I would start by upping the protein, veggies, and fat. Then slowly  cut back on fruit and grains- but if you cut out the carbs too fast, you'll end up with even lower blood sugar temporarily.

How much juice have you been having at once? An ounce of juice with or right after a meal is probably fine, but 8oz is way too much, especially on an empty stomach!

I'd definitely suggest cutting down on fruit, especially if you've been eating way more than SWAMI recommends for you. My SWAMI only gives me half a cup of fruit a day, and that seems about right. I don't even eat fruit every day.

Swami gives me 3 servings of fruit: Portion size 1/2 cup fruit or one small to medium sized fruit. I have had varying amounts of juice depending on how much I'm wanting at the time. Some days it has been maybe 3 oz, others 8oz (yes that was between meals, whoops), and most days its just water. As for the carbs (by that I mean grains) maybe I should still eat one very small portion a day, is that what you're suggesting?

What does SWAMI suggest for your grain intake?

2 servings daily Portion size quarter cup, 1/2 muffin, or 1 slice bread.

Try having the recommended grains per day- the full amount, but no more, and have it late in the day, as part of a full meal. Either eat both servings with dinner or have one with lunch and one with dinner.

Rachel,
You remind me of myself when I was in mhy  20's.  
There can be more than one thing that causes this.  I too wondered about  hypoglycemia.
I have read some people have more trouble keeping sugar levels balanced, not necessarily hypoglycemia.   It may be a case of understanding your Metabolic Type ...a Doctor put me on this when I complained I was hungry all the time.  It turned out I was not eating enough protein for my body type. The same doctor recommended I not eat fruit alone, add some protein.
You have a sensitive body and probably need to fine tune your diet.  
You are on the right track.
Lin

Ruthie, I will try it. Unless it leads me to overeating. Lin, I am reading that the liver and adrenals may be connected to hypoglycemia. It makes sense to me. I don't know anything at all about Metabolic Type. But I do know I have a good metabolism, probably high.

Rachel...this is a bit dicribed by D.D. when he mentiones *complete lack of energy*.... I know this as well..... it arrived to me heavily while having had a very stressful weekend in Germany during a conference and when I wanted to come back sundays night I really had the impression to have been knelt down of the finest...   can't even tell you how I managed it to drive home from Winterthur to Zürich .... and yep those situations are really scary but while knowing about this... it didn't overwhelmed me too much
explorerdom.....and some days free of any "must.....have to....ought to....should to* and other pressures done by our overactive  brain.... and all is fine ....

Rachel, That is very interesting what you are reading  about the liver and adrenals being connected to hypoglycemia as I've been working on both of those.

Lin

Quoted from Rachel D

Ok, it's been a little over a year since this happened...I'm still struggling in some areas but I would say that I'm feeling 70% better than I used to. Yesterday however I had a similar experience to what happened before I blacked out last time.
... my blue nails, having to sleep 10 hours on average and still feeling tired, the dark circles under my eyes (which may be unrelated, I was guessing that could be my explorer liver having problems), getting out of breath from walking up stairs, feeling dizzy if I try to exercise, seeing spots sometimes if I get up too fast from lying down, feeling like I can't breathe....etc.

"Blue nails: lung and heart problems, circulatory problems, drug reactions, blood toxicity from too much silver or copper" Don't want to alarm you, but has anyone checked your heart?!

do you have any trouble with your chest, lungs, breathing?

another personal question I'm afraid - regarding number 2's do they float and are they ever white rather than brown? sorry but checking things

Possum I had an EKG at one point in time. I was "perfectly healthy" as usual. I'm guessing its my circulation. Doctors frustrate me so much and I get tired of mentioning the same things over and over and getting answers like oh that's fine. I'm sure exercise would help me greatly but its one thing at a time right now.

Rachel, mirror image of me. I am turning it around. I wish I would have found my local doc sooner. I would suggest this... http://www.functionalmedicine.org/practitioner_search.aspx?id=117 - these folks look at the whole body as a system.

Heavy metals may be an issue. Mercury interferes with gluten and dairy enzymes, I just learned. I was told after I get rid of it in my body, these issues will go away. I don't feel like I want to add back wheat, though. Bread is too addictive for me and it "leaks" in most everyone to some extent. Caused a lot of havoc on my brain even as it felt good as I was doing it. Pass.

BTW, unfortunately a great majority of mainstream medicine does not think functionally, YET. They are focused on the acute model taken from emergency medicine. It is a symptom/cause model that is usually oversimplified to find a drug or surgery that alleviates the symptom without much consideration of the overall physiology and how that will play into it. Chronic issues are not going to be effectively addressed by this model. Functional issues- hey the body is saying I have a problem, HELP ME!- may be more subtle in that a test is normal. The test won't show the issue until you are so out of wack that they can focus on disease. Test norms are based on bell shaped curves for a group of people, not on your individual physiology. They should be measured against YOU. There are lots of people with subclinical thyroid issues feeling like c**p with docs saying they are normal, when on a much deeper level- it's not just a thyroid issue, but a systemic problem that needs more than just a pill to pop. The future of TRUE medicine is on a much deeper level than most have been taught in med school. Fortunately, I feel like the public is waking up and beginning to demand better care. I think naturopathic physicians trained in the major 4 year universities have had a leg up on this model for a long time (though some do think in the manor of a "greener" simple cause/effect way). I think you almost have to have some discernment about a physician's approach, no matter what model they are trained in.  Unfortunately, naturopathic physicians aren't licensed in all the states yet.

I get close to blacking out when I haven't eaten and my blood sugar gets too low. So far I have always had a warning, though, in that I start feeling really strange. I also get dizzy and nearly black out if I stand up too fast from a squatting position near the floor, like when I'm looking in my cabinets under the counter, for example. I have to sit down or lean against something for a few seconds till it passes. A friend of mine passed out when she went to visit someone at the hospital that had been in an accident. It was too emotional for her. She broke out some teeth when she fell. My daughter passed out when she saw how terribly painful it was for me to have allergy tests done on my back, with little plugs of skin removed for the testing. So blacking out can come from different causes, including breathing something foreign or toxic to your body or even the perfumes in soaps.

Rachel and other fainters,
It was pointed out to me when I'm anxious (and other people too) I'm either holding my breath without knowing it or breathing shallow.  I've also been told I tend to breathe shallow, this may be something to pay attention to as you would be low on oxygen.

I've fainted in the bathroom also, that is one of the worst places to faint!

Lin

Lin-I'm a shallow breather too.

I'm enjoying reading the comments, may respond to more individuals later.

Today I started the lemon water. Last time I tried it it kind of made me gag and my stomach felt bad afterwards. This time I'm using meyer lemons and made sure to get the proportions right 1/2 lemon to 8oz water. I was able to drink the whole glass I've also started on a concentrated multivitamin that isn't BTD but from what I can tell it looks ok. If I notice any ill effects I will stop taking it. I even tried 1oz mozzarella string cheese and seem to not be getting the mucous/ stuffy nose. In fact I think that I may have much more trouble with sugars right now. If I don't see symptoms tomorrow morning I may be able to add cheese back in small amounts. Yay! I'm still having sugar cravings but the hypoglycemic symptoms seem to be getting better as I'm working on them.

Rachel D give a try for several much smaller meals a day....or justamente some snacks   during the day to get stabilized bls.....btw the more I go for aminoacids or just augment my meat & fish intake the less came bls-imbalaces....

I almost had a hypo attack just reading about the emotional upset, the foods you had eaten and not eaten! Several members of my family have/had hypoglycemia including my husband. If they ate too many carbs, look out! All A-types. They all learned to balance their protein and carbs. I learned from their experiences and have never had any serious problems with it because I make sure I get enough protein every day and don't overdo the carbs. Yes, focusing on proteins and veggies are the way to go! I would think that would be especially true for an O-type! Good luck!

Rachel, do you know your secretor status?  Your profile says "nonnie?"

I think you need this additional information to fine tune your diet.

Are you following a SWAMI, or the GTD book for Explorers.  Explorers are SOOOO individualized, more than any other GenoType.

Sharing with the best of intentions.  <3 <3 <3