The further I get into consideration of mind, body and spirit, the more I realize how completely the three aspects dovetail. It is practically impossible to be spiritually and mentally healthy while in poor physical condition, and the aches, pains and discomfort associated with such things — even with simple poor nutrition and/or lack of exercise — will interfere with our spiritual life as well. As I once heard someone say in a meeting, “When you feel like s**t, it’s hard to rise above it.” The old adage of “a sound mind in a sound body” is oh-so-true!

Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) can be a real problem. Most of us are affected by it to some extent, although not all of us to the point of taking pot shots at fellow motorists. Understanding low blood sugar, getting it under control and learning to recognize its onset can, however, dramatically change the way we perceive our loved ones, co-workers, fellow motorists, and ourselves.

In the rooms of recovery we speak of not getting hungry, angry, lonely or tired (H.A.L.T.) It is amazing how often those seem to go together. We forget to eat, our blood sugar drops, and we feel low on energy. We may have a dull headache, may become irritable, stubborn, and prone to seemingly irrational fits of anger or even rage. I have often wondered how many cases of road rage could have been avoided if the perpetrator had eaten a snack before beginning the drive home after work.

Until recently it was thought that everyone’s reaction to a given level of blood glucose was essentially the same. There were fixed figures that were considered to represent hypoglycemia, normal blood glucose, and <i>hyper</i>glycemia. (Chronic hyperglycemia is known as diabetes.) The diabetes figure has remained constant, since different metabolic processes are at work, but it has been found that many people are affected emotionally by glucose levels that were once believed to be within the normal range. This is known as <i>sub-clinical hypoglycemia</i>.

If you believe you may suffer from mood swings caused by low blood sugar, there is an easy way to self-diagnose. Get a small candy bar and a package of snack crackers (not cookies.) About four hours after your last meal or snack, eat the candy bar. Begin keeping track of the way you feel. The symptoms of sub-clinical hypoglycemia may include any or all of the following symptoms:

Irritability, ranging from mild to rage
Low energy
Depression
Rigid facial muscles (can’t smile)
Muscle tension
No sense of humor
Dull headache
Minor visual disturbances
A jumpy, edgy feeling
Difficulty concentrating
Light-headedness.

These symptoms will normally begin to occur within an hour, often in much less time, and tend to worsen rapidly. Once you have satisfied yourself about the symptoms, go ahead and eat the crackers; they will help stabilize and bring you back to normal.

Here is what happened. Our brains are fueled by glucose. Roughly 25% of the calories we eat go to keeping our brains operating at their most efficient level. When our blood sugar begins to drop, our brains begin to run out of fuel, start to malfunction, and cause the symptoms described above. Not everyone experiences them at the same levels, and some fortunate people seem not to be bothered at all, but you can see how they can make life a good deal more difficult if we are among those who are.

The cure is simple: don’t allow ourselves to get that hungry. Our bodies are designed to work best when we eat several small meals a day, rather than three larger ones. We have imposed a schedule on them that is unnatural. We should eat a good breakfast, not too heavy on sweets, because we have been fasting for a third of a day. A low-sweet snack at mid-morning will hold us until lunch, at which time we again avoid heavy sweets. A mid-afternoon snack will take us through the rush hour commute to dinner time in a far better mood. A snack before bedtime will help us sleep better.

The trick is to avoid things that will cause our blood sugar to rise quickly, like the candy bar on an empty stomach did during the test. When our glucose level rises too rapidly, our bodies overreact and produce hormones, (insulin, among others,) that bring it down too far, too fast. That is what causes the hypoglycemic episodes — the blast of sugar. If it was accompanied by caffeine, which causes a release of adrenaline, the result is likely to be exaggerated even more. A low-sugar snack will bring the glucose up slowly and avoid the overcompensation.

Obviously, another candy bar would bring it up, too, but that will result in chasing our blood sugar curve all over the scale. A low-sugar snack is best, although many drunks and addicts have been saved by a <i>single</i> piece of candy at a critical moment. However, since it is hard for some of us to stop eating candy under ideal conditions, and since one of the symptoms of hypoglycemia is loss of judgement, it seems best to avoid it.

A common complaint is “I can’t eat all those snacks — I’ll gain weight!” Many people find that if they choose their snacks carefully, they actually tend to eat less over the course of a day because they are not as hungry at meal times. Also, remember that we’re cutting down the sweets. Sweets are OK, but not by themselves. We need to have them after a decent meal, or small amounts with our snacks, to avoid that blood sugar spike.

Give up the donut and coffee for breakfast and the high-sugar snacks between meals. If you can make yourself reduce your caffeine intake, that’s good too — especially if you’re in the habit of drinking sweetened coffee on an empty stomach. Try it for a week, and keep track of how you feel. You may be amazed at the difference it will make in your quality of life — I was.

Trying new recovery ideas, with care, seldom hurts as long as we stick to things that make sense, and the Universe will cheerfully refund our misery at any time; we have only to ask.