Our bodies are designed to keep blood sugar levels within a narrow range, with fluctuations resembling a gentle wave. However, many of us experience frequent blood sugar spikes and crashes today, which are more like a roller coaster ride. The body has systems to manage blood sugar, but over time, constant strain can lead to type 2 diabetes and drive systemic inflammation that is a contributor to autoimmune disease symptoms.
Do you need snacks between meals? Do you rely on caffeine or sugary drinks for an energy boost? Experience more aches and pains, or wake up panicky at night? These could be signs of unstable blood sugar.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you are not alone. Check out these stats from the 2024 National Diabetes Statistics Report:
- 38.4 million Americans of all ages have diabetes.
- 8.7 million American adults met laboratory criteria for diabetes but were either not aware or did not report having diabetes.
- 97.6 million adults in America are prediabetic.
That’s a lot of people riding the blood sugar roller coaster! But there’s hope. Many can benefit from strategies to stabilize blood sugar. Here’s what we will cover in this post:
- Key factors affecting blood sugar;
- Techniques for maintaining healthy levels; and
- A tool to assess if you may be experiencing impaired blood sugar regulation.
IT’S A SPECTRUM
Dysglycemia refers to impaired blood sugar regulation, often described as a spectrum. It can take years or decades of riding the blood sugar roller coaster before developing type 2 diabetes.
Dysglycemia includes conditions such as hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, hyperglycemia, prediabetes, and type 2 diabetes. It is linked to the development of cardiovascular disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, elevated triglycerides, blindness, kidney disease, and stroke.
Symptoms may be experienced as brain fog, lethargy, irritability, frequent urination, increased thirst, blurred vision, neuropathy, inflammation, slow wound healing, or weight gain.
The good news is that there are techniques to balance blood sugar and slow disease progression.
THE SWEET SPOT
Most people will be within their blood sugar sweet spot between 80 mg/dl and 100 mg/dl, which is considered a balanced range. Signs of being within this range include the ability to think clearly, a stable mood, and adequate energy without the use of stimulants like caffeine or sugar.
If you prefer hard data over monitoring for physical symptoms you may use a glucometer to manually test your blood or try a continuous glucose monitor, the newer wearable technology. The OG glucometer may be purchased without a prescription. A kit that includes the meter, test strips, and lancets runs about $25. The wearable continuous glucose monitor is currently available by prescription only. Both devices are great tools for learning about how different foods and activity levels influence your blood sugar levels.
For information about how and when to test your blood sugar, check out this article by the Cleveland Clinic.
FACTORS DRIVING DYSGLYCEMIA
If we are going to be proactive about supporting healthy blood sugar, we need to understand what causes it to go out of whack. As with most diseases, there isn’t just one cause. Our bodies are wonderfully complex organisms, so it makes sense that the development of any disease is likely to have multiple instigating factors. Blood sugar balance may be influenced by:
- The foods we eat.
- How active or sedentary our lifestyle is.
- How well we manage stress.
- Sleep quality and quantity.
THE FOODS WE EAT
Imagine that you have just finished a breakfast of cereal with nonfat milk and a glass of orange juice or a multigrain roll and a skinny vanilla latte. Buckle up! You just took a seat on the blood sugar roller coaster.
As your breakfast is digested, your blood sugar level rapidly increases, which is recognized by your brain as an emergency. Your brain directs your pancreas to secrete a hormone called insulin which tells your cells to take up glucose (blood sugar) causing blood levels to drop. Lowering too high blood sugar sounds good BUT this emergency response results in an over-correction, dropping your blood sugar too low. The over-correction kicks off another emergency by turning up hunger signals causing us to eat, and depending on what we choose to eat can send blood sugar soaring again. This is how we set ourselves up for blood sugar spikes and crashes to repeat throughout the day.
When we repeatedly abuse this system, our cells start to ignore the signal to take up glucose leaving it in the bloodstream keeping blood sugar levels high. To avoid desensitizing our cells to the insulin’s signal to take up excess glucose, we need to adjust what we are eating and how it supports or inhibits our body’s ability to maintain appropriate blood sugar levels.
Diet plays a significant role in how well blood sugar is managed. In today’s modern world, we have an overwhelming number of choices for fast and processed convenience foods. These foods tend to be high in sugar or ingredients that digest quickly like sugar which means they rapidly impact blood sugar levels. Eating these types of foods will buy you a seat on the blood sugar roller coaster! Remember the goal is for slow and gentle variation in blood sugar.
3 WAYS TO REDUCE THE IMPACT FOOD HAS ON BLOOD SUGAR
If you find yourself riding the blood sugar roller coaster, you’re in luck! There are many things you can do to improve the management of your blood sugar. Here’s our top three tips:
- Focus on adding whole foods. Crowd out fast and processed foods by adding in minimally processed whole foods like low starch colorful vegetables, leafy greens, berries, nuts, fatty fish such as salmon or sardines, eggs, herbs, and sugar-free beverages. Cooking your meals gives you ultimate control over what you are eating, and the quality of ingredients used. When you decide to enjoy a meal out, skip the fries and choose a salad instead.
Many people find the thought of cooking for themselves overwhelming. Our advice is to set a manageable goal to get started. It’s ok to start small, like aiming to cook dinner at home twice a week. A small win is a win so allow yourself to set attainable goals.
- Balance your plate. This will help to keep fast-digesting foods in check and create a nutrient-dense, low blood sugar impact meal which will leave you feeling satisfied and energized. Start by covering half your plate with low starch colorful veggies, then add protein that is about the size of the palm of your hand, add a little fat like salad dressing or some avocado, and finish with some fruit or a piece of dark chocolate. You should end up with a plate with portions that look something like this:
- Save fast-digesting foods for closer to the end of your meal. Start with enjoying colorful high-fiber veggies, protein, and healthy fats, and save starchy and sugary foods for last. Vegetable fiber, protein, and fat take longer to digest which will help to slow the entrance of fast digesting carbs (starches and sugar) into the bloodstream.
Need help implementing the above tips? Considering joining the RESTART® Program. If you don’t know where to start, want more tips, or would like the accountability of a group, we offer the RESTART® Program. RESTART® meets online, once a week, for five consecutive weeks. We provide you with a list of foods to enjoy and which to avoid, a cookbook, tips for preparing meals ahead of time so you don’t have to be in the kitchen every day, and much more. Learn more here. Our next class begins on October 24th. Are groups not your thing? We also offer support to individuals. Contact us for more information.
OTHER FACTORS DRIVING DYSGLYCEMIA
As mentioned earlier, other factors influence dysglycemia such as how active or inactive our lifestyle is, how well we manage stress, and the quality and quantity of our sleep.
LIFESTYLE
Movement is an incredible tool to help balance blood sugar. Movement may be as gentle as going for a short brisk walk, a major sweat session at the gym, or anything in between. You get to decide and adjust intensity and duration to your needs! Plan to include some form of movement about 20-30 minutes after a meal. This will open up space to get excess glucose out of the bloodstream by storing it in the liver and skeletal muscle instead of converting it to fat or leaving it in the bloodstream and keeping blood sugar high.
STRESS
Stress is difficult to avoid but we can take steps to help manage it with a bit of time and effort. Success with incorporating self-care into our daily routine often lies in our ability to embrace the idea that we “deserve” to do so. When your car is running low on gas do you ignore the gas gauge, or do you make time to stop by the gas station to fill the tank? Of course, you go to the gas station! You need your car to get around, so you give it what it needs to do its job. The same goes for you. Work toward keeping your tank full.
SLEEP
There is a constant stream of information regarding the importance of sleep in relation to overall health and specifically blood sugar regulation. An inadequate amount or poor quality of sleep has been connected to increased insulin resistance, higher A1c and blood sugar levels, increased hunger, craving for carbohydrates, and more.
We plan to discuss lifestyle, stress, and sleep in greater detail in future posts. Make sure you have subscribed to our newsletter to be the first to know when new blog posts drop. Until then, put the Google machine to work to identify options for each and start experimenting to find techniques that work well for you.
GET OUR FREE BLOOD SUGAR SELF-ASSESSMENT
Wondering if you could be experiencing some level of dysglycemia? Download and take our free Blood Sugar Self-Assessment. A score of 10 or higher is an indication that it may be time to talk with your healthcare team and consider joining the RESTART® Program. You may find it helpful to use the self-assessment to help communicate what you are experiencing with them.
THE RESTART® PROGRAM
Shifting your diet to include more whole foods is one of the fastest ways to start seeing wins in balancing your blood sugar. We offer the RESTART® Program to guide and support you through the process of making these shifts. Our next class begins on October 24th.
RESOURCES
National Diabetes Statistics Report | Diabetes | CDC
Diabetes Tests & Diagnosis – NIDDK (nih.gov)
Blood Sugar Monitoring: Why, How & When To Check (clevelandclinic.org)
Inchauspé, J. (2022). Glucose Revolution: The life-changing power of balancing your blood sugar. Simon & Schuster.
Stress effects on the body (apa.org)
Reutrakul, S., & Cauter, E. V. (2014). Interactions between sleep, circadian function, and glucose metabolism: Implications for risk and severity of diabetes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1311(1), 151-173. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.12355