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Natural Ways To Keep Healthy Blood Sugar Levels

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Maintaining healthy blood sugar levels is not just beneficial for those coping with diabetes or pre-diabetes. When our blood glucose levels are regulated, this means all sorts of positive side effects. Blood sugar levels affect our energy, hormone production, moods, weight, cravings, memory, and the risk of related diseases, like diabetes, metabolic syndrome and heart disease. The hormone insulin should help the body process sugar. However, the cells in our body can become resistant to insulin when there’s too much of it and it gets stored in the fat.

Your diet certainly plays a huge factor when it comes to your blood sugar levels. If you’re fond of consuming soft drinks, pastries, chips, cakes and other highly processed foods, then you’re not doing your blood sugar levels any favours. You might argue that satisfying these cravings can alleviate your hunger, mood and energy, but have you noticed that satiated feeling doesn’t last very long? These foods very quickly release sugar into the body. So, what you’re getting is creating a sugar high and after that, you crash and the cravings, fatigue and mood swings return to demand more of the same foods.

Other lifestyle choices, like your sleeping habits and exposure to and ability to deal with stress, influence your blood glucose health. Once you start working on these improvements, you can see for yourself the effects.

Less (bad) carbs

Sugar doesn’t just mean the granulated sugar you add to your cup of coffee or to a recipe for cake. One way you’re putting sugar into your system is through carbohydrates. When the body breaks down carbohydrates, it turns it into sugars, like glucose. Consuming too many carbohydrates means putting a strain on your insulin function, and blood glucose levels can rise as a result. The worst sort of carbohydrates for us are the overly processed and refined kind, like sugary drinks, sweets and junk food. While some other foods are still considered sources of carbohydrates, they’re much healthier and more natural. These include whole grains, nuts, legumes, vegetables and fruits.

More foods with a low glycemic index

The glycemic index or GI indicates how carbohydrates in certain foods affect your blood sugar levels. Those high up on the index take a short time to be processed by the body and can cause spikes in blood sugar, while those foods low on the index release sugar at a much slower rate. Some great examples of such foods are seafood, meat, eggs, oats, beans, lentils, sweet potatoes and corn.

More fibreprivate personal trainer near me

Fibre has plenty of benefits that help with digestion and this includes how the body processes carbohydrates and absorbs sugar. Eating more soluble fibre can lower your blood sugar levels, studies have shown. A high-fibre diet can even help regulate type 1 diabetes. Fibre-rich foods include vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains.

Stay hydrated

Drinking enough water also affects your blood glucose levels. Your kidneys should be able to flush out excess blog sugar through your urine. Stick to plain water and avoid sweetened drinks.

More physical activity

Your body should become more sensitive to insulin with regular exercise. Better insulin sensitivity means less excess sugar in your system. Excess blood sugar can also be utilised for energy and muscle contraction when you’re working out.

More (and better) sleep

Another factor that affects insulin sensitivity is getting enough quality sleep. A lack of sleep has also been found to sway appetite and mood swings in a negative way. Not enough sleep also aggravates your cortisol levels, which means more stress. More stress causes cravings, irritability and a whole lot of other risky problems.

The Glycaemic Index

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Unlike many diet plans that you come across, low Glycaemic Index (GI) is not a fad and there are no medical journal articles or scientific studies that say it isn’t a healthy dietary concept. Eating low GI carbohydrates is a key nutrition message that goes hand-in-hand with other healthy eating guidelines such as eat less saturated fats and eat more fruit and vegetables.

The Glycaemic Index was devised when researchers considered in greater depth the dietary recommendations for diabetics; which at that stage was to eat more complex carbohydrates (starch) because they took longer to process and digest than simple carbohydrates (sugar). What the researchers discovered was that the effect of a carbohydrate on blood-glucose levels was not determined by the sugar or starch.

GI is a ranking (from 1 to 100) which measures the effect of a food on your blood-glucose level over the two hours after the food is eaten.

When you consume carbohydrates; the blood-glucose rises and as your body produces insulin it transports the glucose out of the blood and into the cells of the body which then causes a fall in the blood-glucose level. When eating high GI foods, you get a sharp spike in blood glucose followed by a dramatic drop whereas with a low-GI food, there is a slower and steadier rise and therefore, fall in the blood-glucose level.

Low-GI foods promote better health
Research has shown that sharp ‘spikes’ in the level of glucose in our blood (caused by high GI type foods) are damaging to our arteries, and they promote the release of far too much insulin.

Eating low-GI foods helps to avoid those spikes and the resultant dramatic falls in blood-glucose so you get a much steadier stream of energy. This will, therefore, reduce your risk of heart disease and other chronic diseases that are implicated by those blood-glucose fluctuations.

Low-GI foods contribute to weight control
There are 2 main reasons why high GI foods make it difficult to lose weight or manage your weight.

Firstly, the resultant ‘crash’ from a glucose spike stimulates hunger because of the dramatic drop in glucose. This leads to you being hungry again within 1 – 2 hours after eating. By eating low GI foods you feel fuller for longer and are, therefore, not as likely to go searching for additional food every two hours.

Secondly, insulin is a storage hormone that stores nutrients for later use by the body. A high-GI diet causes a lot of insulin to be produced and when you have too much insulin in your body too much of the time, it makes it easier to store fat and harder to burn it.

Applying the low-GI concept to your diet
It is not necessary to know the GI value of all foods. Healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, should be eaten daily regardless of their GI. Simply knowing the low, medium and high varieties of the major carbohydrate foods in your diet such as breakfast cereals, breads, rice and pasta, and choosing the low-GI options is sufficient to produce healthy benefits.

If you simply can’t go without some high GI favourites, simply serve a small portion and combine with a low GI food. This will create an overall lower GI load, i.e. the overall GI content of the meal. Simply balance your meal with protein, vegetables and predominantly low GI carbohydrates.

The GI table

  • Low GI – 55 or less
  • Medium GI – 56-69
  • High GI – 70 or more

To find the GI of various foods, go to: http://www.glycemicindex.com/

Just Eat Real Food

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JUST EAT REAL FOOD!

Let’s look at a basic list of foods that you’ll enjoy with this Whole Food approach.

Meats, Eggs & Seafood

If possible, seek grass-fed or pasture-raised meats and wild-caught seafood. Well-raised meat is an excellent source of healthy fats, minerals like iron and zinc, and complete protein! Get a VARIETY of healthy animal protein – different types contain different benefits (for example, red meat is excellent for iron; oysters for zinc; and salmon for omega-3).

Veggies & Fruits

Your focus will be opening the door to as many new, fresh, FUN varieties of fruits and vegetables as possible! The plant world is full of unique, flavorful, and versatile fruits and vegetables, and these are THE healthiest carbo­hydrate sources on the planet. Concentrate first on non-starchy vegetables and spices, and add starchier veggies based on your goals and activity level. Whole, fresh, frozen, pre-cut – anything goes!

Unrefined Fats & Oils

Whether you’re cooking or simply looking to add flavor to your meals, the BEST quality fats are from unrefined, minimally processed, natural sources: butter, ghee and other fats from GRASS-FED animals; fatty fruits like avocado, coconut and olive; coconut oil, and Extra-Virgin Olive Oil fit the bill. Egg yolks are an excellent source of choline, Vitamin A and healthy, cell-building cholesterol – so do NOT throw them away!