We talk a lot about what we eat, but it’s also important to talk about when we eat.
When we eat has a huge impact on our regulation and balancing of blood sugar.
Keeping your blood sugar balanced and within normal range is one of the most essential things we can do to improve and maintain health. Balanced blood sugar can help stabilize energy levels, maintain healthy hormones, improve mood, and control weight.
Why is blood sugar balance important?
When blood sugar drops and spikes too often, it triggers an inflammatory cycle that’s hard to break. Some symptoms of blood sugar dysregulation include:
- Cognitive issues like brain fog, poor memory, and focus
- Mood swings, anxiety
- Difficulty falling or staying asleep or sleep apnea
- Night sweats
- Sudden dips in energy
- Anger and irritability
- Jitters or lightheadedness
- Weight gain around the midsection
- Intense cravings for cookies, crackers, or other snack foods
- Low energy and fatigue
If you have experienced some, or all, of these symptoms, there is a good chance you have blood sugar issues. Dysregulated blood sugar can lead to many common health problems, including hormone imbalance, thyroid issues, anxiety, and other mood disorders.
“Fix blood sugar first,” is one of the first things we learn in clinical rounds. Blood sugar is often the underlying issue for many health complaints.
So, how do we fix it?
Diet, nutrition, and lifestyle can have a huge impact.
So, how do we fix it? Diet, nutrition and lifestyle can have a HUGE impact.
Getting blood sugar under control takes a multi–factor approach. Here are some things you can do right away to help reduce symptoms and feel better:
- Increase fiber (improves glycemic control)
- Fiber is especially essential for regulating blood sugar, as it helps slow the body’s breakdown of starches into glucose and hinders the rise of blood sugar levels.
- Fiber rich foods: avocados, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.
- No “naked carbs”: pair protein and fat with carbs
- Eating these macronutrients together slows down the speed at which you digest starches, so glucose trickles into the bloodstream more slowly.
- Eat regularly throughout the day (3 meals and 1-2 snacks)
- Avoiding large breaks in eating helps keep blood sugar stable without intense highs or lows
- Choose high-protein snacks (raw nuts/seeds, eggs, jerky, yogurt)
- These will help you stay full while keeping blood sugar levels stable
- Proper sleep
- The quality and quantity of sleep affects whole body function.
- The more regulated your circadian rhythm is, the better your body will work. This includes using glucose steadily for energy
- Walk after meals
- It has been shown in numerous studies that walking after a meal for just 10 – 20 minutes reduces postprandial glucose spikes.
These are just a few general tips to keep in mind, but everyone is different. When maintaining blood sugar health often, more personalized interventions are needed. You won’t believe how good balanced blood sugar feels!
