Sugar cravings, fatigue, weight gain, and lack of motivation – these are all symptoms of an insulin imbalance.
Little known fact, insulin is actually a hormone.
It is responsible for regulating our body’s blood sugar which allows other metabolic functions to operate smoothly. Dysregulation of insulin hinders healing, impacts other hormones, impairs everyday bodily functions, and so much more.
Over 135 Million Americans are walking around with pre-diabetes or diabetes or another health problem related to blood sugar dysregulation and insulin resistance. Of those Americans, 80% of them don’t even know they have pre-diabetes or conditions associated with dysregulated blood sugar and insulin. These conditions that have an underlying etiology of dysregulated blood sugar include PCOS, metabolic syndrome, high cholesterol, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and weight loss resistance.
They say, “You are what you eat,” and when it comes to blood sugar regulation, that couldn’t be more true. There are a lot of well-intentioned people out there trying to swap out certain foods for “healthier” alternatives, but when you review those nutrition facts, you may be surprised by the amount of sugar you’re actually eating that our food industry allows in high amounts. These sneaky sugars could be causing an underlying chronic blood sugar imbalance and, therefore, a continual demand for insulin.
The Goldilocks Effect of Blood Sugar
When you eat food high in carbohydrates and sugars, especially without a healthy fat, fiber, or protein accompanying it, the carbohydrate is quickly converted into glucose into the bloodstream, which is best known as blood sugar. Once blood sugar is elevated, insulin has a job to do, which is your blood sugar regulator! It’s signaled to be released so we can take the sugar out of the blood and transport it to where it can be used, such as the brain and nervous system, muscles, and liver.
But just like Goldilocks, your body only wants the perfect amount; you can have too much and too little glucose. Especially if you eat a higher level of sugar-rich or carb-rich foods that break down quickly into glucose, your insulin may have difficulty keeping up with the demand. So now insulin is like, “Hey, I’m overworked and underpaid,” and the productivity and effectiveness of insulin can slowly decline, which can result in glucose staying too high for too long. When glucose remains too high, it will convert and get stored in the body as adipose tissue or fat, as well as triglycerides in the liver.
Under normal circumstances, insulin is the hormone that helps control and regulate glucose activity in the bloodstream. But let’s fast forward to when insulin inappropriately responds, not allowing your liver, fat and muscles to efficiently take up glucose or become resistant to insulin. This is known as insulin resistance. It also leads to elevated blood glucose levels because insulin is not working correctly.
Long-term imbalance, blood sugar, and insulin resistance can lead to high triglycerides, increased weight gain, weight loss resistance, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, and hormone imbalances.
Top 3 Mistakes that Cause Blood Sugar Imbalances
First, continual snacking, the constant need to snack can be a result of cravings and that your blood sugar is imbalanced. But what it does is it keeps your insulin levels elevated with no time to come down from being signaled.
Secondly, eating dessert for breakfast. What do I mean by this? Eating a breakfast that is primarily sugar or foods that break down into sugar. Bread with jam, bagels, cereal with milk, fruit juice, and fruit-heavy smoothies – these get your blood sugar up, which drives insulin up over and over.
Thirdly, not eating enough healthy fats. Healthy fats turn your body into a fat burner machine rather than a sugar burner. Healthy fats control your appetite and balance blood sugar while helping you stay full longer.
Long-Term Ways to Stabilize Blood Sugar
Food – Some of my favorite science-backed ways to help support the long-term stabilization of blood sugar and insulin hormone are micronutrients and antioxidants. As always, nutrients from food are king. Colorful foods are rich in phytonutrients and antioxidants such as EGCG in green tea, turmeric spice, resveratrol in berries and grapes, L-sulforaphane in broccoli sprouts, and garlic.
Quality restorative sleep – If you are constantly not sleeping well or waking up through the night, this directly impacts blood sugar. Blood sugar rises more the less sleep we get.
Optimal Gut Health – The microbiome is the epicenter for most metabolic systems of the body, especially blood sugar and insulin. Studies show that people with metabolic disorders and insulin resistance have lower microbial balance and diversity. There’s also mounting research supporting that gut microbes can influence our brains on what they want to eat. And there are certain harmful bacteria that thrive on sugar that will signal to your brain that it needs more carb-rich foods, meaning a more diverse and microbial-rich ecosystem can naturally control blood sugar.
Ways to Take Care of Your Insulin and Blood Sugar
Here are some ways to take charge of your insulin and blood sugar:
- Run blood markers – Checking for optimal zones of fasting insulin, hemoglobin A1C, fasting blood glucose, triglycerides and HDL is a great place to start.
- Drink some green tea to get that EGCG antioxidant.
- Add cinnamon to your daily routine. Specifically, ceylon cinnamon has been researched to positively affect insulin by reducing insulin resistance.
- Proanthocyanidin is the bioflavonoid found in cinnamon and berries that has been shown to help control insulin levels.
- Heal and seal the gut lining with a proper gut healing protocol if clinically necessary, and add some microbiome support through fermented foods.
- Eat more healthy fats. That’s one of my favorites.
- Optimize sleep and balance your natural biorhythms.
- And lastly, but one of my favorites, anchor your morning with protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
Take a look at this list and see what you are or are not doing, and see if you can up-level by adding one thing daily to take charge of your blood sugar and insulin. This will create a strong foundation for feeling your best, most healthy self.
