Balance Your Blood Sugar, Balance Your Mood

Blood sugar balance has a major impact on our overall health. It seems like a small factor amongst larger issues such as autoimmune disease, cancer, fertility issues or weight loss.

However, blood sugar balance affects our cardiovascular system, mood, brain function, immune health, body weight, cancer risk and of course diabetes risk.

And you don’t have to be diagnosed or labeled diabetic to have imbalances in your blood sugar. The signs are just often overlooked and misunderstood. Another misconception is that most don’t know that having a blood sugar imbalance is having a hormone imbalance.

Let's Talk About Insulin

Insulin is the hormone (produced by beta cells of the pancreas) that is responsible for unlocking the doors of cells to let sugar in.

Sugar (also known as glucose) is essential for our body’s proper functioning. Our bodies rely on the simplest form of sugar to serve as fuel - our energy source. When sugar levels rise, the beta cells flood the bloodstream with insulin which triggers the cells to then take in the sugar and is then used as fuel. Unfortunately, this process doesn’t always work the way it should.

If you are not a Type I Diabetic, how is this process usually affected? By eating too much sugar (unhealthy sugars) imbalanced meals or not eating in a tinely manner, stress, infection, and processed foods. Eventually, the cells get sick of the sugar and desensitized to insulin, and closing the door. This sends the body into a panic at first, and it starts to produce more insulin to bang on the doors of the cells.

Now that there is way more insulin than the body needs you can start to see these common signs:

• Energy crashes after lunch

• Brain Fog or Fuzzy Brain

• Fatigue and Lethargy

• Sugar Cravings

• Hangry or Moodiness

Less talked about signs of blood sugar imbalance:

• temporary vision loss

• Dizzy, shaky, lightheaded

• anxious, palpitations, panic attacks

• nausea, sweats

• PMS, PCOS, Hormone issues

• needing a snack/bar to carry along

• energy crashes b/w 2-3 pm , needing caffeine

• needing alcohol to unwind

• difficulty concentrating, memory loss

• easily gaining weight

• poor sleep & waking up

• acne & skin issues

• binges

• headaches

Common Health Issues associated with poor blood sugar regulation:

These insulin imbalances can be damaging to your whole body and go hand in hand with diabetes, obesity, inflammation (the root of all disease), high levels of the stress hormone cortisol, increased heart risk and cancer risk, and cranky mood. Why? Because insulin creates whole body inflammation, including in the blood vessel lining. This pressure on the blood vessels and nerves is why you often hear about:

• Plaquing & Hardened Arteries

• Poor Eye Health

• Neuropathy

• Increased Risk of Alzheimers and Dementia

• Poor Wound Healing

• Hormone Imbalance

So how can we balance our blood sugar hormone activity to avoid crankiness or creating an environment for dis-ease to creep in?

Here are a few steps:

• Incorporate foods that are whole and focused with carbs coming from whole grains (like brown rice) because they will burn slower and slow down the release of the sugars into the bloodstream.

• Balance your meals with a healthy fat, fiber, and protein.

• Incorporate beans, vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruits lower in sugar and higher in antioxidants

• Eat more lean grass-fed or wild caught protein.

• Minimize your consumption of processed and fast food and avoid products made with high fructose corn syrup

• Lastly, get active! Regular cardiovascular exercise — walking, hiking, biking, gardening, dancing, paddling, etc — helps your body burn through sugar. Strength-training, weight-bearing exercise like lifting weights, boxes, or babies shifts your body to burn more fuel (sugar) at a resting state and also improves the cell’s sensitivity to insulin

• Listening to your body and paying attention to your energy and mood fluctuations is a great start in identifying if your blood sugar may be imbalanced. I dive even deeper into this on my community. Focusing on taking small steps and being gentle with ourselves when changing any lifestyle habits really helps in minimizing stress and allowing the body the room to heal and perform its best.

Understanding Blood Sugar Numbers

Have your blood analyzed from a functional perspective to get a true understanding of your blood sugar from a full-body perspective. Get started and learn more.

References:

Body into Balance: An Herbal Guide to Holistic Self-care

Dr Andrew Weil Anti-Inflammatory Diet