5 Interesting and Easy Ways to Manage Blood Sugar Level

Do you experience food cravings at regular intervals? Do you regularly suffer from hormone imbalances, mood swings, fatigue, weight gain, or irritability? If yes, you must be suffering from blood sugar imbalance. It is crucial to maintain healthy blood sugar levels for optimal health and minimize your risks of chronic conditions like metabolic syndrome, diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s ailment.

What Exactly Does Blood Sugar Mean?

When you consume simple carbohydrates or sugars then such foods release glucose into the bloodstream, increasing your blood sugar. This increase forces pancreas to release excess insulin. It is required to move sugars out of the bloodstream and in the cells. Gradually, insulin levels increase over and over multiple times a day, because of too much sugar in the blood. The pancreas get damage and cells become resistant to accept more sugar. Read more on addiction to sugar here.

The excess sugar in the blood keeps blood sugar level unnaturally high. And as a result, it is stored as fat in the body, which could result in abdominal fat, unhealthy cholesterol, and weight gain.

This is not at all good and if left unchecked can leave you in danger zone for diabetes and other degenerative health concerns. But the good thing is that you can actually reverse it through a healthy lifestyle and diet that balances the blood sugar.

Here, check some great ways to manage your blood sugar!

• Consume Foods with Low Glycemic Index

Foods with low glycemic index release energy slowly into the bloodstream and cause only small changes in blood sugar levels. Seeds, animal protein, oils, fats, nuts, lentils, some vegetables, whole grains, some fruits, and beans are such examples.

Foods like crackers, white rice, muffins, fruit juices, cookies, sports drinks, bread, corn, white potatoes and more have a high glycemic index and must be avoided as much as possible.

• Eat Healthy Breakfast

Breakfast sets a metabolic tone and lays the basis of blood sugar stability for the entire day. Try to east within 90 minutes of waking up ensuring that your breakfast includes fat and protein. It is because such satiating macronutrients release energy slowly, keeping you full longer and maintain stable blood sugar.

• Eat 3, Well-Balanced Meals a Day

Another way to manage blood sugar is to consume balanced meals at regular intervals. You can prepare a balanced meal by including three macronutrients – fat, carbs, and protein. Pick a natural source of carbohydrates like a fruit, vegetable, or whole grain. Include protein like meat, eggs, chicken, beans, fish, collagen protein powder or tempeh. Last, add a source of healthy fat like olive oil, coconut oil, butter, ghee, nuts, avocados, olives, coconuts, and seeds.

• Avoid Processed Carbs and Refined Sugar

Refined sugar like white sugar, high fructose corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, and more must be avoided along with processed carbs such as cereal, bread, chips, bagels, cookies, pasta, and more. It is because consuming such food products can spike up your blood sugar and result in a crash.

The crash, also known as hypoglycemia is a condition of low blood sugar that can lead to negative symptoms like difficulty concentrating, feeling fatigued, brain fog, and more.

• Try to Consume more Bitter and Astringent Foods

You must include bitter, astringent, and pungent foods in your diet to help balance the blood sugar and offset your addiction to sweet taste food. Pungent spices and herbs include cumin, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, oregano, pepper, turmeric, and thyme. Astringent and bitter fruits and vegetables are things such as celery, leafy greens, beans, lentils, broccoli, pomegranate seeds, and apples.

Takeaway Note

While these are definitely the easiest ways to manage your blood sugar, the other simple solutions are to exercise daily and maintain a proper sleep routine. Eliminate artificial sweeteners and keep testing your blood sugar at home at regular intervals. You must monitor your fasting blood sugar by testing it in the morning when you wake up.

So, even if you are suffering from imbalanced blood sugar levels, you can still maintain a healthy lifestyle by testing your blood sugar at home and by inculcating the above ways in your everyday routine.