3 Essential Tips for Blood Sugar Balance
Blood sugar balance isn’t just a concern for those managing diabetes—it’s fundamental to living a healthy life. It’s often overlooked until it becomes a problem on a routine blood panel, but blood sugar fluctuations affect everyone. Energy levels, mood regulation, weight management, heart health and brain function are all areas that can be affected by blood sugar in any person, regardless of a diagnosed condition like diabetes. These changes are driven by lifestyle choices: largely diet, stress management, and movement. The fact is, everything you put into your body and everything you do creates a chain of events that either supports your body or forces your body to compensate. It’s important to note that every person has a different response to diet and exercise changes, and what works for one person may not work for another. You are a case study of one, after all! Let’s dive into three essential tips for achieving and maintaining optimal blood sugar balance, empowering you to take control of your health from the inside out.
Tip #1: Eat Protein, Fat and Fiber
Eating protein, fat and fiber at each meal has been shown to help support stable blood sugar levels. This is a key piece of eating for blood sugar balance and optimal health, and it is fairly easy to incorporate! Interestingly, the order in which you eat affects the way sugar enters your bloodstream and ultimately your ability to maintain stable blood sugar. For instance, the impact of dessert or a glass of wine on your blood sugar is typically lessened after a meal with protein, fat and fiber than if it’s the first thing to hit your stomach.
If you’re finding it challenging to get protein at each meal, consider supplementing with a high quality protein powder. For example, a scoop of collagen in your coffee or matcha along with some fat from something like coconut milk may help offset the impact of added sugar. It would of course be better to have a full meal, especially if you’re consuming caffeine first in the morning, but it’s always better to have a back up option than none at all. Equip has a few great options for protein and collagen made from 100% grass fed and finished beef and whole food ingredients. You can try Equip 15% off here.
Tip #2 Build Muscle
Another effective strategy to support stable blood sugar levels is to build more muscle mass. Muscles use glucose to engage and move, so it’s a natural way to lower the impact and utilize sugar for energy. When strength training is accompanied by a balanced diet, it can help reduce the amount of circulating glucose. The more we use our muscles, and the more muscle mass we have to use, the less free floating blood sugar there *should* be. Large muscle groups have a higher demand for glucose, so strength training in the morning can be a great way to set yourself up to have a better response to blood sugar throughout the day.
Beyond strength training, all kinds of movement benefit your blood sugar response. Walking after meals can help maintain stable levels when the glucose from your meal is entering your bloodstream. So, build more muscle, maintain it, and use it every day!
Tip #3 Manage Stress
Stress has a huge impact on blood sugar. When we are under large amounts of stress, our bodies release more glucose to handle the threat. You might need that quick energy if you were running from a tiger after all! Often, we aren’t actually running or moving at all when we are stressed. We might be sitting in traffic, stuck at a desk frustrated over a problem, or having an argument. This creates a flood of blood sugar with nowhere to go. Have you heard about how arguing with your spouse could actually be worse for your health than eating a less than perfect meal? That’s because the physiological effects of anger and stress on our bodies can cause a surge in the release of glucose to fight or take flight. Managing your stress levels is a very important piece of blood sugar management. If you are struggling to lose weight, stress could be stopping you from dropping pounds! Sometimes it seems like we have to do more to lose weight, but if your body is already stressed out, it’s okay, even advisable, to do less.
As the cherry on top to these fundamentals, you can learn more about YOU and how your unique body responds to diet and lifestyle habits by using a CGM as a learning tool. This will give you live feedback to stressors that are influencing your blood sugar in ways you may be unaware of.
