Dr. Keith Berkowitz leads the Center For Balanced Health in NYC
Continuing what we started in Episode 164 on Monday with Part 1 of my interview with Dr. Keith Berkowitz from the New York-based Center For Balanced Health, today we have Part 2 of that interview in Episode 165 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore.” Dr. Berkowitz is answering all of your questions about the reactive hypoglycemia and low-carb living connection. If you asked a question in an e-mail to me about his “reactive hypoglycemia” theory, then I presented it to Dr. Berkowitz. Tune in to hear your question get answered (and there was even a sweet audio comment left by Della praising the podcast–THANK YOU Della! You made our day with that!).
Click on the “LISTEN NOW” link below or download it to your iPod to hear Episode 165:
“The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore” Episode 165 [16:33m]: LISTEN NOW | Download
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The interview with Dr. Keith Berkowitz is now complete and I’d love to know what you thought about it in the show notes section of Episode 165. Be sure to check out The Center For Balanced Health web site and feel free to contact Dr. Berkowitz directly with any questions you may have for him about this issue. He’s more than happy to offer assistance to my readers and listeners. 
Next week we have TWO amazing interviews to share with you: Monday’s show will feature Dr. Jonny Bowden who is back again to tell us about his new book The Healthiest Meals On Earth as well as an exciting new weight loss program Jonny is offering. He always offers a dynamic, encouraging and interesting conversation, so don’t miss that one! Then on Thursday I will be sharing my interview with Atkins Nutritionals spokeswoman Colette Heimowitz as she talks about some of the recent changes with the company that should bring a smile to the face of those who felt they were moving away from the original mission of Dr. Robert C. Atkins for that company. You’re gonna like what you hear! That’s all coming up next week!
Thanks for asking my question about whether multiple small meals would eventually produce more insulin resistance.
Dr. Berkowitz may not understand the process of progressive insulin resistance. His comment about avoiding peaks of insulin secretion ignores the fact that peaks and valleys of insulin secretion are signs that the pancreas is progressing down the path to type 2 diabetes.
Eating multiple small meals may help smooth out the symptom of insulin peaks, but does not address the underlying cause, which is progressive insulin resistance in the liver, brain and pancreas.
Stargazey,
I thought the exact same thing about Dr. Berkowitz’s response. It addressed the issue of avoiding episodes of reactive hypoglycemia, but neglected the issue of high insulin levels following each meal. An issue that I would think would exacerbate insulin resistance.
Xanderman
Jimmy,
In the first half of your interview with Dr. Berkowitz, you asked what supplements could be beneficial to treating reactive hypoglycemia. The two of you talked about
CoQ10, Magnesium, Chromium, Biotin, ALA, Omega 3s,
Coconut Oil for helping in the treatment of insulin resistance, diabetes and reactive hypoglycemia which was great!
Dr Berkowitz talked about the dosage for CoQ10 (100mg) and Magnesium (500mg), but didn’t talk about dosage for any of the other supplements or foods he mentioned. Do you (or any of your other readers) have any suggestions to that end or is this something you could ask Dr. Berkowitz might be able to respond to via email?
I found both portions of this interview very interesting, thanks for speaking with Dr Berkowitz. He’s evidently a pretty sharp guy and keen on really helping people rather than distributing the same tired dogma that most diabetics and sick people are fed.
Thanks
Xanderman
There is no doubt in my mind that both reactive hypoglycemia and fibromyalgia are caused by sugar and carbohydrate addiction and can both be fully and simply cured by getting off from all forms of carbohydrates but don’t tell that to the carbohydrate addicts that are totally unaware of this fact. — They will jump all over you.
They got to have there fix!
I just spoke with Dr. Berkowitz about your questions and here was his reply:
Reactive hypoglycemia most likely is being caused by two main problems: continued insulin resistance and an “overtaxed” adrenal system.
Researchers found that individuals have gastric bypass surgery and lose a significant amount of weight they normalize their blood glucose levels but still have inappropriately increased levels of insulin secretion. I suspect that this may also be happening in low carber’s who have also had significant weight loss and may partially explain why individuals stop losing weight even on a strict low carbohydrate diet. Unfortunately, to this date, the mechanism behind this is not well understood. One theory being proposed is that this continued insulin resistance is secondary to increased incretin levels. Incretins are a gastrointestinal hormone that stimulates the pancreas to release insulin. Therefore, eating smaller controlled carbohydrate meals may help lessen this inappropriately high insulin response and minimize reactive hypoglycemia.
In addition, individuals are also suffering from an “overtaxed” adrenal system. This is due from the increased demands on life, lack of proper sleep and possibly over exercise. We know that when the body is stressed it secrete cortisol. Cortisol, as one of its actions, helps increase glucose production. This increased glucose production in turn stimulates the pancreas to release insulin. Because we are insulin resistant, reactive hypoglycemia follows. In turn, this low blood glucose level will stimulate additional cortisol production. Over time, this state of “overdrive” if not corrected will worsen insulin resistance, making reactive hypoglycemia more severe and increase the risk of developing type II DM.
Cortisol can also trigger increased gluconeogenesis where the body uses non carbohydrate sources as energy. One of these triggers is hypoglycemia. In this state the body will use protein and/or fat as an alternative energy source. Another trigger is intense exercise. Again, over time this process will create a vicious cycle and worsen reactive hypoglycemia. The key to prevent this is to maintain glucose levels as stable as possible. This may also be why, many of my patients find weight training more effective for weight loss than prolonged periods of aerobic exercise. I find that proper sleep as well as techniques that focus on reducing your body’s response to stress (i.e. biofeedback and mediation) help break this vicious cycle.
Yes, carbohydrates definitely do all of this. All of this and a whole lot more in addition to all of this, even. — Our systems weren’t designed to process this much speed and it throws everything all out of whack.
It’s especially hard for people with gastric bypass because they have to eat all of these very small meals every few hours, that are mainly carbohydrates and have little choice in the matter.
Speed and adrenaline are very similar.
When you think about it, what do speed and carbohydrates do to our systems..
They signal and stimulate our adrenal gland into producing and putting more adrenaline into our blood stream, for one thing.
You get this occurring basically non-stop and you have serious reactions and serious problems.
Our bodies are meant to surge with adrenaline and it’s effects on our insulin levels as well as the accompanying hormones and there effects, in a crises situation and other times of need and then immediately after the ‘event’ drop back off and return to normal, which is basically just sitting there doing nothing until called upon.
So you get this non-stop secretion and rises and drops on a continuous basis and you got real problems that are manifesting into what we call reactive hypoglycemia and fibromyalgia.
We are way over taxing our systems, like a race horse running on speed.
The end result is the same thing!
Cortisol is important. So is glucagon. But we’re talking about insulin resistance in the liver. Normally the liver shuts off its glucose production in response to insulin. In the insulin-resistant state it does not. Simply lowering carbohydrate intake or eating frequent small meals may not be enough to reverse insulin resistance in the liver. It is possible that enough insulin is still being secreted to maintain the state of insulin resistance in the liver.
One way to lower secretion of insulin is to bring carbohydrate consumption right down to zero and the consumption of protein down to the amount needed for body maintenance plus the synthesis of about 40 grams of glucose a day. All the rest of the daily calories would be provided by fat, the only macronutrient which does not cause insulin to be secreted at all. Has Dr. Berkowitz tried this? If so, what is his experience with it?