Table of Contents
Introduction
Today, let’s explore the topic of “how to control blood sugar levels” and uncover the key strategies for keeping your blood sugar in a healthy range and addressing insulin resistance. We’ll explore how different types of carbohydrates affect your blood sugar, the roles played by protein and fats, and the vital importance of insulin in maintaining long-term blood sugar levels.
What we are trying to establish here is if we solely monitor blood sugar levels, we might notice that our blood sugar levels appear to stay constant, but there’s something important happening behind the scenes. Our body starts working extra hard to manage and balance our blood sugar. If we’re only keeping track of glucose levels, we might overlook this shift. However, when we monitor our insulin levels, we can pick up on these changes. We can see that our cells are becoming less responsive to insulin, and our body is putting in more effort to keep things in check.
To start off, it’s crucial to understand what’s conventionally considered a normal blood sugar range.
Conventional Way of Looking at Blood Sugar Levels
Healthy Fasting Blood Sugar Levels
According to conventional views and recommendations, a healthy fasting blood sugar level (meaning when you haven’t eaten for around 12 hours) falls between 70 and 100 mg/dL. These numbers appear agreeable, though we need to tighten it up a little bit.
Now, when we discuss impaired glucose regulation, that’s when you might be a bit insulin resistant, potentially on the path to prediabetes. In this case, your fasting blood sugar would typically range from 101 to 125 mg/dL.
For individuals with Type 2 diabetes, the situation has progressed a bit further, and their fasting blood sugar levels would typically be 126 mg/dL or higher. It’s important to keep an eye on these numbers for better health management.
Blood Sugar Levels at 30 Minutes After Meal
It’s also important to understand the dynamics of how our blood sugar responds to our meals. We need to understand how quickly blood sugar levels spike after eating and how long it takes to return to normal levels. The recommended timeframe for this process is typically around 30 minutes, give or take a few minutes, depending on what you’ve eaten. During this period, your blood sugar conventionally shouldn’t exceed 170 to 200 mg/dL.
Now, this range might sound quite extreme to some. The individuals who experience such high spikes in their blood sugar are often consuming unhealthy, processed carbohydrates, and they may already be dealing with insulin resistance. Ideally, their blood sugar levels shouldn’t be reaching these highs.
In cases of insulin resistance or prediabetes, the guidelines suggest that the post-meal blood sugar levels could range from 190 to 230 mg/dL. For those diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes, it might go as high as 220 to 300 mg/dL. These are the upper limits they recommend for these situations.
Blood Sugar Levels After 2 to 3 Hours
Now, let’s shift our focus to the period about two to three hours after a meal, when the body has had a chance to process the food. In this case, these standards are meant for individuals with good glucose regulation, those who are generally healthy. They suggest that the blood sugar levels during this post-meal period should ideally fall between 120 and 140 mg/dL. So, anything that is under 140 mg/dL is considered normal.
For those with impaired insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance, the range they propose is from 140 to 190 mg/dL. And if you’re dealing with Type 2 diabetes, your blood sugar might not drop below 200 mg/dL within that timeframe. This is because when you are insulin resistant, the insulin in your body struggles to efficiently move glucose out of your bloodstream.
However, I’d like to point out that many individuals labeled as “normal” in these guidelines may not actually be all that healthy. What’s often considered normal can sometimes be more common than ideal. It’s important to be in mind that roughly 90% of the population experiences some degree of insulin resistance to varying extents.
Optimal Blood Sugar Levels
When we’re aiming for optimal blood sugar numbers, a healthy fasting blood sugar level should ideally fall between 80 to 90 mg/dL. If you’re undergoing an extended fast or following a ketogenic diet, it’s acceptable for it to be even lower. For instance, during a three-day fast, it can drop into the 50s, and this is perfectly normal because when your body is producing more ketones, it requires less glucose.
The real difference from standard guidelines comes after a meal. Even post-meal, your blood sugar should remain within the range of 90 to 110 mg/dL. If you’ve been eating a low-car or keto diet, you might have noticed that your blood sugar level remain stable, without significant fluctuations. Some individuals experience the “Dawn Phenomenon,” where their morning blood sugar is slightly higher and then drops after eating. If you’re consuming whole foods and avoiding processed carbs, you’ll likely observe minimal fluctuations. Two to three hours later, you’ll likely find yourself back to a baseline level.
The substantial shifts in blood sugar levels that are often considered normal, with blood sugar nearly doubling, are not indicative of a healthy state. This might be happening because many people consume a lot of junk food, sugar, and have been advised that a significant portion of their calories should come from carbohydrates. However, the complex carbohydrates are essentially just another form of sugar. When you consume real, whole foods, you should notice minimal changes in your blood sugar levels.
Influence of Carbohydrates on Blood Sugar Levels
Now, let’s explore the factors behind elevated blood sugar levels, and it’s no surprise that our diet plays a significant role. What we eat has a profound impact, particularly when it comes to carbohydrates. Carbohydrates, especially the processed varieties, have a much more pronounced effect on raising blood sugar levels. Among carbohydrates, the worst culprits are sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). HFCS is even worse due to its higher fructose content, which can burden the liver and swiftly enter the bloodstream, causing rapid spikes in blood sugar.
Another crucial aspect to grasp is starch, as we often hear conflicting messages about carbohydrates, with sugar being vilified and complex carbohydrates praised as the good guys. This can be a misleading notion. It’s important to note that not everyone needs to strictly avoid carbohydrates, but if you’re dealing with insulin resistance, then you should consume fewer carbohydrates. When it comes to their impact on blood sugar, there’s little difference, as starches can swiftly convert into glucose.
Type of Carbohydrates and Their Impact on Blood Sugar
Let’s break down carbohydrates and their relationship with glucose. Glucose is essentially a ring-shaped molecule with six carbon atoms that circulate in our bloodstream, commonly referred to as blood sugar. Most of the carbohydrates we consume are essentially glucose molecules linked together. When hundreds of these glucose molecules are linked, they form what we call starch. Now, when you introduce starch into your body, the process begins as soon as it enters your mouth. There’s an enzyme known as salivary amylase that starts breaking the bonds between these glucose molecules. It first chops them into pairs and later into individual units, making them free to enter the bloodstream. This is why starch-rich foods like potatoes, rice, and bread can cause a rapid spike in blood sugar, even faster than regular white sugar.
However, sugar has a twist. It also starts with a glucose ring, like starch, but it adds a second ring called fructose, which is shaped differently. Unlike glucose, which can be used by all cells in the body, fructose is processed exclusively in the liver. Here’s the catch: sugar contains 50% glucose and 50% fructose. So, if you consume 100 grams of sugar, you’re getting 50 grams of glucose that can be utilized by your body’s cells. But with 100 grams of starch, you have 100 grams of glucose available for your body to use.
Now, the trouble with fructose is that it overloads the liver, which is much smaller than the rest of your body. The liver tries to process and repack this fructose. However, when it becomes overloaded, it converts the excess into fat. This process is a major contributor to fatty liver, which is the primary cause of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease today. It used to be mainly associated with alcoholics, but now, the majority of cases are non-alcoholic and attributed to fructose intake.
So, when it comes to carbohydrates, they significantly impact blood sugar. For those who are carbohydrate intolerant or have difficulty handling carbs, starches can pose problems. But sugar is even worse because while its glucose content raises blood sugar, its fructose component clogs up the liver. Once the liver becomes insulin resistant, it sets the tone for the entire body. Carbohydrates indeed have the most substantial impact on blood sugar.
It’s worth noting that protein also affects blood sugar to some extent. This is because, down the line, protein can be converted into glucose as well.
Protein’s Impact on Blood Sugar
Protein serves a fundamental purpose in our bodies, primarily in the construction of tissues. Our cells and tissues experience a constant cycle of wear and tear, where old ones break down and new ones must be built to replace them. The primary goal of protein intake is to facilitate this tissue regeneration. However, when we consume more protein than our body requires for this tissue-building process, the excess protein is converted into glucose. Unlike other nutrients, we can’t store excess protein. Protein essentially becomes part of our body’s tissues, including the bones, muscles, and skin. Whatever remains unused for tissue regeneration is transformed into glucose.
This conversion of excess protein into glucose is a more favorable process compared to the metabolic fate of other carbohydrates. Unlike fructose, which can clog up the liver, protein is converted into glucose, and it does not have the same adverse impact. In terms of its effect on blood sugar, protein has a relatively low impact when compared to carbohydrates.
Fat’s Impact on Blood Sugar
Now, let’s talk about fat and its indirect influence on glucose. Fat itself, in the form of fatty acids, cannot be directly converted into glucose or fructose. However, the way our bodies store fat is as triglycerides, which consist of three fatty acids linked to a glycerol backbone. This glycerol portion accounts for approximately 5% of the calories in the stored fat. It’s this glycerol that can be transformed into glucose, but the process is gradual and has a relatively minor impact. In fact, it occurs at a much slower rate. This is why when we follow a high-fat, low-carb diet, the effect on blood sugar is almost negligible.
Relationship Between Food, Insulin, and Long-Term Blood Sugar Control
In the short term, the most significant factor influencing blood sugar levels is the type of foods we consume. However, in the long term, the biggest impact relates to how different foods affect insulin. Here’s how it works: when we eat, especially carbohydrates, our blood sugar rises because the food needs to be absorbed into our bloodstream and then transported into our cells. Insulin plays a critical role in facilitating this process by helping move blood glucose from the bloodstream into the cells. The more significant the increase in blood glucose, the higher the insulin response.
If we predominantly consume a diet rich in fat, our blood glucose remains relatively stable, and we require very little insulin. On the other hand, consuming high fructose corn syrup in a sugary drink can lead to a rapid and significant spike in blood glucose, demanding a strong insulin response. This insulin acts like a push, guiding blood glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells, which is a necessary function.
However, if we repeatedly subject our cells to this process, forcing sugar into them, they eventually become resistant to insulin. In simple terms, the cells say, “We’ve had enough; we can’t take in any more sugar.” This insulin resistance develops over time, not overnight. Once cells become insulin resistant, the insulin’s effectiveness in moving blood sugar decreases. As a result, blood sugar levels rise, setting up a cycle where higher blood sugar necessitates more insulin, which further worsens insulin resistance, leading to even higher blood sugar, and so on. Any factor that elevates blood sugar contributes to this cycle.
But there are things that exacerbate the problem. Since sugar is composed of 50% fructose, it not only raises blood glucose but also places an additional burden on the liver, causing insulin resistance through a different mechanism. Carbohydrates cause the most substantial blood sugar increase, whereas the insulin response to protein is significantly less, and fat barely registers on the scale. It’s essential to consider our bodies as machines with the capacity to process different substances. Our genetic makeup partly determines this capacity, but our lifestyle choices play a pivotal role in wearing out the machine.
As we push this machinery to its limits, some people have more significant processing capacity than others. When the machine finally breaks down, we develop what’s known as carbohydrate intolerance. Essentially, our bodies no longer possess the tools to handle carbohydrates effectively. This concept is often poorly understood because some individuals may claim, “I didn’t change anything; I ate the same way for 25 years, and then suddenly my blood sugar went haywire, and I was diagnosed with diabetes.”
Monitoring Blood Sugar Beyond The Numbers
It’s crucial to understand that the traditional approach to diagnosing and monitoring blood sugar focuses solely on measuring blood sugar levels. It overlooks the control center behind blood sugar, which is equally, if not more, important. Blood sugar is meticulously regulated because it’s vital for the proper functioning of the brain. If it swings too high, it can lead to brain malfunction, while excessively low levels can even result in a coma. Keeping blood sugar within a narrow range is of paramount importance.
When our blood sugar remains stable, and we consume whole foods, it doesn’t require a significant effort, or a lot of insulin, to maintain it within that healthy range. So, let’s imagine we start in year 1 with a certain amount of glucose and an equivalent amount of insulin to control it. In this scenario, we’re healthy, in balance, and insulin-sensitive.
However, as time goes on and years pass, we may find that our glucose levels remain seemingly stable, but something critical is shifting behind the scenes. The body begins to work harder to control and regulate blood sugar, and if we’re solely measuring glucose, we miss this change. Yet, when we measure insulin, we can detect that something is changing; our cells are becoming more resistant to insulin, and our body is exerting greater effort. As more years pass, the effort multiplies, and the body now requires four times as much insulin as before to keep blood sugar at the same level. However, glucose levels still appear consistent. Eventually, the machine can break down, and this might happen after two decades or even sooner if there’s excessive consumption of sugary drinks, which is increasingly common among children. But, for the most part, we’re talking about a process that develops over decades.
The noteworthy aspect is that if we measure insulin, we can detect these changes sooner. Glucose remains controlled until the system becomes extremely resistant, or close to breaking. With insulin, we have a more linear insight into the process, allowing us to catch issues much earlier.
Here’s the good news: it takes a considerable amount of time to reach this breaking point. The downside is that if we don’t take the right measures, we may not recognize the problem until it’s too late, perhaps 20 years down the road. The other piece of good news is that, even though it takes a while to break the system, it’s considerably faster to heal it. If it takes 20 years to break it, you can likely make significant progress in just a few months. This doesn’t mean a complete reversal; it means you’re getting it under control and moving in the right direction. But, with the momentum already built up, it may take a while to fully reverse that trend and get back to a healthy baseline.
How to Control Blood Sugar Levels – Reevaluating Nutritional Guidance
A Shift from High-Carb to Insulin-Focused Strategies
Now that we’ve probed the inner workings of the body, the nature of sugar, and starch, and how insulin operates through various mechanisms, it’s time to reevaluate some conventional dietary advice. The standard guidelines promoting a low-fat, high-carb diet may work for those who are young, athletic, and insulin-sensitive. However, for those grappling with insulin resistance, following such guidelines can exacerbate the issue. It can propel you from a prediabetic state into full-blown diabetes.
When our goal is to lower blood sugar, it’s imperative to grasp that insulin plays a central role. Insulin resistance leads to elevated blood sugar levels because the body loses its capacity to regulate blood sugar when carbohydrates are consumed. As a result, it’s crucial to reduce carbohydrate intake. However, the primary objective is to lower insulin levels. By doing so, the body can gradually return to a state of balance.
Embracing Plant-Based Low-Starch Alternatives
One of the most vital steps in this journey is to eliminate sugar from your diet. Sugar consists of 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Glucose elevates blood sugar levels and prompts an insulin response, while fructose fosters insulin resistance by congesting the liver, leading to a fatty liver. The next course of action involves reducing overall carbohydrate intake.
This doesn’t mean you should avoid all plant-based foods or carbohydrates entirely. In fact, many non-starchy vegetables and leafy greens, such as broccoli, cauliflower, and leafy greens, can be included in your diet. These veggies are primarily water and contain only 3 to 4 percent carbohydrates, mostly in the form of sugar. However, their high water and fiber content allows the slow absorption of this small amount of sugar. You can incorporate them into a ketogenic diet and consume ample cups of non-starchy vegetables and leafy greens. The carbohydrates to be cautious of are high-starch foods, including grains, potatoes, corn, and the like.
Strategic Meal Timing for Insulin Regulation
Another effective strategy is to reduce meal frequency. Eating fewer meals can significantly assist in lowering insulin levels. The objective is to reduce insulin production, and one way to do this is by consuming foods that stimulate minimal insulin. During fasting or when you’re not consuming any food, insulin production is minimal and essentially maintains baseline blood sugar without the need for additional insulin.
Role of Exercise in Blood Sugar Management
Exercise is always beneficial, but it’s essential for it to be mild in intensity. Some individuals believe that intense exercise, which burns more calories, will lower blood sugar levels more rapidly. However, this is not the case. Intense exercise can elevate cortisol levels, which, in turn, raises blood sugar levels. The body interprets intense exercise as an emergency and tries to raise blood sugar to meet the heightened demand for energy.
Conversely, gentle exercise primarily burns fat because it is conducted at a low intensity, allowing for sufficient oxygen supply. When the body receives adequate oxygen, fat becomes the primary energy source. Some glucose is still consumed, aiding in lowering blood sugar levels, but the emphasis remains on burning fat. Gentle exercise transforms muscles into glucose “sponges” as they absorb glucose from the blood. Muscles in action do not require insulin for glucose uptake, as the exercise itself opens up the necessary portals. In contrast, intense exercise relies more on glucose, creating an emergency mode in the body that triggers post-exercise cravings.
Conclusion
In summary, to manage and lower blood sugar effectively, it’s crucial to focus on insulin levels and insulin resistance, reduce sugar and overall carbohydrate consumption, consider intermittent fasting, and engage in gentle, steady exercise. These strategies can pave the way for better blood sugar control and overall health.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- What is the conventional way of looking at blood sugar levels – Healthy fasting blood sugar levels typically fall between 70 and 100 mg/dL. Impaired glucose regulation ranges from 101 to 125 mg/dL, and for individuals with Type 2 diabetes, fasting blood sugar levels would typically be 126 mg/dL or higher.
- What are the conventional post-meal blood sugar levels? – Blood sugar levels 30 minutes after a meal should not exceed 170 to 200 mg/dL. For those with insulin resistance, the range is 190 to 230 mg/dL, and for those with Type 2 diabetes, it might go as high as 220 to 300 mg/dL.
- What are the optimal blood sugar levels to aim for? – Optimal fasting blood sugar levels range from 80 to 90 mg/dL, and it can be even lower during extended fasting or following a ketogenic diet. Post-meal blood sugar levels should ideally remain within the range of 90 to 110 mg/dL.
- How do carbohydrates influence blood sugar levels? – Carbohydrates, especially processed varieties, have a significant impact on raising blood sugar levels. Sugar and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) have pronounced effects on blood sugar. Starches, like those found in potatoes, rice, and bread, can also cause rapid spikes in blood sugar.
- How does sugar affect blood sugar levels differently from other carbohydrates? – Sugar contains both glucose and fructose, with the fructose component primarily processed in the liver, which can lead to fatty liver and insulin resistance. Sugar, in this sense, can be more detrimental to blood sugar and overall health.
- Does protein impact blood sugar levels? – Excess protein can be converted into glucose when tissue regeneration is not needed. However, this conversion has a relatively low impact on blood sugar when compared to carbohydrates.
- How does fat influence blood sugar levels? – Fat itself, in the form of fatty acids, cannot be directly converted into glucose. However, the glycerol portion in stored fat can be gradually transformed into glucose, but this process has a relatively minor impact on blood sugar. High-fat, low-carb diets have minimal effects on blood sugar.
- Why is it essential to focus on insulin levels for long-term blood sugar control? – Insulin plays a central role in controlling blood sugar. High insulin resistance can lead to elevated blood sugar levels because the body loses its ability to efficiently regulate blood sugar when carbohydrates are consumed.
- How can exercise help with blood sugar management? – Gentle exercise at low intensity can primarily burn fat and help lower blood sugar levels. Intense exercise may elevate cortisol levels, which can raise blood sugar. Exercise, in general, helps the body maintain insulin sensitivity.
- What dietary strategies are recommended for blood sugar management? – Strategies include eliminating sugar, reducing overall carbohydrate consumption, practicing intermittent fasting, and engaging in gentle, steady exercise. Reducing meal frequency can also assist in lowering insulin levels and stabilizing blood sugar.
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