical connections between carbohydrate restriction and the blood sugar condition known as hypoglycemia. Is it possible that long-term low-carbing can lead to a form of reactive hypoglycemia that will require you to change the way you are livin’ la vida low-carb? Dr. Berkowitz thinks so and will talk about and offer his practical solutions for based on what he has seen in his own patients over the past few years.
Since Jimmy has been experiencing an ODD drop in his blood sugar levels following a meal, he wanted to interview Dr. Berkowitz to get to the bottom of this issue NOBODY is talking about. Listen in today to hear great advice on meal timing and composition, exercise recommendations, the ramifications of poor sleep, and what we can do to keep our blood glucose levels stable even when we are in ketosis and producing gluconeogenesis. This is the podcast show you’ve been waiting for if you have become frustrated with seeing low-carb seemingly stop working for you.
A special thanks to Dr. Berkowitz as well as our fantastic sponsor, True Lemon!
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LINKS MENTIONED IN EPISODE 144
- Listen to past podcast episodes here or at iTunes
- My blog post about my bewildering blood sugar levels
- “The Forgotten Blood Sugar Disorder: Hypoglycemia” by Dr. Keith Berkowitz
- Biography of Dr. Berkowitz
- The Center For Balanced Health web site
- RELATED PODCAST: Gluconeogenesis: The Body’s Internal Carb Factory
Popularity: 43% [?]
From over 400 pounds to 230, Jimmy Moore is 
Jimmy, this was a great show with so much good, helpful information. Congratulations on your weight loss! Glad to hear the scale is moving south again. Thank you for continuing to bring us up to date useful information!
Kay
THANKS Kay! This is probably the most critical unspoken low-carb topic I have ever addressed before. Hopefully Dr. Berkowitz is on to something HUGE here and the researchers can figure out the mechanism and reasons behind it. THANK YOU for listening!
Thanks for this interview. I did great for about a year and a half and then stalled out - rather than working through the problem then, I concluded that I may have hurt my body and abandoned the diet. Now that I’ve gotten back onto the discipline, I am prepared for it this time. Thanks!
very interesting. wow,, I learned some great stuff from your interview!! awesome.
This is making so much sense. I know that my body’s response is much different to low carb than it was when i first began over 5 years ago. I wish that fasting would have been discussed more in depth and relate it to hypoglycemia. I began pondering other things.Two years ago I thought that I was getting so close to my goal weight but I soon began gaining, most notably, after adding chromium. I also became peri-menopausal which I believe is significant especially since there is a connection between menopaus and diabetes. My mom became diabetic 2 years after becoming menopausal. My sister became diabetic 2 years after she had her hysterectomy ( surgical menopause ). My brother is diabetic and I am willing to wager that he experienced andropause 2 years before becoming diabetic. Andropause is something that we do not really hear about it. So consider this part of my theory, prolonged low carbing can cause some form of reactive hypoglycemia in people approaching some type of pause in hormonal efficiency. Now consider this, why is prolonged fasting working so well for me? Is it the cause of reactive hypoglycemia that determines the “curative low carb diet”? Jimmy, I know that intermittent fasting drove you crazy, yet IF feels natural to me plus I lost nearly 18 lbs. Another thing, I drink lots of coffee and I sleep well at night. I really want to find out what is going on with my insides. I think that there is more to the theory and I am sure that you will continue to get to the bottom of this.
Cheers Jimmy,
Mary
Thanks Jimmy,
Stick with it, Warren! Low-carb works and we are learning that we need to sometimes alter the timing of when we eat so that it will continue to work for us.
YOU CAN DO IT!!!
It really is fascinating information, Teresa. There’s been so much feedback from this interview that I will be doing a special follow-up interview with Dr. Berkowitz with the questions people have for him. Please submit those to me by sending an e-mail to livinlowcarbman@charter.net. THANKS!
You’re right, Mary! Our bodies DO change and we need to adjust. I’m so happy to hear what is working for you and I urge you to keep doing it. You WILL be the odds, my friend. Let me know if you have any questions you’d like for me to ask Dr. Berkowitz in my follow-up interview.
Jimmy, I have another unspoken LC topic. You can call it low and indiscreet but it is the picture of Dr. Berkowitz that made me think of it.
Vilhjalmur Stefansson noticed a century ago that Inuits eating meat only most of the year never get bald. The same happened to his colleauge after they started their low carb meat-all experiment back in the States: the guy had started to lose hair but it stopped later on their diet.
I know a doctor in my country who’s been agitating for low carbing for decades - his hair is full of hair! Look at Dr. Eades - his probably in his 50’s and still has great hair.
May be genes but may be something more? And Dr. Berkowitz somehow escapes this rule (maybe he started LC lifestyle to late).
So my point is - you know a swarm of low carbers so can you say tentatively that this is a probable hypothesis? And if you agree with me - maybe that is worth researching and that would be a huge argument pro LC if confirmed
Best regards,
Zbiggy
Actually, I blogged about this issue several years back. It is something worth more research.
Hey Jimmy, I haven’t listened to this yet as my daughter is asleep beside me but whilst I am thinking of it I just wanted to say that this looks interesting. I have a newcomer on my forum whom has been having low blood sugar symptoms when she tries to eat low carb to the point where she couldn’t stay on it, so this may be very useful to her, I will pass it on.
Cheers
Sherrie
THANKS Sherrie! You will enjoy this conversation and we will be continuing it with Dr. Berkowitz in a follow-up next month after I’ve implemented some of these ideas he shared. So far, it’s working well for me and should do the trick for your forum reader.
Hi Jimmy
I have a question regarding this low blood sugar/hypoglycemia in a low-carb state.
Why doesn’t Gluconeogenesis (see Episode 13) cure it since its the bodies “mechanism that allows your body to manufacture sugars all by itself” ?