Did you know blood sugar crashes can sabotage your diet?  Learning to naturally balance blood sugar can aid in your ability to lose weight. It’s one of the biggest factors in weight loss. When we eat, our body converts carbs into glucose. Certain foods that are high in simple sugars flood our bloodstream with glucose when eaten. Our body responds by releasing insulin into the blood stream to get the sugar into the cells.  When we eat foods that flood our bloodstream our body will often secrete too much insulin which causes our blood sugar to crash. The body wants to carefully regulate blood sugar and keep it at a fairly constant level so when our blood sugar crashes we get lethargic or can’t concentrate and we want to eat to “wake up” again.  A great tool to aid in weight loss is assisting the body in maintaining a more constant blood sugar.

Balance your macros and choose the right foods

Food is a huge contributor in deciding what our blood sugar is going to do and as such is the best way to control and balance blood sugar. With each meal or snack you want to balance your macros by eating a healthy fat, a protein, and a fiber.  

• Proteins may include fish, beef, eggs, or dairy. When picking your proteins choose grass-fed or pasture raised. Look at your dairy products too. Try to choose dairy that doesn’t have added sugars and is raw.  
• Healthy fats include coconut oil, grass-fed butter, grass fed tallow or lard, olive oil, and nuts and seeds.
• Go for whole wheat, green vegetables or a whole fruit to fill your fiber needs. 

Choose your carbs wisely to balance blood sugar

Not all carbohydrates are created equally. White flour and sugar are two of the main culprits of blood sugar spikes. They are so refined they pretty much go straight to the blood stream flooding your body with glucose. This applies to many natural sugars as well including honey, and real maple syrup.  Artificial sweeteners will also still spike the blood sugar even though they aren’t glucose.  If you do choose to have something sugary and sweet, keep it minimal and pair it with a protein.

Eat a balanced snack between meals

Eating a healthy snack that has both protein and carbs between meals also is helpful to balance blood sugar. This bridges the gap between meals when your body is slowly depleting the glucose in your blood stream. Planning a snack in between meals is a great idea too because you can be prepared with a healthy snack instead of grabbing something easy which usually turns out to be simple carbohydrates.

Refrain from consuming stimulants

Stimulants like caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol all cause our blood sugar to spike because they affect hormones that affect blood sugar.  Balance blood sugar by refraining from stimulants.

Take apple cider vinegar with meals

Apple cider vinegar has been shown to reduce blood sugar spikes by slowing the absorption of glucose into the body. Check out this study here. They used 2 oz of apple cider vinegar with each meal.

Eat breakfast 

The body has been fasting all night. Meaning your blood sugar is going to be low. You want to start right off in the morning to balance blood sugar by including a healthy fat and a protein. 

Exercise

Exercise will initially lower your blood sugar, which is why it is important to eat around the time of exercising to stabilize again.  Over the long run, exercise will help your body be more responsive to insulin and be able to process the sugars in your body better. When exercising, you also want to make sure you are eating around the time that you exercise. Exercise will lower your blood sugar so you want to eat something to level it out. 

Maintaining a balanced blood sugar has many benefits besides decreasing your appetite. Balancing your blood sugar helps you feel more stable through the day, be more focused and have more energy, and decreases the risk of developing diabetes and other chronic diseases.

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